Julius Caesar in Egypt: Cleopatra and the War in Alexandria by Philip Matyszak

Author:Philip Matyszak
Format: epub

Caesar was obliged to come to the rescue of the Rhodians – if only to avoid the disgrace of his sailors getting beaten by the enemy in full sight of the rest of his fleet. This, although he reckoned that whatever misfortune should befall the crew, they fully deserved it. (Alexandrine War 1.11)

Naval warfare in the Mediterranean had changed somewhat since the days of the Peloponnesian War, when the skilled Athenian triremes outmanoeuvred and rammed the ships of the hapless Spartans and their allies. The Romans were a somewhat landlubberly race who took almost a perverse pride in their lack of nautical ability. Not for them adroit turns taking advantage of wind and current to put a trireme in a favourable position for ramming. Instead, the Romans tried to fight their naval actions in a manner as close to land combat as possible. Therefore, an ideal Roman naval battle consisted of ships drawn up alongside one another while the soldiers aboard each fought it out sword to sword.

It is quite likely that this was the sort of action the Egyptians were expecting, and indeed given the scratch nature of their fleet and the number of untrained sailors they had aboard it was quite possibly the sort of combat that they wanted. They had far greater numbers, after all.

It was left to the Rhodians to demonstrate in their minor way at sea what Caesar had convincingly shown on land in the large-scale battle of Pharsalus – that in military actions quality can generally overcome quantity. This is particularly the case where the quality – the Rhodian warship – was already suffering from considerable embarrassment for having become isolated in the first place and was viciously determined to make up for the lapse. It is also very probable that the other eleven Rhodian ships in the flotilla felt that they had their national reputation to maintain.

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