The Development of the Roman Navy

A Bibliography

Thomas P. Roche supplied the bibliography of his Master's thesis at the University of Vermont (1991) to the readers of the LT-ANTIQ list in February of 1997.

With his permission, the secondary works from that bibliography are posted here.

Suggestions for additions are welcome, especially material on the later Roman navy. Contact the editor.


Adcock, F. E. THE ROMAN ART OF WAR UNDER THE REPUBLIC. Martin Classical Lectures, Vol. VIII, 2nd ed. Cambridge, Engl.: W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., 1960.

Badian, E., ed. STUDIES IN GREEK AND ROMAN HISTORY. NY: Barnes and Noble, 1964.

Carson, R., Hill, P., and Kent, J. LATE ROMAN BRONZE COINAGE 324-498. London: Spink, 1960.

Casson, Lionel. THE ANCIENT MARINERS: SEAFARERS AND SEA FIGHTERS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN IN ANCIENT TIMES. NY: Macmillan Co., 1959.

--------------------. SHIPS AND SEAMANSHIP IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. Princeton U.P., 1971.

Dell, Harry J., "The Origin and Nature of Illyrian Piracy", HISTORIA 16 (Wiesbaden, 1967), pp. 344-58.

Duff, A.M. FREEDMEN IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE. Cambridge, Engl: W Heffer and Sons, Ltd., 1958 (1928).

Garland, Robert. THE PIRAEUS: FROM THE FIFTH TO THE FIRST CENTURY A.D. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1987.

Gruen, Erich S. THE HELLENISTIC WORLD AND THE COMING OF ROME. Berkeley: U Cal P, 1984.

Harris, William V. WAR AND IMPERIALISM IN REPUBLICAN ROME, 327-70 BC. Oxford: Clarendon, 1979.

Kienast, Dietmar. UNTERSUCHUNGEN ZU DEN KRIEGSFLOTTEN DER ROMISCHEN KAISERZEIT. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1966.

Koster, A., and von Nischer, E., "Das Seekriegswesen bei den Romern", in A. Koster, et al., eds. HEERWESEN UND KRIEGSFUHREN DER GRIECHEN UND ROMER, 4. Abt., 3. Teil, 2. Bd., of Iwan von Muller and Walter Otto, eds., HANDBUCH DER ALTERTHUMSWISSENSCHAFT. Munich: C.H. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1928, pp. 609-26.

Marsden, Peter. "Ships of the Roman Period and After in Britain", in George F. Bass, ed. A HISTORY OF SEAFARING BASED ON UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY. NY:Walker and Co./ London: Thames and Hudson, 1972, pp. 113-32.

Mattingly, Harold. COINS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. London: Printed on order of the Trustees, 1923.

-----------------------."The First Age of Roman Coinage". JRS 25 (1945), 65-76.

-----------------------, et al., eds. THE ROMAN IMPERIAL COINAGE (9 VOLS). London:Spink, 1923-.

Meiggs, Russell. ROMAN OSTIA. Oxford: Clarendon, 1960.

Meijer, Fik. A HISTORY OF SEAFARING IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD. NY: St Martin's Pr., 1986.

Ormerod, Henry. PIRACY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD: AN ESSAY IN MEDITERRANEAN HISTORY. Liverpool Univ Pr, 1924.

Rodgers, William Ledyard. GREEK AND ROMAN NAVAL WARFARE. Annapolis: US Naval Institute, 1937.

Rouge, Jean. SHIPS AND FLEETS OF THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN, tr. by Susan Frazer. Middletown CT: Wesleyan UP, 1981 (orig French 1975).

Starr, Chester G. THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER ON ANCIENT HISTORY. NY: Oxford UP, 1989.

-----------------------. THE ROMAN IMPERIAL NAVY, 31 BC-AD 324, 2d ed. Cambridge, Eng: W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., 1960.

Tarn, W.W. HELLENISTIC MILITARY AND NAVAL DEVELOPMENTS. Cambridge UP, 1930.

-----------------------."The Roman Navy", in John E. Sandys, ed. A COMPANION TO LATIN STUDIES. Cambridge UP, 1910, pp. 489-501.

Thiel, J.H. A HISTORY OF ROMAN SEA POWER BEFORE THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. Amsterdam:North-Holland Publishing Co., 1954.

--------------. STUDIES ON THE HISTORY OF ROMAN SEA-POWER IN REPUBLICAN TIMES. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publ. Co., 1946.

Throckmorton, Peter. "Romans on the Sea", in George F. Bass. ed., above.

Viereck, H.D.L. DIE ROMISCHE FLOTTE. Herford, Germany: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1975.

Walbank, F.W. A HISTORICAL COMMENTARY ON POLYBIUS, 2 VOLS. Oxford:Clarendon, 1967.

Walling, Herman T. THE BOARDING BRIDGE OF THE ROMANS: ITS CONSTRUCTION AND ITS FUNCTION IN THE NAVAL TACTICS OF THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. Groningen: J.B. Wolters, 1956.

White, R.D. GREEK AND ROMAN TECHNOLOGY. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1984.


To Online Bibliographies for Late Antiquity.

To ORB Late Antiquity Page.