One rarely thinks of the origins of warships. It was generally thought that they were basically modifications of standard ships of trade, and that would be correct. The major purpose of ships in the ancient world was trade and settlement. Trade to provide wealth for the ship owner and the land of origin, settlement to carry citizens of overcrowded areas to places they could settle and expand. Of course, these ships were also useful for carrying soldiers over great distances, saving them (and the peoples of the land through which they marched) for any upcoming battles.

The Eastern Mediterranean was where major ship use and development occurred. The Egyptians uses ships on the Nile, while others used them to move up and down the coat of the Levant from Asia Minor down to Egypt. The Egyptians rarely sailed too far from home, the Nile being the main waterway. They were fortunate that the wind generally blew opposite of the Nile's current so heading upstream was assisted by the wind while the current helped return them to the delta region. As was the standard of this entire time, oars were used as the major motive power with the single square sail of ships of the day being only used as an auxiliary. It was not until centuries after the end of the period covered by this book that ships were built that used only sails. Egyptian ship design was initially just local, but later influenced by those of other places.

In addition to the Egyptians, the book covers the Sea People, the Minoans of Crete, the Syrians and, of course, the Phoenicians, culminating with the Greeks. Through all of this, we see how ship design grows in terms of overall design from rather portly cargo vessels to the much sleeker ships of the Phoenicians and the Greeks. As oars mean speed, we see the numbers and rows of oars increase. The first decks appear, initially to protect cargo, but later used to allow soldiers a sure footing. Ships developed rams, often sheathed in bronze, to sink the enemy's ships. This was not considered the best way to defeat the enemy as it was preferred that the losing ship be taken as a prize. Rams were also separate pieces from the rest of the ship so they would not be damaging to the ship and could be easily repaired.

Author Adrian Wood has done considerable research as he tells the tale of the development of these vessels from multi-purpose ships until we get the first purpose built war ships to where carrying stuff was secondary to the mission. Researching ship design of this time is not an easy task and we have to grab snippets of information from the writings of the time as well as from what is presented on pottery as well as any wall paintings or remaining fragments. However, a cohesive story is told and is one that is fascinating to anyone interested in the nautical world. Enhanced by images of artifacts and the excellent illustrations of Giuseppe Rava, we can see how ship development went forward over the 2500 years covered by this edition.

It is a book that is both fun to read and interesting. A book I enjoyed reading and I know you will as well.

February 2013

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