Classis Misenensis
Part of a series on the |
Military of ancient Rome |
---|
Ancient Rome portal |
The Classis Misenensis ("Fleet of Misenum"), later awarded the honorifics praetoria and Pia Vindex, was the senior fleet of the imperial Roman navy.
History
The Classis Misenensis was founded by
The Classis Misenensis recruited its crews mostly from the East, especially from Egypt.[2] Since Rome did not face any naval threat in the Mediterranean, the bulk of the fleet's crews were idle. Some of the sailors were based in Rome itself, initially housed in the barracks of the Praetorian Guard, but later given their own barracks, the Castra Misenatium near the Colosseum.[1] There they were used to stage mock naval battles (naumachiae), and operated the mechanism that deployed the canvas canopy of the Colosseum.[3] Among the sailors of this fleet, Nero levied the legio I Classis and used some of its leading officers in the murder of his mother Agrippina the Younger.[1]
In 192, the Misenum fleet supported
In 324 the fleet's ships participated in the campaign of Constantine the Great against Licinius and his decisive naval victory in the Battle of the Hellespont. Afterwards, the bulk of the ships were moved to Constantinople, Constantine's new capital.
Praefecti classis Misenensis
The following list is based on Werner Eck and Hans Lieb, "Ein Diplom für die Classis Ravennas vom 22. November 206", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 96 (1993), pp. 86–88
List of known ships
The following ship names and types of the classis Misenensis have survived:[1] Archived 2007-11-21 at the Wayback Machine
- 1 hexeres: Ops
- 1 quinquereme: Victoria
- 9 quadriremes: Fides, Vesta, Venus, Minerva, Dacicus, Fortuna, Annona, Libertas, Olivus
- 50 triremes: Concordia, Spes, Mercurius, Iuno, Neptunus, Asclepius, Hercules, Lucifer, Diana, Apollo, Venus, Perseus, Salus, Athenonix, Satyra, Rhenus, Libertas, Tigris, Oceanus, Cupidus, Victoria, Taurus, Augustus, Minerva, Parthicus, Euphrates, Vesta, Aesculapius, Pietas, Fides, Danubius, Ceres, Tibur, Pollux, Mars, Salvia, Triumphus, Aquila, Liber Pater, Nilus, Caper, Sol, Isis, Providentia, Fortuna, Iuppiter, Virtus, Castor
- 11 liburnians: Aquila, Agathopus, Fides, Aesculapius, Iustitia, Virtus, Taurus Ruber, Nereis, Clementia, Armata, Minerva
By 79 this fleet had probably nothing larger than a quadrireme in service,[6] for Pliny the Elder, commander of the fleet, investigated the eruption of Vesuvius in a quadrireme, presumably his flagship and the largest class of vessel in the fleet.
See also
References
Sources
- Erdkamp, Paul, ed. (2007). A Companion to the Roman Army. ISBN 978-1-4051-2153-8.
- Rankov, Boris (1995). "Fleets of the Early Roman Empire, 31 BC–AD 324". In ISBN 0-85177-554-3.