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.
These Greek soldiers from Karia in western Anatolia were known for their use of deadly one-handed, single-headed axes. Axes had long been used throughout Egyptian and Greek culture, from the slashing, pole-mounted examples of the former to the double-edged labrys, associated with Labraunda and held sacred by the Karian people. Acting as shock troops in Ptolemaic armies, the Karians used their axes to hack their way through armour. Even heavy or chain armour was no defence, as the concussive force of a weighted axe head could still crush bones and organs even if it failed to penetrate. Although effective, fighting in this way was both tiring and clumsy, and the initial benefit from a charge would soon wear off. Lightly armoured, with little more than shields and helmets, Karian axemen were best employed attacking the flanks of more heavily armoured foes.
