The Syracusia
The Syracusia was an ancient sailing ship designed by Archimedes in the 3rd century BC. It was considered one of the largest ships ever built in antiquity and had a sumptuous décor of exotic woods and marble, as well as towers, statues, a gymnasium , a library, and even a temple .
A new approach
Ancient maritime navigation is generally understood as coastal navigation. The term comes from the verb caboter which means "to sail along the coast, with stops". The ancient peoples (Egyptians, Greeks and Romans) generally sailed along the coast and did not take the risk of venturing too far out to sea. However, some sources confirm the existence of exceptions, the first of which dates back to the 3rd century BC.
In Sicily, during the reign of King Hiero II of Syracuse (270 - 215 BC), a ship of astonishing dimensions was built. The material used for the construction of this giant ship was equivalent to that of 60 ordinary ships. Moreover, this ship was intended to leave the safe coastal shipping lanes and cross the Mediterranean. The ship was named Syracusia and represented what could be called "the first ocean liner of antiquity".
Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse was an ancient scientist and inventor who lived between 287 and 212 BC. In his book On Floating Bodies , written around 250 BC, he describes some of the principles of hydrostatics that he had discovered. He was caught up in this very research when he is said to have uttered his famous "Eureka" and started running around naked (since he was in his bath). This story may have been somewhat exaggerated by Vitruvius , who is the first written source for this episode over a century later, but it is certain that Archimedes was responsible for great scientific inventions that earned him lasting fame as one of the leading scientists of antiquity.
hiero ii gave archimedes a special task: to design a ship, the largest and most substantial he could invent.
Archimedes was prompted to correspond with the ruler of Syracuse, King Hiero II. In one letter, he boasted that he could move any heavy object in existence. "Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth!" (δός μοι πᾷ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινήσω) he declared and immediately caught the attention of the Syracusan king. Impressed by the knowledge of the famous scholar, Hiero II decided to give him a special task - to design a ship, the largest and heaviest he could invent. Archimedes did his best and exceeded all expectations.
Le Syracusia
When Archias of Corinth built the ship according to Archimedes' plans, it turned out that it was so large that no port in Sicily was big enough to accommodate it. Hiero II had to think long and hard about what to do with it. Finally, he decided to send the ship as a gift to Ptolemy, the king of Egypt. The port of Alexandria seemed to be the only one that could accommodate this marvelous construction. Thus, the ship, originally named "Syracusia", was renamed "Alexandria" and prepared for embarkation.
Athenaeus, in his book The Deipnosophists, cites the only description of the ship and its cargo that exists, written by the historian Moschion of Phaselis. According to his account, the Syracusia/Alexandria was loaded with:
- 60,000 measures of cereals
- 10,000 jars of Sicilian salted fish
- 20,000 talents (500,000-600,000 kg/ 1,102,000-1,323,000 lb) of wool
- 20,000 talents of other goods (500,000-600,000 kg/ 1,102,000-1,323,000 lb)
- 2,000 measures of water in a container for drinking and bathing
In addition to all this, on board there were also the crew, passengers, soldiers and even horses.
Dimensions
The facts we know about the Syracusia come from Athenaeus' text and are as follows:
Length - 55 m (180 ft), some other sources give 110 m (360 ft)
Cargo capacity - between 1,600 and 1,800 tons and 1,940 passengers, warriors and crew, as well as 20 horses with separate stalls for each.
Timber used for the construction of the Syracusia - equal to the material needed for 60 standard triremes (40 m long and 6 m wide)
Construction time - 1 year, carried out by 300 workers.
We know the tendency of ancient authors to exaggerate facts in their enthusiasm to describe something extraordinary. Despite this, the Syracusia must have been a remarkable ship. Many stories were told of its launching which seemed impossible by the conventional means of the time. The ship simply could not have been pulled out of the dock, no matter how many men had been employed. Archimedes astonished Hiero II once again. He managed to launch the ship all by himself with the help of a system of pulleys (the lifting block system is one of the many technological inventions of the Syracusan scholar).
The wonderful interior
The size of the Syracusia was not the only impressive fact about it. According to Moschion, the ship's amenities would have astounded even modern passengers and cruise enthusiasts. Cypress wood, citrus wood, and ivory were some of the materials described. In addition, all the rooms had floors made of mosaics of all kinds of stones. These illustrated the entire story of the Iliad and were, in fact, the oldest mosaic illustrations that ever existed. Countless drawings and statues, goblets, and vases adorned the interior space of the Syracusia. The ship was equipped with a library and reading room, a living room, a gymnasium, a bathroom, a dining room, and a kitchen area with wood stores, ovens, and mills. Near the head of the ship there was a fresh water tank for drinking and bathing (according to some calculations, with a capacity of about 78 tons). Next to this tank was a built-in seawater tank filled with fish for the use of the cook.
The upper deck was not supported by regular columns, but by statues of Atlas (the Titan who held up the sky in Greek mythology ) six cubits high (about 3 m / 118 in). Along the upper deck there were promenades with gardens of different kinds of flowers and plants. Some parts were shaded by tiled roofs, others had tents covered with branches of ivy and white vine. The roots of the plants were buried in special barrels filled with earth and regularly watered. The magnificent promenades led to a temple of Aphrodite , with a floor of agate stone, furnished in the most exquisite manner with statues and pictures. 142 cabins for first-class passengers were also located on the second deck.
The crew and about 200 (according to others 400) soldiers were housed on the lower deck. 20 separate horse stalls were also part of this area. The ship was also well protected. There were eight towers with four men and two archers on each. Between 200 and 400 soldiers were ready to receive orders on a special deck at the front of the ship where a giant catapult was mounted. A palisade ran all around the ship to prevent boarding attempts. Four wooden and eight iron anchors ensured its safety in port.
Unfortunately, the Syracusia sailed only once - on this voyage from Sicily to North Africa. It is not known exactly what happened to her afterwards, as she was never mentioned again in later historical sources .
Source : websites