The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

The Roman A rmy at Wa r 207
36 bc, where Octavian’s forces finally defeated Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey
the Great. In this instance there was a sea battle and a land battle, but they
were not coordinated, and there was such a lack of communication between the
t wo forces that at first Oct avian thought the whole affair had been a defe a t .
When he came to full power, Octavian instituted permanent fleets, one based at
Misenum and one at Ravenna, on either side of Italy. The crews of the war gall
eys were or ga n i zed like the legi on s , in cen tu ries under cen tu ri on s , and were
called soldiers (milites), not sailors (nautae). War galleys were quite small compared
to transports and could store enough fresh water to travel for up to 200
miles (Starr, 1 9 8 9 ) . In the German campaigns of D ru sus and Ti beriu s , s h i p s
were used for naval opera ti ons on the Rh i n e ; Tac i tus de s c ri bes the differen t
ships used by Germanicus in ad 16 (Annals 2.6). These naval vessels formed the
nucleus of the later German fleet (Classis Germanica), which patrolled the river
and the coasts while the army operated inland. The same functions were carried
out by the Danube fleets (Classis Pannonica and Classis Moesica), especially in
supporting Trajan’s Dacian Wars. Ships of different types are shown on Trajan’s
Column, where transports, freight ships, and warships are clearly distinguished,
if not correct in every detail.
The Roman expeditions to the north of Britain under the Flavian governor
Julius Agricola and later the Emperor Severus were supported by naval power.
When Agricola was ready to invade Scotland, he used the fleet for transport of
supplies and for reconnoitring, but also for military purposes. Tacitus (Agricola
29) de s c ri bes how the fleet was sent ahead to spre ad terror and to raid the
coastal areas, and he refers to the legions and auxiliaries meeting with the fleet
and camping toget h er. Severus fo ll owed the same pattern du ring his Sco t ti s h
c a m p a i gn s , using the fleet to su pp ly his troops and to raid the coastal set t l ements.
An inscription from Rome refers to the British war as an amphibious exped
i ti on (C I L VI 1643). The coi n a ge su pports this de s c ri pti on , with coins of
Severus displaying a bridge with towers and coins of Caracalla showing a bridge
of boats and the legend Tra i e ctu s—a cro s s i n g. The most likely loc a ti ons for
these bridges and crossings are the estuaries of the river Forth, where there is a
Severan military base at Cra m ond on the sout h ern shore , and the river Tay,
where there is another base at Carpow.
The later third century saw a gradual decline of the fleets. Under Diocletian,
on ly three of the form er ten squ ad rons of the Italian fleets rem a i n ed , t h o u gh
the British usurper Carausius made effective use of his naval power (Classis Britannica)
to defend his territories, issuing coinage that showed off his galleys. He
was defeated only when Diocletian’s deputy, Constantius Chlorus, built a rival
fleet. A few years later in 323, Chlorus’s son Constantine gathered 200 warships
to fight off his rival Licinius, in what Chester G. Starr (1989, 112) calls “the only
real sea battle in the history of the Roman Empire.” Thereafter, Byzantium, not
Rome, claimed mastery of the sea.