Snowfall

Loading Oil on a Roman Merchant Ship

A slave loading oil on a Roman Merchant Ship at Ostia, the busy trading port of Rome.

Roman Merchant Grain Ship

A Roman Merchant Vessel (small freighter) the Isis Giminiana, is being loaded with sacks of grain, second or third century A. D.  Farnaces, the commander (magister), stands at the steering oars.   Stevedores carry the sacks aboard and empty the goods (res) into an official measure under the eye of the ship's owner, Abascantus, and of a government inspector (holding an olive branch).  A stevedore who has emptied his sack (marked feci, "I'm done") rests in the bows  The mast is stepped far forward; the ship was probably sprit-rigged.

  The demand for grain grew as Rome prospered, and imports became essential.  In order that the trade might proceed peacefully, Rome had to have command of the Mediterranean.  (Anderson);

Latin Labels, Left to Right:

ISIS              FARNACES              ABASCANTUS           RES
GIMINIANA             MAGISTER
NA

Early Greek Ship

 

In this drawing the above ship drawing the major element for a ship under sail are clearly shown:

--Mast;
--Yard;
--Forestays;
--Brails;
--Braces;
--Sheets;
--Sail;
and the double steering oars. This ship design probably dates from the fourh century BC or earlier.

Reference:

--A. Cowley (trans.), "Jewish Documents of the Time of Ezra, #26, (translated from the Aramaic)," Bodley's Librarian, 1919.

--Henry B. Culver, Gordon Grant (illus.), "The Book of Old Ships," Dover Publications, New York, 1992 (ISBN 0-486-27332-6 [pbk.])

Respectfully Submitted;

Marcus Audens

Map of Belgae

 

Brigadier General of Engineers, Ian McKay

 

In this picture, Brig. Ian Mckay, Chief of Staff to Lt. General U.S. Grant, is talking with the crowd of spectators, explaining a few basic elements of the massed artillery behind him. This particular photo was taken at an event in Western Connecticut early in the season. Ian McKay usually is asked to narrate to the spectators about the equipment and tactics that they are seeing on the field, since much of it is known well only to the few who study such.

Hitite City (Under Siege)

 

This very rough picture indicates a city under siege and the fortifications built into the city wall