The Roman Navy: Ships, Men & Warfare 380 BC - AD 475

368 Pages·2012·11.48 MB·English

by  Michael Paul Pitassi

THE ROMAN NAVY
Bireme warship, relief from the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia at Palestrina
(Praeneste), Lazio Region, Italy (De Agostini/Getty Images)
THE ROMAN NAVY
SHIPS, MEN & WARFARE 350 BC–AD 475
MICHAEL PITASSI
CONTENTS
Preface

I INTRODUCTION
1 A Brief History of the Roman Navy
Chronology of Naval Affairs

II THE SHIPS
2 Shipbuilding
3 Shipboard Weapons
4 Types of Ship – The Republic
5 Types of Ship – The Empire

III COMMAND STRUCTURE
6 Organisation of the Fleets
7 The Command Structure
8 Shipboard and Other Ranks

IV THE CREWS
9 Recruitment
10 Terms of Service
11 Training
12 Uniforms and weapons

V SERVICE LIFE
13 Food and drink
14 On Board Ship
15 Religion and Superstition

VI SEAMANSHIP
16 Navigation
17 Ship Performance
18 Bases and Shore Establishments

VII OPERATIONS
19 Strategy and Deployment
20 Scouting and Intelligence
21 Blockades

VIII TACTICS
22 Battle Tactics
23 The Periplous Battle
24 The Diekplous Battle
25 The Influence of Topography
26 The Static Battle
Principal Roman Naval Actions

IX ALLIED NAVIES
27 Rhodes
28 Pergamum and Syracuse
29 Marseilles and Judaea

X ENEMY NAVIES
30 Carthage, Taranto, the Pirates
31 Hellenistic Navies
32 The Barbarians

APPENDIX MODELLING NOTES
Modelling Roman Ships
Modelling Techniques
Building a Quinquereme

References and Notes
Index
PREFACE
THE ROMAN NAVY or, more accurately, the naval forces of the Roman state, is
more often than not consigned to little more than a couple of paragraphs in many
accounts of Roman military endeavour. In fact, it was for over 800 years an
integral part of the armed forces of that Roman state and became the world’s
first ‘super-power’ navy. It was the instrument by which Rome achieved
domination of the western Mediterranean, which enabled her expansion into the
lands surrounding it and the foundation of her empire; it was naval forces that
enabled the Romans to intervene and eventually to dominate the Eastern
Mediterranean and the lands of the near east. It was a naval campaign and a sea
battle that established and secured power for the first of the emperors of Rome; it
was the navy’s domination that enabled trade and the economy of the empire to
grow and to flourish, free from the scourge of piracy and to an extent not
equalled until the twentieth century. Finally, it was the loss of that domination
that was a vital factor in the disintegration and ending of the Western Roman
Empire. Cicero’s dictum that ‘The master of the sea must inevitably be master of
the empire’ (M. Tullius Cicero, 106–43 BC, Epistolae ad Atticus 10.8.4, existimat
enim qui mare teneat eum necesse [esse] rerum potiri) has proved to be true in
every Europe-wide war since. At its height, during the Punic Wars, the navy
accounted for fully a third of the total Roman military effort and during imperial
times it averaged rather more than a tenth of it.
Surviving evidence relating to the service is sparse and fragmentary but there
is overall a body of information about the Roman navy, seafaring and shipping
in the ancient world and aspects of Roman life which can be searched to extract
a picture of the Roman navy as a whole. In seeking to arrive at a detailed picture
of the service, parallel evidence will also have to be relied upon, as will
therefore, the argument that it would be unreasonable as well as illogical to
suppose that entirely separate arrangements, systems or methods had been
employed just for the navy. For example, while on the one hand it seems likely
that the army’s standard issue sword, the gladius hispaniensis, was also used by
the marines of the navy, on the other it seems that the navy adopted a short pike
for use in boarding which finds no parallel with the army. Conclusions should
not, however, be reached without consideration of the appropriateness of an
item. So, for example again, it is well known that the Roman legionary wore
sturdy, ventilated boots (caligae) studded with hobnails, but this footwear would
have been impractical for a marine, as the hobnails would lack grip on a wooden
deck and would quickly rip the surfaces to shreds. One can thus posit that a
marine’s boot, although similar, would have substituted a leather or rope sole;
the army’s boot is proven, the marine’s surmised, but well within the technology
of the time but there are no surviving examples.
There is some evidence, however, such as inscriptions, wall and pottery
paintings, statuary and literary references, that directly relate to the navy. As an
example, a votive altar set up by Valerius Valens, in which he describes himself
as Praefect[us] Classis Mis[enensis] (CIL X.3336/ILS 3765), prefect of the fleet
at Misenum, shows that the post existed in the early third century AD, the date of
the altar. There are other traces, too, on the monumental scale; at Carthage, for
example, there are the remains of the basins that formed the once great military
and mercantile harbours, including the base of an excavated ship shed on the
area now known as Admiralty Island. Syracuse has some remains of city walls
from ancient times as well as the great Euryalus fortress, the world’s first
artillery fort. In Rome the Capitoline Museum houses the plaque erected to
celebrate Duilius’ naval victory at Mylae in 260 BC. At Ostia, by the Marine
Gate, the funerary monument of C. Cartilius Poplicola (first century BC)
commemorating his military achievements in life is crowned by a representation
of a warship of trireme configuration; almost opposite this is a model in marble
of a ship’s ram. There are smaller artefacts, such as bricks bearing stamps of the
fleets that had them made, metal diplomas awarded to men upon their retirement
from the service and inscriptions and reliefs on monuments and stelae in many
museums, as well as wall paintings, such as those from Pompeii.
The view from Baia (Baiae) to Pozzuoli (Puteoli). Tiberius’ philosopher,
Thrasyllus taunted Gaius (Caligula) that he could no more become emperor
than ride a chariot between them. When he did become emperor, Gaius
ordered the nearby Misene fleet to gather every ship that they could find to
bridge the distance of some 2 miles (3 km); they built a pontoon bridge
from some 2,000 ships, 10 feet (3 m) wide to join them, with ‘islands’
every thousand paces upon which ‘villages’ were constructed. Gaius duly
rode his chariot across, accompanied by cavalry and infantry, returning
across on the following day. (Author’s photograph)
Although having had great numbers of ships and men, the Republican navy
did not have the great naval bases of later Imperial times and thus little trace
remains of it. The Imperial navy did, however, and archaeological excavations
have been carried out at many of them, although there is sometimes little to
distinguish the remains as distinctly ‘naval’ as opposed to military. Thus a
military hospital unearthed at Xanten (Vetera, Belgium) could serve both the
Rhine fleet and local garrisons. One location known to be of naval significance
is, of course, Misenum, much of which is now a pleasant, modern holiday town;
but there are visible remains of masonry and moles and the base of the temple of
the Augustales, the priests of the cult of the emperors, can be seen, the facade of
which is in the nearby Bacoli museum. The great cistern can also be visited. At
Ravenna, much less remains: a piece of wall and the remains of a mole, now
inland. This site is a good example of how in many places changes of shoreline
and silting over the centuries mean that the raison d’être and context have been
lost. This is not always so, as, for instance, Portchester Castle (Porta Adurnis) in
Hampshire, the best-preserved of the ‘shore forts’, still stands on the shore at the
top of Portsmouth harbour, connected to the nearby Roman road network. The
piers, jetties, slipways and quays that once served for the operation of its warship
complement have long since disappeared but can be readily envisaged, the
context remaining valid.
The trireme Olympias, a full-size reconstruction of a fifth century BC
Athenian trireme, built in 1987. This type was the ultimate ramming vessel
and remained in widespread service even after it had been replaced in the
battle-line by larger types. The ship is now at the Averof Museum, Nea
Faliro, near Athens. (Author’s photograph)