The 'Roman Navy' (
Latin: ''Classis'') operated between the
First Punic War and the end of the
Western Roman Empire.
History
By period
Early Republic
Roman trireme, a warship, 31 BC. Note the bank of oars (two on the hidden side), the square-rigged sails, the steering oars, the tower on deck, the ram at the prow, the ballistae and the Greek fire.
Prior to the
First Punic War the Roman Navy only consisted of a few ships patrolling along the Italian coast and rivers. When in the conflict with
Carthage the engagements at sea became decisive, the Romans were at first rendered helpless against the nautically experienced Carthaginians who were much better equipped with superior technology. According to legendary tradition, when the military was able to seize several Carthaginian warships, massive efforts were made for a naval build-up according to the Carthaginian archetype. De facto, it was the experience of the Roman ''socii'' in the
Greek-influenced southern
Italy, that was decisive for the Roman naval build-up.
The Romans also developed a new tactic in naval warfare. Rome worked to counter the Carthaginian advantage of maneuverability by equipping their ships with the ''
corvus'', possibly developed earlier by the Syracusians against the Athenians, a plank with a spike for hooking onto enemy ships. Via a boarding bridge, numerically superior units of marines were transferred on to the enemy ship
to board it in closed combat units, they had trained in landwarfare, avoiding the traditional
tactics of ramming, burning or traditional boarding, which required highly trained and experienced pilots. The Roman casualties, increasingly due to the installation of the boarding bridge, can also be found in antique sources. We have records about revolts of allied levies, who did not want to crew these ships. Before the end of the First Punic War the ''corvus'' was banned from all Roman Navy ships.
Although the first sea engagement, the
Battle of the Lipari Islands in 260 BC, was a defeat for Rome, the forces involved were relatively small. The fledgling Roman navy won its first major engagement later that year at the
Battle of Mylae. Through the course of the war, Rome continued to win victories at sea and gained naval experience. Their string of successes allowed Rome to push the war further across the sea to Carthage itself.
At the beginning of the
Second Punic War (
218 BC -
202 BC), the balance of naval power in the Western
Mediterranean had shifted from Carthage to Rome. This caused
Hannibal, Carthage's great general, to shift the strategy, bringing the war to the Italian peninsula.
Ultimately the enemy fleet was forced to give way to the Roman navy, bootlegged from their own and employing the new tactic at sea. In the other two following
Punic Wars the navy played in either an important role. During other conquests, especially in the eastern Mediterranean, the navy played a very significant function. When the
Mediterranean was mostly under Roman control (later to be called mare nostrum, our sea, by the Romans), the Roman naval strategists had no more to do then concentrate on rampant piracy.
This posed, especially from
Cilicia, a growing threat for the Roman economy. However, when
Pompey the Great downright wiped them out in a concentrated strike, there wasn't much left to do in the Mediterranean. Afterwards naval operations essentially took place in the provinces. Large parts of the Roman fleet during the Republic were provided by allies, mainly Greek, more accustomed to naval operations.
The
Romans were originally a land power based in the
Italian peninsula, and were wary of the sea. In the
First Punic War (
264 BC-
241 BC), the
Carthaginians, a power rooted in sea trade, were able to exploit their strength at sea in their struggles with the
Roman Republic. Since most of the conflict in the war was overseas (especially in
Sicily), Rome saw that it needed to build a fleet in order to develop an effective military response. The result was the rapid construction in
260 BC of the first sizeable Roman fleet of about 150
quinqueremes and
triremes, operating near the
Strait of Messina between Sicily and the toe of
Italy.
Long before Rome conquered
Illyria in 168 BC and established the region as
a province, the
First Illyrian War in
229 BC marks the date which the Roman Navy first sailed across the
Adriatic Sea.
[1] The
Roman Senate had both senatorial
consuls,
Lucius Postumius Albinus and Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus, lead the Roman armada in this campaign, consisting of two hundred ships holding roughly 20,000 infantry troops and 2,000 cavalry.
[2]
Late Republic
After Rome's eventual victory over Carthage, there was no other sea power left to contend with Rome's marine might, and the Roman Navy was largely disbanded. In the absence of a strong naval presence,
piracy flourished throughout the Mediterranean. Periodically, Rome would organize expeditions to deal with pirates. In
67 BC the
Senate authorised
Pompey to organize a large naval force and with this he effectively rid the Mediterranean of large scale piracy.
As the Roman Republic unraveled in the period of
civil war, competing Roman forces once again built up their naval might.
Sextus Pompeius, in his conflict with
Octavian, amassed a fleet powerful enough to threaten the vital supply of grain from Sicily to Rome. Octavian, with the help of
Marcus Agrippa, built a fleet at
Forum Iulii, and defeated Sextus in the
Battle of Naulochus in
36 BC, finally putting an end to all Pompeian resistance. Octavian's power was further cemented against the combined fleets of
Mark Antony and
Cleopatra in the
Battle of Actium in
31 BC. This last naval battle of the Roman Republic definitively established Rome, with Octavian in sole command, as the supreme naval power in the Mediterranean. After this, he formalised several key naval harbours for the Mediterranean and the now fully professional navy had its main duties consist of protecting against piracy, escorting troops and patrolling the rivers frontiers of Europe.
Augustus
Under
Augustus and after the conquest of
Egypt there were increasing demands from the Roman economy to extend the trade lanes to
India. The Arabian control of all sea routes to India was an obstacle. One of the first naval operations under princeps Augustus was therefore the preparation for a campaign on the Arabian peninsula.
Aelius Gallus, the prefect of Egypt ordered the construction of 130 transports and subsequently carried 10,000 soldiers to Arabia. But the following march through the desert towards the
Jemen failed and the plans for control of the
Arabian peninsula had to be abandoned.
At the other end of the Empire, in
Germania, the navy played an important role for the supply and transport of the
legions. In
15 BC an independent fleet was installed at the
lake Constance. Later the militaries
Drusus and
Tiberius used the Navy extensively, when they tried to accomplish the Roman plan of a border extension to the
Elbe. In
12 BC Drusus ordered to construct a fleet of 1,000 ships and sailed them along the
Rhine into the
North Sea. The
Frisians and
Chauci had nothing to oppose the superior numbers, tactics and technology of the Romans. When these entered the river mouths of
Weser and
Ems, the local tribes had to surrender.
In
5 BC the Roman knowledge concerning the North and Baltic Sea was fairly extended during a campaign by
Tiberius, reaching as far as the
Elbe: Plinius describes how Roman naval formations came past
Heligoland and set sail to the north-eastern coast of
Denmark. The multiple naval operations north of Germania had to be cancelled mostly after the
battle of the Teutoburg Forest in the year
9 AD.
Julio-Claudian dynasty
In the years
15 and
16,
Germanicus made within the scope of his Germania campaigns several fleet operations along Rhine and Ems, although they were knocked out in response to grim Germanic resistance and a disastrous storm. By 28, the Romans lost further control of the Rhine mouth in a succession of Frisian insurgencies.
From
37 to
85, the Roman navy played an important role in the conquest of
Britain. Especially the ''classis Germanica'' rendered outstanding services in multitudinous landing operations.
In
46 the military made a push deep into the
Black Sea region and even travelled on the
Tanais. By
57 an expedition corps reached
Chersonesos (see
Charax, Crimea).
It seems under
Nero the navy obtained strategically important positions for trading with India; but there was no known fleet in the
Red Sea. Possibly, parts of the
Alexandrian fleet were operating as security for the Indian trade.
In the
Jewish revolt, from
66 to
70, the Romans were forced to fight Jewish ships, operating from a harbor in the area of modern
Tel Aviv, on
Israel's
Mediterranean coast. In the meantime several flotilla engagements on the
Sea of Galilee took place.
Flavian, Antonine and Severan dynasties
During the
Batavian rebellion of
Gaius Julius Civilis (
69-
70), the rebels got hold of a squadron of the Rhine fleet by treachery. But could not employ it in a decisive strike against the rival fleet. The remaining ships returned to Imperial authority, when Civilis was defeated in open battle.
In the years
82 to
85, the Romans launched a campaign against the
Caledonians in modern
Scotland. In this context the Roman navy significantly escalated activities on the eastern Scottish coast. Simultaneously multiple expeditions and reconnaissance trips were lauched. During these the Romans would capture the
Orkney Islands for a short period of time and obtained information about the
Shetland Islands. Supposedly the Romans also landed on the
Hebrides and in
Ireland.
Under the
Five Good Emperors the navy operated mainly on the rivers; so it played an important role during
Trajan's conquest of
Dacia and temporarily an independent fleet for
Euphrates and
Tigris was founded. Also during the wars against the
Marcomanni confederation under
Marcus Aurelius several combats took place on the
Danube and the
Tisza.
Under the aegis of the
Severan dynasty, the only known military operations of the navy were carried out under
Septimius Severus, using naval assistance on his campaigns along the
Euphrates and
Tigris, as well as in
Scotland. Thereby Roman ships reached inter alia the
Persian Gulf and top of the
British Isles.
Third century crisis
Under the
barracks emperors, the navy made it through a major crisis, when during the rule of
Trebonianus Gallus for the first time
Germanic tribes built up their own powerful fleet in the Black Sea. Via two surprise attacks (256) on Roman naval bases in the
Caucasus and near the
Danube numerous ships fell into the hands of the Germans, whereupon the raids were extended as far as the
Aegean Sea;
Byzantium,
Athens,
Sparta and other towns were plundered and the responsible provincial fleets were heavily debilitated. It was not until the attackers made a tactical error, that their onrush could be stopped. In
268 another much fiercer Germanic attack took place. Part of the invading fleet attacked the Mediterranean islands of Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus, while the other part targeted the Greek mainland. Once again the Romans had nothing to withhold to this attack. Only when the Germanic force set off for the interior
Claudius Gothicus could defeat them.
In
286 the Roman Empire faced again a great danger when the insurgent supreme commander of the British Fleet,
Carausius, dominated Britannia and parts of the Gallic coast. For with one blow the complete Roman control of the channel and the North Sea was lost, emperor
Maximinus was forced to reinstitute a completely new Northern Fleet, but in lack of training it was almost immediately destroyed in a storm. Only under ''
Caesar''
Constantius Chlorus the navy was again able to deliver troops to Britannia. By a concentric attack on Londinum the insurgent province could be retaken.
John the Lydian spoke of 45,562 sailors under
Diocletian and the
tetrarchs.
Late Antiquity
In
330 both main fleets were stationed in Constantinople. Classic naval battles were now a rare case. Documents tell of the victory of
Crispus over the fleet of
Licinius in
324, the destruction of the boats under
Gainas in
400 and naval operations in the struggle with
Geiseric in the 5th century. The Roman fleets suffered defeats against Germanic tribes in 460 and 468 under the emperors
Majorian and
Anthemius on the North African shore. When the
Völkerwanderung struck with full force on the Roman borders, the endeavors of the navy could hardly change a thing. Until the breakdown of the Western Roman Empire in
476 the Roman warships were solely employed to evacuate Roman citizens out of troublespots. The navy stationed in the Eastern Empire became the cadre for the
Byzantine Empire. Under the rule of
Justinian I triremes were still in use, although mainly
dromons were employed,
Constantinople was itself protected by a fleet of
liburnians.
Major events
★
First Punic war
★
★
Battle of the Lipari Islands,
260 BC, minor Carthaginian victory.
★
★
Battle of Mylae, 260 BC, Roman victory.
★
★
Battle of Sulci,
258 BC, Roman victory, obtained by consul
Gaius Sulpicius Paterculus.
★
★
Battle of Tyndaris,
257 BC, Roman victory.
★
★
Battle of Cape Ecnomus,
256 BC, Roman victory, involving huge fleets on both sides.
★
★
Battle of Drepana,
249 BC, Carthaginian victory.
★
★
Battle of the Aegates Islands,
241 BC, Roman victory; led to the end of the war.
★
Second Macedonian War
★ War against
Antiochus III the Great
★
★
Battle of the Eurymedon,
190 BC – Roman forces under
Lucius Aemilius Regillus defeated a
Seleucid fleet commanded by
Hannibal, fighting his last battle.
★
★
Battle of Myonessus, 190 BC – Another Seleucid fleet was defeated by the Romans.
★
First Mithridatic War
★
★
Battle of Tenedos,
86 BC – defeat of a Pontic fleet.
★ Civil war after the death of
Julius Caesar
★
★
Battle of Naulochus,
36 BC –
Octavian's fleet, under the command of
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa defeated the forces of the rebel
Sextus Pompeius.
★
★
Battle of Actium,
31 BC – Octavian defeats the forces of
Mark Antony and
Cleopatra.
★
68 Legio I ''Adiutrix'' formed from sailors of the fleet
★
Year of the four emperors,
69 – the fleet supported Emperor
Otho against the usurper
Vitellius.
Vespasian formed
Legio II ''Adiutrix'' from sailors of the fleet.
★
Battle of the Hellespont,
323 – Flavius Iulius
Crispus, son of
Constantine I, defeated the naval forces of
Licinius
★
461: Emperor
Majorian assembles 300 ships to transport his army to north Africa.
★
468: a
Vandalic fleet defeated the Roman fleet commanded by
Basiliscus.
Admirals
★
Gaius Duilius, winner of the
battle of Mylae (260 BC)
★
Marcus Atilius Regulus, winner of the
battle of Cape Ecnomus (256 BC)
★
Gaius Lutatius Catulus, winner of the
Battle of the Aegates Islands (241 BC)
★
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, winner of the
battle of Actium (31 BC)
★
Pliny the Elder, praefectus of ''
Classis Misenensis'' (77 – 79 AD)
Roman Navy composition
A ship's crew, regardless of its size, was organised as a
centuria with one officer responsible for sailing operations and a
centurion for the military tasks. Among the crew were usually also a number of principales and
immunes, some of which were identical to those of the army and some of which were peculiar to the fleet. Command of fleets was given to equestrian
prefects, those of the fleets based at
Ravenna and
Misenum having the largest prestige.
Ship types used
;Small single-oar-bank galleys :
Examples are
penteconters and others
;
Triremes :
They were different types of ships in the small early navy and later in the Imperial navy
;
Quinqueremes :
They made the bulk of the ascending Roman navy during and after the
Punic Wars
;
Liburnas :
They were galleys that Tacitus relates had a usual complement of three to four hundred men
[3]
Roman ships were commonly named after gods (Mars, Iupitter, Minverva, Isis) heroes (Hercules), and concepts such as Trust, Loyalty, Victory (Concordia, Fides, Victoria)
Weapon systems on board:
The following systems were used at various times by the Roman navy to fight their adversaries:
★ Ship hull, used to ride across and break the oars of an enemy ship, immobilising it.
★
Rams used to sink an enemy ship by holing its hull, when driven against its flank under oar power.
★
Grappling hooks used to clamp onto an enemy ship in order to allow the storming of its deck by embarked troops.
★
Corvus, a large boarding plank with a heavy spike on the bottom. The enemy ship was prior positioned via the help of
grappling hooks. Afterwards the corvus swung down on the enemy deck with the spike mooring both ships to each other. This enabled large numbers of infantry in battle formation to fight the enemy marines. Actual use is only briefly reported from the
First Punic War. Modern reconstruction suggests that it was probably discontinued because of the tendency to unbalance the quinqueremes in high seas. Two fleets armed with this device were reportedly lost in storms.
★
Arpax, a later successor in function to the corvus, an improved design reducing instability.
★
Deck-mounted ballista, like their land-based counterpart, used to bombard the enemy ships with missiles, such as arrows. Also used occasionally to launch incendiary devices.
★
Deck-mounted catapults, like their land-based counterpart, used to bombard the enemy ships with missiles, such as rocks. Also used occasionally to launch incendiary devices.
★ Light missiles include javelins and arrows
[4]
★ Troops from the army, who could embark before battle and try and assault enemy ships
★ Sailors were lightly armed but could also fight in battle when necessary.
Navy terms of service
Men could sign on as
marines, rowers/seamen, craftsmen and various other jobs, though all personnel serving in the
imperial fleet were classed as soldiers, regardless of their function.
Though the fleet had its own marines, these troops were used for boarding enemy vessels rather than
amphibious assaults. The status of the sailors and marines of the Roman navy were somewhat similar to that of the
auxiliary soldiers serving in the army, and received a salary of around the same amount. The fleet recruited freeborn citizens and provincials as well as freedmen. Soldiers that did not possess
Roman citizenship received this privilege after a minimum of 20 years of service with all the attending benefits that this entailed, as well as a sizable cash payment.
Fleets
The fleet of the Roman Empire had two major bases, as well as several minor ones.
The two major fleets, which controlled the ''
Mare Nostrum'', were:
★ ''
Classis Misenensis'';
★ ''
Classis Ravennatis''.
Provincial fleets:
★ ''
Classis Britannica'' controlled the English Channel and the waters around ''Britannia''
★ ''
Classis Germanica'' controlled the Rhine river, and was a fluvial fleet
★ ''
Classis Pannonica'' controlled the Danube river, and was a fluvial fleet
★ ''
Classis Moesica'' controlled the western Black sea
★ ''
Classis Pontica'' controlled the southern Black sea
★ ''
Classis Syriaca'' controlled the eastern Mediterranean sea
★ ''
Classis Alexandrina'' controlled the eastern Mediterranean sea
★ ''
Classis Mauretania'' controlled the African coasts of western Mediterranean sea
''Classis Misenensis''
This fleet was based in ''
Misenum'' beginning in
27 BC. ''Classis Misenensis'', later ''Classis Praetoria Misenensis'', was intended to control in the western part of the
Mediterranean Sea. Among the sailors of this fleet,
Nero levied the
Legio I ''Classis''. In
330 her ships were moved to
Constantinople, where emperor Constantine had moved the capital of the Roman Empire.
Model of a Roman ''bireme''
''Classis Misenensis'' was formed, among the others, by the following ships:
[1]
★ 1
esareme: ''Ops''
★ 1
quinquereme: ''Victoria''
★ 9
quadriremes: ''Fides'', ''Vesta'', ''Venus'', ''Minerva'', ''Dacicus'', ''Fortuna'', ''Annona'', ''Libertas'', ''Olivus''
★ 50
triremes: ''Concordia'', ''Spes'', ''Mercurius'', ''Iuno'', ''Neptunus'', ''Asclepius'', ''Hercules'', ''Lucifer'', ''Diana'', ''Apollo'', ''Venus'', ''Perseus'', ''Salus'', ''Athenonix'', ''Satyra'', ''Rhenus'', ''Libertas'', ''Tigris'', ''Oceanus'', ''Cupidus'', ''Victoria'', ''Taurus'', ''Augustus'', ''Minerva'', ''Particus'', ''Eufrates'', ''Vesta'', ''Aesculapius'', ''Pietas'', ''Fides'', ''Danubius'', ''Ceres'', ''Tibur'', ''Pollux'', ''Mars'', ''Salvia'', ''Triunphus'', ''Aquila'', ''Liberus Pater'', ''Nilus'', ''Caprus'', ''Sol'', ''Isis'', ''Providentia'', ''Fortuna'', ''Iuppiter'', ''Virtus'', ''Castor''
★ 11
liburnians: ''Aquila'', ''Agathopus'', ''Fides'', ''Aesculapius'', ''Iustitia'', ''Virtus'', ''Taurus Ruber'', ''Nereis'', ''Clementia'', ''Armata'', ''Minerva''
By
79 this fleet had probably nothing larger than a quadrireme in service,
[5] for
Pliny the Elder, commander of the fleet investigated the eruption of Vesuvius in a quadrireme, presumably his flagship and the largest class of vessel in the fleet.
''Classis Ravennatis''
Based in ''
Ravenna'' since
27 BC, ''Classis Ravennatis'' was used to control the eastern part of the Mediterranean sea. In
330 her ships were moved to Constantinople.
''Classis Britannica''
Allectus on a coin, with a galley on the reverse. The ''Britannic Empire'' was based on the control of the port of ''
Bononia'', in
Gaul.
Based since
43 in ''Portus Itius'' (
Boulogne-sur-Mer, called also ''Gesoriacum'' or ''Bononia''),
Gallia, and probably since 296 in ''Rutupiae'' (
Richborough), Britannia. It also had a base (smaller than that at Boulogne) at
Dubris, now to be seen at the
Painted House, and in the basement of the town library (the former
White Cliffs Experience).
Its purpose was to control the
English Channel and the waters around the Roman province of ''
Britannia''. This fleet played a major role in the invasion of Britannia. Under
Agricola it circumnavigated
Scotland, and in
83 it attacked the eastern coast of Scotland. One year later the fleet reached the
Orkney Islands.
The control of the Classis Britannica and of the harbour of Bononia allowed two Roman generals,
Carausius and
Allectus, to declare the secession of the
Britannia province, in the
290s. When
Constantius Chlorus, by order of
Diocletian, regained Bononia, the so-called ''Britannic Empire'' was put to an end.
''Classis Germanica''
Beginning in
12 BC in ''
Castra Vetera'' (
Germania Inferior), this fleet controlled the
Rhine river as well as the
North Sea. After
50, this fleet moved its main base to ''
Colonia Agrippinensis'' (Germania).
''Classis Pannonica''
From
35 BC in ''
Aquincum'' (
Pannonia, modern
Budapest), this fleet controlled the
Danube from ''
Castra Regina'' (
Raetia, modern
Regensburg) to ''
Singidunum'' (
Moesia, modern
Beograd). It was re-organized under the
Flavian dynasty, when it was renamed ''Classis Flavia Pannonica''.
''Classis Moesica''
Based in ''
Noviodunum'', the ''Classis Flavia Moesica'' controlled the lower Danube.
''Classis Pontica''
Operative since
14 BC, and based since
54/
60 in ''
Trapezus'' (
Pontus), this classis was used to guard the Southern and Eastern
Black Sea.
''Classis Syriaca''
Established in
63 BC, and based since
70 in ''
Seleucia Pieriae'' (
Syria), this fleet controlled the Eastern Mediterranean sea and the
Aegean sea.
''Classis Alexandrina''
Based in
Alexandria, in the
Roman province of
Aegyptus, ''Classis Alexandrina'' controlled the eastern part of the Mediterraneas sea. It was built by
Caesar Augustus around
30 BC, and probably fought the
battle of Actium. Having supported emperor
Vespasian in the civil war, it was awarded of the ''
cognomen'' ''Augusta'', and was called ''Classis Augusta Alexandrina''.
Ports
Major Roman ports were:
★
Misenum
★ The port of ''Classis'', near
Ravenna
★
Alexandria
★
Leptis Magna
★
Ostia
Roman fleets
★
List of Roman fleets
★
The Imperial fleet of Misenum
★
The Classis Britannica
Roman ships
★ ''
Galleria Navale'' on
Navigare Necesse Est
★ ''
Port of Claudius'', the museum of Roman merchant ships found in Fiumicino (Rome)
★ ''
The Roman ships of Pisa'', the official site for the ships found in Pisa (Italy)
★ ''
Diana Nemorensis'', Caligula's ships in the lake of Nemi.
★ ''
The Fleets and Roman Border Policy''
Notes
1. Gruen, 359.
2. Gruen, 359–360.
3. Tacitus, ''The Histories'', Book V
4. Tacitus, ''Histories'', Book V
5. Pliny the Younger, ''Letters'', VI, 16
References
★ Gruen, Erich S. (1984). ''The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome: Volume II''. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04569-6 (2 vols.)
External links
★
UNRV
See also
★
Nemi ships
★
Roman Republic
★
Roman Empire
★
Roman military
★
Naval warfare
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
