Salvete!
Mr. Pitassi appears to have published a number of books on the Roman navy over the last two years:
The Roman Navy: Ships, Men & Warfare 350BC - AD475
The Navies of Rome
Roman Warships
Reviews I have found on the internet appear to be somewhat reserved. Before I spend my whole 2013 book budget on these titles, I would be grateful if somebody who has read them could comment on their quality.
Thank you!
Hi Jens, sorry I can't help you in regards to the three Michael Pitassi books you listed but I have 2 books by Lionel Casson which although he writes about ancient seafarers, he includes the Roman Navy as well as Byzantines,Greeks and Phoenicians. You may already have them but the 2 books I have are
"The Ancient Mariners" by Lionel Casson
"Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World" by Lionel Casson
The only other book I have about the Roman Navy is "Roman Britain and the Roman Navy by David J.P. Mason. The best of the 2 Casson books to me is "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World" it is 592 pages in length and covers warships,merchant ships and sailing ships, crews, markings and names, harbours plus many other aspects of ancient naval history.
Regards
Michael
Kerr
Yeah like the books about casson too. :-)
Thank you for the responses. I have the Casson books and also like them.
Hi Jens
Let's say that I don't agree with his interpretation of the Roman navy. :whistle:
and don't worry about the price, i bought it much much cheaper too :p
Jasper, do you have any other good titles ?
I'm halfway of Pitassi's "The navies of Rome" and it isn't bad IMHO. But I haven't read anything by Casson, so, I can't make comparison.
Books on the Roman Navy are indeed hard to find. A list of known books would be nice!
It's really very short: there's Starr's book, the two books by Thiel on the Republican fleets (good luck finding those outside a uni library), Christa Steinby's recent book on the early Roman fleets, Mason's on the Classis Britannica and Pitassi's slew of ...
Quote:Pitassi's slew of ...
What's the problem with his interpretation, do you think? (if that wouldn't require too long an answer!)
I can keep the answer very short: he attributes very modern properties to the Roman naval forces. This in fact something most modern books about ancient naval warfare are guilty of. The problem is that 'we' (ie anyone in the modern western world and especially those of us from traditionally maritime nations such as the UK, US and NL) are so ingrained with these notions it takes a special effort to consciously turn them off. That and Pitassi's horribly annoying habit of 'semi accurate' annotation where he points to entire books if you're lucky and doesn't use notes at all when it gets interesting.