Caligula's Giant Ship

Ruined Roman barge

Caligula's "Giant Ship", also known as the "Round Ship", was a very large barge, the ruins of which were found during the construction of Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, Italy, in the 1950s.^[1] This was previously a Roman port a few kilometres north of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber River. The ship was dated to c. 37 AD using dendrochronological dating methods.

This Roman barge had a length of about 312 feet (95.10 m) and a beam of about 69 feet (21.03 m). It was probably able to carry 1,300 tons of cargo.^[1]

According to Pliny, this or a similar ship was used to transport the obelisk in St. Peter's Square from Egypt on the orders of Emperor Caligula.^[2]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Allaby, Michael; Richard, Garratt (2010). Exploration: New Lands, New Worlds. Infobase Publishing.
^ The World's Largest Ship, And a Tale of Two Ports Archived 2015-05-19 at the Wayback Machine, Alan Lucas, AFLOAT, October 2006.

External links

The Museum of the Roman Ships: The Port of Claudius, Giulia Boetto, translated by Claire Calcagno, Museum of the Roman Ships, Ministry of the Cultural Activities and Heritage Archaeological Superintendency of Ostia
Wrecks & shipfinds of the Mediterranean 2. Antiquity after 480 BC, Per Åkesson, rev aug '05, Wrecks & shipfinds Worldwide, Nordic Underwater Archaeology.

Largest wooden ships

Ancient ships