Classis Ravennas

History

Ravenna had been used for ship construction and as a naval port at least since the Roman civil wars, but the permanent classis Ravennas was established by Caesar Augustus in 27 BC . It was commanded by a praefectus classis, drawn from the highest ranks of the equestrian class, those earning more than 200,000 sesterces a year, and its mission was to control the Adriatic Sea and perhaps the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. As the honorific praetoria, awarded by Vespasian for its support during the civil war of AD 69,[1] suggests, together with the classis Misenensis, it formed the naval counterpart of the Praetorian Guard, a permanent naval force at the emperor's direct disposal.

Its home port of Classis (modern Classe), which was named after the fleet, was built under Augustus, and included a canal, the Fossa Augusta, which united the port with the lagoons of the interior, as well as with the river Po to the north.[2][3] Naval arsenals and docks stretched along the Fossa, in a complex that reached 22 km in length. According to a passage by Cassius Dio, related by Jordanes, the harbour could accommodate 250 ships.[4]

The classis Ravennas recruited its crews mostly from the East, especially from Egypt.[1] Since Rome did not face any naval threat in the Mediterranean, the bulk of the fleet's crews was 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 Ravennatium across the Tiber.[5] There they were used to stage mock naval battles (naumachiae), and operated the mechanism that deployed the canvas canopy of the Colosseum.[6] In 70, Emperor Vespasian also levied the legio II Adiutrix from the marines of classis Ravennas.

In the civil war of 192-193, the fleet supported Septimius Severus, and, together with the classes Misenensis, it participated in the campaign against Pescennius Niger, transporting his legions to the East.[7] The fleet remained active in the East for the next few decades, where the emergence of the Persian Sassanid Empire posed a new threat that required frequent reinforcements to be ferried.[8]

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, where emperor Constantine had moved the capital of the Roman Empire.

praefecti classis Ravennatis

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. 85f

Name Time frame Source
Publius Palpellius Clodius Quirinalis AD 56 CIL V, 533 = ILS 2702; Tacitus, Annales 13.30
Marcus Aurelius Regulus reign of Nero CIL VI, 3150
Lucius Aemilius Sullectinus reign of Nero CIL XIII, 1770 = RMD-V 449
Sextus Lucilius Bassus 69 (and 71?) CIL XVI, 14 = ILS 1991; Tacitus, Historiae 2.100
Cornelius Fuscus 69 Tacitus, Historiae 3.12
Lucius Cornelius Gratus 100 AE 1989, 315
Marcus Ulpius Marcellus[9] 119 AE 2012, 1958
Lucius Numerius Albanus 127 CIL XVI, 72
Marcus Gavius Maximus ca. 131/2
Marcus Calpurnius Seneca Fabius Turpio Sentinatianus before 134 CIL II, 1178 = ILS 2736; CIL II, 1267
Fabius Sabinus 139 AE 2007, 1786
Valerius Paetus[10] c. 142 AE 1995, 1824 = RMD-IV 1824; AE 2004, 1921 = RMD-V 392
? Marcus Sempronius Liberalis 143/144 ZPE-207-232
Titus Furius Victorinus ca. 150 CIL VI, 31856 = ILS  9002
Tuticanius Capito 152 CIL XVI, 100
Quintus Baienus Blassianus ca. 160 CIL XIV, 5341
Publius Cominius Clemens ca. 175 CIL V, 175 = ILS 1412; RSH-85
Lucius Julius Vehilius Gratus Julianus ca. 184/5 CIL VI, 31856 = ILS 1327
Gnaeus Marcius Rustius Rufinus between 190 and 210 CIL X, 1127
Marcus Aquilius Felix between 190 and 210 CIL X, 6657 = ILS 1387; AE 1945, 80
Aemilius Sulleptinus 202 AE 2001, 2161 = RMD-V 449
Claudius Diognetus 206-209 AE 1993, 1789 = RMD-III 189; AE 1976, 794 = RMD-I 73
Marcus Gongius Nestorianus 213/217 CIL XVI, 138
Aurelius Elpidephorus[11] 221 AE 2012, 1946
Valerius Oclatius 225 AE 1999, 1363 = RMD-IV 311
J[u]lius [---]ucianus 249 CIL XVI, 154
Vibius Seneca after 250 AE 1968, 189; cf. I. Eph. 3.737
Voltinius Saloninus 3rd C. AE 1979, 290

List of known ships

The following ship names and types of the classis Ravennas have survived:

  • 2 quinqueremes: Augustus, Victoria.
  • 6 quadriremes: Fortuna, Mercurius, Neptunus, Padus, Vesta, Victoria.
  • 28 triremes: Aesculapius, Apollo, Aquila, Archinix, Ariadna, Augustus, Castor, Concordia, Costantia, Danae, Danubius, Diana, Felicitas, Hercules, Mars, Mercurius, Minerva, Neptunus, Nereis, Pax, Pietas, Pinnata, Providentia, Silvanus, Triumphus, Venus, Virtus, Victoria.
  • 5 liburnians: Ammon, Diana, Pinnata, Satyra, Varvarina.
  • 5 other vessels: Clementia, Danubius, Hercules, Mercurius, Victoria.
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References
  1. Age of the Galley, p. 80
  2. A Companion to the Roman Army, p. 205
  3. Age of the Galley, p. 78
  4. Jordanes, Getica 150
  5. A Companion to the Roman Army, p. 209
  6. Historia Augusta, Commodus XV.6
  7. Age of the Galley, p. 83
  8. Age of the Galley, p. 84
  9. Eck, Andreas Pangerl "Ein M. Ulpius Marcellus als praefectus classis Ravennatis in einem Diplom des Jahres 119 n. Chr.", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 181 (2012), pp. 202–206
  10. Eck and Margaret Roxan, "Two New Military Diplomas", in Römische Inschriften – Neufunde, Neulesungen und Neuinterpretationen, Festschrift für Hans Lieb, hg. R. Frei-Stolba Basel: M.A. Speidel, 1995), pp. 55-97
  11. Eck, Pangerl, "Ein Diplom für die ravennatische Flotte unter dem Präfekten Aurelius Elpidephorus aus dem Jahr 221 n. Chr.", Acta Musei Napocensis, 45-46 (2008–2009), pp. 193–205

Sources
  • Erdkamp, Paul (ed.) (2007). A Companion to the Roman Army. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4051-2153-8.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  • Gardiner, Robert (Ed.) (2004). AGE OF THE GALLEY: Mediterranean Oared Vessels since pre-Classical Times. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-955-3.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
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