‘Under the Mediterranean’ The Honor Frost Foundation Conference on Mediterranean Maritime Archaeology
20th – 23rd October 2017 Short Report Series.
doi: https://doi.org/10.33583/utm2020.07
© 2020 The Author
The Tonnage of the Syracusia: a metrological reconsideration
Dr Emmanuel Nantet
Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, University of Haifa, Israel
The tonnage of the Syracusia, the biggest ship built in the ancient Mediterranean, has been much discussed by
scholars. Indeed, the various merchandise the ship carried are detailed by Athenaeus, who relies on a text
previously written by Moschion. However, the value of the units of measurements used in Athenaeus’ account
are not well known. So far, scholars have suggested only either Athenian or Roman units of measurement. The
present report aims at exploring the possibility of local metrological systems, such as Ptolemaic or Sicilian
ones, as Moschion and Athenaeus respectively lived in Sicily and in Alexandria.
Key words
Metrology, tonnage, cargo, wheat, giant ship, Sicily
The Syracusia is known as the biggest ship built in ancient times (5, 206d-209e). The ship was built by Archias
of Corinth, to fulfill an order from king Hiero II (269–215 BCE). The construction was supervised by
Archimedes (Salviat, 1987; Zevi, 2001; Pomey & Tchernia, 2006; Castagnino Berlinghieri, 2010; Nantet,
2016:12–131). Big the ship certainly was, but how big exactly? Many scholars have focused on that giant ship
in order to assess the maximum tonnage allowed by the construction techniques in Hellenistic times (Rougé,
1984; Casson, 1971; Pomey & Tchernia, 1978). Of course, the contents of the cargo are precisely described
(Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 209a):
Σίτου δὲ ἐνεβάλλοντο εἰς τὴν ναν μυριάδας ἕξ, ταρίχων δὲ Σικελικν κεράμια
μύρια, ἐριν τάλαντα δισμύρια, καὶ ἕτερα δὲ φορτία δισμύρια.