CLASSICAL SEAFARING

This bibliography was begun by G.F. Bass and his students in the mid-1960s in a seminar on the subject at the University of Pennsylvania. At that time there were virtually no general books such as L.Casson's Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, M.-C. de Graeve's The Ships of the Ancient Near East (c.2000-500 B.C.), Morrison and Williams' Greek Oared Ships 900-322 B.C., L. Basch's Le musée imaginaire de la marine antique, or J.Rougé's Recherches sur l'organisation du commerce maritime en Mediterranée sous l'empire romain. Nor were there journals devoted to ancient ships and shipwrecks, although Mariners' Mirror published occasional articles on early watercraft. This lack required using primary sources for discussions in that and subsequent seminars, both at the University of Pennsylvania and at Texas A&M University, and the bibliography grew annually, although in recent years there has been no attempt to list the many articles in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Archaeonautica, Tropis, or Cahiers d'arhéologie subaquatique. A.J. Parker, Ancient Shipwrecks of the Mediterranean & the Roman Provinces (BAR International Series 580, 1992) has made it unnecessary to add references to ancient wrecks to this list. It is clear that some subjects were discussed in greater detail (and more often) than others; it is also clear that we seldom actually got as far as Roman seafaring before the end of term. Still, it would be worthwhile to update this bibliography annually, and thus corrections and additions will be welcome; the abbreviations used are generally those listed in the American Journal of Archaeology 95 (1991) 4-16, but note especially that here MM = Mariners' Mirror. Please send entries to gfbass@tamu.edu.

• General Bibliography
• Protogeometric and Geometric Ships
• Homeric Ships and Sailing: Iliad and Odyssey
• Assyrian and Phoenician Ships and Shipping
• Seventh-Century B.C. Seafaring
• Etruscan, Italic, and Sardinian Ships and Shipping
• Sixth-Century Greek Ships on Vases
• Piracy and Naval Warfare in the Mediterranean to the Early Third Century B.C.
• Oared Ships
• Ship Sheds
• Greek Anchors
• Naval Exploration
• Greek Maritime Commerce and Merchant Ships
• Harbors
• Representations of Harbors in Art
• Ancient Lighthouses
• Roman Period Shipwrecks
• Roman Maritime Commerce
• Online Resources

Site last updated May 3, 2005