An Ancient Roman Battering Ram Used During Battle Over 2,200 Years Ago Was Discovered At The Bottom Of The Mediterranean Sea
At the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, an ancient Roman battering ram was found. The heavy object was used during a battle that took place more than 2,200 years ago.
A deepwater submarine was used to recover the large bronze piece, which was located off the coast of Sicily’s Aegadian Islands at a depth of 260 feet.
According to a translated statement from the Sicily Superintendence of the Sea with the Department of Cultural Heritage for the region, the ram was once attached to a warship. It was used in the Battle of the Aegates, fought between Rome and Carthage in 241 B.C.
The skirmish was the last battle of the First Punic War between the two cities, the initial conflict that kickstarted a series of wars that lasted for 23 years and ended with Carthage surrendering to Rome.
Rams were one of the most important naval weapons of the time. They would smash into enemy ships, damaging them and causing them to sink.
During the Battle of the Aegates, the Romans sunk 50 Carthaginian ships and captured 70 more, taking nearly 10,000 sailors as prisoners.
Carthage was forced to surrender, and Rome had peace for a short time until they went on to fight a second and third war against the Punic people over the next century.
All that fighting cost a lot of human lives and wrecked the state of Rome’s economy. In the last phase of the war, Rome had to ask wealthy families for a loan to build new boats and arm the fleet, according to Francesca Oliveri, an archaeologist at the superintendence.
The recently discovered ram was covered in marine life, so its features were hard to make out. An analysis of the ram revealed that it contained a decorative engraving depicting a Montefortino-style Roman helmet with three feathers. The helmet style was part of the standard uniform for Roman troops.
EleSi – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
It is not the first time that researchers have discovered war relics in the seabed off the Aegadian Islands. Since the early 2000s, researchers have recovered at least 25 rams from the region. Two swords, 30 Montefortino helmets worn by Roman soldiers, coins, and many large clay storage jars are also among the artifacts.
The ram is now onshore at Favignana, one of the Aegadian Islands, where it will undergo further study. The wealth of rams found on the seabed points to how effective they were in battle.
“We are finding so many things that help to illustrate a little better the world of the third century B.C.E.,” Oliveri said.
“It’s the first site of a naval battle in the world that has been scientifically documented like this, and it will continue to be documented—because the area of interest is very large…It will take at least another 20 years to explore it fully.”
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