Mithradates VI warship found in Black Sea

[guy]

 

This is potentially an interesting discovery: A suspected warship of Mithradates VI has been identified in the Black Sea.

Although the wreckage was initially found in 2012, the final analysis and identification of the ship was completed and published more recently.

 

First the background: Mithridates VI Eupator was the king of Pontus from 120 to 63 BCE and one of the Roman Republic’s most dangerous enemies. His ambition brought him into direct conflict with Rome, leading to the Mithridatic Wars (89–63 BC), a series of brutal campaigns in which he initially defeated Roman forces, orchestrated massacres of Romans in Asia Minor, and briefly rallied much of Greece to his side. 
 

Archaeologists uncovered the vessel’s surviving lower hull—about 16 meters of timbers—along with copper nails, metal fittings, and a bronze naval ram decorated with stars and crescents, symbols associated with Mithridates. Radiocarbon dating and the ram’s iconography place the ship in the mid‑1st century BCE. 
 

Below is the mounting core of the naval ram.

 

 

https://arkeonews.net/2000-year-old-warship-of-romes-great-enemy-mithridates-found-in-the-black-sea/

 

A book written by Philip Matyszak on Mithradates VI:

 

Edited 1 hour ago by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

Amazing that the wood remained so well preserved after almost 2100 years. The article says that it may have been treated with resins as a preservative. They used copper nails-- you have to wonder if that also helped, copper being so toxic to living cells.....Shipwrecks in salt water are subject to invasion and destruction by screw worms, the big reason the wood parts usually deteriorate over time.....That's not a problem in fresh water. There are hundreds of shipwrecks well preserved in The Great Lakes where the cold, hypoxic water inhibits bacterial & fungal growth and there are no screwworms.

As an aside-- I looked up Mithridates quickly cuz I always get them all confused- those guys all look alike to me.... This ship was from M. VI....But the embarrassing Battle of Carrhae was during the war with M. IV....I had to laugh at the Wiki entry about the death of Crassus when he was tortured and killed by pouring molten gold down his throat. Wiki says "he was killed during a scuffle.."

Edited 1 hour ago by guidoLaMoto