INSPIRATION TO GET MODELLING AND GAMING

A nice series running on a 'neighbouring' blog.

Navwar galleys - 1/1200 - coming into service at 'Geordies'..HERE

Look at the whole series.

Battle Identified

The battle in Rava's cover plate from Osprey NV244 is apparently that at Sena Gallica in 551AD.
I looked further on his FB.

This was a battle between an Italian Gothic fleet and Byzantines. The Goths lost heavily.

This is an obscure battle, mentioned only by Procopius. Quite helpful in making a fantasy-full reconstruction. My criticism of the galea-bireme-dromon ship stands. Elsewhere, Procopius clearly states that the ships of Belisarius reconquista were single-banked, cataphract, with possibly a lateen rig. (History of the Wars, Book III, xi). These were called dromon(es).

The depiction closest in time is here, from the Vatican Æneid folio 77.

A dromon of c.500AD

That the Goths had a fleet of similar vessels to the Byzantines of this time is ... debateable.

It is nice that Procopius mentions the sides engaged with arrows and lances and swords, But fire-projectiles, always a risky tactic at sea ? And super-explodey ones too.

The Gothic ship at lower right is ...odd. Why should a railing run up into the vertical on the stern ? Who is going to fall off sideways there ? And nice uniforms by the Gothic army.

A naughty detail is that the ship at the back - a galea-medieval-dromon , has the upper corne rof its mainsail colourd red. According to Procopius, Vandalic War xi - on his expedition to Africa in 533AD, Belisarius had the sails of his own and two other ships which carried his personal guard coloured red in the top third. Just a leetle tweaking to get his feature over to Sena Gallica eighteen years later.

Red sails in the sunset. (ish)

Anyway, the oncoming book is getting even more interesting.

Drom - on

A sail is sighted over the horizon! A first view of the oncoming Osprey New Vanguard 244 Imperial Roman Warship 193AD to 565AD. Giuseppe Rava has been unable to contain himself and released a view of the cover before the publisher themselves have.

The splendid view of a medieval galea equipped with personal little escape ( or ventilation ? ) doors for the rowers, a spectacular plinth for the bow-ballista near the bows which offers zero protection, a mammoth stern-castle and - a sight not seen for a couple of hundred years ...( and never seen again ..) an oarbox.

Keeping the arrows out !

This oarbox is a special one with an open top. This open top has to be covered with a tarpaulin to keep arrows out. The oars are bizarre - try to extend the angle of the upper oars into the ship and imagine how much space there is to row with the things ......They plunge into the sea at an extreme incline. The lower rank of rowers have it better, they are have little hatches to open if things get too smelly inside. They may even be naked in there ? Their oar shafts are not so steeply inclined so they have it easy. The rig is lateen, so this would argue for the vessel being a dromon but the fact that it is a bireme means it cannot be a dromon.: unless we are in the period well after the stated terminus for the book of 565AD.

Ravenna ships: big brackets for steering oars

 The steering oar is acting through a truly massive bracket stuck to the side of the vessel. Looks like a literal interpretation of a mosaic picture.

John Coates as scale for bracket on Olympias

I do not know what the scenario for the picture is  - maybe the battle of the Hellespont in 324AD where Constantinian forces defeated those of Licinius: hence the Christian emblems on the main vessel.


The bow of the ship coming into the picture from below is equipped with a forecastle mounting a torsion ballista. The planks that floor this position are something like 10 or 15 cm thick and 60cm wide. They shouldn't break in combat.

The forecast remains bleak for the third New Vanguard by the Deadly Duo, D'Amato and Rava.

Italian Blight; Hot air soon: Poor to severe becoming tragic: Low expectations, filling slowly with dubious interpretations. Text, moderate to dull.

Of course, I may be proved quite wrong.



Battle now identified HERE

Another Parthian Shot at NV225

Oh yes,, something I missed from my critique of D'Amato's Repblican Roman Warship Osprey NV225.

The only modern research work dedicated to the navy of the Roman Republic is Christa Steinby's

The Roman Republican Navy: From the Sixth Century to 167 B.C. Commentationes humanarum litterarum, 123. Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 2007. Pp. 236. ISBN 9789516533509.

This became the Pen and Sword book 'Rome versus Carthage-The War at Sea, (2014).

The bibliography for NV225 does not include this work in either form. How in the world could someone researching this topic not find these reference works. They pop up on a simple web-search. How could a 'professional researcher' not find them and not treat them as a priority for research on this subject. Steinby's work is the only dedicated research on the Republican navy IN 50 YEARS!

D'Amato may have used these works. If so, he ain't telling.

But the bibliography gets more interesting.

Under 'Modern Works' are listed...

Roman Legionary
Imperial Roman Naval Forces
Republican Roman Army

These are all listed as being published in Oxford. No publisher is given.

The Modern Language Association format for a bibliography is

Author's last name, first name. Book title. Additional information. City of publication: Publishing company, publication date.


The Harvard Reference List format is as follows..

Last name, First initial. (Year published). Title. Edition. (Only include the edition if it is not the first edition) City published: Publisher, Page(s).



To go far off these tracks in a commercial, supposedly academic, work is poor practice. It would cost an undergraduate marks on a dissertation. WTF is a a professional writer/academic doing here ?

As you may have guessed, the works referenced above are all OSPREYs. This also means they are also not given their correct titles.For example, the first would be a Warrior series book.

D'Amato's idiosyncratic format for his bibliography omits the publisher.



It may not be a big deal, but if I pick another Osprey off the shelf, by another author, the bibliography format is conventional and complete.

Is anything to be gained by adopting this odd format ?

Well. the monumental work by Morrison and Coates - Greek and Roman Oared Warships, is also listed as originating from Oxford. But there the similarity ends. Morrison and Coates' work is a Monograph published by Oxbow Books., a highly reputable academic publisher.

Is anything to be gained by putting that work on a par with Osprey titles ?

Unfortunate for those who try harder.

Rome Siezes the Trident - but fumbles it..

 

Anyone else read Pen and Sword's latest ancient maritime offering?

It includes a line which should be immortalised alongside Ben Hur's galley experience and 300:Rise of an Empire.

I am sure you all know this already, but, wait for it......
wait for it........

'The war galleys of antiquity were simply not put to best use by emphasizing rowing skill.'

p.227

That is all.