The Age of Titans: The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic NaviesWhile we know a great deal about naval strategies in the classical Greek and later Roman periods, our understanding of the period in between--the Hellenistic Age--has never been as complete. However, thanks to new physical evidence discovered in the past half-century and the construction of Olympias, a full-scale working model of an Athenian trieres (trireme) by the Hellenic Navy during the 1980s, we now have new insights into the evolution of naval warfare following the death of Alexander the Great. In what has been described as an ancient naval arms race, the successors of Alexander produced the largest warships of antiquity, some as long as 400 feet carrying as many as 4000 rowers and 3000 marines. Vast, impressive, and elaborate, these warships "of larger form"--as described by Livy--were built not just to simply convey power but to secure specific strategic objectives. When these particular factors disappeared, this "Macedonian" model of naval power also faded away--that is, until Cleopatra and Mark Antony made one brief, extravagant attempt to reestablish it, an endeavor Octavian put an end to once and for all at the battle of Actium. Representing the fruits of more than thirty years of research, The Age of Titans provides the most vibrant account to date of Hellenistic naval warfare. |
Contents
Understanding the Big Ship Phenomenon | 3 |
1 Frontal Ramming and the Development of Fours and Fives | 13 |
Structural Considerations | 31 |
3 The Development of Naval Siege Warfare | 69 |
4 Philo the Byzantine and the Requirements of Naval Siege Warfare | 129 |
5 Big Ships Boarding and Catapults | 143 |
6 The Culmination of the Big Ship Phenomenon | 171 |
7 The End of the Big Ship Phenomenon | 208 |
Testimonia for Fives | 261 |
Testimonia for Sixes to Tens | 269 |
Testimonia for Elevens to Forty | 279 |
BOOK V of Philos Compendium of MechanicsThe Naval Sections | 283 |
Testimonia for Naval Artillery | 303 |
Glossary | 307 |
Chronology | 311 |
| 315 | |
Other editions - View all
The Age of Titans: The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies William M. Murray Limited preview - 2011 |
The Age of Titans: The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies William M. Murray Limited preview - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
Actian Actium Alexander Alexander’s Anab Antigonus Antiochus Antiochus III Antony Antony’s artillery Athenians Athens Athlit ram attack Attalus barrier besieged big ships boarding built captured Carthaginian Casson cataphract catapults century BCE Chios city’s coastal cities commander Cyprus deck soldiers defeat defensive Demetr Demetrius Demetrius Poliorcetes Demetrius’s Diod Diodorus Dionysius enemy enemy’s evidence fighting fives fleet force fours frontal ramming galleys Greek harbor Hellenistic hulls larger lemboi Leontophoros Livy Lysimachus Macedonian marines Marsden midsized polyremes Morrison and Coates Myonessus naval battles naval siege unit naval siege warfare navy oarcrews oars oarsmen Octavian Philip Philo Piraeus Plut Plutarch Polyb prow prow-to-prow Ptolemy II Philadelphus Ptolemy IV Philopator Ptolemy’s ram’s Rhodes Rhodian Roman sailed Salamis sea battle seven ship’s side siege towers sockets stone projectors Syracusans Syracuse Syrian tactics threes Thuc Thucydides Tiber Island timber towers triremes Tyre vessels victory wall warships weapons weight