[gothic-l] Erulic and Gothic Naval Warfare in the Black Sea

[andreas.schwarcz at UNIVIE.AC.AT]

On 11 Apr 2001, at 22:30, Tim O'Neill wrote:

> 
> You mentioned Zosimus I 42 and said he explicitly mentions
> that the raiders built their own ships - could you expand on
> this?  Any idea where this ship-building took place or any
> indication that local ship-wrights were used in this
> activity?
> Cheers,
> 
> Tim O'Neill
> 
Hi Tim,
Zosimus I 42 tells us that Scyths (i.e. the people of the Scythia as 
a geographical unit, not actual Scyths), Heruls, Peuks and Goths 
collected at the mouth of the Tyras (Dnjestr), where they built 
ships. He gives us the number of 6000 ships and 320 000 
attackers, which is quite unbelievable. But the ships were not very 
big and not very seaworthy, because they had considerable losses 
when they tried to pass the Propontis. I suppose they used local 
personell for the building, but we should not expect too much in 
ship-building technology or seafaring expertise, if we trust 
Zosimus's report.
Regards
             Andreas Schwarcz

Ao.Univ.Prof.Dr.Andreas Schwarcz
Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung
Universität Wien
Dr.Karl Lueger-Ring 1
A-1010 Wien
Österreich
Tel.0043/1/42-77/272-16
Fax 0043/142-77/92-72

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