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The Punta Scifo A shipwreck adds interesting details to the general picture of
marble trade in Roman times. Its cargo provides evidence to hypothetically connect
quarried marbles to their possible use at a specific destination, and it exemplifies every
major step in the process of supply, transportation, and final use of quarried material.
In order to fully implement the data from Croton, other wrecked marble carriers will be
examined.
aves Lapidariae of Roman Date: Review of the Evidence
Literary Sources
“Quid vos” inquit “iumentum me putatis esse aut lapidariam navem?”
“What’s wrong with you?’ he asked. ‘Do you think I am
a beast of burden or a ship carrying stone?” 276
So complained the slave Corax in Petronius’ Satyricon, overwhelmed by the
155
excessive weight of Eumolpus’ litter. The scene, curiously enough, was set in the streets of
Croton in the mid-first century A.D. Direct written references to naves lapidariae or naves
marmorum appear only four times in Greek and Latin literature, 277 but Corax’s words
suggest that they were ships with distinctive features. Ancient writers apparently recorded
only the most unusual and extraordinary of these vessels, such as the famous ships of
Augustus and Caligula, which will be reviewed here.
276 Petron. Sat. 117. Trans: D. Bartoli.
277 In addition to the quoted passage of Petronius, the only other references known are Plin. H 36.1.2-3
(naves marmorum), and IG I 2 , 336, 1.8 (nau`~ liqagwgoiv); FD III, 5,19, 1.47
(Onasivmwoi liqagwgoiv kata; qavlassan, from Martin 1965, 165). A papyrus from Panopolis mentions
“ten state ships” (ploivwn dhmosivwn devka) sent to Aswan, in Egypt, to transport column shafts to Alexandria,
without adding further details. (P Panopolis 2, 43-50).