Description
As centuries passed, naval tactics and needs changed across the Mediterranean. There was a move towards larger ships, partly as an expression of national or dynastic power: the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt were particularly fond of large ships to show their wealth and influence in a physical way. These 'polyremes', a term meaning many oared, were not suitable for ramming work in battle. In practice many of them had no more oars than smaller ships; what they had were more rowers per oar than smaller ships. A Roman hexareme or Greek hexeres would have a couple of banks of oars with three men per oar, and appear to be an over-sized version of a smaller ship. Even so, thanks to being tremendously heavy and strongly constructed, they were slow moving, and hardly capable of the quick turns needed to take advantage of enemy mistakes. Instead the large ships made use of their wide decks and plentiful carrying capacities and became fighting platforms for infantry and artillery. Boarding or long-range bombardment were the methods to be used to defeat the enemy; naval warfare had come full circle in terms of fighting methods, even if ships had grown significantly.
Eastern hillmen tended to be light infantry skirmishers that excelled in mountainous and difficult terrain, as a result of defending their homelands against outsiders. Many hill tribes, including the Bithyni - after whom Bithynia was named - were descended Thracian migrants who crossed the Bosporus into Asia Minor; each had a fierce attachment to their own lands and a suspicion of plains folk and outlanders. Equipped in much the same manner as peltasts, they carried spears, javelins and daggers and their only protection was a shield, made from wicker, wood or hide. As a fighting force, they were fast moving and extremely manoeuvrable and not above trickery and deceit.
