A jolly re-enactment of a Roman games at Nimes. In a Roman amphitheatre with thousands of spectators and hundreds of costumed re-enactors. Cleopatra and the Battle of Actium featured!
A 2016 article from Mail online. A colourful gallery of photos and a video to boot. HERE
The ships look like fun - I wonder how they were propelled ?
Belgians have no idea about the real thing....sigh...
Trieres included a maybe unexpected member of the crew. He was the auletes /αυλήτης or trieraules.
His purpose was to give the oarsmen the beat for their rowing rhythm. The instrument he played was the ancient two-pipe flute called the aulos.
The Poseidonia aulos
The auletes was used by the rowing master - the keleustes - to maintain a steady beat over time. In larger or later vessels a drum may have been used by an individual entitled the portisculus/pausarius - the hammer-wielder or beat-giver. The auletes used a strap-brace to keep the instrument in place.
When Olympias was on trials a tannoy system was implemented to allow direct and simultaneous communication with the whole crew. Getting 170 men to work in unison is no easy matter..
On each trial usually took some days before the oarsmen rowed properly in unison and once this basic standard was reached the necessity for communication was lessened. One must remember that the ancient crews grew up rowing and had the technique instilled in them. They needed occasional prompting not an ear-lashing to get them to work together and at the right rhythm.
'We're riding along on the crest of a wave...'
This year the Edinburgh Lyceum, in conjunction with the Actors Touring Company have a production of Aeschylus' 'The Suppliants' or 'Suppliant Women' directed by Ramin Gray. Passing over the rather tatty production values and the attempts to make modern political parallels, one aspect of the production is worthy of note. The music includes an aulos. The auletes for the production is Barnaby Brown and he spent a year learning the instrument. He was , of course an accomplished flautist already. The Chorus of the Greek theatre sang and danced to the aulos, and so too did the oarsmen work to it.
'Suppliant my arse - give them five minutes and they'll be telling you to tidy the house and change your underpants more often..'
Aeschylus, the renowned Athenian playwright, was not one of your modern Ivory Tower scribblers. In ancient Athens the Middle Class put their hoplons on the line for the city in order to maintain both their state and their status. Aeschylus definitely fought at Marathon and he may have fought at Salamis too - he would certainly have been present there. His brother lost a hand in the fighting. Listening to the aulos brought back to life by Barnaby Brown and others is to listen to the sound created by the auletes in the ships at Salamis. Not only that, but the all the galleys plying the seas of the Athenian Empire, the Black Sea and all over the Mediterranean. 170 sweaty, toiling men under the canopy of a trieres would share the drone and reedy wail of the aulos. They must have keenly eyed the auletes at the start of the voyage and hoped the new face knew his stuff - chaos and crumpled eardrums could otherwise ensue.
'Yes, Sire, I can confirm the Greeks are playing the theme from 'Das Boot', just to wind you up...'
There are some excellent videos of aulos playing on YOUTUBE. Shut your eyes and imagine you are resting on your oar and just listening to the auletes for a minute. No doubt he could also whistle up a festive tune for the evening to relax by.
VID 1 - Barnaby Brown does the technical stuff...
VID 2 - Barnaby Brown at the breathtaking temples of Pæstum.
VID 3 - If you survived the first two, this is a reward. Not such an accurate copy but a great musician playing a nice melody. Anton Platonov gives it gas. See his other aulos videos too.
There is also the triple pipe from Sardinia, still played today, but I am subjected to this regularly on CD by my girlfriend. It is not 50% better than the aulos. I would rather face the Persians than a bunch of pipe-wielding Sardinian shepherds!
Have a look at the blog 'One Sided Miniature Wargaming Discourse'for some galley action with Xyston and Hotz ships and Galleys and Galleons rules. HERE
I found some nice photos of the Roman frescoes which include the 'tower' ship.
They are from Villa Farnesina , Trastevere and were found in 1879. They were moved to The National Museum of Rome in 2010.
A really evocative port scene, somewhat faded but very immediate.
I found them on the Blog 'Tomatoes from Canada' HERE. Luckily the Blogger has a keen eye for nice frescoes and took some very nice photos of items which non-nautical visitors and bloggers often overlook. There are other nice photos to look at there.
These colour photos are clearer than the b/w version in Pitassi's book. But still the limitations of the medium and the age, and the materials mean we are not dealing with sharp clean images.
Shifting colours again, one can see there are perhap two warriors in the front of the ship with their shields raised.
I did not find any reason to change my analysis. The pictures are still wonderful. Active and dramatic. The ship in the foreground seem to be something small like Triakonters or Pentekonters, with visible oarsmen and a few warriorS on each ship.The central ship could be a Liburnian with enclosed oarsmen and fighters on deck.
Take a look at Dr.Jorit Wintjes proposal for a research project that would examine the realities of ancient galley warfare. How would the naval tactics really have functioned?
A slideshow lays out his ideas and can while away a few minutes.
Proposed in 2016, wonder if it progressed any further ?
Wintjes has a prolific output in connection with ancient naval themes. Some interesting titles below... Hopefully the digital galley battle simulator is coming soon?
The ghost fleet of Seleucia Pieria, in: N. Hodgson, P. Bidwell, J. Schachtmann (ed.), Roman
Frontier Studies 2009. Proceedings of the XXI International Congress of
Roman Frontier Studies (Limes Congress) held at Newcastle upon Tyne in
August 2009, Oxford 2017, 699-702.
Sea power without a navy? Roman naval forces in the principate, in: M. Jones (ed.), New Interpretations in Naval History. Selected Papers from the Seventeenth McMullen Naval History Symposium, Newport (Rhode Island) 2016, 13-24.
The classis Britannica - Just a "normal" provincial fleet? in: A. Morillo (ed.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies (2006). Leon 2009, 47-56.
Defending the Realm: Roman Naval Capabilities in Waters Beyond the Mediterranean, in: M. M. Yu (ed.), New Interpretations in Naval History. Annapolis 2009, 1-13.
The Classis Britannica - aspects of the history of Roman naval units in North Western Europe, in: Hadrianic Society Bulletin 2, 2007, 13-19.
On a plank and a prayer – The Roman “navies” of the 5th to 7th centuries – The Roman Army School 2014, Hadrianic Society, St Chad's College, Durham, April 2014.
Fleeting Shadows on Shifting Sands? Roman Naval Bases in NW-Europe – The Roman Army School 2014, Hadrianic Society, St Chad's College, Durham, April 2014.
Challenging the orthodoxy – the late Roman navy – The Roman Army School 2013, Hadrianic Society, St Chad's College, Durham, März 2013.
Navy ranking, or: The tale of the troublesome trierarchs – The Roman Army School 2013, Hadrianic Society, St Chad's College, Durham, März 2013.
The Trireme – the ship that changed the ancient world? – International Commision of the History of Technology Conference, Barcelona Juli 2012.
East of Suez – Roman Sea Power in the Eastern Mediterranean – Israeli Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies Symposium, Jerusalem Juni 2012.
The “real” navy? The classis Ravennata – a case study – The Roman Army School 2012, Hadrianic Society, St Aidan's College, Durham, April 2012.
Sea power without a navy? Roman naval forces in the principate - 2011 Naval History Symposium, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, September 2011.
The battle of Bedriacum reconsidered - 2011 Spring Conference, British Commission for Military History, Lady Margaret Hall College, Oxford, Mai 2011.
New research on the Roman navy - The Roman Army School 2011, Hadrianic Society, St Aidan's College, Durham, April 2011.
Go to Dusek's site for a stunning set of photos which show modeller 'Mr Cryns' from Amsterdam's detailed and artistic build of their wooden kit. There are many authentic features added to the already excellent kit. The crew are individually modelled and it certainly beats the hell out of the usual 'three men and a panzer' type of diorama!
The basic wooden 1/72 kit is enhanced and manned with superb figures and the whole is beautifully painted. Makes me almost want to padlock my workshop forever...
Look at the photos in full screen..marvelous. Right click and 'open new link in new window' then click to enlarge - then you get thephoto full size instead of the slideshow format.
The modeller, who has copyright and has made the model available for private use on the web, is a member of 'Mondorf Mens' Club' , 'Kallboys' - a group who unashamedly enjoy mens' stuff like bowling, modelling and drinking (in moderation). KALLBOYS.
Thier linked model forum, with some nice diorama etc. is HERE.
The ship is a two-tiered, 50-oared galley based on John Coates 1995 reconstruction of a Liburnian. The Liburnian had much in common with the original ramming warship, the ancient dikrotic pentekonter, and with the Lembus as used by the Illyrians and Macedonians in the 3rd century BC. The Liburnian became the workhorse of the Imperial navy and was similar to a modern frigate, in that it was a modest vessel with a modest crew but flexible in patrolling sea or river. Such ships may or may not have a ram fitted. No 'Liburnian' has been found yet but we have sculpture and paintings which give the main evidence for what they looked like.
The model would be great for wargaming with figures, just make it a waterline version and build in stiff card.
You can download a nicely made PDF with full instructions so you just have to print and cut and build. It might be fiddly in places but replace card struts with matchsticks etc. Oars with split satay sticks etc
The PDF is in German but if you cannot figure out how to translate this you probably could not build the model anyway.
The model was put up on Papermau, a great blog for paper models, so I link there and you can make the jump to the PDF from there. PAPERMAU. Happy building !
If you think the model is good, why not leave an encouraging comment at Kallboys or Papermau ?
A 2016 article from Mail online. A colourful gallery of photos and a video to boot. HERE
