Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

NAVIS.

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NAVIS.

pear to have been constructed on the same
principle, and it is more convenient to divide
them into ships of tear and ships of burden
(f/>opTi«a, (popTqyoX, oAffafie?, TrAoia, arpoy-
■yv'Acu, naves onerariae, naves actuariae).
Ships of the latter kind were not calculated
for quick movement or rapid sailing, hut to
carry the greatest possible quantity of goods.
Hence their structure was bulky, their bottom
round, and although they were not without
rowers, yet the chief means by which they
were propelled were their sails. The most
common ships of war in the earlier times
were the pentecontori (jwrrj/coi'Topoi), hut
afterwards they were chiefly Triremes, and
the latter are frequently designated only by
the name i^es, while all the others are called
by the name indicating their peculiar cha-
racter. Triremes however were again di-
vided into two classes : the one consisting of
real men-of-war, which were quick-sailing
vessels (Taxeiai), and the other of transports
either for soldiers (o-TpaTicuTiSe? or ottAitcx-
yujyoi) or for horses (1^71-77^01, i7r7raywyoi).
Ships of this class were more heavy and awk-
ward, and were therefore not used in battle
except in cases of necessity. The ordinary
size of a war galley may be inferred from
the fact that the average number of men en-
gaged in it, including the crew and marines,
was two hundred, to whom on some occa-
sions as many as thirty epibatae were added.
[Epibatak.]—Vessels with more than three
ranks of rowers on each side were not con-
structed in Greece till abouc the year 400
ii. c., when Dionysius I., tyrant of Syracuse,
who bestowed great care upon his navy, built
the first Quadriremes (reT-p^peis), and Quin-
queremes (Trei/Trjpeis). In the reign of Dio-
nysius II., Hexeres (e^peis) are also men-
tioned. After the time of Alexander the
Great the use of vessels with four, five, and
more rank?, of rowers became very general,
and it is well known that the first Punic war
was chiefly carried on with Quinqueremes.
Ships with twelve, thirty, or even forty ranks
of rowers, such as they were built by Alex-
ander and the Ptolemies, appear to have
been mere curiosities, and did not come into
common use. The Athenians at first did not
adopt vessels larger than Triremes, probably
because they thought that with rapidity and
skill they could do more than with large and
unwieldy ships. In the year b. c. 356 they
continued to use nothing but Triremes; but
in b. c. 330 the republic had already a num-
ber of Quadriremes, which was afterwards
increased. The first Quinqueremes at Athens
are mentioned in a document belonging to
the year b. c. 325.—Among the smaller
vessels we may mention the a/cai-os or

a/cairoi/, which seems to have been sometimes
used as a ship of burden. The name Scapha
(o-Kaifi-q) denotes a small skiff or life-boat,
which was commonly attached to merchant-
men for the purpose of saving the crew in
danger.—Liburna, or Liburnica, in Greek
kifivpvU or \1fivpv6v, is a name given appa-
rently to every war-ship, from a bireme up
to those with six lines of rowers on each
side, but in the time of Augustus, liburnae
even with six lines of rowers were considered
small and swift in comparison with the un-
wieldy ships of Antony at Actium. They
were usually provided with a beak, whence a
navis rostrata is generally the same as a
Liburna. They were first constructed by the
Liburnians (whence the}7 derived their name),
and formed the main part of the fleet of Au-
gustus in the battle of Actium.—Every vessel
at Athens, as in modern times, had a name
given to it, which was generally of the femi-
nine gender. The Romans sometimes gave
to their ships masculine names. The Greek
names were either taken from ancient he-
roines such as Nausicaa, or they were abstract
words such as Forethought, Safety, Guid-
ance, &c. In many cases the name of the
builder also was added.—The Romans appear
to have first become aware of the importance
of a fleet during the second Samnite war, in
the year b. c. 311 : when duumviri navales
were for the first time appointed by the
people. The ships which the Romans now
built were undoubtedly Triremes. This fleet,
however insignificant it may have been, con-
tinued to be kept up until the time when
Rome became a real maritime power. In the
year b. c. 260, when the Romans saw that
without a navy they could not carry on the
war against Carthage with any advantage,
the senate ordained that a fleet should be
built. Triremes would now have been of no
avail against the high-bulwarked vessels
(Quinqueremes) of the Carthaginians. But
the Romans would have been unable to build
others had not fortunately a Carthaginian
Quinquereme been wrecked on the coast of
Bruttium, and fallen into their hands. This
wreck the Romans took as their model, and
after it built 120, or according to others 130
ships. From this time forward the Romans
continued to keep up a powerfid navy. To-
wards the end of the Republic they also in-
creased the size of their ships, and built war
vessels of from six to ten ranks of rowers.
The construction of their ships, however,
scarcely differed from that of Greek vessels;
the only great difference was that the Roman
galleys were provided with a greater variety
of destructive engines of war than those of
the Greeks. They even erected turres and