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Reposted by Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D.

History Rage Podcast @historyrage.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

🚨 THIS WEEK🚨 🏛️⚓ Rome wasn't built by legions alone. @sdecasien.bsky.social reveals why naval power was essential to Roman success across the Mediterranean. 🌊 🎧 Listen now: pod.fo/e/60c28c #HistoryRage #AncientRome #RomanNavy #HistoryPodcast ⚔️

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Thanks Dave! Hopefully I was convincing. I wanted to leave it open to add further information or a different interpretation as well.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

If they exist, I’ll find them! Three-bladed waterline rams and ancient warship-inspired monuments at Union Station in DC. Though these are some pretty odd ones…

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Thanks for reading it! I might be wrong, I might be right, but I think it’s something worth looking at and exploring further, especially now that we have so much more information about naval rams.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Finally got to visit my sister’s workplace at the NIH! The work they’re doing there is incredibly important, and it was really cool to see some of it firsthand. A great reminder of why effective and continued government funding for research matters so much.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The article reexamines the Isis sgraffito, arguing that we may be looking at a local Cimmerian Bosporan warship rather than a Ptolemaic vessel, with a distinctive regional naval ram design. Another small piece of the ancient naval warfare puzzle!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Happy to share my latest article, “Revisiting the Isis Sgraffito: Evidence for a Cimmerian Bosporus Naval Ram Design,” now published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

Revisiting the Isis Sgraffito: Evidence for a Cimmerian Bosporus Naval Ram Design

Published in International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (Ahead of Print, 2026)

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Rainy day….working in the office on the Syracusan trireme modifications of 413 BCE. I’ll finish this paper (eventually), but today I’m really missing Actium. All this bad weather has me thinking about those rainy/cloudy days spent scanning the monument.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Excited to see my chapter, “Odysseus’ Naval Ram?”, published in Iconography of War in the Ancient Mediterranean World! Many thanks to the editors, Julio C. Ruiz and Marta Nicolás-Muelas. It’s great to see a conference group come together and turn our papers into a published volume!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

It looks like William Murray and I are moving forward with a monograph on the 27 ancient naval rams discovered at the Battle of the Egadi Islands (241 BCE), to be published by Texas A&M University Press. We’re excited to be working with our colleagues in Europe and the USA on this project!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale! Impressive 👀.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The Yale Sterling Library is just too amazing…and so far, the staff has found every single obscure article or book I’ve requested.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Thanks Dave! Hopefully I’ll be able to get some other fun/interesting ancient naval papers out as well during my time here.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Thanks! We are all working hard and are excited to get this info out there - eventually! 😁

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

There is also a stained glass window with a trireme but it’s behind a locked door…

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

A little piece of military history. Signed by some of the lecturers, including Paul Kennedy and Donald Kagan. Pretty interesting!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Already spotting ancient warships in Yale’s architecture! This one is at the entrance to Sterling Memorial Library. Phoenician ship inspired? Straight from the Kouyunjik relief?

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

It’s a fancy drinking vessel in the shape of a warship and with what may be a boar’s head naval ram. Very odd looking overall though!

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Reposted by Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D.

Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

There’s a similar dinos at the Getty Villa (92.AE.88) with a battle on top of the rim, and four warships on the inside of the rim. The ships would have appeared to float on the mixed water and wine when the vessel was full. Greek, Athens, 520-510 BCE, Circle of Antimenes Painter.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I love all of these depictions of ships on the rim. It’s surprising how many examples exist. I suppose people really liked the image of ships splashing through the wine-dark sea 😅!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Some other great ship-related pieces that I have used throughout my work here as well!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

A fragmentary stele depicting an ancient warship with a three-bladed waterline ram at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, # 1987.297. Nice to finally see this one in person!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Actually the 12th Egadi ram (Roman example) recovered had almost this exact composition!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

This one is just part of a fancy funerary monument! Actual naval rams used on ancient warships were all bronze.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

There was probably a matching ram, but it’s been lost to time. The surviving piece preserves incredible detail and is one of the few with a carved animal head on the cowl. Early publications identify it as a lion, but the pointed ears look much more like the wolf heads depicted on ancient warships.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Four years ago today! Nearly 100°F, not a cloud in the sky, and I spent the day searching all over Ostia for this stone ram. Of course, it turned out to be tucked away in a back corner. This was during the AAR Classical Summer School, and it was definitely worth the hunt.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Proof day! 🏺⚔️🌊 Just received the proofs for my upcoming chapter on Odysseus and the Sirens. It explores how ancient artists adapted the myth to reflect the naval warfare of their time, helping us understand the development of bronze warship rams. Almost perfect timing for Nolan’s The Odyssey!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Yay! Just accepted in IJNA! ⚔️ 🌊 I argue that Murray (2001/2002) was right that the ram is small and likely belongs to a trireme, but that its design is better understood through the Cimmerian Bosporus rather than the Ptolemaic or wider Mediterranean world.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

If the rams do indeed come from quinquereme warships then maybe around 300 to 400 per ship (numbers vary by ancient authors and modern reconstructions). A horrific scene no doubt for all involved, especially the Carthaginians.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

When the ROV hit the bottom and the cameras came on, there it was… a new ram. E27. That moment where instinct, a lot of luck, and a whole team’s effort all collide is hard to beat. I’ll never forget that moment!

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

What’s your favorite day in the field doing archaeology? Mine goes back to the Egadi Islands survey work for RPM Nautical. It was my first time out there and planning/picking the underwater targets for the day. I went with this small shadow on the sonar, well away from the main cluster of rams.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Second: House of the Dragon shows an odd three-pronged ram style prow, more like later Byzantine inspired ship design. Ramming does happen, but too much damage for that type of ram. 3/10.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

This week in naval rams in popular culture! First: Rick and Morty goes with a kind of three-bladed waterline ram on a single level galley, reads Egyptian/Levant inspired in overall shape and iconography, but pushed hard into sci-fi exaggeration. No ramming though! 6/10.

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Reposted by Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D.

History Rage Podcast @historyrage.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

🚨 THIS WEEK TO PATREON AND APPLE 🚨 ⚓ Rome started as a regional power and became a maritime powerhouse. Dr Stephen DeCasien explains how that transformation happened. 🎧 Listen now: www.patreon.com/hist... #HistoryRage #RomanNavy #AncientRome #HistoryPodcast 🌊

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Reposted by Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D.

History Rage Podcast @historyrage.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

🚨 NEXT WEEK FOR SUBSCRIBERS🚨 Think ancient Rome was just about legions on land? 🏛️❌ @sdecasien.bsky.social is here to prove Rome was a massive naval powerhouse! 🌊⚓ From epic shipwrecks to brutal bronze rams, get ready to shatter the ultimate landlubber myth. #History #AncientRome

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

The largest bronze fragment recovered near the rostral wall of the Actian Victory Monument. Among the few surviving relics of the Battle of Actium (31 BCE), it may have originated from one of the massive warships that served in the fleets of Antony and Cleopatra.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Hmmm I thought in the permanent? I might be mistaken though. 🤔. You’d know better than me! That motif is notorious for having very odd naval rams (especially for Etruscan depictions).

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Love it! I wonder if you ran into any sarcophagi with the Odyssey and Sirens motif?! I think there was one floating around there.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Murray, William M., and Stephen DeCasien. 2026. “Toward a Uniform Terminology for Three-Bladed Waterline Rams.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 55 (1): 175–86. doi:10.1080/10572414.2025.2592951.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Originally published online in December 2025, this article is now available in print in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. For fellow enthusiasts of naval rams 🌊 🐏

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

The funny thing is the professor never changed anything. Years later I still get emails from grad students asking for my study guides, and I never send them to just one person. If I’m sharing them, I send them to the whole new grad class. That’s my way of helping students beat that shitty system.

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Stephen DeCasien, Ph.D. @sdecasien.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Funded students often had more time to study while others had to work, so the system favored those with the most free time. The sad part is that if we'd studied together, we all could have done better, but some students saw grad school as a competition rather than a collaborative learning experience

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