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Strength of Roman fleet - Jona Lendering - 08-25-2006
Yann le Bohec (L' Armée Romaine sous le Haut-Empire) estimates that the two imperial navies at the age of Augustus had about 40,000 sailors. Is this reliable?
In other words: Jasper, what's your opinion?
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - Praefectusclassis - 08-25-2006
It's based on what, ifs and maybes and probably John the Lydian, De Mens.I.27, who gives 45.562 as the total strength for all fleets put together (and I think Le Bohec also means all squadrons, not just the Italian ones, doesn't he?). The number is too precise to be made up, but exactly what year it goes with is harder to make out. 284? If so, then which squadrons were still in service?
It's also possible to make a reasonable estimate for the size of the Italian fleets in 69 AD which comes to roughly 15,000-20,000 troops for them both. The provincial fleets is mostly guesswork, but ~3,000 apiece is probably reasonable. For the grand total, 30,000-50,000 is very 'ballpark', but probably correct. (For more discussion, see my book
)
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - Jona Lendering - 08-25-2006
That's a reply within eight minutes. As I expected. :wink:
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - spyros - 08-28-2006
Hi all,
I would like to ask, did the Romans used any Greeks as crew for their ships?
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - taira1180 - 08-28-2006
Maybe the fleet in italy, since they had experienced sailors from magna grecia.
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - Praefectusclassis - 08-28-2006
Hi Spyros,
It's often hard to recognize exactly where the troops of the fleet came from, unless they mention in specifically. As far as we can discern, Thracians, Dalmatians, Egyptians, people from Asia Minor, etc, were often recruited in the Italian fleets. IIRC people from Achaia are rather rare.
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - M.ilionario - 08-28-2006
Of what kind of ships was the roman fleet of the Augustian era made of?
Greek triremes? Was it (the fleet) powerful in those days?
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - Praefectusclassis - 08-28-2006
They had (mostly) liburnes, triremes and quadriremes with a smattering of quinqueremes and a single hexere is attested. Their design was similar to the Classic Athenian trireme, but probably wider in beam.
Powerful...Define powerful!
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - M.ilionario - 08-28-2006
Quote:Powerful...Define powerful!I mean, was it the most or one of the most powerful navies in the world by that time?
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - spyros - 08-28-2006
Thank you Taira and Jasper
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - taira1180 - 08-28-2006
Probably ye since they had eliminated all the enemies with big fleets. They would have some troubles with pirates, but no organized enemy.
Re: Strength of Roman fleet - Praefectusclassis - 08-28-2006
Bingo.