Sea Power: Republic

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Sea Power: Republic CHRISTA STEINBY

A quest for sea power, thalassocracy, was an important concept in ancient politics and warfare. The first real sea power in the ancient world was 5th-century Athens; however, it was Rome that succeeded in t­ aking all of the Mediterranean under its control. Polybius presents the Romans in the First Punic War as beginners at sea facing the Carthaginians who dominated the sea for generations. However, this cannot be correct. Rome was a seafaring nation just as any other nation in the Tyrrhenian. Roman grain transports from 508 to 384 BCE proved Roman relations with Sicily, Cumae, and Etruria. Rome made rapid naval expansion in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. The navy participated in the Roman expansion in Italy, not only to aid the army, but also to function independently in a manner appropriate to a sea power. By taking Antium, Naples, and Tarentum, the Romans suppressed competition at sea and acquired new safe ports for their navy. The Romans did not only conquer their enemies in Italy, but also took over their military capacity. This explains their success in the overseas wars. Before the outbreak of the First Punic War (264), Rome had dealings with all the other sea states in the east, whether on good terms or on bad terms; for example, with Rhodes and Egypt. They elected the duoviri navales in 311 to administer the introduction of triremes in the Roman fleet. They established a colony on the Pontiae islands and tried to establish a colony in Sardinia and Corsica in the 4th century; had these succeeded, they could  have controlled an important sailing route that ran along the Sardinian and Corsican coasts to the  Ligurian coast. The increasing concern that Carthage had for the Roman expansion can be seen in the Roman–Carthaginian treaties. Starting from 306, Carthage had to protect its interests in Sicily not only against Syracuse but also against Rome.

The Carthaginians had fought the Greeks and especially Syracuse for the possession of Sicily for centuries – the situation remained unresolved until Rome entered the scene. They took the first steps toward thalassocracy in the First Punic War (264–241 BCE). Rome had the initiative and greater resources and forced the Carthaginians into an arms race in shipbuilding – a race that the Carthaginians were not equipped to win and they had to give up Sicily. The Second Punic War (218– 201 BCE) developed into a full-scale conflict at sea as the Carthaginians tried to regain their position – and it was really at sea that Carthage lost the war which left Rome to rule over the western Mediterranean. The successors of Alexander had the Aegean Sea as their frequent battleground for thalassocracy. This contest still continued when the Romans entered the Aegean at the end of the 3rd century BCE. Both Philip and Antiochus had ideas for thalassocracy and would have done very well with their fleets had it not been for the Romans. They challenged Macedonian and Seleucid fleets to an arms race in shipbuilding just as they had done with Carthage. Compared to Carthage, Macedonians and Seleucids did not fare too well as their resources turned out to be very limited. The Pergamene and Rhodian fleets briefly gained a position that they otherwise would not have achieved, but lost as soon as the Romans did not need them anymore. Rome had all of the Mediterranean under its control from the 2nd century BCE onwards. See also corvus; imperialism; piracy: republic; sea battle: republic. FURTHER READING Morrison, J.S. & Coates, J.F. (1996) Greek and Roman Oared Warships. Oxford. Steinby, C. (2007) The Roman Republican Navy. Helsinki. Steinby, C. (forthcoming) Rome versus Carthage: War at Sea. Barnsley.

The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army, First Edition. Edited by Yann Le Bohec. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781118318140.wbra1350