ROMA EQUIRRIA'S NAUMACHIA

On Sunday, the 20th of February, ROMA Maritima hosted the Legion's classis Naumachia (a sea battle).

The battle has been fought by the Green Team, 2 ships captained by Centurio Hastatus Petrus Cornelius and Optio Ragark TIberius Iulius, and the Blue Team, 2 ships captained by Centurio Princeps Achilles Claudius and Centurio Amazona Nina Tiberia.

After many issued and risks such as loosing a ship, the Blue Team sinked all of the two Green ships and won the sea battle.

The following members of the Blue Team have been awarded with the Phalera Miles Extraordinarius (Winner of a ROMA event):

Centurio Princeps Achilles Claudius
Centurio Amazona Nina Tiberia
Optio Amazona Melanippe
Miles Ferox Jale Albatros
Miles Ferox Darkus (dragonofnight)

For his special efforts in re-organizing the new Classis of the ROMA SPQR LEGIO XIII GEMINA, getting the new ships, building the new harbor, teaching the classiarii and his dedication to the whole Legio, the Centuriones in behalf of the Praefectus Castrorum Vectus Margulis are proud to award Optio Ferox Ragark Tiberius Iulius with the CORONA NAVALIS (the maximal award for sea actions).

CONGRATULATIONS!!

HISTORY OF THE NAVY

The Romans were born as shepherds and farmers, but soon, after the enlargement of their domination during the Republican age, Rome collided with the greatest commercial and naval potency known in the Mediterranean sea till then: Carthage.
In 260 b.C. Rome fought its first naval battle: nearby Mylae (present-day Milazzo), the Carthaginian fleet, in spite of hundreds of years of experience, was defeated by the Roman navy, thanks to a new instrument that would make Rome the master of the Mediterranean during the following centuries: the corvus.
The victory at Cape Mylae let consul Gaius Duilius celebrate the first naval triumph in the history of Rome. The consul himself was honoured in the forum with a columna rostrata, decorated with the rostrums of captured hostile ships.
During the following centuries, Rome fought many other naval battles, with alternating success; some of them were historically fundamental, like the Battel of Actium (considered the last naval battle of Antiquity), others not at all.
For many centuries the Mediterranean Sea has been considered, rightfully, a “Roman lake”, rechristened “mare nostrum”.
The Roman navy was also employed during the Macedonian wars, assisted by the Rhodian and Pergamene fleets.
With the coming of the Vandals, for the first time the Roman navy, largely abandoned during the V century, found an opponent that proved itself to be even better. In 458, emperor Majorian re-organized and re-armed two fleets, probably the classis Misenensis and the classis Ravennatis, but his big navy was destroyed during the African invasion, by the hand of Spanish traitors.
In 469 there had been the last and hugest naval operation of Antiquity: under the command of general Basiliscus, the combined fleets of Western and Easterne Empire attacked the Vandals: the Romans had the victory close, when the Vandals destroyed the adverse fleet with a night sortie. The Romans were born as shepherds and farmers, but soon, after the enlargement of their domination during the Republican age, Rome collided with the greatest commercial and naval potency known in the Mediterranean

WEAPONS OF THE NAVY

RAM

A naval ram was a weapon carried by varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. The weapon consisted of an underwater prolongation of the bow of the ship to form an armoured beak, usually between six and twelve feet in length.

The ram was a naval weapon in the Greek/Roman antiquity and was used in such naval battles as Salamis and Actium. For the last stage of the attack the ship would be propelled by oarsmen rather than sails.

A trireme bronze cast ram has been found off Athlit (Israel) without any other wreckage around it which gives credit to the idea often expressed by some scholars that the ancient shipbuilders and carpenters built the ship's keel with some sort of carpenter's trick enabling the ram to be sheared off the keel without endangering the ramming (attacking) ship, which could otherwise have sprung a leak or be driven to the bottom by the sinking opponent. Rams were always made of bronze, and weighed anywhere from 8 to 20 tons.

CATAPULT

A catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw a projectile a great distance without the aid of an explosive substance—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. The name is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek καταπέλτης - katapeltes, from κατά - kata (downwards, into, against) and πάλλω - pallo (to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown).^[1] The catapult appears to have been invented in 399 BC in the city of Syracuse during the reign of the tyrant Dionysius I^[2]. Originally, "catapult" referred to a dart-thrower, while "ballista" referred to a stone-thrower, but the two terms swapped meaning sometime in the fourth century AD

BALISTA

The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα - ballistra, from - βάλλω ballō, "to throw"), plural ballistae, was a weapon developed from earlier Greek weapons. It relied upon different mechanics using instead of a prod two levers with torsion springs, consisting of several loops of twisted skeins. Early versions ejected heavy darts or spherical stone projectiles of various sizes for siege warfare. It developed into a smaller sniper weapon, the Scorpio,^[1] and possibly the polybolos.

HARPAGO

The harpago, a catapult-fired grappling hook, which was used to clamp onto an enemy ship, reel it in and board it, in a much more efficient way than with the old corvus, and the use of collapsible fighting towers placed one apiece bow and stern, which were used to provide the boarders with supporting fire

ROMAN SHIPS

The ships belonging to the Roman Navy are divided in two categories: naves longae and naves ceterae. The former were used for war in itself; the latter for transport of people or objects.
Essentially, the Roman ships were improved versions of the Greek ones: biremes and triremes (but also bigger ones), with the addition of Roman inventions, such as the corvus and the rostrum.

Biremes
Known since V century b.C., the bireme endured few changes with the passing of time. It was (depending on the epochs) about 24 metres long, with a maximum beam length of around 3 metres, and had a double line of oarsmen, sat on the same bench two by two, on each side. Its sail was square-shaped, and let the ship reach a good speed, thanks to little weight and small dimensions. Fairly diffused in the ancient age, yet it was soon superseded by the trireme, more useful and complete.

Triremes
The triremes were the real spine of the Roman navy. Fast and agile, very easy to control, the trireme was the most diffused battleship in the Mediterranean until the Middle Ages.
More than 40 metres long, its width was about 6 metres: these dimensions provided the room necessary to place infantry weapons, simply fixed on the deck, and a century of navy infantrymen (80 soldiers). Under the deck rowed the oarsmen (up to 170) placed on three overlying levels. Their conditions were extremely precarious, even if far better than the ones of the slaves assigned to the cleansing of the cloacas or to the furnaces under the baths.

Quadriremes and quinqueremes
The quadrireme and quinquereme were similar in dimensions (48 metres long, 8 metres large, and a draught of one meter for the former, little more for the latter) were the ironclads of the epoch. Each of them had two corvii (one to the stem and one to the stern), several siege-arms on the deck (ballistae and little onagers) and one or two wooden towers to let the archers shoot from a high (and therefore favourable) position.
The quadrireme had 240 oarsmen, 15 sailors and 120 navy infantrymen in armour.
The quinquereme kept 300 oarsmen, 50 sailors and 120 infantrymen below deck.

Hexaremes
There were ships assigned to the transport of the general staff of the army, i.e. the admiral and high-ranked officials; however they took part in the battles very rarely. Their function was, above all, that of intimidating the enemy. Despite this “demonstrative” role, the hexareme was anyhow completely equipped, and very massive in its dimensions.
It has been conjectured the existence of the decireme, but the sources haven’t been verified yet by archaeological discoveries.

Liburna
The name liburna comes from the Liburnians (the pirates of Dalmatia). It was a middle-sized ship, but had the advantage of being slim, fast and very handy; suitable for pursuits, for logistic support and quick transport of troops. In fact, the liburna was often employed in fluvial flotillas on the limes of the Rhine and the Danube, and for the hunting of the pirates in the Adriatic sea.

CREWS OF THE SHIPS

The bulk of a ship's crew was formed by the rowers. Despite popular perception, the Roman fleet relied throughout its existence on rowers of free status, and galley slaves were usually not put at the oars, except in times of pressing manpower demands or extreme emergency, and even then, they were employed after they had been freed. In Imperial times, non-citizen freeborn provincials chiefly from nations with a maritime background such as Greeks, Phoenicians, Syrians and Egyptians formed the bulk of the fleets' crews.

HIGH OFFICERS
Each ship was commanded by a trierarchus , while squadrons were put under a nauarchus , who often appears to have risen from the ranks of the trierarchi. The post of nauarchus princeps appeared later in the Imperial period, and functioned either as a commander of several squadrons. Only in the 3rd century were these officers equated to the legionary centurions in status and pay, and could henceforth be transferred to a similar position in the legions.

HIGH COMMANDER
During the Republic, command of a fleet was given to a serving magistrate or promagistrate , usually of consular or praetorian rank. However, since these men were political appointees, the actual handling of the fleets and of separate squadrons was entrusted to their more experienced legates and subordinates. It was therefore during the Punic Wars that the separate position of praefectus classis ("fleet prefect") first appeared. Initially subordinate to the magistrate in command, after the fleet's reorganization by Augustus, the praefectus classis became procuratorial positions in charge the permanent fleets.

EQUIPAGGIO DELLA FLOTTA

La maggior parte di un equipaggio della nave era formato da vogatori. Nonostante la percezione popolare, la flotta romana fondava tutta la sua esistenza sulla presenza di vogatori di stato libero, e galeotti, solitamente non messi a remi, eccetto nei momenti di pressanti richieste di manodopera o di estrema urgenza, e anche allora, sono stati impiegati dopo che era stato liberato. In età imperiale i cittadini non nati liberi, provenienti da provincie di tradizione navale (Greci, Fenici, Egizi e Siriani), costituivano la maggior parte degli equipaggi.

ALTI COMANDANTI
Ogni nave era comandato da un trierarchus, mentre squadroni sono stati messi sotto una nauarchus, che spesso sembra essere promosso dai ranghi del trierarchi. La carica di nauarchus princeps apparve in seguito, durante il periodo imperiale, e ha funzionato come un comandante di diversi squadroni. Solo nel 3 ° secolo questi ranghi sono stati equiparati ai centurioni della Legione; avrebbero così potuto essere trasferiti nelle legione nello stesso ruolo.

ALTO COMANDO
Durante la Repubblica, il comando di una flotta era dato a un console o a un pretore.
Durante le Guerre Puniche il grado di Praefectus Classis ( "prefetto della flotta") apparve per la prima volta. Inizialmente subordinato al magistrato di comando, dopo la riorganizzazione della flotta operata da Augusto, il prefetto della flotta divenne il comandante in capo permanente della flotta. Tuttavia, i prefetti sono rimasti in gran parte nomine politiche, e nonostante la loro esperienza militare, di solito al comando di unità ausiliarie la loro conoscenza delle questioni della flotta era minimo, costringendoli a fare affidamento su i loro subalterni che erano soldati e militari di professione.

FLOTTE

La Marina romana aveva due basi principali e diverse basi provinciali; ciascuna base ospitava una flotta, marittima o fluviale.

Le due flotte principali avevano la funzione di controllare l'intero Mediterraneo, ed erano:

• Classis Misenensis, di stanza a Miseno
• Classis Ravennatis, di stanza a Ravenna

Ognuna era comandata da un prefetto di ordine equestre; il prefetto di Miseno era di grado superiore rispetto a quello di Ravenna.

Le flotte provinciali erano:

• la Classis Britannica, che controllava il canale della Manica e le acque intorno alla Britannia;
• la Classis Germanica, che era una flotta fluviale e controllava il Reno;
• la Classis Pannonica, che era una flotta fluviale e controllava il Danubio;
• la Classis Moesica, che controllava il mar Nero occidentale e parte del corso del Danubio;
• la Classis Pontica, che controllava il mar Nero meridionale;
• la Classis Syriaca, che controllava le coste della Siria, della Palestina e della Turchia meridionale;
• la Classis Alexandrina, che controllava le coste dell'Egitto;
• la Classis Mauretanica, che controllava le coste dell'Africa occidentale;
• la Classis Libyca, che controllava i litorali libici.

LE NAVI ROMANE

Le navi facenti parte della marina romana si dividono in due categorie, naves longae e naves ceterae. Le prime per la guerra propriamente detta, le altre erano navi da trasporto e da carico. Sostanzialmente le navi da guerra romane erano delle versioni aggiornate e riviste delle navi greche, dunque biremi e triremi (ma anche modelli più grandi) con l'aggiunta di invenzioni tutte capitoline come il corvo e il rostro.

Bireme: Conosciuta fin dal V secolo a.C., la bireme subì nel corso del tempo poche modifiche. Era (a seconda delle epoche) lunga circa 23/24 metri e larga poco più di 3, con due file di rematori seduti sulla stessa panca. Aveva una vela di forma quadrata e riusciva a raggiungere discrete velocità grazie al peso e alle dimensioni contenute. Discretamente diffusa nell'antichità, fu però presto soppiantata dalla più funzionale e completa trireme.

Trireme: Le triremi costituivano la vera "spina dorsale" della marina romana. Veloce e agile, molto manovrabile, la trireme fu l'imbarcazione da guerra più diffusa nel Mediterraneo fino al Medioevo. Lunga fino a oltre 40 metri era larga poco più di 6, dimensioni che garantivano anche lo spazio per posizionarvi armi da campo riadattate o semplicemente fissate sul ponte del nave, e una centuria (80 uomini) di fanti di marina. Sotto al tavolato del ponte, in condizioni molto precarie (ma mai quanto gli schiavi adibiti alla pulizia delle cloache o a quelli che lavoravano alle fornaci sotto le terme), remavano i vogatori (fino a 170) disposti su tre livelli sovrapposti.

Quadrireme e quinquireme:

La quadrireme e la quinquireme erano due navi simili per dimensioni (48 metri di lunghezza per 8 di larghezza ed un pescaggio di 1 metro circa per la prima, poco di più per la seconda), erano le corazzate dell'epoca. Montavano due corvi (uno a prua l'altro a poppa), diverse armi da assedio sul ponte (baliste e piccoli onagri) e una o due vere e proprie torri in legno sul ponte, per permettere agli arceri di tirare da posizione rialzata (e quindi vantaggiosa).

La quadrireme aveva 240 vogatori, 15 marinai e 120 fanti di marina in armatura. La quinquireme portava sottocoperta 300 vogatori, con 50 marinai e 120 fanti.

Esareme: Vi erano anche navi che trasportavano lo Stato Maggiore dell'esercito, quindi ammiraglio e alti ufficiali, che non prendevano però parte agli scontri (se non in rari casi); avevano per lo più la funzione di deterrente per impressionare il nemico. Nonostante la funzione probabilmente "dimostrativa" era comunque armata di tutto punto ed imponente per dimensioni.

Si ipotizza anche l'esistenza di decireme ma le fonti sono ancora da verificare e confutare con eventuali riscontri archeologici.

Liburna: La liburna prende il nome dal popolo dei Liburni (pirati della Dalmazia). Era una nave di medie dimensioni ma aveva il vantaggio di essere stretta, veloce e molto manovrabile; adatta agli inseguimenti, al supporto logistico e al rapido trasporto di truppe. Fu infatti impiegata molto nelle flottiglie fluviali sul limes del Reno, del Danubio e nella caccia ai pirati dell'Adriatico.