Warships of the Ancient World (New Vanguard) by Adrian K. Wood

Author:Adrian K. Wood [Wood, Adrian K.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: 500 BC, Warships of the Ancient World: 3000&#8211
ISBN: 9781849089791
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

Phoenician naval practices and tactics

No account survives of Phoenician naval tactics before the Persian conquest, but their vessels were equipped with a cutwater which could have been used for ramming, if that was not in fact its primary purpose. The most important factors in ramming were the skill of the crew and the quality of ship construction. Phoenicians were renowned as the ancient world’s greatest sailors. The Sidonians were the best sailors in Xerxes’ fleet and he travelled in a Sidonian ship, while Sennacherib of Assyria ordered the construction of ‘Mighty ships [after] the workmanship of their hand, they built dextrously, Tyrian, Sidonian and Cypriot sailors, captives of my hand, I ordered [to descend] the Tigris with them...’ As for their ships themselves, Xenophon [Oeconomicus VIII.14] quotes Ischomachus as saying, ‘I think that the best and most perfect arrangement of things I ever saw was when I went to look at the great Phoenician sailing vessel.’

In later times Sidonian ships performed peacetime patrols to keep the Eastern Mediterranean clear of pirates, an activity with no doubt a long history. Phoenicians pioneered the use of the Pole Star (Phoinike in Greek), which enabled them to navigate at night, a capability of obvious strategic value.

As for the use of tactics beyond the manoeuvring of ships for ramming, it is likely that the Phoenicians used foreigners for boarding actions; the small population of colonies made the use of mercenaries essential. Aside from the evidence of the use of foreign soldiers by the Carthaginians, Sennacherib armed the Phoenician-built and -manned ships he sent into the Red Sea with his own soldiers, as did Xerxes, the idea being to combine Phoenician seamanship with the fighting power of their own loyal troops.

EVACUATION FROM TYRE

When Sargon II of Assyria assaulted Tyre with an army claimed to number 200,000, the Tyrian king fled by sea, though the city did not immediately fall. Two types of ship are shown on the Assyrian relief of this event, one with the ram-like cutwater and one without, leading to the conclusion that a ram was used on vessels operating predominantly as warships. Both types possess the elevated ‘fighting deck’ to provide marines with a height advantage in battle. It is noteworthy that at Salamis in 480 BCE the Persian fleet, led by Phoenician triremes, suffered problems with crosswinds due to their high superstructures, which were probably of a similar design.

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