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Ancient
Ships of the Mediterranean
By:
Brian Frantz
Teacher:
Mrs. ---- ---------
Date Completed:
February 5, 2001
Class:
English
Introduction
There have been great
discoveries of ancient artifacts in the past; however,
there have not been many ancient ship related findings
in the Mediterranean Sea until the past few years.
Probably the most significant finding in recent years
was by the explorer Bob Ballard. Ballard and his crew
recently came upon five ships from the time of the
Roman Empire. These ancient ships have given us much
new knowledge about the ancient Mediterranean peoples,
their way of life, their trade, and their ships.
This research paper is
intended to cover the most influential Mediterranean
boats from the time of the early Egyptians to the
height of the Roman Empire, the time they were used,
and the civilizations that used them. The civilizations
that made the biggest impact on the Ancient world
of Mediterranean boating were the Egyptians, Phoenicians,
Greeks, and Romans. The ships of these civilizations,
as well as the time of their existence, will be covered
in the paragraphs that follow.
Today, the Mediterranean
Sea is a bustling trade and fishing center. It wasn’t
very different long ago. Even before the time of Greece,
the Mediterranean was being sailed and explored. The
Egyptians and Phoenicians were some of the earliest
people to travel on the sea.
Since the Egyptians
lived on the Nile, they built and used small reed
boats as early as about 2500 BC. By the time of the
Old Kingdom (2649-2150 BC), the Egyptians were using
more advanced wooden boats for Nile and Mediterranean
travels. The Phoenicians, who came later, had trading
colonies possibly as early as 1000 BC, which were
used as ship ports for trade. Greece became a powerful
naval power at around the same time as the Phoenicians,
probably around 800 BC, and Rome gained naval strength
in around 250 BC.
Locations of Ancient
Naval Powers on the Mediterranean
The many different Mediterranean
trading posts and harbors were located all around
the Mediterranean. However, the different large civilizations
were primarily located at certain points along the
coast.
The Egyptians were civilized
along the Nile. The Egyptians could have launched
their ships from any port along the Nile and sailed
into the Mediterranean, but the largest cities were
located at the Northeast corner of Egypt.
The Phoenicians were
spread out over a large area of land, but their most
famous city was Carthage. Carthage was located on
the South West part of the Mediterranean coast, and
was a strong trade center until its fall to the Romans.
Greece was located
on the North shore of the Mediterranean, and their
largest naval cities were primarily on the Southern
end of the Grecian peninsula.
The Romans were originally
located in Italy, but as the Empire grew, they had
large trade centers all over the Mediterranean.
Ships of the Ancient
Mediterranean
The ships of the Mediterranean
varied depending on their use. The Egyptians had small
boats for exploration; the Phoenicians had ships for
trade, as well as some of the first galleys for battle.
The Greeks and Romans improved on earlier battleships
and developed powerful naval fleets.
Egypt’s first boats
for sea travel were very small and had no hold for
the crew. They had a stow-able mast, and had oars
on the surface. Improvements over these boats were
evident in their later ships. They were bigger, had
larger cargo holds, and were much sturdier. They had
larger sails, but still kept the crew on the deck
to row when needed. Other Egyptian ships were the
Nile barges. These ships had no way of propelling
themselves, and had to be towed by smaller boats with
oarsmen. They were used to carry obelisks and other
heavy loads. The Egyptians had galleys for battle,
which had as many as 50 oars, and attacked with archers
and rams.
The Phoenicians built
much more advanced ships than the Egyptians did. They
invented the bireme, a large battleship with two levels
of oars under the deck. The bireme carried warriors
and archers for use in ship to ship and ship to land
battles. The Phoenicians also had effective trade
ships that went from their established trade centers
such as Carthage to other places on the Mediterranean.
Their trade was their primary source of wealth, and
Carthage, subsequently, was not a poor city.
Greece was one of
the greatest naval powers in Mediterranean history.
They made effective use of the Phoenician bireme.
The bireme was an 80-foot long battleship with two
levels of rowers. They were used until the invention
of the trireme. The trireme was a huge battleship
with three levels of oars. It had a strong ramming
beam at the front, which was used to cripple enemy
ships. They were capable of reaching speeds of almost
10 miles per hour, under rowing power. They did not
have sails, but were entirely powered by men who rowed
under the deck. The sailors and archers were on the
deck to navigate and, when in battle, to board enemy
ships or light them on fire with burning arrows. The
trireme was about 120 feet long, and had a total of
170 rowers. The trireme was responsible for the naval
victories at the Battle of Salamis, as well as in
the Peloponnesian War. Before the bireme, however,
the Greeks had smaller ships to fight their sea battles.
The unireme was their first war galley. It was small
and graceful, and had a single row of oars. It also
lacked much of a deck, and fought by ramming. Even
before the unireme, however, the Greeks used a penteconter
for exploration and transportation. It had 50 oars
and was fast and lightweight. The Greeks remained
a great naval power until their fall to the Macedonians
and Romans.
The Romans, after
becoming a powerful empire, needed ships to gain control
of trade, as well as to prevent naval invasions. At
first, they borrowed the design of the trireme from
the Greeks, and the quinquereme, a large oar-powered
battleship with probably five men on each oar, from
the Phoenicians. However, they eventually began to
make their own designs. They began using a galley
with a gangplank that allowed their warriors to board
the enemy ship after it was crippled by ramming. Their
later ships stopped using this, and instead had strong
rams and turrets for archers. Types of guns and spear
type missiles were added later. All these ships were
very large, however, and Rome looked for a smaller
battleship to use for escorts to trade vessels. They
began using the liburnian, a small battleship with
two levels of oars, which later became a prominent
battleship used by the Romans. The Romans also utilized
trade to their advantage, giving their citizens access
to the products of other countries around the Mediterranean.
Ships greatly aided in Rome’s power. Without
them, Carthage would have been a much more formidable
enemy, their overall wealth would have been lowered,
and travel would have been a much more difficult task,
preventing the growth of the Christian Church from
have been so far reaching.
The ships of the
Mediterranean improved greatly over the years. Having
started off with small sail boats that were used mainly
for transportation, then growing into oar driven battleships
that attacked primarily by ramming the enemy, and
eventually advancing into huge craft with many levels
of oars that utilized boarding tactics, missiles,
and primitive guns. Trade was used effectively as
an important asset to the wealth of the countries.
Ships also played an important role in making transportation
easier and faster, and also aided in the growth of
the Church.
Approximate Dates
of the Ancient Mediterranean Naval Powers
While the exact dates
of ship inventions are not known, we can get a good
idea of approximately when the different countries
used their ships.
The Egyptians, some
of the earliest boat-makers, began building and using
boats as early as 3000 BC. They used their ships mostly
for transportation on the Nile, and some trade and
exploration on the Mediterranean, but did not primarily
use them for battle as many later civilizations did,
thought they did have small galleys. The Egyptians
were never a great naval power, but they were one
of the first countries to use boats regularly.
The Phoenicians were
some of the first people to begin commonly using boats
for warfare, but they used them even more for trade.
They started using ships for trade in around 1000
BC, and their powerful and wealthy trade centers along
the South West shore of the Mediterranean gained control
of trade routes until Rome took over. Carthage was
one of their greatest trade centers and was a very
wealthy city until it too fell to the Romans in 146
BC.
The Greeks were very
powerful in naval warfare. With the trireme as their
primary battleship in the 5th century BC,
the Greeks had a strong fleet of battleships not to
be reckoned with. After Greece fell to the Macedonians
in 338 BC, the Romans eventually began using their
ships.
The Romans’
earliest ships were mostly designs borrowed from the
Greeks and Phoenicians. Rome used the trireme and
quinquereme as the primary battleships in the 2nd
century BC. Rome became the dominant sea power after
the first Punic War in 241 BC. After the Romans began
inventing their own ships in later times, the liburnians
were used well by Octavian’s fleet commander,
Agrippa, in the battle of Actium in 31 BC.
Conclusion
More is being learned
about the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean, thanks
to the findings and explorations of crews such as
Mr. Ballard’s. The uncovering of these ancient
boats is a significant milestone in the research of
the early Mediterranean civilizations. In Ballard’s
own words: "I think we’re just discovering the
pyramids of the deep". This may be very true, as the
ships Ballard has found are some of the first ancient
ships to have ever seen light again since their original
sinking. How many more boats are lying on the sea
floor just waiting for us to find is a question that
only time and further exploration will answer.
The ships of the Mediterranean
have obviously advanced in a rapid manner. With the
Romans and Greeks improving on previous ship designs,
and then improving on their own improvements, the
technology rarely deteriorated, but instead greatly
advanced. Starting with the Egyptians, moving on the
Phoenicians, and then being utilized effectively for
war by the Greeks and Romans, ships started being
used on the Mediterranean in very early times. The
civilizations also utilized them well, leading to
wealth due to trade, power due to naval strength,
and expedient transportation due to fast and reliable
shipping routes.
Without the use of boats
and naval fleets in Mediterranean history, the outcomes
of certain wars could have been drastically different.
The entire Peloponnesian War relied heavily upon naval
finesse. Not only wars would have been affected, though.
If fishing boats had not been used, the people of
the sea would have had lost a huge occupation, as
well as would have had a much harder time finding
food. Still, had ships not been used for trade, the
Roman Empire would have suffered from much less income,
and Carthage might have never existed as the great
city that we know it was. Finally, if boats were not
used for transportation, Paul would have had a much
harder time preaching the Christian message to the
Western civilizations, and the growth of the Church
would have been severely hampered. Thus, boats have
proven to be an invaluable asset to ancient civilizations,
and continue to be to modern countries.
Bibliography
Ernest McNeill Eller,
Robert L. Scheina, John C. Reilly, Jr., Professor
John F. Guilmartin, Jr. "Naval Ship"
www.britannica.com.
Encyclopedia Britannica. Ó 1999 –
2000 Britannica.com Inc.
World Book Encyclopedia.
1938 ed.
Speilvogel, Jackson.
Western Civilization
4th Edition. Connecticut: Thomson Learning,
2000.
Shores, Louis and Crawford,
David.
Collier’s Encyclopedia.
1961 ed.
Chisholm, Jane and Millard,
Anne.
The Usborne Book of
the Ancient World. London, England: Usborne Publishing
Ltd., 1991.
Shanti, Menon. "The Wreck
Route".
Discover Magazine.
Jan 1998: Archeology section.
Title page picture (trireme
reconstruction)
http://users.hol.gr/~paiva/trireme.htm
Illustration page pictures
http://www.historyofship.com
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