Abstract

In his account of the great naval battle in 201 B.C. off Chios between the fleet of Philip II and the combined fleets of Pergamum and Rhodes, Polybius notes a curious exchange of ram blows that took place at one point: Δεινοκρτης μν πρς κτρη συμπεσν ατς μν ζαλον λαβε τν, πληγν, ναστερου τσ νεσ οσησ, δ τν πολεμων τρσας ναν π τ *βαα τ μν πρτον οκ δνατο ωρισθναι, καπερ πολλκς πιβαλμενος πρμναν κροειν κτλ. Dinocrates, who was one of the commanders on the Pergamene side, attacked a Macedonian οκtêrês and, it would appear, struck it with his ram below the waterline; τβαα is unattested elsewhere and its precise meaning is obscure, but the phase π τβαα in this context clearly refers to a part of the oktêrêŝ hull that was immersed in water. In the process his own ship was hit; the blow that it took landed above the waterline because the oktêrês that delivered it was a ‘vessel that was anasteiros’ a word also unattested elsewhere. For well over a century there has been universal agreement that it means ‘with a high prow’