Naval Warfare: Did you mean...?

The hull of the Olympias, a full-scale reconstruction of an ancient Greek trireme warship. The principal strategy in battle of the trireme was to sink or damage the oars of an enemy vessel using the bronze ram fixed to the ship's prow. Triremes...

The Chesapeake-Leopard affair was an incident that took place off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, on 22 June 1807 when the British warship HMS Leopard fired on and boarded an American frigate USS Chesapeake while searching for deserters from...

Roman artillery weapons were instrumental in the successes of the Roman army over centuries and were especially used in siege warfare, both for offence and defence. Principally used in fixed positions or onboard ships, these machines, known...

This is a 3D rendition of what Carthage might have looked like at the height of its power. In the foreground you can see the Cothon, the city's famous military harbour.

A bronze ram from the prow of a Carthaginian warship. Found off the Aegadian Islands (near Sicily) and dating to the First Punic War (264 and 241 BCE). A Punic inscription dedicates the ram to the Phoenician and Punic god Baal.

Polycrates (r. c. 535-522 BCE) was the tyrant of Samos who established Samian naval supremacy in the eastern Aegean and strove for control of the Aegean Sea and mainland towns of Ionia in the 6th century BCE. Polycrates had a successful career...

Kublai Khan (Qubilai-Qan) was the ruler of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294. His accomplishments include establishing Mongol rule in China under the name of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), thus becoming the first non-Chinese to rule the...

An early 1st century CE bronze lion, a typical decoration used to crown the rudder shaft of Roman warships. (Palazzo Massimo, Rome).

The Yuan Dynasty was established by the Mongols and ruled China from 1271 to 1368 CE. Their first emperor was Kublai Khan (r. 1260-1279 CE) who finally defeated the Song Dynasty which had reigned in China since 960 CE. Stability and peace...

Cavalry, although never replacing infantry as the mainstay of the Roman army, could provide useful cover on the flanks of armies, could be used as a shock tactic to cause disruption to enemy infantry formations, and could pursue an enemy...