To My Beloved Son, Flavius Victor CONTENTS Title Page Glossary Introduction Chronology Historical Background The Late Empire The Eastern Empire The organization of the late imperial Roman Navy The Praetorian fleets The Provincial fleets The fleets of Justinian the Great Crews and command structure Late Roman warships and boats The evolution of the biremis-dikrotos-liburna The evolution of the triremis The evolution of the quadriremis The triakonteris The pentekonteris From the liburna to the dhromon The navis lusoria Other ships Structure and construction Armament, equipment and decoration Fighting on the sea: Late empire Roman Naval tatics Operational History The Gothic Wars, 238–271 The Persian campaign of Julianus, 363 The Italian reconquest wars of Justinian the Great, 531–561 Bibliography Ancient Roman sources Modern works About the Author Acknowledgements GLOSSARY Anquina: double rope used to drop down the pennon when the mainsail was not in use Antennaeorantemnae: pennons Aphlaston (aplustre): the raising of the stern Carina: keel Cheruchi: uphauls for the vela, bound at the top of the mast Cornua: the knotted corners of the squared mainsail at the top Foredeck: the deck forward of the epotis, and aft of the stempost Interscalmium: The space between thowl and thowl on the side of a vessel, consequently represented on the outside by the space between one oar, or oarport, and another Gubernaculum: rudder Maloorarbor: mast Navis, naves: ship, ships Puppis: stern Rostrum: ram Rudentes: ropes Si para: topsail Stempost: the curved timber rising from the keel in the bow and culminating in an ornament or figurehead Stolos: ornament of the prow Thalamites: the lowermost oarsmen on a three-level warship Thranites: rowers in the topmost reme in a multireme warship Trochlea: tackles and blocks for the running of the ropes linked to the movement of the sails Velum, vela: sail, pennon sail Wale: assemblage end to end of thick and broad planks along a ship’s side and worked into the hull planking Zygites: middle-reme oarsmen on a three-level warship INTRODUCTION The period of relative peace enjoyed by the Roman Empire in the first two centuries of its history ended with the Marcomannic Wars. While the Mediterranean and the rivers Rhine and Danube were the centre of Roman maritime operations, Roman fleets also operated in the Atlantic Ocean, in the English Channel, and in the Irish Sea and North Sea as far as the Orkney Islands and Denmark’s northernmost cape. At the same time the Roman navy fought in the Black Sea, and on the Euphrates river as far as the Persian Gulf. Roman fleets were also present in the Red Sea, and probably also in the Indian Ocean. Reconstruction of a navis oraria, 2nd–3rd century. (Drawing by Andrea Salimbeti ex Viereck) The advent of the Severian dynasty in 193 AD was followed by the third- century crisis of the Principate and the start of a period of military anarchy, which saw the Roman armies engaged in land and sea against Barbarian invaders and fighting bloody civil wars. Now seriously challenged by new dangers from the sea, the Roman fleets’ role was no longer merely patrolling the Mare Nostrum, but also fighting invaders with naval power and the experience to attack them. The restoration of Diocletian and Constantine did not prevent civil wars and the widespread use of the fleets, as well as naval operations as part of the unified Roman Empire’s last major campaign, against the Persians, under Emperor Julianus. The serious naval threat of Genseric and his Vandals highlighted the difficulties Rome had in creating and maintaining sufficient naval power to defend the Empire. In this the surviving Eastern Empire succeeded, and, at the death of Justinian the Great, the Mediterranean was again a Roman sea, sailed by the new protagonist of naval warfare for the next seven centuries: the dhromon. 1 This, the third New Vanguard volume examining the warships of Rome, analyzes the evolution of the Roman fleet in one of the most fascinating periods of its history. New shipwrecks, archaeological discoveries and the very rich details of literary and artistic sources allow us a good reconstruction of the new giants of the sea in this tumultuous period. 1 For the earlier history of Roman warships, see NVG 225 Republican Roman Warships 509–27 BC and NVG 230 Imperial Roman Warships 27 BC–193 AD CHRONOLOGY 210 AD The Classis Britannica supports the land operations of the Emperor Septimius Severus in Caledonia 213 While sailing along the north Aegean coast, the Emperor Caracalla’s ship is wrecked; a galea of the Imperial Misenensis Fleet rescues him, and the whole Fleet receives the title of Pia Vindex Denarius of the Emperor Caracalla. On the obverse you can read ANTONINVS PIVS AVG (Antoninus Pius Augustus) and on the reverse, on the ship, ADVENT AVGG (Adventus Augustorum = arrival of the emperors). The galley presents a legionary vexillum on the prow, and a standard on the stern, with three passengers seated in cabin at the stern, probably Caracalla, Geta and their father Septimius Severus. The legionary flag at the prow and the legionary standards at the stern point towards the representation of a ship involved in some military expedition. The coin celebrates the delayed arrival in Rome of Septimius Severus in the year 202 AD with his two sons Caracalla and Geta. You can clearly see this galley’s double-beaked ram, another sign of its military employment. (Mint of Rome, 202 AD, private collection, photo courtesy of Forum Ancient Coins) 238–251 First Gothic war; sea and land raids by the Goths and pirate activities in the Black Sea; the Legio II Adiutrix receives from the Emperor Claudius II the appellative of Constans 238 The Emperor Pupienus chooses Ravenna as operative base against Maximinus 243 The Emperor Gordian III concentrates strong naval forces in the East and defeats the Sassanians 260 The Misenensis Fleet suppresses an African revolt against Gallienus 261 Continuous naval raids by the Saxons on the west coasts of Britain In the Persian war the usurper Balista collects ships of Cilician ports and defeats the Persians near Pompeiopolis, taking the harem of the Sassanian King Shapur I (Zon., XII, 630; Syncellus, 7, 742–7,743) 262–266 Moesia and Thracia under threat by the Goths; the Germanic Herulians’ fleet of 500 ships is destroyed by Romano-Byzantine fleet before Byzantium. The Barbarians ravage Greece, sacking Athens, Corinth, Argos and Sparta; but the Athenian leader Publius Erennius Dexippus, with 2,000 men and the help of the Roman fleet, ambushes the Barbarians on their return journey; their army and fleet are finally destroyed by the Emperor Gallienus in Thracia Roman Hippagus, from a third-century mosaic. (Medein, Tunisia, photo courtesy of the museum) 263 In Gaul, during the ‘Gallic Empire’ of Postumus, a flotilla is established to guard the Upper Rhenus-Danubius Limes 268 The Roman navarcha Probus defeats Palmyrene army before Alexandria 269 Second Gothic invasion by sea; Herulians, Borani, Goths and other Germanic peoples attack the Bosphorean towns under Roman control. A fleet of 2,000 ships and 320,000 men from the Danube enter Roman territory. Marcus Aurelius Claudius defeats the invaders by sea and by land. The Roman fleet is reconstructed 270 The Borani Goths, after having armed the Bosphorean ships and recruited conscripts from the captive sailors, ravage the Pontic coasts as far as Trapezunte; Trapezunte falls and many Roman warships are captured 278 The Isaurian Lidius (Palfuerius) undertakes piracy along the coasts of Asia, Pamphilia and Lycia; besieged in the city of Cremna of Pisidia by the Roman legions, Lidius does not hesitate to sacrifice men, children and women, until he is killed by a traitor who allows the Romans to enter the city 279 The Frankish captives settled by the Emperor Claudius II in Pontus seize a number of ships and raid Greece and Eastern Sicily, to be destroyed by the Roman fleet near Carthage 293–297 Constantius Chlorus restores Imperial authority in Britain in the wars against Carausius and his successor Allectus 324 The Constantinian Fleet, under the command of Crispus, son of Constantine, destroys the fleet of Licinius in the waters of Byzantium, capturing the city and sinking 130 enemy ships 363 Naval and land campaign of