Alexander and the Navy

 

Naval combat

      nature of trireme (-5C to 4C)

            invented by Phoenicians in mid 6C

            narrow, shallow draft, 3 oarsmen, deck, bronze ram at water line

            strengths = fast, maneuverable, not limited by wind direction, ram

            logistical problems = need massive food and water, weak in storms

            crew: 170 oarsmen, 10 marines, 4 archers, 16 sailors = 200

      combat

            missiles

            fire

            wreck oars of enemy

            ram and sink

            board and capture

      variations

            outflank and ram from side

            circle

            boarding bridge

            catapults (rocks, bolts, fire)

      navigation

            landmarks

            stars

            seasonal (no winter or storms)

            generally stayed within sight of land

      cargo ships

            wind propelled, deep draft

 

Maritime Peoples                 

      Persian

            Egyptians

            Phoenicians

            Ionians (Greeks)

      Independent Greeks

            Athenian supremacy, 480-405

            Athenian domination and slow decline, 405-322

 

Major naval battles

      Alalia, 540 = Phoenician victory, first use of ramming triremes         

      Lade, 494 = Persians defeat Ionians and Greeks    

      Salamis, 480 = defeat of Persians, establish supremacy

      Aegospotami, 405 = Athenians ambushed by Spartan, lose Peloponnesian war

      No major naval actions in Alexander’s time

            Alexander was planning to build a fleet at his death

      Amorgos, 322 = defeat of Athenian navy by Macedonians

      Rise of the maritime powers of the Hellenistic Age

            Ptolemaic Egypt

            Rhodes

            Carthage

            Rome

 

 

Alexander’s Navy

See LCL Arrian 1, app II, pp. 453-56

Naval strategic problem

      Persians superior at sea with 300-400 ships (A 1.18.5; D 17.29.2, 17.31.3)

      Alexander has 160 ships (A. 1.11.6; D 17.2; J 11.6.2)

Naval debate at Miletus (A 1.18.4-9)

Persian fleet at Mycale (A 1.19.7-11)

      Persians retire from lack of water (A 1.19.8)

Conveying siege equipment by sea (D 17.22.5, 17.24.1)

Alexander’s strategy in disbanding the navy (A 1.20.1; D 17.22.5)

      Not strong enough to beat Persians; lacks money to pay (A 1.11.3, 1.20)

      “burning the ships” strategy (D 17.23.1-3)

Alexander captures coast cities to “render the enemy’s navy useless” (A 1.24.3)

Memnon’s planned sea invasion of Greece (A 2.1)

      Cause defection to Persia

      Prevent reinforcements and supplies to Alexander

      Force Alexander to return

Alexander remobilizes the navy to stop Persian invasion of Greece (A 2.2.3

Alexander’s conquest of the Phoenician coast and Egypt

      Defeats Persian navy on land

 

 

Bibliography

OCD 1030 (bib)

Casson, Lionel, The Ancient Mariners, 2nd ed., (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1991)

Morrison, J. S. and J. Coates, The Athenian Trireme: The History and Reconstruction of an Ancient Greek Warship, 2nd ed., (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000)

Morrison, J. S. and J. Coates, Greek and Roman Oared Ships: 399-31 BC, (Oxford: Oxbow, 1997)

Morrison, J. S. and R. T. Williams, Greek Oared Ships, 900-322 BC, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968)

Papalas, Anthony J., “Greece, ancient: navies,” Reader’s Guide to Military History, (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001), 201-203