Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is an excellent and readable study of the subject. The chapters are:
P001: Beginnings: Foundation to the First Punic War, 753 to 264 BC
P043: A Great Naval Power: The First Punic War, 264 to 218 BC
P083: Interbellum & The Struggle Resumed, 218 to 201 BC
P119: The Growth of Empire, 201 to 86 BC
P151: The Road to Civil War, 86 to 44 BC
P183: The End of the Republic, 44 to 13 BC
P219: The Early Empire, 12 BC to AD 70
P253: Apogee and Nadir, AD 71 to 285
P285: Renewal and Decline, Ad 285 to 476
Appendices, Bibliography & Index - pp315-348
40 maps and illustrations, 14 colour plates
I really don't have much to say in comment; this is a comprehensive narrative history of the Roman navy, with interspersed "boxes" covering specialist details such as layouts of oar-banks and number of rowers, ship-board artillery and even shield patterns. It is well-written and readable, although, especially in the late-empire period, it does dwell in great detail on the land campaigns - usually when there is not much naval activity - so this is actually a military history of Rome but from a naval viewpoint.
Further reading:
See Hellenistic and Roman Naval Warfare 336BC - 31BC for a discussion of pirates in the ancient world - one man's pirate was another man's merchant adventurer, which might account for the speed with which Pompey cleared the seas, and why the vast majority of pirates were allowed to surrender unharmed; not the behaviour you would expect from the Romans...
Click Here to see more reviews about: Navies of Rome
This publication represents the first true examination of the Roman Navy as an independent arm of the military. Though many may perceive the Roman Empire as a primarily land based organisation, an empire forged by the formidable legions of infantry, the truth is that the Roman Empire was as much a maritime empire as that of the British in the nineteenth century, and in fact the Roman Navy was the most powerful maritime force ever to have existed. It secured the trade routes and maintained the communications that allowed the Roman Empire to exist. It brought previously untouchable and unreachable enemies to battle and enabled the expansion of Imperial power into areas thought hitherto inaccessible. In the Mediterranean its power was un-rivalled and it maintained bases scattered around the coasts of Western Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. At the height of its power the Roman Navy employed tens of thousands of sailors, marines and craftsmen who manned and maintained a fleet of warships numerically far larger than anything in existence today. And yet this fascinating aspect of Roman rule has remained largely unstudied. Structured around a detailed chronology of the establishment, development and eventual decline of Rome's sea going forces, this work examines the role of naval warfare in the construction of Europe's first great empire. Bringing together archaeological, pictorial and documentary evidence, it suggests many new avenues for research and highlights a long overlooked arena of naval scholarship.
0 comments:
Post a Comment