The Age of the Dromon: The Byzantine Navy ca 500-1204

839 Pages·2006·19.062 MB·English

by  John H. Pryor, Elizabeth M. Jeffreys

THE AGE OF THE DROMWN
THE
MEDIEVAL MEDITERRANEAN
PEOPLES, ECONOMIES AND CULTURES, 400-1500
EDITORS
HughKennedy(St. Andrews)
PaulMagdalino(St. Andrews)
DavidAbulafia(Cambridge)
BenjaminArbel(Tel Aviv)
MarkMeyerson(Toronto)
LarryJ. Simon(Western Michigan University)
VOLUME 62

DROMWN
THE AGE OF THE
The Byzantine Navy ca 500-1204
BY
JOHN H. PRYOR
AND
ELIZABETH M. JEFFREYS
WITH AN APPENDIX
TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC OF
MU\AMMAD IBN MANKALI
BY
AHMAD SHBOUL
BRILL
LEIDEN •BOSTON
2006
On the cover: ‘Dromon using Greek Fire’ from John Skylitzes’ Matritensis Græcus (formerly
Codex Græcus Matritensis Ioannis Skyllitzes, 5-3 N-2). © Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, vitr. 26-2,
fol. 34v.
Despite our efforts we have not been able to trace all rights holders to some copyrighted material.
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISSN 0928–5520
ISBN-13: 978-90-04-15197-0
ISBN-10: 90-04-15197-4
© Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers,
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printed in the netherlands
To my children, Shefali and Sean

John Pryor

To my daughter, Katharine

Elizabeth Jeffreys

CONTENTS

Preface and appreciations………………………………...…….. xi

List of figures, maps, and tables ……………………………...... xiii

Note on orthography, translation, citation, and dating ………… xix

Note on metrology and hours of daylight ……………………… xxiii

Selective gazeteer of historical place names …………………... xxv

Selective glossary of Greek, Latin, and Arabic terminology ….. xxxix

Glossary of English nautical terminology ……………………... xlix

Note on citation of Greek and Latin glossaries ………………... lix

Abbreviations ………………………………………………….. lxiii

Maps …………………………………………………………… lxv

Introduction …………………………………..………………... 1

Chapter One: the operational context ………………………….. 7
The first period, ca 400-560: the Germanic assault and
imperial recovery …………………………………….. 7
The second period, ca 560-750: the Muslim assault and
imperial recovery …………………………………….. 19
The third period, ca 750-875: equilibrium of chaos …….. 34
The fourth period, ca 875-1025: Byzantine ascendancy ... 50
The fifth period, ca 1025-1204: the triumph of the Latin
West ………………………………………………….. 76

Chapter Two: the origins of the Dromon …………………….... 123
First mentions …………………………………….……... 123
Deck and oarage system ………………………………… 128
The ram and the spur ……………………………………. 134
Square sails and lateen sails …………………………….. 153