https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_navy
Going into detail
regarding the types, dimensions, capacity and speed of Ancient Roman ships is
time-consuming and, depending on sources, inconsistent. Comenius uses the term unirēmis:
the English nouns unireme, monoreme (from Greek) refer to galleys
with one bank of oars but the term unirēmis itself is not attested, although
it makes sense since the following are attested:
birēmis, -is [3/f]: bireme, a ship having
two banks of oars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bireme
trirēmis, -is [3/f]; trireme; Caesar
refers to: nāvēs trirēmēs i.e. ships having three banks
of oars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trireme
quadrirēmis [3/f]: quadrireme, a ship having
four banks of oars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic-era_warships#Quadrireme
And there were
bigger ships than that: just change the beginning to identify how many banks of
oars a ship had!
[1] In his
description of the events surrounding the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Pliny the
Younger refers to his uncle (Pliny the Elder) who, out of academic interest, prepares
of a boat in order to sail across to the location of the volcano:
Iubet
liburnicam aptārī │ He orders a “Liburnian” to be prepared
liburna, -ae [1/f]:
a Liburnian was a type of light and fast ship, two banks of oars (biremes)
on each side.
However, upon
receipt of a letter (this incident is, in my view, highly questionable) from
Rectina, an inhabitant who is unable to escape by land, Pliny the Elder decides
to “upgrade” to a bigger boat, his role in the narrative “evolving” from mere
academic interest to that of a rescuer i.e. the bigger the problem, the bigger
the boat, and the “bigger” the man.
We’ll look at
these letters in more detail in later posts, but note how, in one short
passage, Pliny significantly enhances his uncle’s involvement portraying him as
a decisive and heroic leader.
[i] Vertit ille
cōnsilium et [ii] quod studiōsō animō incohāverat obit maximō. [iii] Dēdūcit quadrirēmēs,
[iv] ascendit ipse [v] nōn Rectīnae modō ¦ sed multīs
(erat enim frequēns amoenitās ōrae) lātūrus auxilium.
[i] He changes his
plan, and [ii] that which he had begun with an attitude of study he takes on
with a spirit of courage. [iii] He draws out quadriremes; [iv] he
himself boards, [v] ready to bring assistance not only to Rectina, but to
many (for the pleasantness of that shore was crowded).
[2] And you didn’t
need to see these ships in battles and rescue missions; you could go and watch
a naval show; Suetonius is referring to a naumachia, -ae
[1/f], the artificial recreation of a sea battle:
nāvālī proeliō in minōre Cōdētā dēfossō lacū birēmēs ac trirēmēs quadrirēmēsque Tyriae et Aegyptiae classis magnō pugnātōrum numerō cōnflīxērunt.
nāvālis, -e:
naval; proelium, -ī [2/n] nāvāle: naval battle
A lake having been
dug in the little Codeta, ships of the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets, containing
two, three, and four banks of oars, with a number of men on board, afforded
an animated representation of a sea-fight.
image #1: Phoenician
warship with two rows of oars (Nineveh, ca. 700 BC)
image #2: Liburnians
of the Danube fleet during Trajan’s Dacian Wars (Bas Relief from Trajan’s
column, 118 AD)
image #3: Athenian
trireme (c.410BC)
No comments:
Post a Comment