Syracusia

Syracusia was a 55 m (180 ft) ancient Greek ship sometimes claimed to be the largest transport ship of antiquity. It was designed by Archimedes and built around 240 BC by Archias of Corinth on the orders of Hieron II of Syracuse. The historian Moschion of Phaselis said that Syracusia could carry a cargo of some 1,600 to 1,800 tons. It reputedly bore more than 200 soldiers, as well as a catapult. It sailed only once to berth in Alexandria, where it was later given to Ptolemy (Ptolemaios) III Euergetes of Egypt and renamed the Alexandris. Ptolemy's son sought to outdo Syracusia. He ordered the construction of a huge warship - 423 feet high, 80 feet wide, bearing more than 4,000 oarsmen and 2,850 soldiers. However, according to Callixenus of Rhodes, it was an immobile ship.

A discussion of this ship, as well as the complete text of Athenaeus (late 2nd-century Greek writer who quotes a detailed description of the Syracusia from Moschion, an earlier, now lost, writer) is in Casson's Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World.

Of particular interest in the discussion of the construction of the ship is the detailed description of the efforts taken to protect the hull from biofouling, including coating it with horsehair and pitch. This may be the first example of proactive antifouling technology (designed to prevent the attachment of fouling organisms, rather than to remove them).

Further reading

• Fik Meijer, André Wegener Sleeswyk: "On the Construction of the 'Syracusia' (Athenaeus V. 207 A-B)", The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 46, No. 2 (1996), pp. 575-578
• Jean MacIntosh Turfa, Alwin Steinmayer Jr: "The Syracusia as a Giant Cargo Vessel", The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Vol. 28, No. 2 (1999), pp. 105-125

See also

• List of world's largest wooden ships
• Nemi ships
• Caligula's Giant Ship