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Warships Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...naval arms race started between Alexander’s successors, which produced ships of enormous proportions. One of the contenders, Demetrius I Poliorcetes (r. c. 294–c. 288 b.c.e. ), called “the Besieger,” took part in a sea battle near Salamis (Cyprus) in 306 b.c.e. with “sevens,” vessels that were rowed from one, two, or three levels. If we believe the historian Diodorus Siculus , who lived in the first century b.c.e. , Demetrius already in 315 b.c.e. had even larger vessels: “nines” and “tens.” The heavier the ships and the higher the numbers of...
Ancient Navies Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...with his son Demetrius —emerged as the most aggressive naval power of all, driving a naval arms race with his rivals that produced bigger and bigger ships designed to attack and defend the coastal cities so important to everyone’s aspirations. Bigger and Bigger Warships These new “Hellenistic navies” required larger warships than were built before, and our sources imply that they were introduced in rapid succession. In 307 , “sixes” and “sevens” are said to have helped Demetrius defeat Ptolemy off Cyprian Salamis; six years later Demetrius’s fleet contained...
Technology and Weapons Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...torsion catapults became available in the Mediterranean. Their first attested deployment at sea occurred in a naval battle between the fleets of two of the would-be successors of Alexander the Great, Demetrius I Poliorcetes and Ptolemy I (Ptolemy Soter) at Salamis in 306 b.c.e. According to the first century b.c.e. historian Diodorus Siculus, Demetrius put stone-throwing catapults on the main decks of his ships and arrow-shooting catapults on their prows; thereafter catapults became standard on all decked warships. In the 30s b.c.e. the Roman ...
Ipsos, battle of (301 bc) Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Military History
...allied phalanx and Demetrius' victorious cavalry. Horses were notoriously frightened of elephants and, after rallying, Demetrius' command was unable to approach the centre of the battlefield and influence events there. Seleucus harassed the Antigonid phalanx, possibly with horse archers, and in time large numbers defected to the allies. Finally, Antigonus was killed by a javelin and his army collapsed. The battle's outcome was decisive, Seleucus becoming leader of Syria and Mesopotamia, Ptolemy king of Egypt. Stephen Nutt Diodorus , 20. 113–21. 2. Plutarch...
Siege Warfare Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology
...out. Examples of narrative siege descriptions by Byzantine authors include Prokopios on the Gothic siege of Rome (537/38), in which the Goths used four siege towers; Agathias on Narses’ siege of Cumae (552/53), with a description of a sapping operation; the Miracles of St. Demetrius on the Avaro-Slav siege of Thessalonike (possibly 586 or or 597 ) describing what are presumably trebuchets, as well as rams and siege sheds; John Kameniates on the Arab siege of Thessalonike (904), with siege towers on ships; and Anna Komnene on the Norman siege of...
Byzantine Empire Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology
...by DietherRoderich Reinsch . Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 22. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1983. Kritoboulos, Michael . History of Mehmed the Conqueror . Translated by Charles T. Riggs . Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954. Kydones, Demetrios . Démétrius Cydonius: Correspondance . Edited by Raymond J. Loenertz . Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1956–1960. Lampros, Spyridēn P. , ed. Vrachea chronika . Athens, Greece: Grapheion Dēmosieumatēn Akadēmias Athēnēn, 1932. Manuel II Palaiologos . The Letters of Manuel II...
Crusades Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology
...the medieval period. During the battle, Kerbogha does appear to have made a number of tactical mistakes; however, the key factor seems to have been the zealous momentum of the Christian assault, during which contemporaries claimed that they were supported by Saint George, Saint Demetrius, and Saint Mercurius. With this victory, the road to the Levant lay open and the Christian armies moved south. Although there had been friction among the crusade leadership during the siege, the battle stood as testament to the commanders’ ability to work together at a time of...
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