The Age of Titans : The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies

by: Murray, W.M.

The Age of Titans
The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies
William Murray
Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture
The first-ever account of naval warfare during the Hellenistic Age
Features a previously untapped source of information: the "siege manual" of Philo Byzantius, written during the 3rd century BC
Uses unpublished information about warship rams stemming from the author's research at the war memorial constructed by Augustus following the Battle of Actium

Description
While 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.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction: Understanding the Big Ship Phenomenon
1. Frontal Ramming and the Development of "Fours" and "Fives"
2. Frontal Ramming: Structural Considerations
3. The Development of Naval Siege Warfare
4. Philo the Byzantine and the Requirements of Naval Siege Warfare
5. Big Ships, Boarding, and Catapults
6. The Culmination of the Big Ship Phenomenon
7. The End of the Big Ship Phenomenon
Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix A: Testimonia for "Fours"
Appendix B: Testimonia for "Fives"
Appendix C: Testimonia for "Sixes" to "Tens"
Appendix D: Testimonia for "Elevens" to "Forty"
Appendix E: Book V of Philo's Compendium of Mechanics-The Naval Sections
Appendix F: Testimonia for Naval Artillery
Glossary
Chronology
Bibliography

The Age of Titans : The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies

by: Murray, W.M.

• ISBN-13: 9780195388640 / 978-0-19-538864-0
• ISBN-03: 019538864X / 0-19-538864-X
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012