Questions Regarding Capabilities Of The Roman Navy

[Guest vahauser]

Greetings,

 

I am extremely interested (desperate) for information regarding transit times for Roman naval troop transports to and from Ravenna <--> Judea during the reign of Tiberius. My wild guess, based on absolutely no hard data, is 30 to 60 days one way (round trip 90 to 120 days). Am I even close?

 

As a related question, would naval troop transports usually travel individually or in convoys?

 

A further related question, would soldiers be authorized to travel by themselves or would they be ordered to travel in groups. What I am looking for here is precisely how would individuals (replacements, retirees, promotions, officers, etc.) be sent to or returned from units in the field?

 

Please Help,

Victor

[Neos Dionysos]

That is a LONG ass time...

 

In reality... times of transit was more like this...

 

Rome to Caesaraia(in the middle east) was only 20 days one way.

Alexandria to Puteoll=i was 15-20 days and the fastest recorded was 9 days.

Gades to Ostia was only 9 days.

etc.

 

Generally, travel did not except 20 days on normal conditions with weather being decent. If weather was bad it took take much longer and if the winds were highly favorable then it would be VERY short.

 

*all this info is from pages 80 and 81 of The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome by Chris Scarre

 

for information concerning the navy, you can try...

 

http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/rome-navy.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Navy

http://www1.rgzm.de/navis/Themes/Flotte/FleetsAndBorder.htm

 

Also try this page for a nice bibiliography as well.

 

Roman Navy Sources

 

 

Also, I would HIGHLY doubt that they would travel individually... and being that Rome was a diciplined and cohesive military force... they would most certainly not allow soldiers to travel on thier own. If you did that, only the Gods knew if they would all make it on time, and they could desert too if they are not watched.

 

Hope this all helps...

Edited January 16, 2006 by Neos Dionysos

[Jimbow]

A further related question, would soldiers be authorized to travel by themselves or would they be ordered to travel in groups. What I am looking for here is precisely how would individuals (replacements, retirees, promotions, officers, etc.) be sent to or returned from units in the field?

 

Petronius tells a story of a soldier and a friend (not a soldier) travelling to a distant village. The soldier turns into a werewolf, but that is not the point. Although he was travelling with someone else, he was the only soldier and was not with another group of soldiers.

 

I don't think, as a rule, soldiers had to move in groups when going on leave or transferring. The exception was when in territory deemed hostile, as told by Seneca (e.g. Syria), and even then it was only in pairs. If two was the exception, then one must have been the norm.

 

Note that after enrollment into the army the troops were sent home to see their families and take care of family business before regrouping to join their legions, which must have meant they travelled alone in at least some cases if not most. They had to take an oath to return, which I think was a much more serious matter then than now, and even then they could be late provided the reasons were serious enough.

 

Cheers,

Jim.

Edited January 16, 2006 by Jimbow