Liburnian (ship)

A liburnian or liburna was a type of small galley used for raiding and patrols, particularly by the Illyrians and the Roman navy.

A stone tablet (Stele di Novilara) found near ancient Pisaurum (Pesaro) shows a liburnian in the scene of a naval battle. Dated to the 5th or 6th century BC, the image possibly depicts an imaginary battle between Liburnian and Picene fleets. The liburnian was presented as light type of the ship with one row of oars, one mast, one sail and prow twisted outwards. Under the prow there was a rostrum made for striking the enemy ships under the sea.

By its original form, the liburnian was similar to the penteconter. It had one bench with 25 oars on each side, while in the late Roman Republic, it was equipped with two banks of oars (a bireme), remaining faster, lighter, and more agile than triremes. The liburnian design was adopted by the Romans and became a key part of Ancient Rome's navy, most possibly by mediation of the Macedonian navy in the 2nd half of the 1st century BC. Liburnians played a key role in the battle of Actium in Greece, which saw the establishment of Augustus as the undisputed ruler of the Roman world.

Liburnians were different from the battle triremes, quadriremes and quinqueremes not because of rowing but rather because of its specific constructional features. It was 109 ft (33 m) long and 5 m (16 ft) wide with a 1 m (3 ft 3 in) draft. Two rows of oarsmen pulled 18 oars per side. The ship could make up to 14 knots under sail and more than 7 under oars.

Such a vessel, used as a merchantman, might take on a passenger, as Lycinus relates in the second-century dialogue Love Affairs (§6), traditionally attributed to Lucian of Samosata: "I had a speedy vessel readied, the kind of bireme used above all by the Liburnians of the Ionian Gulf."

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