Ο πολεμικός ροδιακός στόλος και τα υφάσματα του τυπικού εξοπλισμού

Abstract

The Rhodian military fleet and the textiles of the standard equipment of the navy of Hellenistic Rhodes. The island of Rhodes is one of the Greek islands with the longest naval tradition and the Rhodian navy of the Hellenistic period was the most powerful Greek navy after the Athenian one. This paper presents the results of a research project, entitled HISTIA, studying the production, maintenance, and administration of a neglected area of research, namely the sails, rope and any textile equipment needed for the military ships of Rhodes. By focusing on this previously unstudied field of naval studies, this project, not only aims at breaching a significant research gap, but also establishes a new field of textile archaeology that studies textiles intended for the ships, bringing together the fields of ancient history, naval history, and textile archaeology. Based on similar studies carried out for the Athenian navy, as well as research on the naval power of Rhodes, HISTIA project investigates evidence and research questions related to the types of ships used in Classical and Hellenistic Rhodes, the facilities of the Rhodian harbors, the maritime networks of Rhodes and the navy stations, and the ship’s equipment in textiles and rope; the basic type of ship being the trireme, a significant source of information for the establishment of the requirements in textiles and rope were the naval catalogues of Piraeus listing the triremes and their equipment. The project also studies the materials required for this production, the possibility of local cultivation, as well as the trade of raw materials and finished products; similarly, the production process, information about workshops, workforce, as well as different trades necessary to meet the constant requirements of the navy in textiles and rope. Moreover, as was also the case in Athens, in Rhodes too this material required constant and specific maintenance in storehouses with special conditions in order to be safely stored and be useful for a long period of time.