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made them white elephants; too large and difficult to maneuver for practical purposes. It is
indeed meaningful that both Augustus’ and Caligula’s barges, having reached Italy, never
saw the open sea again. These ships did not represent normal marble carriers, which had to
be, with all probability, easy to handle, sturdily-built, and extremely stable, since a
minimum shift in the cargo’s position aboard would have had dire consequences.
Two additional references are useful for reconstructing what ancient marble carriers
may have looked like. The first is an inscription from the Temple of Apollo at Didyma that
mentions the existence of nhè~ liqagwgoiv(literally “ships carrying stone”). 284 The second,
another inscription from Didyma, is the only evidence we have regarding the general shape
of these vessels. They are called a;mfipruvmnou~ (“with a double stern”), meaning that
their bow and stern were probably similar in shape, in order to facilitate the docking of the
ship, along with the loading and unloading operations, and to distribute the heavy cargo
equidistant from the center of the ship. 285
Finally, there is a papyrus from Panopolis (Egypt), in which Aurelius Isidorus, one
of Diocletian’s procurators, mentions “ten state ships” (ploivwn dhmosivwn devka) sent to
Aswan, Egypt, to transport columns from the quarries to Alexandria. 286 Even if this
document does not explicitly mention naves lapidariae, it shows that state-owned boats
were used to carry marble columns on the Nile River. Aurelius Isidorus, however, does not
specify whether these ships were specially designed for the task, even if, given the nature
of the cargo, this is a likely possibility.
284 IG, I 3 336, 1. (In: Martin 1965, 165)
285 Martin 1965, 165.
286 P Panopolis 2, 43-50. (Skeat 1964, 62; Ward-Perkins 1992, 73; Wilson Jones 2000, 209-10).