Great Sea Battles from the Classical World – Salamis, Syracuse and Actium
A general look at ships and sailing techniques in the Ancient World and how vessels were used in warfare. This course was run at the National Maritime Museum on Sunday 25th March 2018.
We looked at the strategies used by navies in the ancient world and specifically the tactics at Salamis in 480 BC where the allied Greek forces defeated the Persian fleet of King Xerxes, the second battle of Syracuse in 414 BC when the mighty Athenians were defeated by the Syracusans and the battle of Actium in 31 BC when Augustus and Agrippa decisively defeated Antony and Cleopatra. We also looked at some of the lesser known conflicts and the design of Ancient warships.
I repeated this course online for the City Lit on 27th March 2021. The PDF version of the slides for this are at the end.
These are the slides from the 2018 course in printable format
Naval Warfare in the Ancient World in printable format
Greek Ships slides in printable format
Roman Warships slides in printable format
Battle of Salamis slides in printable format
Battle of Syracuse 413 BC slides in printable format
Actium slides in printable format
These are my notes from the course
Some other sources
Aeschylus Salamis from The Persians
Battle of Actium sources and Shakespeare
A List of Ancient Naval Battles
The following podcasts from Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time may be of interest.
The Battle of Salamis
Horace
2021 Slides
Naval Warfare in the Ancient World 2021 PDF
These included links to the You Tube Series “Every Naval Battle in History”
The Battles of Alashiya 1275-1205 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV6_vqpi5ro&list=PLqAG2BBpsYd0H7DxmIUXu5ENJtX5UGNO_&index=1
Battle of the Delta 1190 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-V327dW_Mk&list=PLqAG2BBpsYd0H7DxmIUXu5ENJtX5UGNO_&index=2
Corinth v Corfu 664 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbsGAypnHJo&list=PLqAG2BBpsYd0H7DxmIUXu5ENJtX5UGNO_&index=3
Battle of Alalia 535 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnuhFAWLrnk&list=PLqAG2BBpsYd0H7DxmIUXu5ENJtX5UGNO_&index=4
Persians off Cyprus 497 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sW1V6VJ8YM&list=PLqAG2BBpsYd0H7DxmIUXu5ENJtX5UGNO_&index=5
Battle of Cumae 474 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro_WjBC7vsQ&list=PLqAG2BBpsYd0H7DxmIUXu5ENJtX5UGNO_&index=9
The Persian Wars
These included these videos
Battle of Lade 494 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22ChtYkxVp4&list=PLqAG2BBpsYd0H7DxmIUXu5ENJtX5UGNO_&index=6
Battle of Artemisium 480 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Y5OwdIQXU&list=PLqAG2BBpsYd0H7DxmIUXu5ENJtX5UGNO_&index=7
Battle of Salamis 480 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uhoDZtA9PQ&t=46s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlCUFGBJNMQ&t=4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nENUmbdsAPw&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS7_H7_jecY
The Peloponnesian Wars
Battle of Syracuse 413 BC 2021 PDF
With this video
Battle of Pylos 425 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTN3ByaNOgA
Greek Ships
With these videos
Greek Triremes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e1cmprH6BY&t=77s
Greek Naval Tactics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMfe9SI99j0&t=105s
Ancient Athenian Trireme “Olympias” rowing sea trials 2016 – YouTube
Greek Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPUgvYZ5UDk&t=51s
Punic Wars
With video
Battle of Ecnomus 256 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpGMSzgd8eg&t=71s
Actium
Videos
The Best Documentary Ever – ACTIUM 31 BC – YouTube
Battle of Actium (31 BC) – Final War of the Roman Republic DOCUMENTARY – YouTube
Battle of Actium 31 BC. Pure battle. – YouTube
The Battle of Actium – YouTube
Ancient Ships – the emperor’s ship – YouTube
Roman Warships
Videos
How a rostrum works on an ancient Roman Navy vessel – YouTube
Warfare of Classical Antiquity: Republican Fleet Anatomy (Roman Navy) – YouTube
Republican Fleet Tactics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOc8muR2eq8
Republican Fleet Operations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=397-i39mN4g&t=34s
Battle Scene from Ben Hur
Bataille navale au temps de l’empire romain – extraits du film BEN HUR – YouTube