Ancient Shipwreck Points to Site of Major Roman Battle

Live Science ^ | October 18, 2010 | Clara Moskowitz

[decimon]

The remains of a sunken warship recently found in the Mediterranean Sea may confirm the site of a major ancient battle in which Rome trounced Carthage.

The year was 241 B.C. and the players were the ascending Roman republic and the declining Carthaginian Empire, which was centered on the northernmost tip of Africa. The two powers were fighting for dominance in the Mediterranean in a series of conflicts called the Punic Wars.

Archaeologists think the newly discovered remnants of the warship date from the final battle of the first Punic War, which allowed Rome to expand farther into the Western Mediterranean.

"It was the classic battle between Carthage and Rome," said archaeologist Jeffrey G. Royal of the RPM Nautical Foundation in Key West, Fla. "This particular naval battle was the ultimate, crushing defeat for the Carthaginians."

Rams reveal clues

The shipwreck was found near the island of Levanzo, west of Sicily, which is where historical documents place the battle.

In the summer of 2010, Royal and his colleagues discovered a warship's bronze ram - the sharp, prolonged tip of the ship's bow that was used to slam into an enemy vessel. This tactic was heavily used in ancient naval battles and was thought to have played an important role in the Punic fights.

[decimon]

Clew of the ram ping.

[camle]

and number 41 was missing from his oar...

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
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[SunkenCiv]

I couldn't find the topic(s) we had about the search for the ships lost in the Battle of Actium, but found these of interest, the fourth of which is the other topic where RPM Nautical Foundation is mentioned.

• When In Vietnam, Build Boats As The Romans Do -- Protruding from the canal bank at Dong Xa was a 2000-year-old log boat that had been used as a coffin. After a closer look at the woodwork, archaeologists Peter Bellwood and Judith Cameron of Australia National University in Canberra and their colleagues were astounded to find that the method for fitting planks to hull matched that used by the Roman Emperor Caligula and his contemporaries in the 1st century C.E. That shipwright technique was believed to be unique to the Mediterranean, several thousand kilometers to the west. [2006]
• Vast and Deadly Fleets May Yield Secrets at Last (Freedom Over Tyranny Alert) [2004]
• Vast and Deadly Fleets May Yield Secrets at Last [2004]
• Prehistoric forest discovered off Key West -- on sea bed (under 40 feet of water) [2002]

[Tallguy]

Didn’t the Romans utilize grappling & boarding tactics to defeat the ramming attacks of the Carthaginians? Takes a lot of training to do a successful ramming attack. OTOH, boarding made use of Rome’s best asset... infantry (Marine Infantry in this case).

[Little Bill]

He was cleaning the poop from the bilges, it was tough being a slick sleeve in those days.

[decimon]

Didn’t the Romans utilize grappling & boarding tactics to defeat the ramming attacks of the Carthaginians?

I think they used a sort of claw to keep the ships engaged.

[SunkenCiv]

four keywords, chrono sort, duplicates and irrelevants removed:

• Ancient Shipwreck Points to Site of Major Roman Battle
• Syrian Archaeologists: Discovery of Cemetery Building Casts Light on Phoenician Religious Traditions
• Diggers discover Phoenician army complex in Cyprus [ Trojan War connection ]
• Never Give Up Your Weapons
• Hannibal's real Alpine trunk road to Rome is revealed
• Pitt-led study debunks millennia-old claims of systematic infant sacrifice in ancient Carthage
• Treasure Found Off La Manga [ Phoenician treasure ship ]
• Phoenician remains found at Málaga airport
• Berlusconi escort tape may spark antiquities probe [ Phoenician tombs? ]
• Business Models in Antiquity
• Ancient Mass Graves of Soldiers, Babies Found in Italy [ Himera battled Carthage ]
• Rare Lead Bars Discovered Off The Coast Of Ibiza May Be Carthaginian Munitions
• Lebanon finds 2,900 year old Phoenician remains
• French dig exposes underside of Tyre
• Phoenicians Left Deep Genetic Mark, Study Shows
• Port of 'second Carthage' found [ Tharros / Sardinia ]
• Rubbish Threatens Tuvixeduu Necropolis (Ancient Ruins -- Sardinia)
• Sailor to recreate Phoenicians' epic African voyage
• Major Archeological Discovery of Necropolis in Sousse Sheds Light on Punic Life in... 4th century BC
• In Lebanon, DNA may yet heal rifts
• Book lays out how Portuguese found Australia
• Captain Cook Is Scuppered By Book
• British Historian Claims to Have Found the Temple Treasures
• Archaeologists discover remains of Phoenician city
• The Marsala Punic Warship
• Charting The Past: Surveys Map Two Lost Harbors Of Phoenicia
• Long-lost Phoenician ports found: Old Mediterranean harbours discovered buried under modern cities
• Geoscience Rediscovers Phoenicia's Buried Harbors
• In the Wake of the Phoenicians: DNA study reveals a Phoenician-Maltese link
• Carthage: Forgotten
• Carthage Tries To Live Down Image As Site Of Infanticide
• Sacred Precincts: A Tartessian Sanctuary in Ancient Spain
• Let's not read too much into the fate of 'Alexander' (Hilarious Movie Review!)
• Quest for the Phoenicians (National Geographic special)
• History Channel to air Ancient Battles [Persians-Greeks-Romans -- starts 7/23]
• So How Far Did The Phoenicians Really Go In The Region?
• 'I'm not Arab, I'm Phoenician' -- a common phrase, but flawed concept
• Ancient Treasure Trove Uncovered
• Ancient Map Of Africa Poses Questions

[SunkenCiv]

LOL! We keep you alive to serve this ship.

[BlueLancer]

I believe it was called a “Corvus”.

[SunkenCiv]

They did. They also got lucky — a Carthaginian warship had been abandoned and beached in a storm, and the Romans just took it apart and reproduced it board by board, mass-producing it, and creating a huge navy from nothing, practically overnight. They didn’t know the subtle nuances of trireme warfare, so they adapted their land-based tactics, as you noted, grappling and boarding and fighting it as a land battle, and destroyed the Carthaginians where they were supposed to be strongest.

[decimon]

Quoth the raven, thanks for more. ;-)

[colorado tanker]

I believe this is about the Battle of the Aegates Islands, which was a decisive Roman victory that brought the First Punic War to a close. The Carthaginian fleet was burdened with supplies for their Army in Sicily, from which they intended to embark troops to fight the Roman shipboard troops, but the Romans intercepted them.

[SunkenCiv]

Just a reping to an old topic.

[Larry Lucido]

Hannibal cheated. 11 of the 12 elephants were under-inflated.

[SunkenCiv]

This isn’t about Actium, still interesting.