Classis Misenensis

The classis Misenensis ("Fleet of Misenum"), later awarded the honorifics praetoria and Pia Vindex, was the senior fleet of the imperial Roman navy.

History

The classis Misenensis was founded by Caesar Augustus in 27 BCE, when the fleet of Italy, until then based mostly at Ostia, was moved to the new harbour of Portus Julius at Misenum in the Bay of Naples.[1] It was commanded by a praefectus classis, drawn from the highest levels of the equestrian class, those earning more than 200,000 sesterces a year. Its mission was to control the western part of the Mediterranean Sea, and, as the honorific praetoria, awarded by Vespasian for its support during the civil war of 69 CE,[2] suggests, the classis Misenensis, together with the classis Ravennatis, formed the naval counterpart of the Praetorian Guard, a permanent naval force at the emperor's direct disposal.

The classis Misenensis recruited its crews mostly from the East, especially from Egypt.[2] Since Rome did not face any naval threat in the Mediterranean, the bulk of the fleet's crews were idle. Some of the sailors were based in Rome itself, initially housed in the barracks of the Praetorian Guard, but later given their own barracks, the Castra Misenatium near the Colosseum.[1] There they were used to stage mock naval battles (naumachiae), and operated the mechanism that deployed the canvas canopy of the Colosseum.[3] Among the sailors of this fleet, Nero levied the legio I Classis, and used some of its leading officers in the murder of his mother Agrippina the Younger.[1]

In 192, the Misenum fleet supported Didius Julianus, and then participated in the campaign of Septimius Severus against Pescennius Niger, transporting his legions to the East.[4] The fleet remained active in the East for the next few decades, where the emergence of the Persian Sassanid Empire posed a new threat. In 258–260, the classis Misenensis was employed in the suppression of a rebellion in North Africa.[5]

In 324 the fleet's ships participated in the campaign of Constantine the Great against Licinius and his decisive naval victory in the Battle of the Hellespont. Afterwards, the bulk of the ships were moved to Constantinople, Constantine's new capital.

Praefecti classis Misenensis

The following list is based on Werner Eck and Hans Lieb, "Ein Diplom für die Classis Ravennas vom 22. November 206", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 96 (1993), pp. 86-88

Name Time frame Source
Tiberius Julius Optatus Pontianus 52 CIL XVI, 1 = ILS 1986; CIL X, 6318 = ILS 2815
Claudius Julianus 69 Tacitus, Historiae 3.57
Sextus Lucilius Bassus 69 - 71 CIL XVI, 12; CIL XVI, 13; CIL XVI, 15; CIL XVI, 16; AE 1997, 1273 = RMD-IV 204 Tacitus, Historiae 2.100, 3.12
Claudius Apollinaris 69 Tacitus, Historiae 3.76f
Gaius Plinius Secundus 79 Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, 6.16.4
Quintus Marcius Turbo 114 CIL XVI, 60; AE 1955, 255
Julius Fronto 118-129 CIL XVI, 66; AE 2002, 1734 = RMD-V 353; AE 2008, 1756; AE 2014, 1618; AE 2014, 1619; CIL XVI, 74; AE 2005, 691
Marcus Gavius Maximus ca. 132/3
Marcus Calpurnius Seneca Fabius Turpio Sentinatianus 133-134 CIL XVI, 79; CIL II, 1178 = ILS 2736; AE 2005, 1717
Caecius Severus 139-140 CIL XVI, 177; AE 1977, 793 = RMD-I 38
Valerius Paetus 145 CIL XVI, 92; AE 2008, 1111
Titus Furius Victorinus ca. 154 CIL VI, 41143 = ILS 9002
Tuticanius Capito 158-160 AE 1985, 994 = RMD-III 171; AE 1995, 1822 = RMD-IV 277; AE 1997, 1769 = RMD-V 425; AE 2006, 1855; AE 2006, 1856; AE 2006, 1858
Julius Crescens 166 CIL XVI, 122; AE 1992, 1507 = RMD-III 172
Publius Cominius Clemens ca. 178 CIL V, 8659 = ILS 1412; AE 1890, 151; RSH-85
Lucius Julius Vehilius Gratus Julianus ca. 183/4 CIL VI, 31856 = ILS 1327
Gnaeus Marcius Rustius Rufinus between 190 and 208 CIL IX, 1582 = ILS 1343; CIL X, 1127
Claudius Diognetus 209 AE 1976, 794 = RMD-I 73
Valerius Datus 212 RMD-I 74
Claudius Dionysius 214 AE 1979, 626 = RMD II 131
Marcius Agrippa 217 Historia Augusta, "Vita Caracalla" 6,7
Aelius Secundus 218 AE 1991, 1359 = RMD-III 353
Appius Celer 219-221 AE 1991, 1359 = RMD-III 192; AE 1995, 1565 = RMD-IV 307
Licinius Hierocles 229 AE 1985, 821 = RMD II 133
Valerius Valens ca. 238/40 CIL X, 3336 = ILS 3756
Gaius Julius Alexander 246 AE 1910, 36 = ILS 9221
Aelius Aemilianus 247 CIL XVI, 152
Marcus Cornelius Octavianus ca. 260 CIL VIII, 12296 = ILS 2774; AE 1907, 4 = ILS 9006; AE 1954, 136

List of known ships

The following ship names and types of the classis Misenensis have survived:

  • 1 hexeres: Ops
  • 1 quinquereme: Victoria
  • 9 quadriremes: Fides, Vesta, Venus, Minerva, Dacicus, Fortuna, Annona, Libertas, Olivus
  • 50 triremes: Concordia, Spes, Mercurius, Iuno, Neptunus, Asclepius, Hercules, Lucifer, Diana, Apollo, Venus, Perseus, Salus, Athenonix, Satyra, Rhenus, Libertas, Tigris, Oceanus, Cupidus, Victoria, Taurus, Augustus, Minerva, Particus, Eufrates, Vesta, Aesculapius, Pietas, Fides, Danubius, Ceres, Tibur, Pollux, Mars, Salvia, Triunphus, Aquila, Liberus Pater, Nilus, Caprus, Sol, Isis, Providentia, Fortuna, Iuppiter, Virtus, Castor
  • 11 liburnians: Aquila, Agathopus, Fides, Aesculapius, Iustitia, Virtus, Taurus Ruber, Nereis, Clementia, Armata, Minerva

By 79 this fleet had probably nothing larger than a quadrireme in service,[6] for Pliny the Elder, commander of the fleet, investigated the eruption of Vesuvius in a quadrireme, presumably his flagship and the largest class of vessel in the fleet.

References

  1. A Companion to the Roman Army, p. 209
  2. Age of the Galley, p. 80
  3. Historia Augusta, Commodus XV.6
  4. Age of the Galley, p. 83
  5. Age of the Galley, p. 84
  6. Pliny the Younger, Letters, VI.16

Sources

  • Erdkamp, Paul (ed.) (2007). A Companion to the Roman Army. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4051-2153-8.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  • Gardiner, Robert (Ed.) (2004). AGE OF THE GALLEY: Mediterranean Oared Vessels since pre-Classical Times. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-955-3.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
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