Ancient Roman Admirals"
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
RRROM@NROM@N N@VY Caius Duilius Columna rostrata (Szczebrzeszynski, Wikipedia, Creative Commons). NAVIGARE NECESSE EST Non solo per gli appassionati di storia navale, ma per tutti gli amanti del mare e della classicità, ed in particolare per coloro che, come me, non sanno sottrarsi al fascino della civiltà romana. di DOMENICO CARRO Introduzione (in Italiano): genesi e nome di questo sito Web. Parte I VETRINA « CLASSICA» sulla storia navale e marittima dell'antica Roma (in Italiano): elementi relativi alla ricerca che da diversi anni sto conducendo al fine di pervenire ad una migliore messa a fuoco degli aspetti navali e marittimi del mondo romano. Dati sulle pubblicazioni maggiori (situazione e progetti) e bibliografia delle fonti antiche. Parte II ROMA MARITTIMA - Roma Eterna sul mare (in Italiano, con un po' di Francese e un po' di Inglese): altri miei contributi alla ricostruzione della storia navale e marittima dell'antica Roma e alla conoscenza dei Romani che si sono illustrati sul mare. Contiene alcuni saggi, qualche altro scritto minore e una bibliografia di fonti moderne. Parte III TESTI ANTICHI (in Italiano e Latino): alcuni scritti poco conosciuti, che trattano questioni navali o marittime secondo gli usi degli antichi Romani. Parte IV CONTRIBUTI ESTERNI (in Italiano): spazio predisposto per ospitare scritti di altri autori, quali ulteriori contributi alla conoscenza della storia navale e marittima dell'antica Roma. Parte V GALLERIA NAVALE (in Italiano): selezione di immagini navali romane (affreschi, mosaici, bassorilievi, sculture, monete e altri reperti) pubblicate su «Classica» o sulla Rete. Accreditamenti (titoli in Italiano e Inglese; commenti in Italiano): Guida alle risorse Internet d'interesse per la ricerca di altri elementi relativi alla storia navale e marittima dell'antica Roma. ROMA, 30-XI-2007 Ritorno a « R O M A A E T E R N A » http://www.romaeterna.org/navigare.html From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Roman Navy (Latin : Classis , lit. "fleet") comprised the naval forces of the Ancient Roman state. Although the navy was instrumental in the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean basin, it never enjoyed the prestige of the Roman legions . Throughout their history, the Romans remained a primarily land-based people, and relied on their more nautically inclined subjects, such as the Greeks and the Egyptians , to build and man their ships. Partly because of this, the navy was never wholly embraced by the Roman state, and deemed somewhat "un-Roman". [1] In Antiquity, navies and trading fleets did not have the logistical autonomy that modern ships and fleets possess. Unlike modern naval forces, the Roman navy even at its height never existed as an autonomous service, but operated as an adjunct to the Roman army . During the course of the First Punic War , the Roman navy was massively expanded and played a vital role in the Roman victory and the Roman Republic 's eventual ascension to hegemony in the Mediterranean Sea. In the course of the first half of the 2nd century BC, Rome went on to destroy Carthage and subdue the Hellenistic kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean, achieving complete mastery of the inland sea, which they called Mare Nostrum . The Roman fleets were again prominent in the 1st century BC in the wars against the pirates, and in the civil wars that brought down the Republic, whose campaigns ranged across the Mediterranean. In 31 BC, the great naval Battle of Actium ended the civil wars culminating in the final victory of Augustus and the establishment of the Roman Empire . During the Imperial period, the Mediterranean became a peaceful "Roman lake"; in the absence of a maritime enemy, the navy was reduced mostly to patrol and transport duties. On the fringes of the Empire however, in new conquests or, increasingly, in defense against barbarian invasions, the Roman fleets were still engaged in warfare. The decline of the Empire in the 3rd century took a heavy toll on the navy, which was reduced to a shadow of its former self, both in size and in combat ability. As successive waves of the Völkerwanderung crashed on the land frontiers of the battered Empire, the navy could only play a secondary role. In the early 5th century, the Roman frontiers were breached, and barbarian kingdoms appeared on the shores of the western Mediterranean. One of them, the Vandal Kingdom , raised a navy of its own and raided the shores of the Mediterranean, even sacking Rome , while the diminished Roman fleets were incapable of offering any resistance. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late 5th century. The subsequent Roman Navy of the enduring Eastern Roman Empire is called by historians the Byzantine Navy . Early Republic The exact origins of the Roman fleet are obscure. A traditionally agricultural and land-based society, the Romans rarely ventured out to sea, unlike their Etruscan neighbours. [2] There is evidence of Roman warships in the early 4th century BC, such as mention of a warship that carried an embassy to Delphi in 394 BC, but at any rate, the Roman fleet, if it existed, was negligible. [3] The traditional birth date of the Roman navy is set at ca. 311 BC, when, after the conquest of Campania , two new officials, the duumviri navales classis ornandae reficiendaeque causa , were tasked with the maintenance of a fleet. [4][5] As a result, the Republic acquired its first fleet, consisting of 20 ships, most likely triremes , with each duumvir commanding a squadron of 10 ships. [3][5] However, the Republic continued to rely mostly on her legions for expansion in Italy; the navy was most likely geared towards combating piracy and lacked experience in naval warfare, being easily defeated in 282 BC by the Tarentines .[5][6][7] This situation continued until the First Punic War : the main task of the Roman fleet was patrolling along the Italian coast and rivers, protecting seaborne trade from piracy. Whenever larger tasks had to be undertaken, such as the naval blockade of a besieged city, the Romans called on the allied Greek cities of southern Italy, the socii navales , to provide ships and crews. [8] It is possible that the supervision of these maritime allies was one of the duties of the four new praetores classici , who were established in 267 BC. [9] First Punic War The first Roman expedition outside mainland Italy was against the island of Sicily in 265 BC. This led to the outbreak of hostilities with Carthage , which would last until 241 BC. At the time, the Punic city was the unchallenged master of the western Mediterranean, possessing a long maritime and naval experience and a large fleet. Although Rome had relied on her legions for the conquest of Italy, operations in Sicily had to be supported by a fleet, and the ships available by Rome's allies were clearly insufficient. [9] Thus in 261 BC, the Roman Senate set out to construct a fleet of 100 quinqueremes and 20 triremes. [8] According to Polybius , the Romans seized a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquereme, and used it as a blueprint for their own ships. [10] The new fleets were commanded by the annually elected Roman magistrates , but naval expertise was provided by the lower officers, who continued to be provided by the socii , mostly Greeks. This practice was continued until well into the Empire, something also attested by the direct adoption of numerous Greek naval terms. [11][12] Despite the massive buildup, the Roman crews remained inferior in naval experience to the Carthaginians, and could not hope to match them in naval tactics , which required great maneuverability and experience. They therefore employed a novel weapon which transformed sea warfare to their advantage. They equipped their ships with the corvus , possibly developed earlier by the Syracusans against the Athenians . This was a long plank with a spike for hooking onto enemy ships. Using it as a boarding bridge, marines were able to board an enemy ship, transforming sea combat into a version of land combat, where the Roman legionaries had the upper hand. However, it is believed that the corvus' weight made the ships unstable, and could capsize a ship in rough seas. [13] Although the first sea engagement of the war, the Battle of the Lipari Islands in 260 BC, was a defeat for Rome, the forces involved were relatively small. Through the use of the corvus , the fledgling Roman navy under Gaius Duilius won its first major engagement later that year at the Battle of Mylae . During the course of the war, Rome continued to be victorious at sea: victories at Sulci (258 BC) and Tyndaris (257 BC) were followed by the massive Battle of Cape Ecnomus , where the Roman fleet under the consuls Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius inflicted a severe defeat on the Carthaginians. This string of successes allowed Rome to push the war further across the sea to Africa and Carthage itself. Continued Roman success also meant that their navy gained significant experience, although it also suffered a number of catastrophic losses due to storms, while conversely, the Carthaginian navy suffered from attrition. [13] The Battle of Drepana in 249 BC resulted in the only major Carthaginian sea victory, forcing the Romans to equip a new fleet from donations by private citizens. In the last battle of the war, at Aegates Islands in 241 BC, the Romans under Gaius Lutatius Catulus displayed superior seamanship to the Carthaginians, notably using their rams rather than the now-abandoned corvus to achieve victory. [13] Illyria and the Second Punic War After the Roman victory, the balance of naval power in the Western Mediterranean had shifted from Carthage to Rome. [14] This ensured Carthaginian acquiescence to the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica, and also enabled Rome to deal decisively with the threat posed by the Illyrian pirates in the Adriatic .