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Giant Cargo-Ships in Antiquity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

R. P. Duncan Jones
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Extract

Athenaeus preserves an intriguing description by the otherwise unknown writerMoschion of a giant grain-ship, the Syracusia, built by Hiero II of Syracuse in thelater third century B.C.1 The account is extremely circumstantial. Besides a fulldescription of the ship's layout, Moschion gives such details as the name of thearchitect (Archias of Corinth), the size of the construction-force (well over 300), the construction time (a year), details of the launching arrangements devised byArchimedes, and even the procedure for judging crimes committed on board.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , December 1977, pp. 331 - 332
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1977

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References

page 331 note 1 Athenaeus 206 d-209 e. The main description is reproduced and translated by Casson, L., Ships and seamanship in the ancient world (1971), pp.191–9. I wish to thank Mr. J. S. Morrison for his helpful comments on an earlier draft; he is not responsible for any views expressed here.Google Scholar

page 331 note 2 Cf. Ucelli, G., Le navi di Nemi 1 (1940), pp.219–25.Google Scholar

page 331 note 3 Casson, p.185 n.5.

page 331 note 4 Graser, B., De veterum re navali (1864), p.48Google Scholar; Torr, C., Ancient Ships (1894), p.27 n.72.Google Scholar

page 331 note 5 Casson, pp.185–6.Google Scholar

page 331 note 6 Polybius 2.15; 6.39; 34.8.

page 331 note 7 Misopogon 369 b.

page 331 note 8 Athenaeus 209 b.

page 332 note 1 206 e; 209 b.

page 332 note 2 Casson's figures in tons (p.186) are: grain 400, fish 500, wool 520, miscellaneous cargo 520.

page 332 note 3 See n.4, p.331 above.

page 332 note 4 Athenaeus 209 b. Two other consignments of grain dispatched by Hiero were 1,000 medimnoi (40 tons) sent to a poet in Greece who praised the Syracusia (which he had presumably seen en route to Alexandria at Piraeus); and a ship-load sent to a citizen of Corinth in exchange for gold (Athenaeus 209 b; 232 a-b).

page 332 note 5 Pliny, NH 36.70, 16.202. The tonnage indicated for the Augustan vessel which carried the Flaminian obelisk to Italy is over 3,000 (Torr, loc. cit.). The wheat carried is stated as 400,000 modii (this evidence is not cited by Casson; Cedren, Migne PLG, t. 121.338–9; Chron.a.354, MGH auct. ant. 9.1.145). The obelisk and base weighed about 400 tons (Torr, p.26 n.68; p.27 n.71; 440 according to Casson, p.189 n.25). The known weight of the Vatican obelisk and base transported under Gaius, together with Pliny's statement that the ship also contained 120,000 modii of lentils, point to a minimum weight of 1,300 tons; but as Casson notes, this seems too low to explain the fact that the ship was evidently too large for normal use (Casson, p.189). Presumably Pliny's account of the capacity is incomplete; though he had apparently seen the ship, he gives no precise dimensions. What are probably remains of the ship have been found at Portus, but as Casson notes, the length deduced by the excavator (104 metres or 350 Roman feet) is difficult to credit (Casson, p.189 n.25).