SIZE MATTERS

Trying to get a handle on fleet organisation from original sources I have compiled all numerical entries in Thucydides. Is there a relation between the size of units he describes and the number of commanders?
To see if a basic organisation underlies his information I plotted a simple scatter diagram of 'number of commanders' versus 'number of ships'.

At first sight there is a nice progression of  more ships giving more commanders.(The trend line is hand drawn)
Unfortunately the influence of the many instances when Thucydides just gives us the name of the force commander is strong. Upon removing all the solo commanders the diagram changes.

The absence of the solo-commanded forces gives a flat line focussed on forces led by 2 or 3 commanders. This is typical for the time. A leader plus one in charge of each wing or a triumvirate to encourage consultation and control in command - this is especially true of Athenian command.

Adding the whole set of 32 entries gives no better result. 
It is also apparent that Thucydides has a bias in his data. Unsurprisingly he has more information about Athenian forces than Peloponnesian.

The meaning is that basic stats will not reveal much from the information Thucydides provides. It will need a combination of basic arithmetic and textual analysis and slogging through each instance to see what they together reveal.

CARTHAGINIAN HELMET FROM EGADI

I have finally tracked down a picture of the possible Carthaginian helmet found at the site of the naval Battle of Egadi 241BC - fought off the island of Levanzo off the western coast of Sicily.

Basemap from RPMN

The battle site has yielded numerous Montefortino helmets, presumably worn by the Roman combatants.

Then a different helmet was retrieved...
First described as 'conical' and with a nose-guard and broad neck-gaurd, this helmet was thought to be a Carthaginian officer's helmet because it was so different from the 'Roman' ones.

 Looking at the photo, which is from Current World Archaeology issue 65 the first thought is of Thraco--Makedonian helmetsfamiliar from the Alexander sarcophagous and many examples sitting in museums.
There appears to be a cut-out for the ear in the middle of the picture. Maybe the back of the helmet is at the left.

Alexandrian hypaspist in colour

There is a flared brim around a carefully raised bowl. This is not a mass-produced item like the pot-like Montefortino helmets.

There appears to be a high Phrygian crest which is damaged.

From Danish National Museum

Evidence for a nasal is hard to see in the photo. Thraco-Makedonian helmets did not necessarily have them.

Etruscan cinerary urn showing Oedopus' sons in combat

There was also a Boeotian-Phrygian helmet which would also be a candidate.

From Rome at war website

These types of helmets with brims for protection but good hearing and visibility would be ideal for use at sea where footing was insecure and fighting could go on in very confused conditions.

 Prog. Andrew Goldman of the Egadi Project has stated the helmet is 'without parallel' and may be the 'first example of Carthaginian armour yet found'.

FLASH,BASH,CRASH

A flash video of the Battle of Ægadi 241BC by Sicilian tourist board.

Take a few seconds to load ..give it a chance.

Despite possible errors of detail it is a fun film . I especially like Gaius Lutatius Catulus comanding his ship with his bad leg even though he may not have participated.

PAINT IT BLACK. ONLY ?

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is a jewel amongst Danish museums. It has one of the best private art collections in the world. Amongst the material is a fantastic collection of sculpture from the antique world. The place itself is a fantastic blend of modern and antique style - jugenstil, steel construction and a great home for the exhibits.

Despite the fact it was paid for by a super-rich family who blackmailed the government to build the place to house their art collecting hobby which had nearly bankrupted the brewery, the Jacobsens had good advice on what to buy and the money to buy it.

Right now there is an exhibition dealing with polychromy in ancient art. New technologies allow colouring which has vanished to the naked eye to be revealed.

And the connection with ships ?

I will write a piece with more details but generally, in relation to ships, what this exhibition means is that the possibility that ancient galleys were colourfully painted is high.

Homer gave us the famous phrase 'the black ships' (and for my young mind so did  Rosemary Sutcliffe!)

 

and this is likely due to the tarred hulls of any wooden ship. But the topsides and any ornament could just as well be decorated with more than tarring and even on vases we see geometric patterns.

A few examples from the exhibition.

You thought hoplites went into battle with gleaming bronze armour ? Think again.

 The proud lions of Mycenae and Chæronea may have looked more like Dougal on acid.

 

  There is a wealth of pattern and colour combinations that could equally well have been used on ships.

 

DEATH OF THE MARSALA SHIP

Italian freelance 3D computer modeller Francesco Frazzitta has made some impressive renderings of the Marsala ship and its demise at the hands of the Egadi 1 ram mounted on a Roman trieres. 

The Marsala ship was a wreck found with another off the Ægadi Islands in 1969. They were identified as Carthaginian and have subsequently been much discussed. The wreck appeared to have a single tier of oars but they were possibly double-manned. Its curious upturned 'ram' is probably a structure to facilitate operating in areas with many sand bars rather than a weapon. Its companion ship was equipped with a bronze ram of which only the supporting timbers remained.

Frazzitta's graphics of the Marsala ship are also impressive.

I am working on the Roman-Carthaginian naval conflicts now and it is great to see these archæological remains brought to life.

A BEACH IS LIFE

In ancient naval battles commanders sometimes actually chose to run their ships in to the shore as a tactic. This seems, at first, rather puzzling. Why should ships throw away their mobility to fight ? How could they cast themselves ashore which is what good navigators try to avoid, isn't it?

'Time and tide wait for no ship'

Ancient galleys were built for speed. They did not carry large quantities of provisions and there was no space on board for cooking or sleeping. At a pinch men could eat bread dipped in olive oil while they rowed but the normal procedure was to eat ashore.

'Otter's noses in a bun-only 2 drachma!'

The stern of a galley curves steeply upwards and the hull draught is generally shallow. This means that such ships can easily drive up against a beach without becoming fast. With the use of an anchor to each side the ship can be secured against moving in the wave wash. The crew would then disembark via ladders set against the threnys. 

Æneas casually deserting Dido up his gangplank or 'apobathra'
Oops,, black sail and figure in background has helmet...
this is Theseus casually deserting Ariadne

When it was time to depart the crew could row away from the land. It has been suggested that ships could have carried wooden rails to allow them to be drawn completely out of the water on any shallow beach for maintenance but this was not the everyday occurrence of simply running in to shore for a meal break or overnighting.

How NOT to beach a galley - these will be here for some time...10years?.

An answer becomes more apparent when one considers the alternatives for a fleet which is either surrounded or outnumbered. Ramming tactics rely on getting around the enemy to deliver the deadly blow while safe from the target. Counter-tactics can be evasion or facing the enemy head-on when the rams of both neutralise each other. Should a fleet have a suitable beach to its rear it makes sense to back water and drive the ships in so that they form a bulwark of rams facing to sea. Any assault must now be a meeting of the ships' prows and a slugfest between epibatai. Generally, not so many epibatai were carried, 10 to 40, but a beached ship could also use the manpower of the rowers to fend -off attackers with poles or oars if nothing else.

If the shore was occupied by friendly forces then reinforcements could board the ships and add to their defence. A palisade could even be thrown around the beached ships producing an armed fort to defend the vessels.
The attacker would have to keep all his rowers at their station and if he could not board and take the beached ships he must attempt to get lines onto them and drag them to sea. An alternative was to disembark troops or call supporting forces and make an assault from the land.

In any event the beaching tactic was a good one to avoid rapid or certain defeat and gave the underdog a chance to save some of his ships or delay the inevitable so he could escape after dusk or save his manpower by disembarkation. The cost of a trieres was quite enormous and so both sides made great efforts to either capture enemy vessels or preserve their own. A trieres was not like a tank or destroyer – it was not a disposable artefact which was merely a means to allow soldiers to fight. Tanks or destroyers allowed men to attack the enemy but the loss of the machines was not of itself important. They could be replaced. Even the crews were relatively quickly trained. A trieres was a synthesis of ship-building skills, selected raw materials, sailors and soldiers which created a weapon of war, transport and power projection. It was replaceable but at great cost and effort. 

 A trieres cost 1 talent per month to keep in service. This is was enough to feed a family of four for 120 years or more at Athenian prices! To build a trieres cost a whopping 10 talents.

For food, Greece has got talents.

If a hard-pressed commander found he had a suitable shore to hand rather than the all-too-prevalent, deadly, rocky coastline around the Aegean then beaching was to be considered. Trieres could back at close to the speed they could advance and thus a ship could run for the beach, keeping its ram to the enemy.

If the ship must be given up at last then the crew could escape overland to man another ship and fight again.

Three hundred mens' fate and the time needed to create another such unit meant the loss of a single trieres would be keenly felt and so flight or beaching was a rational tactic for a fleet in danger. In a battle at sea a single successful ramming attack could seal the fate of a vessel and crew in a few minutes. Beaching gave the crew a fighting chance against superior numbers and would at least prolong the fight and give the crew a possible route to safety, and life.

Epibatai, beached and bleached.

EARLIEST FILM OF ROMAN GALLEYS

The earliest surviving film from front-line reporter at Caesar's invasion of Britain 55bc.
Unfortunately in black and white and not digital.