Syracusia

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Syracusia
Fantasy representation of Syracusia from 1798
Fantasy representation of Syracusia from 1798
Ship data
flag Ancient Greece
Launch 240 BC Chr.
Ship dimensions and crew
displacement 1000  t
 
crew * 400 soldiers
  • 100 passengers
Rigging and rigging
Number of masts 3
Armament

The Syracusia or Syrakosia ( Greek  Συρακοσία ) was a ship that was built around 240 BC by order of King Hieron II of Syracuse . Designed by Archimedes and built by Archias of Corinth. She is one of the largest ships of antiquity . Since allegedly all ports at that time, with the exception of Alexandria , were too small to accommodate the ship, it was given to King Ptolemy III. Donated by Egypt and renamed Alexandria (or Alexandris ). The maiden voyage from Syracuse to Alexandria remained the only voyage of the Syracusia .

The Syracusia in the Treatise of the Moschion

All information about the construction and equipment of the Syracusia comes from Moschion, who provides an extremely detailed description. However, the account of Moschion is not transmitted directly, rather it is quoted in the works of Athenaios . The identity of this moschion is not certain, because it is only mentioned in Athenaios, who speaks of it only as a "certain moschion".

To build his ship, Hieron brought shipbuilders and other craftsmen together and sat over all Archias of Corinth as site manager. The success was so important to the king that he himself came to the shipyard every day. For the construction of the ship, timber was felled on Mount Etna in an amount "that would have been enough for 60 four-oars ". Other wood (for dowels, ribs and frames), flax, hemp and pitch was procured from "various areas" all over Europe. As soon as the ship was finished (in the shell), the wood was shod with sheets of lead, under which was pitch-soaked canvas. Because of the enormous weight of the ship, the launch turned out to be extremely difficult, which is why a fierce dispute arose among those involved about the correct method. Finally, Archimedes managed to get the ship into the water with the help of a rope pull he had developed and with a few men. Then the further interior work took place.

The description that Moschion provides of the interior fittings and equipment suggests a luxury ship. In addition to the rooms for the crew, cabins for officers and passengers were provided ("all these rooms had a mosaic floor made of various stones, in which the entire history of the Iliad was depicted with amazing art"). There were temples, a library, a sports room, a bathing room and promenades with "arbors of white ivy and vine tendrils" which were "watered by hidden leaden water pipes". Even a seawater fish tank was on board.

The ship had three masts and was designed for 20 row banks. It had 8 towers, which were mainly used for defense. Each was manned by 4 heavily armed men and two archers. In addition to the permanent crew, there were another six hundred men who stood by the bow for special missions.

According to Moschion, the ship could hold 60,000 sacks of grain, 10,000 jugs of Sicilian salt fish, plus 20,000 talents of wool and 20,000 talents of other cargo. In addition, there was the catering for the team. Which units - whether Medimnae , Modii or Alexandrian dimensions - were these the basis of information is not known.

Moschion also mentions the use of a special screw , "an invention of Archimedes", with which the accumulated seepage water in the hull could be pumped out by a single man, even at great depths. Afterwards, Moschion handed down an epigram that was written by an otherwise unknown poet named Archimelos. In recognition of this, Archimelos was given 1,000 medimnoi of grain, which Hieron had sent to Piraeus , the port of Athens , at his own expense . In the epigram, the poet praises the size of the ship that could take on Etna and whose topmast would touch the stars. He celebrates the delivery of grain that Hieron gave as a gift for the Greek islands.

  • Archimedes uses a cable to pull the Syracusia into the water

  • Example of an Archimedean screw

interpretation

Since neither the ship nor the informant Moschion or the poet Archimelos were mentioned except for Athenaios, the credibility of the tradition was doubted and the description of the ship dismissed as a fairy tale. As an indication, it was said that thanks to the invention of Archimedes it was possible for a single man to pump out the mighty bilge of the ship. Plutarch also reports on a three-master that Archimedes launched into the water for Hieron II using a pulley system. In this context, however, it does not indicate any particular size or position of the ship. Proclus, who also takes up the anecdote, reports in his commentary on Euclid in the 5th century that all Syracusans together were not able to put the three-masted ship intended for Ptolemy of Egypt into the sea. Finally, with Johannes Tzetzes , who wrote his Book of Stories in the 12th century , Archimedes did the deed when the ship was loaded with 600,000 medimnoi.

The richness of detail in the description is mostly taken as evidence of its correctness. According to Lionel Casson, the Syracusia was the largest ship of antiquity, but certainly of the Hellenism . Their carrying capacity is usually assumed to be in the range of 1700 to 1900 t. But the estimates fluctuate and range up to over 3,650 t. The shipbuilding materials mentioned by Moschion, especially hemp and flax from the Iberian Peninsula and the pitch from the Rhone , could only be used after the end of the First Punic War in 241 BC. Be procured. With the construction can therefore at the earliest 240 BC. Have been started.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Moschion ( FGrHist 575 F 1) at Athenaios, Banquet of the Scholars 5.206 d – 209 e; German translation in: Athenaios von Naukratis: Das Schehrtenmahl. Edited by Ursula and Kurt Treu. Leipzig 1985, pp. 130–135 http://www.albertmartin.de/altgriechisch/forum/?view=246
  2. ↑ Athenaios, Banquet of the Scholars 5.206 d: "From the ship of Hieron [II.] Of Syracuse, the construction of which was supervised by the mathematician Archimedes, one should not be silent, especially since there is a treatise about it by a certain Moschion, which I recently carefully read" .
  3. ↑ Athenaios, Banquet of the Scholars 5, 209 c – d.
  4. ↑ Cecil Torr: Ancient Ships. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1894, pp. 27-29 ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Arthur Breusing : The nautical of the old. Schünemann, Bremen 1886 p. 37 ( digitized version ); cautiously doubtful Franz Susemihl : The History of Greek Literature in the Alexandrian Age. Volume 1. Teubner, Leipzig 1891, p. 882 f. with note 227 ( digitized version ).
  6. ↑ Plutarch, Marcellus 14.7-8 ( English ).
  7. ↑ Cecil Torr: Ancient Ships. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1894, pp. 27 f. with note 74.
  8. ↑ Proclus, in Euclidem 18 (Grynaeus, English at Google Books ).
  9. ↑ Tzetzes, Chiliades 2, 103-108 ( English ).
  10. ↑ For example Caroline Lehmler: Syracuse under Agathocles and Hieron II. The connection of culture and power in a Hellenistic metropolis. Verlag Antike, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-938032-07-3 , p. 219.
  11. ^ Lionel Casson: Sea and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1971, pp. 185 f.
  12. ↑ Olaf Höckmann : Ancient Seafaring (= Beck's archaeological library ). CH Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30463-X , p. 60
  13. ^ Lionel Casson: Sea and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1971, pp. 185 f.
  14. ^ Jean Macintosh Turfa, Alwin G. Steinmayer Jr .: The Syracusia As a Giant Cargo Vessel. In: The International Journal of Nautical Archeology. Volume 28, No. 2, 1999, p. 108 f .; Fausto Zevi : Le grandi navi mercantili, Puteoli e Roma. In: Le Ravitaillement en blé de Rome et des centers urbains des débuts de la République jusqu'au Haut-Empire. Actes du colloque international de Naples, 14-16 Février 1991 (= Publications de l'École française de Rome. Volume 196). École Française de Rome, Rome 1994, pp. 61–68, here: p. 63 ( online ); Caroline Lehmler: Syracuse under Agathocles and Hieron II. The connection of culture and power in a Hellenistic metropolis. Verlag Antike, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-938032-07-3 , p. 219.

literature

  • Lionel Casson: Sea and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1971, pp. 184-186. 191-199.
  • Olaf Höckmann : Ancient seafaring (= Beck's archaeological library ). CH Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30463-X , pp. 60-62.
  • Caroline Lehmler: Syracuse under Agathocles and Hieron II. The connection of culture and power in a Hellenistic metropolis. Verlag Antike, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-938032-07-3 , pp. 219-232.
  • Fik Meijer, André Wegener Sleeswyk: On the Construction of the 'Syracusia' (Athenaeus V. 207 AB). In: The Classical Quarterly . Volume 46, No. 2, 1996, pp. 575-578.
  • Jean Macintosh Turfa, Alwin G. Steinmayer Jr .: The Syracusia As a Giant Cargo Vessel. In: The International Journal of Nautical Archeology. Volume 28, No. 2, 1999, pp. 105-125.
  • Fausto Zevi : Le invenzioni di Archimede e le grandi navi. In: Marta Giacobelli (ed.): Lezioni Fabio Faccenna. Conferenze di Archeologia Subacquea (I e II ciclo). Edpuglia, Bari 2001, pp. 95-114.

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