Ships of the ancient world

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Roman ships (mosaic from Rimini)

As in all times, ships of antiquity were used for the transport of economic goods, the transport of people and the exchange of ideas and knowledge. Seafaring was also a means of expanding power politics at anearly stage; colonization initiated the discovery of foreign shores and enabled colonies to be founded. Because of its geographical, central location and numerous coastal places with fertile hinterland suitable for settlement,the Mediterranean inparticularhas been used for trade and sea transportsince ancient times. The gradual expansion of migration from the eastern to the western Mediterranean was a further impetus for the development of shipping and then also had a decisive influence on thedevelopment of the MiddleEast and Europe up to modern times. The ships are therefore an important part of technology in antiquity .

Trade and expansion inevitably led to rival interests in trade and power politics. The history of antiquity is witness to numerous attempts to rule the Mediterranean economically and politically and thus militarily. It came as early as the 14th century BC. To piracy of individuals and states who waged a kind of naval war for personal or state enrichment. Fleets of pirate ships blocked ports , raided the surrounding countryside and hijacked merchant ships. Warships were used to defend against these threats and to enforce commercial and political interests. The protection of their own merchant fleets was in the interests of the sea-trading states from early on.

This article covers the period from around 1200 BC. BC until the death of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I in 565 AD. The regional focus of the representation results from the ship developments of the leading sea powers of their time: The Phoenicians , the Greeks , the Hellenistic Diadochic empires , Carthage and the Roman Empire .

The description of the ships and their shipbuilding development results from the existing and known sources. The research literature on which the topic is based is based on sunken, buried or stranded ship and boat finds, as well as ships that were used for the construction of ports and other hydraulic engineering purposes and were deliberately sunk. Of course, research also makes use of the ancient depictions of ships and boats in mosaics and wall paintings, on coins, monuments, graves and altars, as well as in houses and public buildings, as well as countless coins and on materials for domestic use. This also includes numerous written testimonies and literary reports from the time. The information density for warships is significantly higher than for merchant ships. This is reinforced by the previous development of historiography, which showed a significantly greater interest in warships. There is also a paradox in the sources. On the one hand, contemporary depictions and descriptions of warships are more available than of merchant ships. On the other hand, very few warship wrecks have been found so far. In contrast, the finds of numerous wrecks of merchant ships have been researched and published.

Shipbuilding basics

Ships whose hulls are to be made of wood can basically be built in two ways: on the one hand with a skeleton made of frames , on which the ship planks are placed overlapping ( clinker construction ), and on the other hand with a hull cladding made of planks set edge to edge , the so-called Kraweel planking (Kraweel construction).

Hole and tenon

The Kraweel construction was preferred in the Mediterranean area throughout ancient times. Shipping and boat building in ancient Egypt used the Kraweelbauweise since the 3rd millennium BC. The Greco-Roman shipbuilders developed this construction method further. Instead of lashing the planks together when building the hull, they developed a tongue-and-groove construction in which the planks were also mortised together. An elastic and high-strength hull could be created by firmly and securely seated planks on top of one another. Ship hulls of this type had to be treated less by caulking in order to make them watertight. A frame structure to reinforce the fuselage is typical.

The first ships in the Mediterranean were probably only rowed. Increasing demands for more transport space led to larger, more voluminous hulls with sails. It was more economical to use sails to drive the merchant ships. The sails could be reefed , but also trimmed . Rowed merchant ships continued to be used, however, since only they could offer a reasonably reliable reliability of the planned travel times when there was no wind. The belt drive was also necessary for maneuvers in narrow waters and harbors. For warships, sails were intended for longer distances.

The warship was developed from normal trading and fishing vessels. Drawings on Egyptian vases around 3400 BC BC are probably the oldest known images of warships, or rather boats, which were used for war purposes. The ram's spur can be found early on in Assyrian depictions.

A variety of ship types had also developed in ancient times. The displacement of ships at that time could not be increased at will without calling into question the strength of the longitudinal and transverse bracing and thus the seaworthiness . Until the introduction of bronze fittings, the length of the ship was therefore limited to around 40 m. With the introduction of metal fittings amazing ship sizes and lengths were achieved.

Maritime strategy

The task of protecting one's own merchant fleets and asserting state interests led to the construction of war fleets and ultimately to the formation of sea ​​powers . Naval forces superior to the enemy ensured the protection of their own merchant shipping and could deny the enemy the use of the sea if they had command of the sea. They also protected their own coasts, made it possible to block enemy coasts and created the possibility of projecting power across the sea onto the enemy coast. Coastal protection is not possible without a fleet, as a sea power can take the initiative anytime and anywhere. In ancient times, naval warfare was also a logical continuation of land warfare, as commanders for a long time viewed the fleets as an "army at sea". Thanks to the comparatively easy voyage by sea, amphibious warfare was common practice from early on. In particular, in this case it was also the task of our own shipping to ensure the supply and thus the logistics for armed forces operating on land. The existence of bases was a prerequisite for this type of naval operation. Sea wars were considerably more expensive compared to land wars.

Maritime strategy was dependent on shipbuilding limitations, logistics and infrastructure requirements as well as the navigational and tactical application possibilities and restrictions. The availability of wood for shipbuilding mostly determined the choice of the construction site. The ships were hardly able to withstand severe storms, so that shipping, whether merchant ship or warship, was heavily dependent on the weather. For our own safety, the course was set off near the coast whenever possible. The limited size of the ships had an influence on the sea ​​endurance , since at least warships could not take large amounts of food and water with them. For longer ventures, the coast had to be headed for from time to time in order to provide provisions for the crews. On the other hand, ships up to a certain size could be transported over land.

This dependence on land supplies influenced the choice of trade routes as well as the strategic approach and the deployment options of naval forces. On the other hand, the operations on land were significantly supported or even made possible by the ability of the merchant ships to transport them.

The first sea power in history was Crete from around 2500 to 1450 BC. In the period from 1900 to 1700 Crete ruled the eastern Mediterranean. According to controversial theories, Crete was the first thalassocracy in history. In particular, the Aegean Sea, with its numerous islands that served as orientation and bases for shipping, was a navigationally favorable shipping area for the early days of shipping. The Minoans were superseded as the dominant sea power by the Mycenaeans from mainland Greece, who ruled from about 1450 BC. Until at least the sea ​​peoples storm around 1200 BC. They ruled large parts of the Aegean and engaged in intensive trade with other cultures in the east (Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, etc.) but also with parts of the western Mediterranean such as Italy, Sicily and Sardinia.

Rome was one of the few peoples of antiquity who incorporated considerations of maritime strategy into their politics and derived clear political guidelines from them. The dispute with Carthage and the subsequent expansion of the Roman Empire made Rome understand the importance of sea power. It had therefore tried to control straits and approaches to marginal seas: Gibraltar , Dardanelles , English Channel , Gulf of Aden and the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean are examples. By repairing the 84 km long canal between the Nile and the Red Sea , begun by Pharaoh Necho II and completed by Darius I , they created a continuous water connection from Rome to India . Even in operations on a large scale, the maritime strategic and tactical requirements were coordinated and professionally implemented. As an example, the purging of pirates throughout the Mediterranean by Pompey in 67 BC might be a good example . Serve. Here an operation combined with sea and land forces (20 legions , 500 ships) was successfully implemented in a targeted, coordinated action . The cooperation between land and naval forces, especially in amphibious warfare, was masterly in Rome.

Classification of warships

At the latest with the introduction of the trireme, there have been long discussions in the relevant historical literature about the rudder arrangement, called "trieres", "triple equipped", in Greek and Roman navies. Before the introduction of the trireme, there were only names for the number of rowers on board, for example the Pentekontere (50 rowers).

The designation "trieres" was obviously based on a different way of counting than the designation used to date for the counter-arrows, especially against the background of the polyerenes (multiple rowers) that appeared in the 4th and 3rd centuries such as "tetreren" (fourfold), "penteren" (five times), "witchcraft" (six times) up to huge "Tessara counterpoints" (40 times). Today it is assumed that the “five”, “six” up to finally “13” and later “24” do not refer to the number of row benches on top of each other, but to the number of rowers in a vertical rowing section of a bireme or trireme. No ship ever had more than three rows of row benches.

The rank and rank of a warship was determined by the number of rows of oars on top of each other and the number of rowers deployed there in a vertical section, i.e. by the number of rowers deployed on top of each other. After that, the Trireme was a three-row and originally three-row warship, because the ship had three rows of rowers on top of each other with one man per oar. The Bireme was a two-row and originally two-tier, the Monere a single-row and single-tier ship.

This way of counting the ranking was abandoned in the age of the polyers of the 20s, 30s and 40s class, when shipbuilding switched to hulls in catamaran construction. With the catamaran construction, i.e. two hulls connected by a supporting deck, the method of counting the ranking and thus the number of rowers is based on the vertical sections on port and starboard. This leaves the original categorization of the ranking of ships on the basis of a vertical section on one side of the ship.

Merchant ships, on the other hand, are defined by their carrying capacity and their area of ​​application, for example ocean shipping or inland shipping.

Age of the Moners approx. 1200–750 BC Chr.

The Phoenician cities, which became rich through the coastal trade, began after the collapse of the sea power of Crete around 1450 BC. With the construction of larger fleets and took over from 1100 BC. The economic and maritime predominance first in the eastern and then also in the central and western Mediterranean area. Until 1200 BC The Phoenician cities were under the changing sovereignty of the Hittites , Mitanni and Egyptians . From 1200 BC After the sea peoples storm, the Phoenicians took advantage of the power vacuum and the rise of the Phoenician cities began. Starting from their cities, the Phoenicians reached z. B. Tire and Sidon around 900 BC The Atlantic coast of Andalusia , as shown by early Phoenician finds in Huelva . On the way there they founded colonies in Cyprus , Malta , Sicily , in what is now Tunisia (e.g. Carthage , according to legend around 814 BC, and Utica ), on Sardinia and the Balearic Islands . With the help of these colonies / bases, the Phoenicians controlled the sea connections to the western Mediterranean. From the early 1st millennium. v. The central and western Mediterranean area is considered to be as developed as the eastern Mediterranean area. From 875 BC. But then Phenicia had to pay tribute to the New Assyrian Empire . In the time 750 – approx. 550 BC The first wave of Greek colonization of southern Italy and Sicily took place.

The counterattacks

The counterattacks were single-tier and single-tier moners. The dikontere with 20 rowers reached a length of approx. 15 m. The Trikontere with 30 rowers had a length of about 23 m. The pentekontere with 50 rowers had a maximum length of up to 38 m, a width of approx. 4 m and a draft of approx. 80 cm.

Shipbuilding development

In terms of development history, the counterattack may have arisen from the dugout canoe . There were corresponding trees in the eastern Mediterranean. Planks were probably added to the dugout later to increase the freeboard , which later had to be stabilized by inserting frames. In the further development the dugout canoe became more and more a keel.

The prototype of these ship classes was made around 1200 BC. Developed by the Mycenaeans. The gradual development of warships equipped exclusively for the military conflict at sea begins around 1000 BC. The warship building was initiated by the need to achieve a higher speed for the attack and the withdrawal from the enemy. This resulted in a slimmer and more slender hull of the counter. The hull was open at the top, also known as the aphractic construction, so that the rowers sat outside. There was only a tight closed upper deck fore and aft for the lookout and the captain. An absolutely necessary payload was stored under the throws and the small-area upper deck. The hull had a round hull with a low freeboard. Was steered with a large rudder.

Ramspur

With the introduction of the ram spur between around 1000 and 850 BC Because of different requirements, the commercial and warship construction was finally separated. The ram spur made a reinforced hull and a special bow construction necessary to cushion the impact. Successful ramming also required a higher speed.

At that time, these requirements could only be met by a shorter and more robust hull and by changing the arrangement of the rudders. An extension of the hull was structurally impossible without endangering the ship's stability . However, housing the rowers on two levels made it possible to reduce the length of the ship while increasing the speed with more rowers. This left the Monerian drive system and the development of the Bireme began.

Merchant ships, on the other hand, were rather broad and clumsy and built to volume. They had a small crew on board, while warships, on the other hand, needed personnel for manning the oars and for attack and defense.

commitment

At night, these ships were generally pulled ashore or, if it was unavoidable, the crew had to sleep on the row benches. A single, foldable mast was on board for transit when the wind was favorable. In the event of a battle, the mast was dismissed as no ancient ship was able to approach the enemy under sail at close range.

Before the introduction of the ram spur, the Pentekontere was mainly used as a troop transport, the Dikontere as a dispatch boat. The introduction of the ram revolutionized the use of these ships. It was no longer just a troop transport or a means of deploying marines against other embarked marines, but a weapon.

Penteconters and triconters continued to be used as light naval forces in the age of the Birem and Trieres. For example, Greek city-states in southern Italy used penteconters until the middle of the 3rd century BC. BC and Athens Trikonteren until the second half of the 2nd century BC. Before they finally disappeared from history under this name.

Age of the Bireme (approx. 750–500 BC)

From the 8th century on, the Phoenicians had to fight back on several fronts from other sea powers and great powers. As early as 875 BC The Neo-Assyrian Empire held Phenicia in varying degrees of dependency, since its economic strength was dependent on wood and metal deliveries, for example. After the collapse of the New Assyrian Empire, Phenicia was ruled by Babylon and Egypt, and later by the Persian Empire . Phenicia, which came under changing dominance, retained its fleets as far as possible, but had to make its ships available to the respective conquerors. In the eastern Mediterranean, the Greeks became increasingly strong, so that Phenicia lost its dominant position at sea to the Greeks, but not its economic power.

The period 750-550 BC BC is the period of the Greek colonization around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea , mainly directed to the west by sea , to overpopulation, disputes, boom in handicrafts, expanding trade interests, boom in maritime trade, indebtedness and debt bondage of the local farmers and social Opposites urged. Miletus alone is said to have founded 90 cities, mainly on the Propontis and around the Black Sea, but also Naukratis in Egypt. In the first recorded sea battle in history, Kerkyra ( Corfu ) defeated 664 BC. His mother city Corinth after Kerkyra had risen very quickly to a sea power. Greek migration coincided with the Phoenician colonization movement. The coasts of western North Africa and almost all of Spain were ruled by Phoenician-Carthaginian colonization. The west coast and central Italy were in the hands of the Etruscans . The Greeks concentrated on Sicily and southern Italy , the Provence coast, Croatia, and Libya and Asia Minor . The Etruscans established themselves in the Tyrrhenian Sea from the 7th and 6th centuries BC. BC as a sea power. Conflicts between the Greeks in southern Italy, the Phoenicians in Sardinia and the growing Etruscans were thus given. Around 535 BC In BC the Etruscans, in league with Carthage, achieved a naval victory over the Greek Phocians at Alalia , which established the Etruscans' naval rule in the northwestern Mediterranean. This was the end of Greek colonization in the western Mediterranean.

In the western Mediterranean, the Phoenician daughter city of Carthage rose in the 6th century BC. BC to the dominant trading center and leading colony. Carthage has been creating since around 650 BC. Thanks to its favorable location and wealth from sea trade, it acquired its own fleet and military power through which it became the protective power of the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean until it could gradually integrate them into the growing empire. In this geographical area of ​​influence, Carthage developed into a thalassocracy . Carthage initially closed the western Mediterranean to further peaceful colonization. The Greeks, for their part, had around the 5th century BC The Phoenicians and Carthaginians were excluded from the Black and Aegean Sea and had a shipping monopoly there.

In disputes with the New Babylonians, Pharaoh Necho II conquered around 609 BC. All Phoenician port cities. Building on the shipbuilding experience of the Phoenicians, Necho II built a fleet manned by Greeks and Phoenicians. Based on this fleet, Egypt was founded in the southeastern Mediterranean under Pharaoh Apries in the period 589-570 BC. Sea power and maintained good relations with the island Greeks and the Greek colonies in the Cyrenaica .

The expansion of Persia under Cyrus II led in 545 BC. For the conquest of the Ionian cities on the west coast of Asia Minor. The Greek cities then had to provide the bulk of the Persian fleet.

Around 510 BC In a state treaty, the Roman Republic recognized Carthage's maritime trade monopoly in the western Mediterranean.

The Bireme

The Bireme (Greek: dieres) was a two-row and initially two-tier ship of approx. 21 to 31 m length (depending on the number of rowers employed) and a width of approx. 3 to 4 m and a draft of 0.8 m. The two-row ships were the standard warship of their time until the appearance of the trireme. The upper deck became a pure combat deck. It carried a large sail for transit. The main armament was the ram.

Shipbuilding development

From the middle of the 8th century BC There were the aphractic two-row and two-tier Trikontere with a length of approx. 15 m and the two-row and two-tier Pentecontere with a length of approx. 20 m.

The structural implementation of the higher speed required for the use of the ramming tactic led to this two-row version of the counter-attacks. This was initially achieved via a raised deck supported by deck supports. While the lower row of oars continued to use their oars at gunwale height, the upper row of oars could only be operated from the upper deck. However, these rudders could not be used in combat, as the upper deck was also the combat deck. In fact, these ships were therefore only two-row ships during transfer marches, since in combat only the moneric drive, i.e. the lower row of oars, could be used for propulsion. With this rudder arrangement, however, a higher speed for the ramming could not be achieved. In terms of shipbuilding, this superstructure was extremely top-heavy. With this a rudder arrangement in the style of the Bireme was achieved, but the shipbuilding development on the way to the real Bireme had to progress further.

Assyrian Bireme

Assyrian reliefs from the time of Sennacherib (704-681 BC) show a Phoenician two-row ship. While the upper row of oars was still at gunwale height, the oars of the lower row were operated through openings in the ship's hull. This meant that both rows of rowers could be used in combat and the speed required for a successful ram thrust could be achieved. The combat deck, which is also present here, rested on deck supports that sat on the gunwale. The rowers in the upper row were protected by shields attached to the side. Only one rowing bench was probably manned for transport tasks. The Bireme type of ship first appeared in the late 8th century BC. And had around 700 BC. Prevailed in all Greek and Middle East navies.

Age of the Trireme (approx. 500–400 BC)

The age of Trier (Latin: triremis, Greek: trieres) was largely shaped by the clashes between Persia and Greece and, after the victorious end of these wars, by internal Greek clashes and the further advance of the Greeks to the west. The main decisions were made at sea.

With the fall of the New Babylonian Empire, Phenicia became in 539 BC. Territorial part of the Persian Empire. In the course of the Ionian uprising against Persia under the leadership of the Greek city of Milet , supported by Athens , it comes in 495 BC. About a sea battle between a Persian fleet (Phoenician ships and crews as well as Persian marines) and a fleet of Ionian Greeks near Lade (Turkey) . This sea battle, lost by the Greeks, was the first sea battle with long-term political effects, because Athens' support for Miletus was the reason for the Persian campaigns against Greece that were then carried out.

The subsequent attempt by Darius I in 492 BC. BC invading Greece ended with the loss of a large part of the Persian fleet of its Phoenician allies to a storm on the promontory of Athos . The transport fleet necessary for the logistics of the Persian army and the naval forces for their security were no longer available. A supply of the great Persian army overland and from the country was also not possible. The loss of naval control in the sea area led to unsecured sea connections and consequently ended the Persian campaign.

Another attempt by Xerxes I to conquer Greece failed in 480 BC. In the sea ​​battle at Salamis and represented the decisive turning point of the Persian expansion to the west. In this case, too, the decimation of the Persian naval forces meant the loss of the ability to secure one's own sea connections and thus the supplies for the land forces. The remaining naval forces were released to Asia Minor and the campaign ended. The attack by sea against the Greeks of Sicily, which the Persians agreed with Carthage at the same time, also failed. The attempt of Persia to dominate the Mediterranean in alliance with the sea power Carthage had failed. The remnants of the Persian fleet were found in 479 BC. Destroyed in the battle of Mykale . As a result, the Greek fleet conquered in 479 BC. BC Cyprus and Byzantium.

The victories over the Persians made Athens the first sea power in Greece. It exercised naval rule in the eastern Mediterranean and took control of all the Greek cities prepared to drive the Persians out of the Aegean. It joined forces with them in the 1st Attic League (478 / 77–404). The heyday of the Greek polis followed until about 404 BC. The Attic League increasingly became an instrument for the implementation of power-political ambitions of the thalassocracy in Athens, although it was originally directed against Persia. The support of an anti-Persian uprising in Egypt (463–454 BC) led to the destruction of an Athenian fleet sent to support by the Persians in 454 BC. In the Nile Delta. That of Athens in the year 415-413 BC. For the Athenian Alkibiades , an expeditionary army sent by sea to Sicily was only the beginning of a planned maritime conquest in which Italy, parts of North Africa, Carthage and the Peloponnese were to be conquered. However, Athens failed already in Sicily. It lost two large fleets in the course of this enterprise. The sea battle at Aigospotamoi 405 BC BC ended the Peloponnesian War ( Peloponnesian War ) by the destruction of an Athenian replacement fleet built with great effort by the Spartans and their allies united in the Peloponnesian League . Athens' sea power was broken.

The penetration of the Greeks into the western Mediterranean leads to armed conflicts between the Etruscans, allied with Carthage, and the Greeks in the 5th and 4th centuries. Syracuse was founded in 485 BC. By building a navy to become the most powerful Greek city and thalassocracy. The Battle of Cumae in 474 BC. BC ended the Etruscan naval rule in the Tyrrhenian Sea and its political influence in Italy. As a result of the spread of Greek naval rule in the eastern Mediterranean from around 800 and the weakening of Phenicia by foreign domination, the connection between Carthage and the mother city of Tire is increasingly lost.

The trireme

The Greek trireme was a three-row and three-tier ship with a length of 35 m, a width of 3 to 4 m or with outriggers ( parexeiresiai ) for the upper row of oars 5.50 m. The freeboard was about 1.40 m. The hull had an overall height of about 2.60 m. The oars had a length of about 4.25 to 4.5 m.

The crew was 200 men. The 170 rowers were divided into: 62 thranites (upper row of oars), 54 zygites (middle row of oars) and 54 thalamites (lower row of oars). The oars of the thalamites were operated through openings only 45 cm above water, which were sealed against the ingress of sea water by a leather bag. Athenian triremes had ten hoplites and four archers ( Scythians ) as well as 16 seafaring personnel on board.

Roman trireme

Phoenician triremes were roughly the same length and had the same number of rowers. The third row of rowers was only accommodated by raising the side wall and initially had no outrigger for the Thranites. This made the Phoenician triremes more high-sided and more difficult to maneuver.

The later developed Roman trireme was about 34 m long and had an overall width including jib of 5.60 m and a draft of 1 m. 150 rowers divided themselves equally among 25 thranites, zygites and thalamites per row and side. In addition to the rowers, the crew consisted of twelve sailors and 80-90 marines. If necessary, the ships could transport around 200–250 legionaries.

Shipbuilding development

Reconstruction of the amphora stand on a rowed ship

Corinth probably launched the first trireme in the 7th century. The third row of oars could be accommodated by adding a boom. The upper deck of the Greek trireme that was accessible above the Thranites was initially limited to a narrow strip on both sides of the midship line. From approx. 467 BC. It then went from gunwale to gunwale to accommodate more marines. A little later a side cover was added to protect the thranites with a leather apron attached to the upper deck and hanging down. In the later Roman triremes, the side wall was then closed up to the upper deck. This was the transition to cataphract construction, i.e. ships with a closed upper deck and sides. In contrast, the Thranites on Phoenician triremes had to operate their oars from the upper deck. They were protected by shields attached to the railing.

The bow of a Greek trireme merged with the ram at the level of the waterline . The ram had at least two prongs, if not more. For reasons of transverse strength, the hull of a trireme was reinforced with heavy wooden bands horizontally attached from the outside over the entire length of the ship. The bottom plank ran into the front of the keel bearing the ram . This construction formed the strongest element of the hull.

Around 500 BC The lead coating of the fuselage came about. Occasionally the outer skin was also covered with sheet copper. In Roman shipbuilding, this was a practice that was widespread until the late 3rd century AD, but was discontinued in late antiquity for cost reasons. The equipment included two anchors , each hanging from a crane beam at the bow. In addition, there were two stanchions on board which were stowed aft. Amphorae were stowed inside the ship in special racks for supply purposes.

commitment

The trireme was the high point of ship development in the Mediterranean, which began with the introduction of the ram ram and the higher speed required for the mission. In the 5th century BC Most of the fleets outside Greece had trireme. And with the exception of a few centuries of shipbuilding experiments with larger ships, the trireme remained the dominant ship construction until the later Roman Empire.

In good conditions (swell, wind) and over a short distance, a speed of around 12 km per hour was possible. It has been proven that a speed of 8 km / h could be maintained over long distances. The rows of oars have probably become detached during transfer marches without using the sails. As before, the triremes could be pulled onto the beach. Sufficient provisions for these ships were still not possible due to lack of space. The fleet was either accompanied by supply ships or had to get its food on land. In addition to the triremes intended exclusively for military use, these ships were also used as troop transports, horse transports and guard ships when they were not fully manned.

The introduction of the battering ram changed naval warfare tactics. The preferred mode of fighting of the Athenian fleet was ramming. This was also made clear by the small number of marines on board. Whereas in the past the aim of warfare was to destroy the enemy crew, now the ship was the weapon and the destruction of the enemy ship was the aim. Attack formations and evolutions for the successful use of the ram had to be practiced permanently.

Merchant ships

While merchant ships with oars continued to be built, as these ships grew in size, the sail became the main means of propulsion. Several masts are sometimes used here. The size of the ships was decisive for the areas in which the ships were used, whether inland waters or the open sea. When used in inland waters, the rudder power predominated for navigational reasons. The dimensions and volume of the hull were determined by the transport task.

The discovery of the Ulunburun ship shows that vehicles were developed at an early stage that enabled long journeys across the open sea. The range of goods transported is wide-ranging.

Merchant ships with oars were still used for time-critical tasks. They transported dispatches, passengers and goods that required rapid transport. Smaller units almost exclusively had oars, possibly with an auxiliary sail. These ships were also used as auxiliary ships for the fleet.

The way in which goods were housed in the ship also reveals specializations. In submerged amphorae freighters, for example, one encounters not only movable packaging materials, but also large ceramic containers permanently installed in the hull with a capacity of up to 2000–2500 l.

Commonly used freighters for ocean-going shipping in ancient times had a carrying capacity of at least 70 to 80 tons. From the 5th century BC Ships with a deadweight of 100 to 150 tons were common, but there were also ships with a deadweight of 225 to 500 tons. Ships could carry up to 600 passengers on longer journeys.

From around 480 to around the 1st century BC It existed in the Mediterranean and on the Nile for the transport of wheat around the 3rd century BC. Well known merchant ship cercurus / kerkouros with a transport tonnage of 225 to 450 tons. This ship was 50 m long and carried a mast with a sail. Another type was the cybaea. The same size but wider, it was used on inland waterways and the open sea. Goods were wheat, wine or other commodities. Another type was the phaselus. This type was available in various sizes, and was mainly used to transport people across the sea. A smaller version drove on the Nile. The larger units were also used as warships.

In Greek times there were a number of transport ships under sail, but they are only known by name. The only identifiable ship from this period is the Phoenician gaulo. In Roman times there were a number of ocean freighters called navis oneraria, of which only two types can be identified with sufficient certainty: the ponto used locally in the south of France and the corbita, which had a broader geographical use. Its name meant basket, a relatively slow and pot-bellied ship. This type of ship came in different sizes.

Age of the Polyers (400–31 BC)

The age of the polyers was characterized by its maritime historical expression

  • the ongoing clashes between the Greeks - especially the sea power Syracuse - and the sea power Carthage, which ruled the western Mediterranean;
  • the beginning decline of the Greek city-states;
  • the rise of Macedonia to the world empire and ruler of the eastern Mediterranean;
  • the formation of the diadochin empires and following the Hellenistic state systems with changing control of the eastern Mediterranean as well
  • the rise of Rome to maritime power and ruler of the entire Mediterranean.

In this period and historical context, the polyere became the most assertive means of naval warfare.

Rome laid the foundations of Roman rule in Italy with the conquest of central and southern Italy. In the course of this development, the first ports and bases of Ostia Antica and Antium on the Tyrrhenian coast were founded. The ancient Roman republic was not a seafaring nation in the 4th and early 3rd centuries. They left the sea in the western Mediterranean to the Etruscans, Carthaginians and Greeks. In two state treaties of 348 and 306 BC In BC Rome accepted the closure of the western Mediterranean to Roman-Latin trade.

In the 6th century BC The fighting between the Greeks and Carthaginians in Sicily, which began in the 4th century BC, continued in the 4th century BC. Chr. For his wars with Carthage, Dionysius I of Syracuse , ruler of Syracuse, began in 399 BC. BC to be the first to build polyerene. His son Dionysius II of Syracuse continued to build these ships.

Athens' disputes with Sparta led 378 / 77–338 to the formation of the Second Attic League . Athens exercised control of the Aegean Sea through his and his allies' naval powers. However, the differences between Athens and Sparta prevented maritime rule over the Aegean Sea. The influence of this alliance lost 352 BC. With the rise of Macedonia to the leading power in Greece. The Second Attic League ended with the Battle of Chaironeia .

Philip II (Macedonia) gained supremacy in Greece in years of fighting against the Greek poleis and united the Greek world in the Corinthian League . His son Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire and with it the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, although the Persians, thanks to Phoenician ships, had dominion in the eastern Mediterranean. By conquering the Phoenician cities and their fleets, Macedonia became the strongest naval power in the eastern Mediterranean, although it hardly ever used it on its conquests. In this case, a land power had taken control of the sea by taking away the cities and coasts. Halford Mackinder saw his heartland theory confirmed by this historical example. Alexander the great's plan to conquer Carthage, Libya , Spain as far as Italy with land and sea forces after the Persian Empire came about because of his early death in 323 BC. Not for execution.

Immediately after Alexander's death, Athens and Aetolia tried to shake off Macedonian rule in the Lamian War . The 322 BC The sea ​​battle at Amorgos , which took place in BC, ended the war. For the Athenians, the defeat meant the end of their naval rule in the Aegean Sea and also the loss of their autonomy.

The successor to Athens as the leading Greek sea power was initially Rhodes . It dominated maritime trade, especially after the destruction of Tire in 332 BC. By Alexander the Great. The conquest of Tire meant the end of the Persian sea power as well as the former sea power Phenicia . Phenicia became Greek and meaningless. In addition to the merchant fleet, Rhodes maintained a veritable navy with which it took part in the Diadoch Wars and Syrian Wars with changing allies.

The division of the empire of Alexander the Great among the Diadochi led in 323 BC. To 22 diadochic empires ( list of the diadochic empires ) and as a result to six diadochic wars . The death of Lysimachus (281 BC) ended the Diadoch period and marked the beginning of the establishment of the Hellenistic successor states: the Antigonid Empire, the Seleucid Empire and the Empire of the Ptolemies .

The diadoche Ptolemaios I Soter of Egypt received most of Alexander's fleet. Thereupon Antigonus I Monophthalmos the one-eyed and his son Demetrios I Poliorketes began with the construction of polyerene and triggered the largest maritime arms race of antiquity. Both built seven- to thirteen-rank ships, later fifteen and sixteen-rank ships, to break Ptolemy's naval rule in the eastern Mediterranean. Lysimachus built comparable ships. In the waters of Cyprus Demetrios struck in 306 BC. BC Ptolemy I in the Fourth Diadoch War in the decisive battle of Salamis . With the defeat of Ptolemy, Athens and Cyprus fell to the Antigonids. Demetrios' attack on Egypt by sea in 305 BC. BC failed like the attempt to conquer Rhodes on the return journey from Egypt, as Rhodes was again supported by Egypt by sea. After the defeat at the Battle of Ipsos in 301 BC. BC Demetrios lost large parts of Greece. He was left with Megara and Corinth as well as some port cities such as Ephesus , Tire, Sidon and Cyprus, as well as his fleet with which he exercised maritime rule in the eastern Mediterranean. With his fleet he raided the port cities of his opponents. In 297 BC BC he began using his fleet with the recovery of Attica and conquered Aegina and Salamis in 296–295 . In 288 BC BC Demetrios built one of the largest fleets with 500 ships to support his campaign in Asia with the aim of rebuilding the Alexander Empire. After an unsuccessful advance, he surrendered in 286 BC. Chr. Seleukos I. With that the sea realm of Demetrios collapsed. His son Antigonus II Gonatas initially only asserted himself in Thessaly , Euboea and Corinth, but managed to return to the throne of Macedonia a few years later.

In the Second Syrian War lost Ptolemy II. Against the support of Rhodes Antiochus II. Theos after the naval battles of Ephesus and Kos (255 v. Chr.) Sovereignty over the Greek Islands. Antigonus II. Gonatas interrupted the Ptolemies' naval rule in the Aegean Sea by his victory in the naval battle of Andros in 246 BC. Chr.

Nevertheless, Egypt was under Ptolemy III. through the conquests in the Third Syrian War against Seleucus II the dominant sea power in the eastern Mediterranean. With a few exceptions, the Ptolemaic Empire now comprised the entire eastern Mediterranean, all coasts and important ports from Cyrenaica to Thrace , apart from Egypt also Cyprus, Phenicia, Cilicia , Pamphylia , Lycia , Caria , Ionia , the Hellespont and some island bases, including Itanos im East Crete, Thera , Samos and Arsinoë . Also Egyptian was from 246 to 218 BC. The important port city of Seleukia Pieria in Syria.

In addition to the ports and shipyards, the Egyptians had also closed off all coastal wood reserves to their opponents: Lebanon, Cyprus, Cilicia, the island of Samos and Thrace. In this way the maritime arms race between the Diadochi that had been going on since Antigonos Monophthalmos ended. The Egyptian fleet of this time was the most powerful of the ancient world: 17 × 5-rank, 5 × 6-rank, 37 × 7-rank, 30 × 9-rank, 14 × 11-rank, 2 × 12-rank, 4 × 13 -ranks, 1 × 20-ranks and 2 × 30s.

The attempt of the Macedonian king Philip V to establish a new maritime rule in the Aegean was made in 201 BC. Thwarted in the naval battle of Chios by the combined fleets of Rhodes, Pergamon , Kyzikos and Byzantium . After his defeat in the 2nd Macedonian-Roman War , Philip had to bury all maritime ambitions only four years later.

At the end of the 5th Syrian War in 197 BC BC Antiochus III conquered . with a large fleet the cities of Cilicia , Lycia and Caria, allied with Egypt, and later Ionia and Ephesus. In the Syrian-Roman War , however, the Seleucid advance into the Aegean was thwarted in several battles, with the Rhodians, allied with Pergamon and the Roman Republic, having the largest share. This was the prerequisite for the safe transfer of the Roman army to Asia Minor, where they defeated the Seleucid army in the Battle of Magnesia . After the Peace of Apamea in 188 BC BC Antiochus III. reduce its fleet to ten ships. With this decision, the control of the sea in the Eastern Mediterranean finally passed from the Diadochian empires to the Romans, who nonetheless granted their allies, especially the Rhodians, a not entirely insignificant role, for example in fighting pirates.

The naval policy of Rome arose from the domination of central and southern Italy when the republic took Taranto in 272 BC. Became heiress of the Greek and Punic trade rule in this area. Rome thus became a potential sea power with the help of the Greek Magna Graecia as “socii navales” (maritime allies). Rome's interest in Sicily led to it in 264 BC. On the conflict with Carthage. With the beginning of the conquest of Sicily, the Roman naval construction with the help of the Greeks of southern Italy was now indispensable, as Rome intervened in an area of ​​interest of the then leading sea power Carthage. With the conquest of Sicily, Rome's path to sea power began. Carthage was defeated in three Punic Wars (264–241, 218–201, 149–146 BC). The Battle of Cape Ecnomus 256 BC BC was not a militarily decisive naval battle in the First Punic War, but the number of ships and participating soldiers remained unsurpassed in antiquity. The Romans had 330 ships, including about 250 Penteren, the rest transport and supply ships. The Carthaginians deployed around 350 ships. 140,000 men were required to man this fleet. The Battle of the Aegatic Islands in 241 BC Between Rome and Carthage finally brought the decision in the First Punic War and secured Roman naval rule in the western Mediterranean.

After the loss of naval domination in the First Punic War, Carthage decided in the Second Punic War for land war, as a naval war against Rome and the numerous sea cities of Italy and Syracuse allied with them seemed little promising. After the end of the Second Punic War, Rome had finally consolidated its dominance in the western Mediterranean.

After the Punic Wars, the Romans retained an important navy for the first half of the 2nd century BC. BC, but then saw no reason for the further maintenance of a larger fleet. They relied almost exclusively on the allied Greek cities of southern Italy, who had to provide ships and crews as needed, which is why Greek was spoken more than Latin in the Roman fleet. During the Third Macedonian War , Carthage, Genthios of Illyria , Rhodes and Byzantium offered ships for the transport of Roman troops to mainland Greece, thus making the Roman weakness at sea clear. The island republic of Rhodes, which existed until 168 BC. Chr. Ensured calm with their fleet in the eastern Mediterranean and for a long time did not want to take a clear position in the war against Perseus , they were punished for their vacillating attitude with the loss of their land ownership and additionally weakened by the establishment of a free port in the former Macedonian Delos . This weakening led to the loss of the Rhodian maritime domination in the Aegean Sea and thus to the spread of the pirate plague. As a result, Rome began to expand further east. The pirate nuisance did not begin until 67 BC. Ended in the entire Mediterranean with a meanwhile newly created Roman fleet in a coordinated use of 500 ships and 20 legions by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.

A number of significant naval battles occurred during the Roman Civil Wars. The naval battle at Actium 31 BC BC between Octavian and Marcus Antonius marked the end of classic naval battles with massed fleets consisting of different classes of ships for a long time . The civil war was largely decided after winning this sea battle. It was also the beginning of the sole rule of Octavian (later Augustus ) and the end of the Roman Republic. With a few exceptions, this battle also ended the construction of polyerene and marked the transition to the Liburnian. Rome no longer had an opponent in the Mediterranean and was the sole sea power. The imperial fleet - with its main bases in Ravenna and Misenum - prevented the emergence of a maritime enemy and had largely only police tasks. The Parthians , Rome's only remaining real rival, were a land power with no access to the Mediterranean. Until the naval battle to clarify the question of power between Constantine I and Licinius in front of the Dardanelles, there were no major naval battles for more than 300 years.

Shipbuilding development

The polymers were evidently developed in three steps. Initially from the trireme to the six-tier ship at the beginning of the 4th century BC. In the further course of the development from six-tier to sixteen-tier ship in the period 315–288 BC. And in a further phase between 288 and 246 BC Until the thirty-rank ship. End of the 3rd century BC Chr. Built Ptolemy IV. A vierzigrangiges ship but only as a ceremonial and showpiece.

The age of the polyers began with the tetreres and the pentenes. The drastic increase in the number of rowers could only be achieved with the multiple manning of rowers accommodated in a maximum of three rows. Single-row or double-row ships with a maximum of eight men per oar are conceivable. For structural reasons, more than eight men could not be used per oar, so that if there were more than eight rowers per row, an additional row was required. Inevitably, the number of rowers per row of oars determined the width of the ship. With the polyers, the enormous number of oars had to be operated in a standing / sitting rhythm. Stand up to dip the straps and then pull over to sit. A bilateral arrangement of the rowers per belt is also conceivable, who then worked with the pulling and pushing method.

For his wars with Carthage, Dionysius I, ruler of Syracuse, began in 399 BC. BC to be the first to build polyers as four-tier and five-tier ships. His son Dionysius II was already building six-tier ships. Around 330 BC Athens had 18 four-tier ships and 392 triremes. Six years later there were 43 four-tier and seven five-tier ships. The Phoenician Sidon also had 351 BC. Five-rank ships in his fleet, which were used during Alexander's siege of Tire in 332 BC. Were used.

With the construction of six-tier to sixteen-tier ships, the type of use changed. The focus was now on heavily armored platforms with closed upper deck and sides for the transport of catapults and marines. The ship changed its character from a weapon with a ram to a weapon carrier for catapults and marines for boarding combat. Sea battles were now started from a distance with spears, stone bullets and the use of dismountable combat towers and ended in boarding combat.

Probably the greatest and most compelling advantage of the super galleys was the height of the sides, which made boarding difficult. The ship's breadth of the Polyeren must have been considerable to compensate for the shallow draft of around 2 m and the high freeboard. Little is known about the rigging of the polyers, but it is assumed that sails are comparable to the trireme. Since then, naval warfare has differed from land warfare through the greater dependence and use of technology and technology. This, in turn, has always required a high level of training and collaboration.

Roman naval warfare was based on the standards of Greco-Punic shipbuilding, and until the end of the republic technological profit was made from the development of other seafaring peoples, including the polyers used by the Hellenistic naval forces. They did not participate in the armament of the Diadochi empires and concentrated on the construction of ships of up to ten rank, which was pragmatically oriented towards military necessity and economic thinking.

A remarkable characteristic of the Roman and Carthaginian navy in the 3rd century BC. Was the speed with which ships and entire fleets were built. 261 BC The Romans built their first fleet of 120 ships in two months. Seven years later, they built their second fleet in three months. Archaeological finds in Lilybaeum indicate that the components of the ships were created in large-scale production as if on an assembly line and were then put together as in later Venice .

Tetreres

Dionysus I of Syracuse began building four-tier tetreres (Latin: quadriremis, Greek: tetreres), which were then quickly adopted by the Punic navy, but probably also used in the Rhodesian navy. The four-tier warships built by Dionysus I were equipped with catapults for the first time.

The rudder arrangement of the tetreres has not yet been clearly clarified. She may have been built as a single-row, but probably more like a two-row ship. Greek tetreres were about 38 m long and 5 m wide. Roman tetreres were between 35 and 40 m long and about 7 m wide.

Pentenes

The Pentere (Latin: quinqueremis, Greek: penteres) was also built by Dionysus I first. The Hellenistic Pentere was almost certainly larger than comparable ships from Carthage and Rome. There is no precise information about the rank of these ships. It must have changed at different times. The Roman three-row and five-tier quinqueremis from the Republican period was a replica of a type of ship from Carthage. She was 37 m long, including the outriggers for the Thranites, had a width of 5 m and a draft of 1.40 m. The oar crew consisted of 300 men, 150 on each side. In a vertical section there were two thranites, two zygites, and one thalamite. It is assumed that the Roman and Carthaginian Penteren had an equally strong oar crew. This type of ship was the standard Roman and Punic unit during the First and Second Punic Wars. It was used by the Romans well into the imperial era. There were also 30 seafaring personnel and 40 marines in peacetime and 120 in war.

The ships had a continuous upper deck. The rowers were sheltered below deck. Initially, the construction of the Punic and Roman ships corresponded to the three-row trireme principle. It is possible that the Carthaginians as well as the Romans built the Penteren in two rows from the Second Punic War. The rudder crew then consisted of three thranites and two zygites with the omission of the thalamites in 40 vertical modules. In this version, the ship had a length of 54 m, a width of 9 m and a rudder crew of 400 men. From around 100 BC The knowledge of this construction method is considered certain for the Roman fleet. A single-row and five-tier version of this type of ship is also possible. This design led to a lower side wall height, increased the maximum speed and made the ship more manoeuvrable. 200-300 legionaries could be taken on board for the transport. The use of large catapults for a sea-side siege required two ships of this type to be lashed together to enlarge the standing area on the upper deck.

In the first Punic War, the Romans used the Corvus on this type of ship. This invention was intended to compensate for the naval superiority of the Punians in the fight against Carthage. It was an 11 m long, 1.10 m wide swiveling boarding bridge with a metal spike at the end set up in the bow area. The load-bearing post had a height of 7 m and was pivoted. The railing height of the bridge was approx. 0.65 m. After the corvus was dropped on the enemy ship, two marines advanced side by side with shields on the knee-high railing. The dimensions and weight of the corvus made the hull, which was already clumsy, extremely top-heavy and led to corresponding ship losses in storms. The first use took place in 260 BC. At the Battle of Mylae , but then it was no longer used relatively quickly.

The Roman fleet took over with the start of its fleet construction in the middle of the 3rd century BC. The three-pronged ram of the Hellenistic navy, but then went down in the middle of the 1st century BC. On a single-pronged ram.

Witchcraft

Dyonysios II of Syracuse probably had the first Hexere (Latin: hexeris, Greek: hexeres) built. The Hexere was probably originally a ship of Trier design with three rows of oars and two men per oar in a vertical section. The width should have been greater than that of a pentere. This type of ship was also used in the naval wars of the Diadochi and the Punic Wars.

In the Roman Empire, this type of ship was also built in a two-row version and was the largest ship used in the fleet. The assumed dimensions were then 56 m in length, 11 m in width with a draft of 1.50 m. 480 men were required to manned the oars, along with 20 seafaring personnel and 170 marines.

In addition to the ram spur that was still in place, this type of ship had up to four moveable combat towers that could be used on the upper deck and were manned by archers. The " harpax " attributed to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was also used for the first time on Roman witches . The "harpax" was a grappling hook that was fired by a catapult and provided with a line, which was used to pull the opponent alongside. Equipped were Roman ships with cannons for stones, firebombs and catapults for heavy arrows, bolts, incendiary and bar large projectiles. Iron throwing drags (manus ferreae), double axes and sickles attached to long poles for cutting ropes, so-called falces, were also used. A Roman invention were also extendable long spars with which the enemy crew was to be swept from the upper deck.

Heptere

The first known heptere (Latin: Septiremis, Greek: hepteres) was of Greek origin, which the Punians took from King Pyrrhus of Epirus . It fell into the hands of the Romans after the Battle of Mylae. The Heptere might have been built similar to a Hexere, but with a larger displacement. It was a probably two-row and seven-tier ship of approx. 58 m length and at least comparable to a witcher in width. It carried a crew of 500 to 700 men, including 350 rowers plus approx. 15–20 men of seafaring personnel and approx. 150–200 men of marines. The appearance of the Hexeren and Hepteren was a decisive advancement in warship construction, comparable to the introduction of the dreadnought in 1906. The reinforcement of the hull by a circumferential frame in the waterline made the ship less vulnerable to ramming. By using several rowers per belt, the pulling force was increased and the number of oars and row benches could be reduced. The ship had a ram ram clad in bronze and up to five catapults that could be dismantled.

Octere

The Octere (Latin: octeris, Greek: octeres) was probably a ship with a two-row or three-row design, comparable in size to the Heptere.

Ennere

The Ennere (Latin: enneris, Greek: enneres) was at least a two-row, but probably three-row and nine-tier ship without a ram. The length is assumed to be approx. 66 m with a width of 19 m. The propulsion was generated by a total of 210 oars with three men per oar. The crew consisted of 630 rowers plus 400 marines and about 20-30 men of seafaring personnel. On the upper deck, two pivoting high-speed cannons and a further twelve catapults were installed on seven combat towers.

Dekere

Two-row (biremic design) and ten-tier decers (Latin: decemremis, Greek: dekeres) are assumed, although three-row decers are also known. A Dekere had a length of approx. 71 m, a width of approx. 20 m and a draft of 1.90 m. The height of the hull from the waterline to the gunwale was 3 m. Each oar was manned by five oarsmen. On each side there were 35 straps in the top row and 35 in the bottom row. This resulted in a rowing crew of 700 men. In addition to 35 seafaring personnel, 510 marines could be taken on. A total of about 1000 men could be transported. The ship carried seven detachable combat towers that were only built in battle. The front was 7.60 m high, the rear 7 m, the middle ones were smaller. The armament consisted of ten flat orbit arrow guns and two ballistic guns. The arrow guns also fired the "harpax". After the Battle of Actium, the Dekeren disappeared from active Roman naval service, but they were still built for naval battles in the period from 37 to 41 AD.

Hendekere, Dodekere, Triskaidekere, Pentekaidekere, Hekkaidekere

The construction of super-heavy ships of 11–16 rank (Latin: undecimremis, duodecimremis, tredecimremis, quindecimremis, sedecimremis, Greek: hendekeres, dodekeres, triskaidekeres, pentekaidekeres, hekkaidekeres) of Hellenistic design has been handed down. The exact dimensions, proportions, rankings and crew numbers are not known.

Capital ships

The galleys with their truly gigantic dimensions are also worth mentioning: Lysimachos built the two-row, eight-tier LEONTOPHOROS with 1600 rowers and 1200 marines. This ship was on a par with a sixteen-ranked ship in terms of combat strength. However, the LEONTOPHOROS was probably a catamaran-style ship. The 100 oars arranged in two rows were manned by four men each. There were 400 rowers on one side of the ship. This resulted in 800 rowers on both sides of a ship's hull and 1,600 rowers on both hulls. The connected hulls created a considerable area on the upper deck to accommodate the marines and artillery.

With the introduction of the catamaran construction, the original categorization of the ranking of ships on the basis of a vertical section of one side of the ship is abandoned. In catamaran ships, the classification is now based on two vertical sections on port and starboard.

Antigonus II. Gonatas , son of Demetrius Poliorketes, probably built a three-row, twenty-five-rank ship with only one hull. This type of ship was based on a two-row and sixteen-tier hull. It is believed that this ship had an additional provisional third row of oars of nine oars per oar on the combat deck, although it is commonly assumed that there are no more than eight men per oar. However, this seems to be the only possible explanation for the accommodation of an additional nine rowers.

On the instructions of Hieron II of Syracuse (269–215 BC), the SYRACUSIA was built as a grain freighter and representation ship. The three-row and twenty-rank ship had three masts and three decks (upper and two tween decks) and measured 55 × 14 × 13 m. Hieron later made it to Ptolemy III. as a gift that gave the ship the name ALEXANDREIA. It is said to have had 2000 rowers on board and was equipped with three masts. The load capacity of the giant ship, which is luxuriously equipped with cabins and halls, horse stables, library, swimming pool, gymnasium and on-board garden is given as around 1700 t. She also carried eight combat towers as well as catapults and around 400 marines.

The largest ship ever built is a 1940's built by Ptolemy IV . It was about 128 m long, a good 17 m wide and had a height from the waterline to the tip of the stern of a good 24 m. The crew consisted of 4,000 rowers, 400 seafarers and 2,850 marines. The traditional description of this ship suggests a catamaran ship. However, the distribution of the rowers across the assumed three rows of oars is unclear. The known length of the ship allows for 50 oars per row. It is therefore probable that the rowers will be distributed on both sides of the double-hulled catamaran. This would mean 1,000 rowers per side of the hull, i.e. 4,000 rowers in total. The 50 oars on one side could then have been manned with 20 oars in a Thranite-Cyclite-Thalamite cycle. This is the most believable solution today.

The upper deck spanned both hulls and thus had a correspondingly large area to accommodate the combat crew. However, these large galleys had no tactical value and were militarily and economically unjustifiable.

20s, 30s

This between about 280 and about 200 BC. Ships built in BC were, as is assumed today, also constructed in catamaran construction. The manning of the oars is based on the same considerations as with the 40s. According to the current state of research, both of them have a rowing crew on the port and starboard sides of the catamaran. In the 30s, it is assumed that 15 rowers are distributed over one Thranite-Zygite-Thalamite section per side of the ship. A two-row division of the rowers of eight zygites and seven thalamites is also conceivable. The same is assumed for the 20s. This was possibly a two-row ship with five oars per oar.

Merchant ships

The Hellenistic age of super warships building naturally also had an impact on the building of merchant ships. Around the middle of the 3rd century until Roman times, large-sized merchant ships came into service.

In the second half of the 2nd century AD, the Syrian writer Lukianos described a grain transporter that went off course due to storms and entered Piraeus. It was 53 m long, around 14 m wide, and the hold was 13 m deep. The capacity is calculated at 1300 t, enough to supply the whole of Attica with grain for a year.

The super freighters of the type corbita , which were built in Roman times and were used to supply Rome with grain, reached an overall length of 65 m, a width of 14 m with a draft of 8.5 m and a load capacity of 30 to 300 Metric tons. These ships came in different sizes. For special transports e.g. B. from obelisks from Egypt to Rome under Augustus and Caligula ships with a transport capacity of up to 2500 tons were built with a length of 95 m, a width of 21 m and a draft of 4.5 m.

The separation of inland, coastal and ocean-going shipping was structurally completed in Roman times at the latest. In the construction of ships through their structural adaptation to the order and sea or area of ​​operation, navigationally through a tradition characterized by the gain of experience, but primarily through practice.

Large rivers such as the Nile, Danube or Rhône, which served to develop the hinterland, could not be compared with the waters in the Italian metropolitan area. However, rivers, canals and lagoons as well as the Po and its marshy lowland plain were also used there. Low-sided, flat-bottom constructions were used. These were also used for regulation work on the Tiber and served the connection to Etruria and Ostia. Rome could be reached by seagoing flat-bottomed ships up to a certain size. Otherwise, the goods were unloaded in Ostia and loaded onto smaller freighters, barge-like flat-bottomed vehicles, and hauled upstream.

Age of the Liburnian (31 BC to approx. The middle of the 4th century AD)

With the submission of the Hellenistic states (Macedonia 168 BC in the Third Macedonian-Roman War, 146 BC Greece, 63 BC remnants of the Seleucid Empire and 30 BC Egypt of the Ptolemies) ruled Rome after the Naval Battle of Actium also hit the eastern Mediterranean. With the final incorporation of Mauritania under Augustus into the Roman Empire, the rule of all coasts of the Mediterranean was complete, which made Rome the sole sea power. Rome's maritime rule in the Mediterranean was absolute, so the names mare nostrum ("our sea") or mare internum ("inner sea") came up for the Mediterranean. The conquest of the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean would not have been possible without the attainment of maritime rule.

During the Roman Civil Wars, the fleets of the warring parties increased, so that after the Battle of Actium there were around 700 ships of up to ten rank. The organizational reforms of Augustus led in a first step to disarmament, in order to then concentrate on the construction of smaller, mainly cheaper liburnas and triremes.

The flagships of the fleets in the main bases in Ravenna and Misenum were each one of the Quinquereme or Hexere classes, which had also been tried and tested at Actium. The provincial fleets were equipped with double-row Liburnians. The imperial navy retained its Greek character and thus for the organization as auxiliary units . This justified their status of a subordinate armed forces.

Since there was no enemy in the Mediterranean, the Roman navy was left with police tasks such as anti-pirate missions, securing convoys , transport, pioneering tasks and reporting. In principle, this required units with higher speed and maneuverability. One focus was on the transport of the troops of the land army when the land units were to be relocated more quickly to threatened fronts in the empire. However, as a consequence of a Gothic naval advance from the Black Sea to Greece in 251 AD, Byzantium and the straits were fortified.

The late antiquity (300 to 600 n. Chr.)

The first real naval battle in a long time was fought when the son of Constantine I, Crispus , defeated his rival Licinius in 324 AD at the Dardanelles . Licinius' 350 triremes were crushed by about 80 Liburnians of Constantine. With that, the trireme apparently disappeared from history.

Another naval battle broke out in AD 400 when Emperor Arcadius had to fight off his opponents in a civil war. The sea power of West Rome disintegrated with the invasion of the Vandals in Africa (from 429 AD). As early as the 3rd century, Ostrom could temporarily no longer secure the peace in its sea areas when the Goths and other barbarians began to hijack ships.

The Vandals conquered Carthage in 439 AD, and the units of the Roman fleet stationed there fell into their hands. With the help of these naval warfare they conquered Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands in 454 AD, and in 455 they sacked Rome. The Vandal king Geiserich created an important fleet using the captured Roman ships and destroyed parts of the Western Roman fleet in 461 AD. There were several small and large sea battles between Vandals and Western and Eastern Romans. The Vandal Empire became the target of a large-scale joint military operation between the Western and Eastern Roman Empire in 468 AD. In the sea battle off Cape Bon, however, half the Roman fleet with around 1,100 ships and 100,000 men was destroyed by the use of fire.

In 533 AD, Belisarius , general under Emperor Justinian I , left the Bosporus with 500 transport ships, which were escorted by 92 dromons. On board were 5,000 cavalry and at least 10,000 infantry . His landing venture was successful; in the same year he defeated the Vandals before Carthage. With that the vandal realm disappeared. Justinian ultimately failed the restoration of the Roman Empire because the reconquest exceeded the Eastern Roman forces; however, at his death in 565 AD, imperial ships once again ruled the entire Mediterranean. Eastern Roman-Byzantine naval rule was not shaken until 655 AD at the Battle of Phoinix , but this is already part of medieval history.

Lembos, Liburnian

Around 200 BC The Pentekonteren and Triakonteren were deleted from the fleet lists. They were replaced by the Lembos ship type, which goes back to Illyrian pirates. This type was specially designed for speed and maneuverability and was introduced into his fleet by Philip of Macedonia. This type of ship was built in a single-row and double-row version with 16 to 50 rowers. Most of them had a battering spur. Ships that were used for fast transport or as dispatch boats probably had no ram. In combat, they were used to break up the enemy formation, to disrupt enemy tactics or to destroy their straps.

From this type of ship later developed the Liburnian, the standard model of the Roman Navy. The Liburnian was available as a two-row and two-tier ship in light, medium and heavy versions. The introduction of this type of ship also served to save costs and personnel. The light Liburnian did not have a closed upper deck. The specified length is 23 m, the width 4.30 m and the draft 0.75 m. 52 rowers, five seafarers and 30 marines are accepted as a crew. The middle Liburnian should have had 56 rowers, with a length of 24 m, a width of 4.80 m and a draft of 0.90 m. The upper deck was open in the middle. Six men and around 60 marines were likely to have been on board as seafarers. The heavy Liburnian came to about 30 m length, 5 m width and 1.80 m draft. It is believed to have carried around 68 rowers, nine seafarers and 75 marines.

Light combat ships and transporters

In addition to the classic warships, there are also numerous smaller warships for escort, scouting, transport and light combat tasks such as outposts and port protection tasks about which only sparse information is available in some cases. The Pristis was a manoeuvrable ship, particularly used for securing convoy, similar to the Lembos. The Hemiola was a fast ship of Greek origin, originally developed by pirates. It was used as a light combat ship and a fast transport ship. It was characterized in particular by high maneuverability and a quick transition from taking sails to rowing in combat. A further Rhodesian development was the Triemiola. It became a standard ship in the Hellenistic navies. It was introduced around 300 BC. In the navy of Rhodes and disappeared around 42 BC. When the Romans disbanded the Rhodesian Navy. The Greek and later the Roman fleets used fast and light ships of different designs for reconnaissance purposes and dispatch boats, such as the Monere Acatus used in the Persian and Greek fleets, the Celox of Greek origin, the Myoparo originally used in the Greek, Carthaginian and Roman fleets Camare used as a merchant and pirate ship, various versions of orariae naves (coastal sailors) as outpost vehicles , the actuaria naval transporter and the troop transporter and auxiliary warship Phaselus.

Dromone

In the middle of the 4th century AD, shipbuilding returned to the moneric construction of the single-row and single-tier galley used by the Greeks 1000 years ago, albeit in a cataphract (armored) construction. This development was caused by the lack of money and personnel. The dromone was the standard ship of Justinian's navy and the forerunner of the later development of this type of ship to the standard ship of the Byzantine navy in the 6th – 12th centuries. Century AD. The dimensions are likely to have corresponded to those of the earlier Triconteren and Penteconteren.

Naval war tactics

The tactical cooperation between a large number of warships was a challenge to the command skills and intelligence of fleet commanders due to limited command resources. The commander only had optical means, such as flags, and sound signals at his disposal to guide his units.

Until the construction of the Polyeren, the ramming tactic followed by a boarding battle was the predominant tactic. The ramming tactic was also developed to perfection by the Greeks and Carthaginians in its seafaring requirements. The prerequisite was an orderly formation in which one tried to get into an advantageous position for the attack by skillful maneuvering. There were three basic maneuvers: Diekplus (breakthrough / passage), Periplus (bypass) and Kyklos (defensive circular formation).

The Diekplus maneuver could be carried out by two ships as well as by ships moving in formation. An opposing formation moving in a Dwars line was broken through by a formation moving in a keel line at maximum speed. By changing course shortly before the opponent passed, his own bow was steered sideways into the opposing oars, so that the oars were sheared off. When passing both ships, bows, slings and catapults were used if necessary. The next ship on the keel line then rammed the incapable of maneuvering ship in the area of ​​the stern or the side. A well-trained crew released themselves from the enemy hull by rowing backwards. When a ship was rammed, it did not necessarily go under, but a ramming hit caused panic and / or loss of oars.

After shearing off the opposing oars, the immobile opponent could be rammed sideways by driving a three-quarters circle, called a periplus . An effective counter-maneuver with only two ships fighting each other was a three-quarters circle of the enemy, so that both ships were again bow against bow after execution.

As a further development of these tactics, a formation in the keel line passed the opponent who was driving in the dwars line. The ships of the keel line were mutually covered by the ram of the following ship. Individual ships on the opposing Dwars Line should be challenged to break out of their formation and attack. If this happened, the attacked ship put the rudder hard in the direction of the enemy and showed the enemy the ram, while the following ship's own keel line rammed the enemy. If the enemy did not agree to it, an attempt was made to attack and push back a wing of the opposing Dwars line. The resulting course changes in the formation of the enemy were used for side ramming.

To defend against the Diekplus, the formation of two Dwars lines traveling one behind the other could be captured. The second Dwars line had the task of ramming the enemy after passing through the first line at the moment when he started to approach the periplus after breaking through the line. Another defensive measure against the Diekplus was the stationing of the units of the second Dwars line behind the gaps in the front Dwars line. This made it almost impossible to pass the first dwars line, as the opponent exposed himself to the ramming of the second dwars line. To make it more difficult to encircle them, the dwars lines could also be driven in a concave or convex shape.

However, two dwars lines in a row narrowed the width of the battle line and made it vulnerable to the periplus. During the Periplus maneuver, the opposing formation, traveling in two dwars lines, was outstripped in width by its own formation. The winged ships turned inward when the two ships met and rammed the opposing ships sideways. To support this attack, the center of the formation was able to delay the battle by moving backwards until the enemy had exceeded the wing and the periplus could be executed.

While the Greeks, Carthaginians and Egyptians attacked more often in multiple dwars lines, the Romans preferred to fight in a single dwars line in order to be able to use as many long-range weapons as possible before boarding. The Roman fleet dominated the command of large units and combat formations and was able to adapt its tactical behavior to the situation.

Kyklos

The Kyklos is a defensive circular formation that was used by an outnumbered, slower fleet or to protect escorts by forming their own combat ships in a circle with outward ram rams. The transporters were in the center of the circle. In the immediate vicinity within the district, additional ships of our own could be stationed to defend against broken-in ships.

With the construction of the polyers, the methods of fighting at sea changed. The importance of ramming tactics was reduced and largely replaced by the use of close-range and long-range weapons with subsequent boarding. By using long-range weapons such as arrow catapults or launcher guns, failures of the opposing crew were to be caused before the boarding battle from a great distance. The ability to ram was retained, but lost its importance with the increasing size and invulnerability of these ships. Rams by light or medium-sized units were mostly unsuccessful in the Hellenistic and Roman times against the capital ships protected with bronze plates, planks or beam belts. The super galleys differed from their predecessors in the age of boarding in the number of marines they could take on board. Heavy galleys were equipped with detachable combat towers and enabled the embarked archers to have a higher and more effective firing position.

The catapults used on board fired spears, stones, or vessels with burning substances. Occasionally, heavy weights attached to protruding spars at the bow were also used , which were dropped onto the opposing deck. Around 190 BC The Rhodesians introduced the fire pots, forerunners of the Greek fire , which were poured out at the end of poles over the deck of the enemy. An evasive maneuver inevitably opened up the possibility of ramming.

In the Battle of Actium, Octavian's fleet included two six-ranked ships and a large number of lighter units, while Antonius used many eight-ranked and ten-ranked ships. The defeat is attributed to the clumsiness of his capital ships, short-sighted tactical maneuvers, and the devastating moral impact of his escape from the battlefield. Ultimately, the long-range gun and launcher deployment of the Octavian's ships commanded by Agrippa contributed to the success. The course of the battle also proved the superiority of the lighter units over the over-heavy units. Agrippa had the numerous Liburnians that he had introduced in the meantime attacked in pack formations. The opposing parties faced each other in dwars lines, from which several Liburnians each attacked a capital ship and thus made target distribution and target concentration of the enemy fire more difficult.

The Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans were known to Brander and they used them. Fires were either steered or towed by a small crew, or they drifted with the current towards an enemy fleet.

Ports

Although shipping used the sea as a transport route in antiquity, the construction of infrastructure facilities was initially dispensed with. With the increase in trade, it was no longer enough to exchange goods on the shore and pull the ships ashore after the sea voyage. The Greeks proved to be docile students of the Phoenicians in port construction and began to build harbors that offered protection to ships in bad weather and also made loading and unloading easier.

Enclosed ports began in the Mediterranean from the 6th century BC. To develop. Initially, open docks were created through the construction of large jetties in which the ships could anchor. Is known z. B. the approximately 500 m long pier of Rhodes. This was the way ports were built in Roman times.

Alexandria lighthouse

Egypt had one of the largest Mediterranean ports of antiquity with the port of Alexandria. In its time it was the only port in which the "ALEXANDREIA", the giant ship of antiquity, could anchor. An 80 m high lighthouse rose on the island of Pharos off the port.

With the Romans, the technique of port construction reached new heights of architecture. They were able to make large caissons that were filled with opus caementicium, which had hydraulic properties and hardened under water. In the event that no opus caementicium was available, clay-sealed boxes were made that could be pumped empty. This made it possible to build a foundation while it was dry. In the case of a coast with a strong current, there was also the option of completely constructing the structure, which was ultimately to be under water, on a platform, allowing it to dry out for two months and then slowly sinking to the bottom.

Around the Mediterranean there were a large number of trading ports that had their heyday at different times. The following are representative of all of them: Corinth , Amnisos , Miletus, Carthage, Seleukia Pieria, Ostia, Byzantion / Constantinople, Athens, Tarsus (Turkey) , Ephesus, Cyrene , Syracuse, Tarragona , Cádiz , Byblos , Tyros, Tarent .

In Roman times, which also had a standing fleet, there were a number of Roman naval ports in the Mediterranean, including: Forum Julii, Ravenna, Portus Romae (Ostia), Puteoli , Misenum , Dyrrhachium , Cape Panium, Heraclea, Brundisium , Sestos , Apameia, Kenchreai , Pairaius, Rhegium , Messana , Caesarea Maritima, Alexandria , Taposiris, Leptis Magna , Cosa (Ansedonia) . Augustus set up 3 permanent naval bases in Forum Julii near Marseille to control the French (Gallic) and Spanish coasts, in Misenum at the northern end of the Bay of Naples to protect the southwestern sea area and in Ravenna to protect the Adriatic. The Italian naval bases eventually replaced the base in Marseille, which lost more and more of its importance and was closed. Fleet bases were also locations with technical, logistical and administrative structures.

trade

Traditionally, goods such as wine and olive oil, ceramics, metal bars and building materials have always been transported in the Mediterranean. From the 2nd century BC Fish sauces ( garum ) and glassware were added. Marble and stone blocks were used as sea freight in the 2nd / 3rd centuries. Century BC Increasingly transported. Parallel to the growth of the Roman Empire and thus the city of Rome, grain transports to Italy, initially from Sicily and Sardinia, then from Egypt and North Africa, became vital. The import of grain was carried out under state supervision by large companies with suitable shipping space. Mixed loads such as sulfur bars, glassware, figs, wine, tuna in oil, shellfish and almonds or salted or smoked meat in combination with other goods and ballast were also common. From discovered wrecks, we are also aware of valuable luxury goods such as furniture, candelabra, jewelry and exotic animals for the circus. Since the 3rd century BC In BC trade relations with the Indian subcontinent were deepened by sea. The Necho Canal was used by the Ptolemies as a connection between the Nile and the Red Sea, which was replaced under Roman rule by periodic journeys of entire fleets. Roman trade with the Far East was based on the port of Hurghada, which, along with Berenice, had already been the starting point for trade expeditions in the Ptolemaic Empire. Here were Indian spices, precious stones, ivory and animals imported; u. a. also silk from China with which the Roman Empire had official contacts since the second half of the 2nd century .

Sailing season / wind

The sailing season was limited to the period from May 27th to September 14th. Accepting greater dangers, it was possible to go to sea from March 10 to November 10. Outside this period, shipping was restricted to what was absolutely necessary, e.g. B. Dispatch of dispatches and the transport of urgently needed supplies and troops. The normal activities were concentrated in the summer and a few weeks before and after. In the other times there was no shipping and the ports were in hibernation. The cause was not only the inevitable winter storms, but also the poor visibility conditions, which sometimes made navigating impossible.

During the limited sailing season in the Mediterranean there was a predominantly northerly wind direction. This was particularly true of the eastern Mediterranean, where the north-westerly wind direction prevailed.

It was similar in the Aegean. In the south-eastern part and western part of the Mediterranean, the northern wind was predominant. The prevailing winds in the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas came from the northwest. This situation changes in the Gulf of Lyon, where the summer winds very often came from the southwest, although there was also the northern mistral. There was a general easterly wind between the Balearic Islands and Gibraltar. During the sailing season ships could with a good southern courses Etmal do, but for the return journey they had to go against the wind. The Meltemi Etesian winds in the Aegean could have such a force even in summer that ships could not attack and had to seek shelter behind islands. In contrast, currents and tidal tides are generally negligible except for a few straits.

With good winds, travel times were two days from Ostia to Cape Bon (Africa), seven days to Gibraltar, four days to Tarragona (Spain), three days to Narbonne , nine days from Pozzuoli to Alexandria, six days from Messina to Alexandria, and from Byzantium to Rhodes five days. During the imperial era, the journey was usually non-stop from Alexandria to Ostia, the seaport of Rome that was expanded as planned under Claudius and Trajan .

literature

Web links

Commons : Trireme  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Marine of Ancient Rome  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. The Marsala wreck is seen as such. In Pisa, Istanbul and Mainz , wrecks of warships were clearly found, some of them inland vessels of small dimensions or from late antiquity.
  2. External photo ( Memento from February 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Greek Pentekontere)
  3. External photo ( Memento from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Greek Diere)
  4. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Attic Trireme)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  5. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (ponte)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  6. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Roman Quadriremis)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  7. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Roman Quinqereme)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  8. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Greek hepteres)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  9. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Lagiden Octere)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  10. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Decaters)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  11. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Ptolemaic Tetta Counter)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  12. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Corbita)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net
  13. Ancient Seafaring: Catalog for the exhibition in the small exhibition room of the University Library Graz (PDF) Karl-Franzens-University Graz. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  14. digital reconstruction of a small coastal vehicle after a find in Herculaneum [1]  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei (ital.)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.pompeiisites.org  
  15. External photo ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Liburnian)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nexusboard.net