Caligula's Giant Ship
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Caligula's "Giant Ship", also known as the "Round Ship", was an extremely large barge, the ruins of which were found during the construction of Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, Italy, in the 1950s.[1] This was previously a Roman port a few kilometers north of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber River. The ship was dated to c. 37 AD using dendrochronological dating methods.
This Roman barge had a length of about 312 feet (95.10 m) and a beam of about 69 feet (21.03 m). It was probably able to carry 1,300 tons of cargo.[1]
According to Pliny, this or a similar ship was used to transport the obelisk in St. Peter's Square from Egypt on the orders of Emperor Caligula.[2]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Allaby, Michael; Richard, Garratt (2010). Exploration: New Lands, New Worlds. Infobase Publishing.
- ^ The World's Largest Ship, And a Tale of Two Ports Archived 2015-05-19 at the Wayback Machine, Alan Lucas, AFLOAT, October 2006.
External links
[edit]- The Museum of the Roman Ships: The Port of Claudius, Giulia Boetto, translated by Claire Calcagno, Museum of the Roman Ships, Ministry of the Cultural Activities and Heritage Archaeological Superintendency of Ostia
- Wrecks & shipfinds of the Mediterranean 2. Antiquity after 480 BC, Per Åkesson, rev aug '05, Wrecks & shipfinds Worldwide, Nordic Underwater Archaeology.
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