2023-05-20 08:04:00
antiquity
Trireme – how a theft of ideas made Rome the number one sea power
The galleys were powered by three rows of ruers.
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In the Punic Wars, the Roman legionnaires had to fight on the water. To do this, they copied an opponent’s ship and made a change that Kathargo was powerless to stop.
At the beginning of the rise to world power, the power of Rome was based exclusively on the strength of the legions – i.e. foot soldiers. But the world at that time was grouped around the Mediterranean Sea. If you wanted to grow beyond the Italian boot, you had to become a naval power. The Romans also noticed this painfully. As Rome grew, confrontation with the dominant power of the western Mediterranean, the Phoenicians, was inevitable. The later empire was held together by a network of roads, the Phoenicians sailed the seas from their capital Carthage.
At first glance, that must have given them an invaluable advantage over Rome. For how could one rule the lands of the Mediterranean when the sea belonged to Carthage? Even Sicily could only be reached by water.
Chance helped Rome
It is known that the legions, which at that time were still based on a contingent, were superior to the mercenary armies of Carthage in the long run. But the Phoenicians had also underestimated the Romans at sea. They managed to become the leading sea power from zero to one hundred. Because the Romans were good engineers and pragmatic. Instead of guessing for a long time, they decided to simply copy a ship from Kathargo.
A Qinquereme fell into her hands and she was recreated one-to-one. In 261 BC the Senate had its own fleet built for the first time. It consisted of 100 quinqueremes and 20 triremes. Polybius writes: “They took this ship as a model and then built their entire fleet. Without this stroke of luck, they would not have been able to think of carrying out their plan because of their inexperience.” Triremes and qinqueremes were galleys. The rowers were housed in three rows, one above the other. In the case of the five-oarer – Qinquereme – two men sat at each of the two upper oars. The oarsmen propelled the ship. Especially in battle. So these ships could accelerate strongly, were extremely little and independent of the wind.
In Hollywood films, the naval battles of this time are often portrayed as in “Ben Hur”. The rowers – slaves – are driven to the extreme. Skillful maneuvering brought the own ship into an attack position, the opponent was then rammed amidships with a ram. Optionally, the oars of the enemy boat are broken off with a bold maneuver. Such seamanship feats existed, the Phoenicians were excellent at handling their ships. They outmaneuvered the opponent and then sank him with the ram.
8 Pictures
Land battle on the water
The Romans had different ideas about war at sea. Their ideal sea battle looked like a land battle. The ships lay side by side in long rows. This made maneuvers of the opponent difficult. And then they had a crucial idea how to transfer their usual way of fighting to the water. They mount long drawbridges on the bows of the ships. Now her row only had to drive head-on into that of the opponent. When the ranks collapsed, the bridges fell down.
The “ravens” were attached to the bottom of the bridges. Hooks that dug firmly into the opponent’s deck on impact. Both ships were now inextricably linked.
The battle was not continued with seamanship, there was no way to do that. Then the legionnaires rushed into the enemy deck in commando squads. There wasn’t as much space there as in the open field, but still the squads could fight there in the same way. Close together, they lined up with the shields and supported each other. She avoided the wild riots so popular in movies. This came as a shock to the Phoenicians. Her crew were sailors, not disciplined infantrymen.
The Carthaginians were defeated in the first naval battle of Mylae. They lost 50 of 130 ships and were powerless against boarding tactics.
Torsionsgeschosse an Bord
Later, the Romans made further improvements. On the ships there was a superstructure, the fort. From there archers could intervene in the battle. They fired incendiary arrows or targeted the enemy’s sailors. Other nations had done this before. But the Romans went further. They took the war machines on board, which gave their troops great firepower at long distances even in land battles. Catapults and large crossbow-like machines capable of launching javelins, the ballistas, were mounted on board. These heavy weapons were well suited for use on ships because they got their power from twisting hemp ropes and not from heavy counterweights. With incendiary projectiles, they could set enemy ships on fire from afar. Even a small fire was a huge handicap for the crew, because it had to be extinguished to prevent the whole ship from catching fire.
Ancient napalm
Long after the Punic Wars came the next crucial innovation. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus’ ablest general, husband of his daughter and loyal friend of the Emperor, combined the idea of the grappling hook with the ballista. Now barbed spears were fired, to which long ropes were attached. If they got stuck in another ship, it would wriggle like a fish on a hook. The Romans caught up the ropes and pulled the enemy so close that their infantry could cross over with the storm bridge.
At the time of Byzantium, tactics changed again. The Eastern Romans made no further attempt to turn a sea battle into a land battle. For they had developed the Greek fire, the napalm of antiquity. If this substance, which once ignited could not be extinguished, was thrown onto a ship, it would inevitably burn out. Close combat at sea turned into long-distance combat.
Also read:
Greek Fire: How ancient napalm protected Byzantium for 800 years
What did the Romans actually do for us?
Antonine Plague – how a plague ushered in the fall of the Roman Empire
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