Roman navy

Several high-rank members from Trajan’s general staff were granted with coronae classicae in the context of 101 to 106 AD Dacian Wars. These decorations were given only to members of the senatorial order with consular rank for naval military victories over enemy navies. In this regard, how and where could naval battles take place in a conflict like Trajan Dacian Wars?
If we carefully analyze the conflict scenario, crossed by the Danube and its huge tributary rivers, and flanked by the Black Sea Western Coast, we soon notice the vital importance that taking control of fluvial and sea spaces would have for any army who intended to launch an offensive to or from Roman territory in the early 2nd Century AD. The Roman Empire properly understood this circumstance and, consequently, raised the classis Flavia Moesica and the classis Flavia Pannonica, among other provincial squadrons of its navy deployed in the area.
Furthermore, we should keep in mind the climatic, logistic and purely practical contingencies that prevented barbarians and Romans from crossing a river like the Danube with a big army in the crudest part of winter to take advantage that its surface could be frozen. The unavoidable struggle between Dacians, Romans and their allies for the strategic control of the Danube, its tributary rivers and the Black Sea Western Shore made naval battles between enemy navies inevitable, and we intend to prove and go in depth into these facts in our chapter.

Sea power as a concept is a question of input (the fleet, shipsheds, and related maritime industry) and output and control (influence exerted on other people’s use of the sea). This can be approached theoretically from two classic angles: the destruction of the enemy fleet in decisive naval battles (power at sea) vs. how sea power can influence the outcome of events on land (power from the sea). In reality, sea control may have been impossible due to the limitations of ancient ships, whereas sea denial—denying the enemy the local use of the sea—was not. Ancient naval history is consequently not just about naval battles, but also about naval infrastructure: harbours, ships, trained sailors, shipsheds, and a complex naval organization. Roman naval activity before 260 BCE is highly disputed, but whatever we make of this, the First Punic War and Cn. Duilius’ victory at Mylae in 260 BCE marked a radical departure from traditional Roman strategy. The fleet turned into a tool of aggression. The prize was Sicily. After the First Punic War, Roman fleets were involved in numerous hostilities and wars. However, the Roman fleet was an ad hoc organisation: there was no permanent fleet, and temporary fleets arose circumstantially in order to confront crises and emergencies. With the victory of Augustus came a standing Roman fleet, protecting Rome and Italy with naval bases. It was only at this late stage that the navalists—champions of a permanent fleet—won the day. After Actium, Rome controlled the Mediterranean and there was simply no room for any enemy naval bases.

Caracalla. A Military Biography is now available as a hardcover, Kindle and e-book an from the website of its publisher Pen & Sword Publishing and from most of the major booksellers.  It is not only the first published biography in English of this remarkable individual, but also the first that reassess the evidence from the point of view of military history.

This author proposes that the corvus was the most effective option available to the Romans
at the time of the First Punic War, given the lack of naval experience of the Romans. The
corvus later went out of use not because it contributed to the instability of a ship, not because
of a Carthaginian counter weapon, and certainly not because of its “non-existence” as
proposed by some historians. Rather, the corvus went out of use because by the end of the
First Punic War, the Romans had gained enough naval expertise to build faster ship types and
master conventional ramming techniques, so much so as to render excessive reliance on
boarding unnecessary. In essence then, the corvus was a transitory weapon which
functioned as a force equalizer at sea and gave enough time for the Romans to progress to
superior weapon systems, thus contributing greatly to Roman naval success.

The book series Military History of Late Rome by Dr. Ilkka Syvanne gives a detailed account of the period military history which takes into account all the changes in the organization, strategy, tactics, and land and naval warfare as never before.  The first volume argues that many of the changes in tactics, strategy and organization that are usually thought to have taken place during the late Roman period actually took place much earlier.  The book series breaks completely new ground in its analysis of the military structures and tactics and claims that previous research has also mistakenly grouped together many of the changes that actually took place during a much longer period of time as will be demonstrated by the following volumes in the series.  This series is also the first treatment of the late Roman military history to fully take into account the importance personal relationships, sex, religion, economy, culture, enemies, and espionage in its analysis of military events.

- This book series, including its first volume, is the first book series in existence which deals with the late Roman period from the point of view of military history.  It was on the battlefield that the destinies of the empires and peoples were decided. 
- It is the first book series to take fully into account those sources which are usually neglected in the mainstream research.
- This is also the first book series which places the events taking place in the Mediterranean in its wider global context so that it takes into account events that took place in India, Central Asia, China, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Africa.
- The book series provides the first detailed and complete analysis of the changes in military organization, strategy, and tactics for the entire late Roman period. The books include also lengthy analyses of the period battles, sieges and equipment, and claim that the Persians and Romans used some sort of proto-gunpowder in sieges.
- The series proves that the Romans employed their naval assets far more widely and effectively than usually assumed and provides an analysis of the types of ships, crews and naval warfare.
- The book series demonstrates that many of the assumptions previously held by historians regarding this era are completely false.
- The first volume argues for a much greater role for the women followers of Mary of Magdalene in the political events of the late Roman period than has been previously recognized.  This should be of greatest interest to all those who read the Da Vinci Code.
- It is the first book series to point out the importance of the sexual practices of the emperors and different peoples for the actual events that took place. 
- The book series discusses the ways in which the late Romans dealt with refugee crises and their causes.  It also traces the development of racists attitudes (especially volume 3) among the Roman elites and its consequences.
- The book series provides the first detailed and complete analysis of the changes in military organization, strategy, and tactics for the entire late Roman period.
- The first volume includes an analysis of how the Romans used religion and social security to overcome enemy resistance.

This research paper presents an overview of the late Roman naval warfare in 284-565.  It is based on five forthcoming books due to be published by Pen & Sword.  The aim is to give an overview of the deployment and use of the naval forces in 284-565 and to explain why this deployment pattern had been adopted and how the fleets were used.  In addition, the paper gives a summary of the types of ships used and their comparative strengths vis-à-vis the enemy fleets together with a summary of the Roman naval tactics, operations and strategy.

This examination of C. Duilius (consul in 260 BCE) and his achievements consists of a series of linked hypotheses, each suggested by direct evidence for Duilius' activities and contextualized by near-contemporary precedents (wherever possible) or relevant analogues from slightly later periods. Taken together, these hypotheses suggest that the elogium on Duilius’ rostral column may be read not only as an account of a capable commander who destroyed the myth of Carthaginian supremacy at sea, but also as an encomium on a generous benefactor to Rome’s citizenry. The inscription’s redactor successfully asserted Duilius’ preeminence among his peers, symbolized by the imagery and position of the rostral column commemorating his naval victory that was erected by order of the Senate and Roman people near the Comitium and Rostra. The cumulative evidence also suggests that the inscription’s reference to Duilius’ distribution of ‘naval booty’ to the Roman people involved the conversion of massive amounts of captured bronze, including the rostra removed from Punic ships, into “coinage,” i.e., the brick-sized aes signatum coins dated to c. 260 which bear naval imagery. Thus, by turning a mundane medium of exchange into a vehicle of propaganda through which his exploits and generosity could be ‘broadcast’, Duilius was able to reemphasize his new status as the first Roman celebrate a naval triumph. He could do this because the coins constituted a special triumphal/manubial issue under his authority, and he was therefore not subject to the constraints, real or implied, that kept Rome’s annual moneyers from issuing coins with personally significant types for another 125 years. His sudden emergence as a leading figure in Rome was rewarded with other honors, including a prestigious censorship in 258 and a perpetual personal honor, also bestowed by the SPQR, that allowed him to “triumph” to the end of his long life.

From the article's conclusion:
"Gaius Duilius has long been acknowledged as the first Roman to win a sea-battle, the first to celebrate a naval triumph, the first to be honored with a rostral column, and the first to present a gift derived from naval booty to the Roman people. Indeed, he came to be seen primarily as the man who set Rome on the road to maritime expansion and, ultimately, domination of the Mediterranean world. He was remembered also as the first (if not only) man to have a flute-player and wax-torch bearer accompany him home from feasts, as if he were perpetually triumphing. Now, we may add to Duilius’ list of firsts: he was the first politician to utilize Roman coinage to broadcast a new ideology of Rome’s (hoped for) naval greatness and dominance of the Mediterranean; he was also, it seems, the first Roman politician to use coinage as a medium for self-promotion, a century and a quarter before anyone would do it again."


Key words:

Gaius Duilius
Rostral Column
Naval Triumph
Naval Warfare
Battle of Mylae
Aes Signatum
Roman Navy
Roman Republic
Roman numismatics
Roman Topography
Punic Wars
First Punic War
Roman Epigraphy
Latin Epigraphy
Trireme
Quinquireme
Roman ships
Fasti Triumphales
Summi Viri
Octavian
Augustus
Forum Augustum / Augusti

SUMMARY: This power point provides a selection of sources (mainly book publications) dealing with many aspects of Ptolemaic-Roman Egypt, particularly the Hellenistic period, but includes the Roman period and some areas outside Egypt (e.g., Rome).  The power point has a table of contents outlining the various components, which consist of selected sources on Alexander the Great, the history and selected rulers (i.e., reign studies) during the Ptolemaic-Roman period, overviews on Hellenistic royalty/monarchy and their courts, Late Period-Roman period Egyptian interactions with Greeks, Romans and others, Graeco-Roman interactions with the Egyptian frontier and beyond, Ptolemaic-Roman period Alexandria (and its environs), Rome and  Roman architecture, art, etc., the Ancient Landscape of Egypt (especially Ptolemaic-Roman periods), Ptolemaic-Roman settlements in Egypt, Ptol.-Roman cemeteries in Egypt, Ptol.-Roman temples and priests in Egypt, Ptol.-Roman religion in Egypt, music, performance, dance, rituals, etc., some animal cults in Egypt, language and literature, engineering and technology, art and sculpture, men, women, and their appearance (especially clothing/garments), cooking, food, feasting, etc., law and enforcement, the military in Egypt and the Mediterranean Area, the navy in Egypt and the Mediterranean area, documentaries on Ptolemaic-Roman Egypt and related topics, and some other aspects of the Ptolemaic-Roman period (e.g., including non-sorted sources). This resource serves as a starting point for students and course materials I am currently preparing regarding "Cleopatra's World: From Alexander to early Imperial Rome" (2024). More sources will be added over time, but the current ones reflect fairly recent and more easily available sources dealing with the topic area and time frame. UPDATED: Oct. 5, 2024, adding several new and pending key sources, including documentaries.

A brief analysis of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, which takes into account political propaganda, espionage, intelligence gathering, use of double agents, religion, military operations, tactics, equipment, mil. training, etc. Dispels many of the myths surrounding late Republican warfare and Caesar's campaigns against Pompey. Establishes Julius Caesar as the pre-eminent spy master of his age.

This dissertation intends to observe how the Roman Republic organises itself as a maritime power following the Punic Wars, analysing it as a thalassocracy in sequence of the evolution of a strategic naval thought as a conductive line of the Mediterranean city-states. We will observe the evolution of the naval investment from the reformations of Gaius Marius in 107 BCE until the death of Gaius Julius Caesar Octauianus in 14 CE. An observation of the naval command processes is intended, as well as a study of the evolution, construction and typology of vessels and respective functions, analysing the armada and the commercial vessels both in maritime and river contexts. The analysis of the supporting infrastructural network to the navy, namely harbours and shipsheds, will also be included. These problematics will be observed through an interdisciplinary perspective, creating a thorough study of these keywords that allows for the observation of the construction of the Roman influence area from the maritime and river space.

The discovery of some rams off the Egades Islands, near Trapani, allows a new reconstruction of the dynamics of the battle which put an end to the First Punic War, in 241 B.C. Of utmost importance is an inscribed Roman ram, the short 4 line inscription of which matches some information by Polybius 1.59.1-8 about a public voluntary loan by the higher classes in 243 B.C. in order to set up the fleet of Lutatius Catulus. The comparison between the tradition by Zonaras (Cassius Dio) and Polybius shows that the new Roman fleet was different from the preceding ones: the Roman naval engineers were able to nil the gap with their Punic colleagues building ships that were almost identical to the fast punic quadriremes of Hannibal the Rhodian employed during the siege of Lilybaeum, as the perfect resemblance of the Roman and the Punic ram clearly shows.

Despite the vast amount of modern research concerning the Second Punic War, the role in which Roman fleets played has been largely ignored. Instead, nearly all studies focus on the large-scale infantry engagements featuring Hannibal the Carthaginian general versus the leaders of the Roman Republic. This study aims to address this lacuna by highlighting the Roman navy’s role in the long-term victory over Carthage. An analysis of ancient ships and warfare strategies reveals that there were many limitations which hindered the ability of a fleet from operating along coastlines lacking friendly port cities. Due to a combination of geography, strategy, and success in battle Rome was consistently able to exploit these limitations at Carthaginian expense. The implication being that the efforts of naval forces were a significant factor in the eventual Roman victory.

http://revistas.usal.es/index.php/0213-2052/index

At least since the beginning of the 20th century Vechten (prov. Utrecht / NL) has been considered to be an early Roman
naval base, a »Flottenstation«. When Wynia and the present author reviewed the evidence in 1991 we stated that the
naval character of Vechten was anything but proven. This was contested by Konen in 2000 in his study of the classis
Germanica. In the present paper the relevant sources are discussed and supplemented with new evidence. A strong
case can be made for a function of Vechten as a supply base for naval operations in the first two decades of our era,
but there is no conclusive evidence for the permanent presence of a detachment of the Roman fleet.

Entre los años 69 y 106, el Imperio romano se enfrentó a una amenaza de primer orden contra su hegemonía sobre la Europa danubiana y balcánica, la cual puso en serio peligro incluso su mera presencia en la región. Bajo el liderazgo de los reyes Diurpaneo y Decébalo, el Estado dacio había conformado una formidable entente de aliados y vasallos, con el objetivo claro de dominar el espacio danubiano y las costas occidentales del mar Negro. Alcanzar esta meta, sin embargo, pasaba necesariamente por desplazar a Roma de la región y, por lo tanto, por un conflicto directo a gran escala que, independientemente de su resultado, cambiaría para siempre la historia de la Europa oriental.
Las contiendas resultantes, las guerras dácicas de Domiciano y Trajano, se saldaron finalmente con la destrucción del Estado dacio y la consolidación de Roma como la gran superpotencia hegemónica de la Europa del momento, sentando las bases sobre las que se edificaría la Europa del Este tal y como la conocemos.

As Co-Director with Sebastiano Tusa of the Egadi Islands Survey Project, I have been privileged with the opportunity to conduct and coordinate research for the battle site of the final conflict of the First Punic War. Over ten years of seasonal field work and to a greater extent research has culminated in this conference and amazing museum exhibit. A tremendous amount of information has been gleaned from the artifacts from the site that include bronze production, warship construction and tactics, and the economic underpinnings of naval warfare. Additionally, the finds have furthered the studies of epigraphy, iconography, and historiography of the period. Although the finds have been significant, the research effort has reached a point where an archaeological
responsible change in field and research methodology must be enacted if the site is to be properly studied. This paper provides a summary of the site investigation, the artifacts collected, and the developing hypotheses in hopes of tying together the multiple lines of investigation and how they relate to future site research.

The paper assess the known examples of the election of duumuiri nauales and seeks to reconstruct their powers and intended functions. In turn, the study has implications for our understanding of the development of the roman navy during the early republic.

This MA thesis provides an overview of the existence, distribution, and function of naval forces operating along the Northern Frontier of the Roman Empire from the 3rd – 5th centuries CE. Despite the vast amount of research dedicated to the Roman military, later naval units have been largely ignored. Instead, previous scholarship has frequently argued for a 3rd century naval decline and subsequent collapse leading to a later Empire almost wholly devoid of naval forces. An investigation of this scholarly tradition, however, reveals a framework strongly influenced by modern military organisational practices rather than that of the source material. This thesis challenges the traditional view by analysing the evidence for continued naval operations along the coasts of Britain, the Rhine, and the Danube during the later period. Each geographic area is examined through a combination of written source material, the Notitia Dignitatum, and archaeological excavation. Although displaying significant regional variation, each area surveyed provided ample evidence of both standing and campaign specific fleets operating throughout the period in question. Rather than a 3rd century collapse, the naval units of the Roman military were merely subject to the Diocletianic reforms of the late 3rd/early 4th century. Following this reorganisation, these units would remain an integral part of the Roman military framework for as long as the military itself continued to operate effectively.

On morning of 1 July 1945 hundreds of warships and vessels from the United States Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Royal Netherlands Navy lay off the coast of Balikpapan, an oil refining centre on Borneo’s south-east coast. This offensive to land the veteran 7th Australian Infantry Division at Balikpapan was the last of a series amphibious operations conducted by the Allies to liberate areas of Dutch and British territory on Borneo. It was the largest amphibious operation conducted by Australian forces during the Second World War. Within an hour some 16,500 troops were ashore and pushing inland, along with nearly 1,000 vehicles.  More than 33,000 personnel from the 7th Division and Allied forces were landed in the amphibious assault.
Balikpapan is often cited as an example of the expertise achieved by Australian forces in amphibious operations during the war. It was a remarkable development. Four years earlier, the capability of Australia or even the United States to conduct amphibious operations in the South-West Pacific Area was limited if not non-existent. This paper provides a brief outline of the development of amphibious operations in the SWPA during the Second World War.

The studies regarding the History of Carthage have been made, for the most part, from the point of view of its relation to Rome. In the last few years, new approaches that focus the Punic world in its own identity have grown more frequent, paying particular attention to the archaeological remains. Such has contributed to new interpretations regarding the city and its processes of colonizing the Mediterranean. This sea, which touches a vast area of the European and African Continents, has a central part in Antiquity, as do its insular territories, points of crossing routes and growth of settlements. In the context of this dissertation, which intends to observe the transition period between the Roman and Carthaginian Thalassocracies, Sicily has a great importance. Aside from being the stage of the First Punic War, this island has been, since early chronologies, occupied by numerous and diverse populations, witnessing several attempts of domination and colonization. The island will be observed since the arrival of its first inhabitants until the beginning of the war, to understand its central position and as hinge area. Besides the colonization of the Mediterranean, the role of the military sphere will also be observed. Particular relevance will be given to to the world of mercenaries under Carthaginian service, in an attempt to understand their origins and ways of use, as well as their capacity when facing the Roman army. The possibility of the existence of an army of citizen-soldiers in Carthage and its respective evolution will be discussed. The study of the Roman navy will also be addressed (specifically its birth, evolution and capacity throughout the First Punic War). All these points, which are a sum of concepts surrounding the problematics of the sea in Antiquity, will culminate in the observation of the issue of empires and the use of the maritime space as their support, by attempting to explore perspectives less observed by traditional historiography and providing a consistent and coherent study on the subjects of war and diplomacy, politics and economy, and above all, of the way in which Rome and Carthage relate among themselves and with the Mediterranean sea.

La tradición afirma que el poder de Roma se sustentaba principalmente en sus legiones, que sus ciudadanos le temieron al mar durante siglos, que un romano solo abandonaba la tierra que pisaba cuando no quedaba otro remedio, y siempre receloso de no regresar. Nada más lejos. Roma fue también un Imperio marítimo, y lo demostró imponiéndose a todos sus enemigos hasta dominar el Mare Nostrum, el Mar Negro y el Mar del Norte durante siglos. Las naves romanas alcanzaron el Atlántico y el Índico, el Mar de Noruega, el Mar de Arabia o el Báltico. Controlaron los más importantes cursos fluviales de occidente, como el Rin, el Danubio o el Nilo. Incluso, se lanzaron a misiones de exploración marítima y fluvial donde ningún otro había llegado en la Antigüedad, circunnavegando Britania o en busca de las fuentes del Nilo.
La expansión romana nunca hubiera podido realizarse sin la existencia de una poderosa y eficiente Armada. El dominio territorial necesitaba su concurso no solo frente a la amenaza naval de importantes enemigos como los cartagineses, los egipcios, los seléucidas, Macedonia o el Reino del Ponto, sino en la lucha contra la piratería que asolaba mares y océanos.
Su existencia permitió el desarrollo y la prosperidad del comercio marítimo que transportaba a Roma todo tipo de lujosos productos desde lugares tan lejanos como la Indica y China. Permitió defender las fronteras del Rin y el Danubio, gracias al establecimiento de flotas permanentes compuestas por cientos de naves y miles de efectivos. La técnica romana alcanzó límites insospechados, creando las mayores infraestructuras portuarias, faros, canales e, incluso, villas marítimas dotadas de enormes piscinas para la cría de especies acuáticas con las que los romanos se deleitaban en sus banquetes. Sus ingenieros desarrollaron los mejores buques de la época, capaces de resistir las condiciones más duras impuestas por mares inhóspitos. Y no solo eso, también los barcos de recreo tan lujosos como nunca volvieron a surcar las aguas.
A lo largo de las siguientes páginas, descubriremos cómo sus propios fundadores escogieron la ribera del Tíber, cerca del Tirreno, conscientes de la importancia que representaba el medio acuático para su desarrollo. Acompañaremos a las flotas romanas en los conflictos con la poderosa flota de Cartago, los enormes navíos seléucidas, las extrañas naves de los vénetos en el Mar del Norte o las veloces embarcaciones utilizadas por los piratas ilirios y cilicios. Conoceremos las campañas de Pompeyo, Cesar, Germánico o Trajano en el mar y descubriremos la verdadera Historia Marítima de Roma. Una faceta nunca tratada hasta ahora de forma completa y unitaria, desde el origen de la ciudad hasta en fin del Imperio romano Occidental.

The article describes the military and civil functions performed in Italy
by the soldiers of the praetorian fleet of Ravenna in addition to the praetorian and urban cohorts. During the early empire both seamen and praetorians were detached along the coasts and at the nodal points of the hydro-road system of the Peninsula, in order to grant security in cities and along the roads. They also took care of escorting the emperor during his travels and protecting him where he stayed. Until the 3rd century A.D. Italy suffered no external attacks, if not occasionally. It is in
fact in this last period that evidence concerning legionaries in service intensifies, in relation to the growing insecurity of the borders. The soldiers of the fleet were also in charge of the surveillance of cities armories and of the gladiators barracks. Senior naval officers (i.e. the praefectus classis and the subpraefectus classis) carried out juridical functions, assisted by their non-commissioned officers.

On the basis of available data, the author shall search for sites of Roman naval bases at the Eastern Adriatic, particularly along the Croatian coastline and on its islands.
In both prehistory and antiquity this part of the Adriatic has always been the preferred one for the maritime traffic, due to its countless islands and islets, and to one of the most indented  coasts in the world, which secured numerous shelters and anchorages to ships and their crews. These features alone justify assumption that there must have been some other Roman naval stations, and not just in the main port of the classis praetoria Ravennatium in Ravenna at the western coast of the Adriatic Sea. Epigraphic evidence suggests that naval stations must have existed at least in Salona, and somewhere
near Apsorus, on Colentum and perhaps in Iader; unfortunately, literary sources and archaeological data are  almost completely lacking.

Nell’autunno del 79 d.C., la catastrofica eruzione vulcanica che seppellì Pompei e tutta la fascia marittima vesuviana da Ercolano a Stabia, fu il teatro dell’intervento umanitario delle quadriremi della flotta imperiale di Miseno al comando di Plinio il Vecchio, che al termine di quella missione perse la vita. Tale epilogo personale, sul quale si è focalizzata la testimonianza del nipote, ha distolto l’attenzione dei posteri dalle navi romane e dalla loro coraggiosissima operazione di soccorso, i cui lineamenti generali possono tuttavia essere storicamente ricostruiti vagliando accuratamente i pochi dati pervenuti dalle fonti letterarie ed integrandoli con il complesso di conoscenze desumibili dalla storia, dalla vulcanologia, dall’archeologia e da molte altre discipline pertinenti, incluse le scienze marittime e navali.

This paper offers a brief preliminary presentation of a number of inscribed bronze rostra (currently undergoing detailed study) found in recent years in the vicinity of the Aegates (Egadi) islands, off western Sicily (in the course of underwater survey work directed by Prof. Sebastiano Tusa, Sopr. del Mare for Sicily, and Dr Jeffery Royal of the RPM Nautical Foundation). The rams are part of a large scatter of material which most likely relates to the site of the final battle of the First Punic War. Five of the rams are inscribed with short Latin texts; a sixth bears a Punic inscription. The texts contain important new institutional and prosopographical information for our knowledge of the Roman state in this poorly attested period, and in particular contain significant new evidence of the role of the quaestorship. A full publication is forthcoming in Journal of Roman Archaeology 27 (2014).

This paper refutes in detail the ill-founded and poorly formulated and incoherent comments regarding army sizes on a review of Ilkka Syvänne's monograph which was posted on the De re militari website on 5 November 2020. Its heading is formulated in the heading as follows: "lkka Syvanne, Aurelian and Probus: The Soldier Emperors Who Saved Rome (Haggai Olshanetsky) by CRAIG NAKASHIAN posted on NOVEMBER 5, 2020." I take this strangely formulated heading to mean that the review was done by Haggai Olshanetsky and therefore refer to the reviewer constantly as Haggai Olshanetsky because it is this name that is also found at the end of the text.

E-BOOK version of "El reino pirata de los vándalos". The book is available in EPUB and Kindle formats in Editorial de la Universidad de Sevilla's webpage and AMAZON. Price = 6€.

SUMMARY: This monograph aims to analyze the Vandal political and military history in the fifth century. The fundamental core of this publication is to narrate the conflict between these barbarians and the Roman Empire, where the former made an intensive use of piracy as a fundamental mechanism to achieve their ambitions during the time of fight between both powers.

The present paper deals with the spread of the name C. Iulius among the Thracian sailors in the Roman fleet in the second century. Analysis of Roman diplomas reveals that C. Iulius was one of the typical military names that soldiers of peregrine origin, such as these Thracians, would take if they had no other preferences. The name had a good, very Roman sound to them. In the second century, however, there were still Thracian aristocrats whose Roman citizenship can be linked with Caligula. This shows that, on the one hand, the name may have indicated hereditary dignity when associated with the aristocracy and descendants of the last Thracian kings; but on the other hand, it could have revealed a typical military background when held by newly Romanized Thracians in the second century. Rezumat: Lucrarea de față tratează răspândirea numelui de C. Iulius printre marinarii traci din flota romană a sec. al II-lea. Analiza diplomelor militare relevă ideea conform căreia C. Iulius reprezintă unul dintre cele mai răspândite nume militare pe care soldații de origine peregrină, precum acești traci, l-ar adopta dacă nu ar avea alte preferințe. Numele avea o bună rezonanță romană pentru aceștia. Cu toate acestea, în sec. al II-lea, existau încă aristocrați traci a căror cetățenie romană putea fi legată de domnia lui Caligula. Acest lucru ne arată că, pe de-o parte, numele ar putea indica o demnitate ereditară atunci când este asociat cu aristocrația și cu urmașii ultimilor regi traci, însă, pe de altă parte, ar putea semnala un trecut militar specific, atunci când era deținut de tracii poraspăt romanizați în sec. al II-lea p.Chr. In the time of Vespasian, after a wide-ranging reorganization of the Roman fleet, both the Misenum and Ravenna fleets received the honorific title praetoria. Despite this, however, both fleets remained full of peregrini. 1 But by this act the fleets were undoubtedly equalized with another similar military institution, equites singulares Augusti. It is well established that the latter also contained peregrine soldiers, who at their adlectio received the names of the Roman emperor under whose reign they had been enlisted into the Guard. 2 This practice, not surprisingly, was applied to both fleets, with one difference – the sailors were allowed to choose names other than those of the emperor. 3 By this time, around the end of the first/beginning of the second century, the name and filiation type nomenclature that had previously been used had

A paper describing the organization of the Roman navy during the Imperial period. Conference held in the course of historical and archaeological lectures in honor of Fabio Faccenna, young Italian underwater archaeologist who died prematurely in 1997. On page 199, instead of "Lutazio Catulo" correct "Caio Duilio".