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Ships and Seafaring in the Ancient World
A survey of ancient ships, crews and sea routes, from Nile barges and Bronze Age traders to Greek warships, Roman grain carriers and Indian Ocean voyages.
Egypt and Africa
Ships and Navigation
Boats, harbours and the methods ancient sailors used to cross waters.
Harbours and Ports: Piraeus and Ostia
How ancient harbours were planned and built, from the naval bases and shipsheds of Athenian Piraeus to the river port of Ostia and Rome's artificial harbours.
Navigating Without Instruments
How ancient sailors found their way using coastlines, stars, winds, birds, sounding leads and written sailing guides, long before the magnetic compass.
Nile Boats and River Transport
How Egyptians used papyrus skiffs, cargo barges and sailing vessels on the Nile to move people, grain and giant blocks of stone, and what the evidence shows.
Pytheas and the Voyage to the North
What is known about Pytheas of Massalia, the Greek who sailed to Britain and the far north in the late fourth century BCE, and why ancient writers doubted him.
The Expeditions to Punt
What Egyptian inscriptions and reliefs say about voyages to Punt for incense, ebony and gold, from the Old Kingdom to Hatshepsut, and where Punt may have been.
The Greek Trireme
How the Greek trireme was built, crewed and fought: its three rows of oars, bronze ram, rowers and tactics, and what the Olympias reconstruction taught.
The Uluburun Shipwreck
What the Late Bronze Age wreck found off Uluburun in Turkey reveals: tonnes of copper and tin, glass ingots, ivory, ebony and goods from many lands.
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