BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Distinguished Speakers in Military History - Lent 2011 - Prof. Bor
 is Rankov (Royal Holloway\, University of London)
DTSTART:20110308T173000Z
DTEND:20110308T190000Z
UID:TALK29496@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ilya Berkovich
DESCRIPTION:*Thalassocracy: the Role of Sea Power in the Ancient Mediterra
 nean*\n\nAlthough the role and exercise of sea power in the ancient Medite
 rranean shared some characteristics with later periods\, there are a numbe
 r of aspects in which they differed significantly. Indeed\, they varied co
 nsiderably even within the Greco-Roman period. A key determinant throughou
 t was the capabilities and limitations of ancient oared galleys.  The latt
 er went through a number of often startling developments as tactics and ne
 eds changed. The triremes (‘threes’) of the Classical period gave way 
 to larger vessels and eventually the monster polyremes of the Hellenistic 
 period. By the end of the 3rd century BC\, these had culminated in the ‘
 forty’ of Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt\, which was 420 feet long and c
 ould carry almost 3\,000 troops\, and yet such vessels had disappeared by 
 the first century BC\, and the main fleets of the Roman imperial period co
 nsisted largely of triremes not so very different from those which had bee
 n built for the Athenian navy some 800 years before. Professor Rankov\, wi
 ll consider how our understanding of ancient sea-power is being transforme
 d both by new archaeological discoveries and by a reconsideration of the a
 ncient evidence currently being undertaken by a number of different schola
 rs from around the world. \n\n\n\nProfessor of Ancient History at Royal Ho
 lloway\, Boris Rankov has worked extensively on Roman army\, Roman Britain
 \, and intelligence in the ancient world. Prof. Rankov maintains a particu
 larly strong interest in ancient shipping. He served as rowing master on t
 he _Olympias_ trireme reconstruction in the late 1980s and 1990s\, and is 
 now serving as Chairman of the Trireme Trust.
LOCATION:Upper Hall\, Peterhouse
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR