# Curiosites of ancient Rome...



## Zwiefel (Oct 15, 2013)

Something a bit more academic for a change. I studied Grecco-Roman history in college and I was recently thinking about the Battle of Mylae, between Rome and their great nemesis Carthage (whose name appears in my .sig line since Jan 2011) in 260 BC.

One of the things that struck me when I first started studying ancient Rome + Greece was how starkly practically-minded the Romans were. They never really created any of their own art forms, they mostly stole all of that from the Greeks. Although they had an appreciation for the products of the arts, there was an undercurrent in the culture that "doing art" was somehow un-Roman. They also regarded naval warfare as somehow un-Roman, and thus were very far behind the Carthaginians, who dominated the Mediterranean in 260. The primary war vessel was the Trireme, a (mostly) oar-driven ship with three levels of oarsmen on each side. They were very long and narrow, so they moved quickly through the water, but didn't turn very quickly:







Aside from their vastly superior skill, the Carthaginians had a huge numerical advantage against the Romans on the water. Being ever the practically-minded, the Romans mulled it over and came up with an idea: the Corvus.






This was a 35ft stairway (weighing about 2,000 lbs), that pivoted around a mast, with a spike at the top. They mounted this to a small, slow ship...but one that had very good turning and lateral movement abilities. They then waited for the Carthaginians to attempt to ram them, and dodged sideways. As the Trireme went past, they would swing the Corvus around and slam it into the deck of the Trireme, with the spike at the top stair puncturing the deck and locking the two ships together. Since ship hands in the Carthaginian fleet didn't carry weapons or shields, it was then a trivial matter for the well-armed Romans to kill the crew and claim the vessel. First deployed in Mylae, this tactic won the Romans a significant victory and was used in a number of other battles successfully, helping to secure Roman dominance of the Mediterranean


Here are some relevant wikipedia articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trireme
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvus_(boarding_device)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mylae


Hope you find this interesting.


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## cord_steele (Oct 15, 2013)

Mind-boggling, and ingenious. I can see sailors removing grappling hooks and tossing them back, but I don't think anyone is going to pull a 2,000 pound spike out of the deck quickly.


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## Mucho Bocho (Oct 15, 2013)

Thanks danny I read the whole thing. More that I could say for most of my lessons in college. HA


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## boomchakabowwow (Oct 15, 2013)

crazy. i would love to have seen that spike bridge used for the first time..the *** look on the bigger ship's captain must have been classic.


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## Zwiefel (Oct 15, 2013)

Mucho Bocho said:


> Thanks danny I read the whole thing. More that I could say for most of my lessons in college. HA



I'll accept that as a compliment! Regardless of any clarifications you may offer irate1:



cord_steele said:


> Mind-boggling, and ingenious. I can see sailors removing grappling hooks and tossing them back, but I don't think anyone is going to pull a 2,000 pound spike out of the deck quickly.



Actually, the physics of the Corvus made the boats unstable in rough seas. After a few disasters, the Romans refined the idea into a grappling hook launched from a ballista, with wenches to pull the boats to one another. I'm sure that sometimes the grappling hooks were just tossed off, but they were designed to be very difficult to disengage...for example, the length of the rod going from the rope to the claws was made extra long so that the sailors couldn't just reach out and cut the rope. Also, the steel (Iron? not sure of the exact material) was constructed in a manner to resist cutting.






Here's an article about that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpax


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## swarfrat (Oct 15, 2013)

Zwiefel said:


> .... with wenches to pull the boats to one another....


You'd think they'd have big, strong dudes for that.


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## Zwiefel (Oct 15, 2013)

swarfrat said:


> You'd think they'd have big, strong dudes for that.



Heh. Good point!


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## hobbitling (Oct 15, 2013)

If you're into military history and tactics AND a blade junky, browse this website. 
http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/swords-albion-mark-nextgen.htm
The descriptions and historical background is fascinating.


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## quantumcloud509 (Oct 20, 2013)

cool


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## Crothcipt (Oct 20, 2013)

great thread


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## Korin_Mari (Oct 21, 2013)

Great post! So fascinating. Thanks for sharing!


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