Bosporan Ram ?

 

A metal mounting found near the Bosporan city of Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula has been declared a 'Mithridatic Ram'. No detailed photos yet but text states it has inscription of Mithridates VI.

LOOK HERE FOR ARTICLE IN POPULAR ARCHAEOLOGY

For my money the fitting looks too light to be a true ram. It seems more like a reinforcement to the cutwater found on many ships from the classical period. One can see where it could have been mounted on the keel.

Small Roman galley

It was a feature of galleys and could be from a small galley. It was found near the remains of a ships 15m long. Text at the website of Popular Archaeology magazine suggests a bireme but such a vessel should be in the order of 25 metres long.

It may not be too much of an exagerration to call it a ram but the size of the fitting and the vessel it is supposed to have been mounted on do not really amount to a warship.

This find is very exciting because it demonstrates how much is waiting to be found under the sea and highlights the Black Sea, with its anoxic depths as a potential place where we may one day be able to gaze upon a preserved sunken trieres.

Lecture about Greek settlement in Taman