Fire Pot Dieres, Numidian Spearmen

Description

The waterline ram was first mounted on a vessel in around 850BC. Warships and naval tactics were transformed. Ships were no longer platforms for infantry battles on the water; the ship itself became the weapon. Galleys changed as the new reality sank in. Ramming at speed would hole and sink an enemy, therefore slimmer, faster, handier ships were required. More speed on demand obviously required more oars a fast ship with a single row of oars ended up being stupidly, impractically long. The solution, then, was to put in a second set of oars above the first, but slightly offset to allow for rowers' benches. These biremes, a Latin word meaning 'two oars', or dieres, the Greek equivalent, were no longer than previous designs but had twice the number of rowers. They were fast, manoeuvrable, and could carry a fighting contingent. Some nations also gave their bireme crews fire pots; these clay pots filled with oil and pitch were hurled at enemy ships in the entirely reasonable hope of setting them ablaze.

Numidia had a fierce warrior tradition, partly because the eastern Massylii and western Masaesylis had a tradition of bitter feuding and internal warfare. They took, and changed, sides in the Punic Wars to suit their own agenda, and only emerged as a single state after the Battle of Zama in 202BC. The fall of Carthage allowed the Numidians to expand their lands, and this led to the Jugurthine War of 112-105BC against Rome. Numidia’s king, Jugurtha, was only defeated when he was betrayed by his father-in-law, Bocchus. While the Numidians were famed as cavalrymen, their infantry forces were also quite effective. The historian Suetonius mentions that there were 'Numidian legions', a term normally used in Roman writings for Roman troops, when passing comment on Julius Caesar’s speech about Juba’s march to aid Scipio before the Battle of Thapsus in 46BC. This suggests that some Numidians were fighting in Roman style, and were possibly equipped in the same manner. The Numidians also adopted other tactics and war gear, such as the thureos-style shield and hoplite-like spears.