Description
Rome and the Sea
While the Roman Republic and -later- the Empire never had the great maritime reputation of any of the Greek City States, as the Empire expanded it became increasingly dependent on the maritime trade that flourished during the Roman ascendancy. By the First century (A.D.) Egypt, Sicily and -to a lesser extent- the Roman colonies of Southern Britain had become the breadbasket of Rome. Without the ships that plied the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Atlantic and Black Sea Rome would have starved. The majority of the ships that plied Roman waters depended on a combination of sail and oar power. (The majority of the oar power was generally supplied by war captives -slaves- freedmen or non-Romans. And thus this ring represents something of a mystery. It depicts the simplest type of small Naval, merchant or passenger vessel. Found in a Roman colony and dating to the early years of the Empire, it is nevertheless likely that the man who wore the original that this ring is based on was not a Roman, but instead a stranger -perhaps a Carthaginian or Greek- who lived and worked in a Roman world.)
