The Classis Ravennas ("Fleet of Ravenna"), later awarded the honorifics praetoria and Pia Vindex, was the second most senior fleet of the imperial Roman Navy after the Classis Misenensis.
History Ravenna had been used for ship construction and as a naval port at least since the Roman civil wars, but the permanent classis Ravennas was established by Caesar Augustus in 27 BC . It was commanded by a praefectus classis, drawn from the highest ranks of the equestrian class, those with a net worth more than 200,000 sesterces, and its mission was to control the Adriatic Sea and perhaps the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. As the honorific praetoria, awarded by Vespasian for its support during the civil war of AD 69,Age of the Galley, p. 80 suggests, together with the classis Misenensis, it formed the naval counterpart of the Praetorian Guard, a permanent naval force at the emperor's direct disposal.
Its home port of Classis (modern Classe), which was named after the fleet, was built under Augustus, and included a canal, the Fossa Augusta, which united the port with the lagoons of the interior, as well as with the river Po to the north.A Companion to the Roman Army, p. 205Age of the Galley, p. 78 Naval arsenals and docks stretched along the Fossa, in a complex that reached in length. According to a passage by Cassius Dio, related by Jordanes, the harbour could accommodate 250 ships.Jordanes, Getica 150
The classis Ravennas recruited its crews mostly from the East, especially from Egypt. Since Rome did not face any naval threat in the Mediterranean, the bulk of the fleet's crews was idle. Some of the sailors were based in Rome itself, initially housed in the barracks of the Praetorian Guard, but later given their own barracks, the Castra Ravennatium across the Tiber.A Companion to the Roman Army, p. 209 There they were used to stage mock naval battles (naumachiae), and operated the mechanism that deployed the canvas canopy of the Colosseum.Historia Augusta, Commodus XV.6 In 70, Emperor Vespasian also levied the legio II Adiutrix from the marines of classis Ravennas.
In the civil war of 192-193, the fleet supported Septimius Severus, and, together with the classes Misenensis, it participated in the campaign against Pescennius Niger, transporting his legions to the East.Age of the Galley, p. 83 The fleet remained active in the East for the next few decades, where the emergence of the Persian Sassanid Empire posed a new threat that required frequent reinforcements to be ferried.Age of the Galley, p. 84
In 324 the fleet's ships participated in the campaign of Constantine the Great against Licinius and his decisive naval victory in the Battle of the Hellespont. Afterwards, the bulk of the ships were moved to Constantinople, where emperor Constantine had moved the capital of the Roman Empire.
praefecti classis Ravennatis The following list is based on Werner Eck and Hans Lieb, "Ein Diplom für die Classis Ravennas vom 22. November 206", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 96 (1993), pp. 85f
Name Time frame Source Publius Palpellius Clodius Quirinalis AD 56 = ILS 2702; Tacitus, Annales 13.30 Marcus Aurelius Regulus reign of Nero Lucius Aemilius Sullectinus reign of Nero = RMD-V 449 Sextus Lucilius Bassus 69 (and 71?) = ILS 1991; Tacitus, Historiae 2.100 Cornelius Fuscus 69 Tacitus, Historiae 3.12 Lucius Cornelius Gratus 100 = RMD-III 142 Marcus Ulpius MarcellusEck, Andreas Pangerl "Ein M. Ulpius Marcellus als praefectus classis Ravennatis in einem Diplom des Jahres 119 n. Chr.", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 181 (2012), pp. 202–206 119 Lucius Numerius Albanus 127 Marcus Gavius Maximus ca. 131/2 Marcus Calpurnius Seneca Fabius Turpio Sentinatianus before 134 = ILS 2736; Fabius Sabinus 139 Valerius PaetusEck and Margaret Roxan, "Two New Military Diplomas", in Römische Inschriften – Neufunde, Neulesungen und Neuinterpretationen, Festschrift für Hans Lieb, hg. R. Frei-Stolba Basel: M.A. Speidel, 1995), pp. 55-97 c. 142 = RMD-IV 264; = RMD-V 392 ? Marcus Sempronius Liberalis 143/144 ZPE-207-232 Titus Furius Victorinus ca. 150 = ILS 9002 Tuticanius Capito 152 Quintus Baienus Blassianus ca. 160 Publius Cominius Clemens ca. 175 = ILS 1412; RSH-85 Lucius Julius Vehilius Gratus Julianus ca. 184/5 = ILS 1327 Gnaeus Marcius Rustius Rufinus between 190 and 210 Marcus Aquilius Felix between 190 and 210 = ILS 1387; Aemilius Sulleptinus 202 = RMD-V 449 Claudius Diognetus 206-209 = RMD-III 189; = RMD-I 73 Marcus Gongius Nestorianus 213/217 Aurelius ElpidephorusEck, Pangerl, "Ein Diplom für die ravennatische Flotte unter dem Präfekten Aurelius Elpidephorus aus dem Jahr 221 n. Chr.", Acta Musei Napocensis, 45-46 (2008–2009), pp. 193–205 221 Valerius Oclatius 225 = RMD-IV 311 J[u]lius [---]ucianus 249 Vibius Seneca after 250 ; cf. I. Eph. 3.737 Voltinius Saloninus 3rd C.
List of known ships The following ship names and types of the classis Ravennas have survived: 2 quinqueremes: Augustus, Victoria. 6 quadriremes: Fortuna, Mercurius, Neptunus, Padus, Vesta, Victoria. 28 triremes: Aesculapius, Apollo, Aquila, Archinix, Ariadna, Augustus, Castor, Concordia, Costantia, Danae, Danubius, Diana, Felicitas, Hercules, Mars, Mercurius, Minerva, Neptunus, Nereis, Pax, Pietas, Pinnata, Providentia, Silvanus, Triumphus, Venus, Virtus, Victoria. 5 liburnians: Ammon, Diana, Pinnata, Satyra, Varvarina. 5 other vessels: Clementia, Danubius, Hercules, Mercurius, Victoria.
See also Roman navy Classiarius
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