27th Roman rostrum found off coast of Sicily

Another bronze rostrum from the 3rd century B.C., the 27th since underwater excavations began 20 years ago, has been found in the waters of the Aegadian Islands in western Sicily. The vicious ramming beak was mounted to the bow of a Roman warship that fought in the 241 B.C Battle of the Aegates, the last naval battle of the First Punic War.

The rostrum was first spotted on the seabed at a depth of 260 feet by the research vessel Hercules. The deepwater submarine of the Society for Documentation of Submerged Sites (SDSS) then explored the site and confirmed that the object was indeed a rostrum. It was raised and transferred to a laboratory for examination and conservation by archaeologists of the Superintendency of the Sea of the Region of Sicily.

The new rostrum shows similarities to others found in previous campaigns, with a relief decoration on the front representing a Montefortino helmet with three feathers on top. However, the marine encrustations covering it still prevent the verification of any inscriptions.

The Battle of the Aegates (aka Egadi Islands) saw a fleet of 200 Roman ships arrayed against 100 Carthaginian ships (many of them previously captured from Rome). The Roman navy won a decisive victory that led to Carthage’s surrender and the end of the war. The large number of ships in the comparatively small field explains the extraordinary concentration of rostra have been found in the waters of the Aegatean archipelago. Before the explorations at Aegates began, the number of rostra found could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

* This article was originally published here