You have to give serious credit to Octavian and Marcus Agrippa’s naval forces at the Battle of Actium for not panicking when they saw the size and scale of the ships Mark Antony and Cleopatra brought. Visit the Actian Victory Monument and you understand it immediately.

I love the Olympias trireme, but it still bothers me that they used the Athlit ram design. Even the publication admits the mismatch. Still, it was an ambitious experimental project and some compromises were inevitable. Maybe time for a quinquereme build next with an Egadi ram?

Naval blockades in antiquity rarely seem to be carried out solely by naval forces; most have some form of land-based pressure. The closest case I can think of is the Siege of Tyre, though even there the mole proved decisive. Can anyone think of a successful example carried out by naval forces alone?

We can only guess what happened to the Punic ships after the Battle of the Egadi Islands (241 BCE). Sources vary wildly on how many were destroyed, captured, or recovered. Some were likely reused, others stripped, plenty just lost. What’s striking is the silence on the rams.

Out of all the Punic Wars, the First is the best because… lots of warships… and lots of rams…

Philo Mechanicus would love this thread…he was a sucker for naval blockade talking points.

Likely Trump’s next “doctored” image post in his feud with the Pope…

My sister’s new article in Science!!! Congrats 🎉 @coevolvinglab.bsky.social Sex effects on gene expression across the human cerebral cortex at cell type resolution | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Got a chance between teaching classes to explore the historic shipyard where China’s first aircraft carrier (the Liaoning) was commissioned. The story behind it is honestly wild. This place once produced a significant number of Chinese naval vessels (also the Shandong aircraft carrier).

“If you should chance to have a naval force that is slightly inferior to that of the enemy, take on your fighting decks your best and most experienced soldiers. Order them neither to climb out, nor to board any enemy ship, but to use the bronze ram.” – Philo Polior. D.103 [104.9].

In my intro to Digital Humanities class, I present one core idea: every project should be guided by human judgment from start to finish. I think many students came in expecting to learn how AI or certain programs could do all their work for them.

“If you should chance to have a naval force that is slightly inferior to that of the enemy, take on your fighting decks your best and most experienced soldiers. Order them neither to climb out, nor to board any enemy ship, but to use the bronze ram.” – Philo Polior. D.103 [104.9].

Warships with rams are everywhere in antiquity! Here’s another one I didn’t include in my article on naval ram portrayals (DeCasien, 2025). A small bone "appliqué", mentioned by Casanovas et al. (2021), shows a warship prow with a ram, likely part of a Punic decorative lectus.

“For when a ship was overtaken by several triremes and struck from all sides by their bronze rams, as the water rushed in, it would be swallowed by the sea with all its crew.” - Diod. Sic. 13.16.3

A new likely Hellenistic sling bullet has been excavated at Hippos (pleiades.stoa.org/places/678185) near the Sea of Galilee. It has a unique inscription: ΜΑΘΟΥ Learn (your lesson!) Sling bullets were truly the bumper stickers of the ancient world. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Thanks to the Anthropuzzled podcast for having me on to talk about nautical archaeology! Episode comes out in July!

According to the ancient historian Eutropius (Brev. 2.27), today marks the anniversary of the Battle of the Egadi Islands, fought on March 10, 241 BCE. I have the privilege of working on the battle site itself, where excavations have recovered a remarkable range of material!

One thing I enjoy about ancient history is the distance. It gives people room to explore big questions without the weight that often comes with more recent history, while still offering lessons that apply just as much today.

Given the current academic job market, the old adage “publish or perish” increasingly feels like “publish and perish anyway.” I’m glad to have a temporary position, but it still makes the future feel uncertain.

One thing I really love in Greek and Latin poetry is how naval rams are often referred to simply as bronze rather than by technical terms like rostrum or embolos. The ships don’t just ram each other—they cut through the sea with bronze, they clash in bronze, or their prows bear teeth of bronze.

Whoever made this graphic hates ancient warships….

Still working on the same paper about the Syracusan trireme modifications of 413 BCE, and my interpretation keeps shifting every time I go back to the sources. The evidence is so compressed and assumes so much background knowledge that each reread seems to suggest a different reconstruction.

I have the proofs in hand to review, but unfortunately the release isn’t scheduled until 2027! Slowly but surely getting all my ram ideas onto paper and out into the world. Honestly, I’ll take any excuse to talk about ancient naval warfare.

Tried the AI caricature trend. Asked it to draw me and my job. Not sure whether to laugh or file a complaint.

"Half his body was under water, & half above it; & this was carried all over the sea — a piteous sight — fastened in death upon the ship's ram. Both fleets now increased their speed, & the rowers' faces, as they sped on, were spattered with a bloody dew from the splashing oars." - Sil. Pun. 14.480

Been tagging all naval battles, coastal actions, ship engagements, and smaller maritime operations in this copy of Caesar. Also finding little nuggets of solid seafaring detail, but as with Caesar, it all gets overshadowed by everything else going on. I think it’s time to get back to Thucydides!

After reading a lot about ancient naval warfare, I’m convinced fighting at sea was one of the worst ways to die in antiquity. The five that stand out most: 1. Beaten to death with an oar while trying to swim away. 2. Falling overboard and getting crushed between two ships as they rammed.

I had the whole Chinese Maritime Museum to myself, stood in a hall full of Chinese ship models and said, “look at all this junk.” Linguistically correct. Academically questionable.

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in graduate school! -Thucydides -Ancient Navies -History of Shipbuilding Technology -Pre-classical Seafaring -War and Society Honorable mention: Roman Epigraphy

@sdecasien.bsky.social Max Tucker on my Discord server found these Apulian depictions of warships on Apulian vases. Thought you'd like to take a look.

Love this coin! It is hard to tell, but that naval ram is definitely there. Poor Asander looks like he took the naval ram head on…! RPC I, 1845.

Our new paper is out. It is always a privilege to work with Dr. Murray. Even more so to share a paper on a topic we both probably spend way too much time thinking about. Hopefully this is the first of many!

A cool example of ancient Chinese naval warfare iconography! Museum info: Bronze pot with patterns of water and land battle and warship. The Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period (771-221 BCE). Housed in the China Maritime Museum.

Option A: sail or row around. Option B: “…he held the naturally formed mole that lay in the way, which had almost made the town into an island, and he hauled four biremes into the inner harbor, pushing them along with crowbars, with rollers placed underneath.” -Caes. BCiv. 3.40.2-3.

I love reading Caesar and seeing just the blatant bias toward deck fighting and personal valor over crew organization and ship maneuvers. Like: “Sure, they sheared some oars… but HOLD ON, this one marine threw a grappling hook, yanked the enemy ship over, and started killing people.”

Incredible shot of the Hellenic Navy's new frigate Kimon being welcomed yesterday by the trireme Olympias and the armoured cruiser Averof (photo by Nick Dendris)

“At Terracina, the praetor M. Claudius perished in flames when his ship was struck by lightning.” - Julius Obsequens, Prodigiorum liber, 24. When asking AI 🤖 for an image of this event we get this hilarious scene:

“ἀλλὰ θέαν μόνην ἐκείνη παρέσχε…”- Plut. Demetr. 43.4.

All the Odyssey movie “inaccurate” versus “who cares” arguments are both fun and exhausting. But the trailer shows them rowing a clinker built Viking ship. That is like depicting Columbus crossing the Atlantic in a Chinese junk.

Our new paper is out. It is always a privilege to work with Dr. Murray. Even more so to share a paper on a topic we both probably spend way too much time thinking about. Hopefully this is the first of many!

Still unclear how I ended up in a nationals-level quiz bowl question at the 2025 Chicago Open, but I’m not complaining. I wonder if anyone got it right. Bonus points to the writer for getting my last name’s pronunciation correct!

I wrote this blog post to offer some initial reflections on a topic that I hope others will find as exciting as I do! The aim is to spark broader interest among students and scholars in comparative studies of seafaring and naval warfare in antiquity. 🌊⚔️🐏

I wrote this blog post to offer some initial reflections on a topic that I hope others will find as exciting as I do! The aim is to spark broader interest among students and scholars in comparative studies of seafaring and naval warfare in antiquity. 🌊⚔️🐏

Slowly reached 2,000 followers, and I want to thank everyone who has joined me here! I post mostly about ancient naval warfare, so it means a lot to see others enjoy it too, whether you are scholars, students, or simply curious readers. Picture of the Piraeus ram just cause!

Tomorrow is the start of the workshop, and I can’t wait for the faculty lectures and student presentations. You’ll never guess what I’m talking about… hint below! 🐏🌊⚔️

I’d have to agree that this is…very interesting…

I had a great time giving a lecture at the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (IHAC). The best part was not the naval ram discussion but the energy/curiosity of the faculty and students. I feel grateful for the chance to spend time with such a warm and welcoming community!

So looking forward to this on Friday! Students are about to find out that the naval ram wasn’t only a weapon of war but popped up in almost every aspect of Greek and Roman life, from sex jokes to monumental displays, from women’s attire to amphora stamps….everywhere!

New poster! Only two weeks until my workshop “Sails, Silk, and Ancient Seas”. I am happy that so many students have taken an interest in ancient Mediterranean and Chinese seafaring. Reviewing their work and helping them refine their posters has taught me a lot about Chinese maritime history as well.

I’m enjoying Anno 117: Pax Romana, but what is going on with the ship designs? There are no proper naval rams and it feels off…one dangling oar out the back which I assume is the steering oar though its facing the wrong direction and angle. So far, no ramming warfare, just projectiles