Ivlia (ship) explained

Ivlia (bireme) is a modern reconstruction of an ancient Greek rowing warship (galley) with oars at two levels[1] and is an example of experimental archaeology. Between 1989 and 1994, this vessel undertook six international historical and geographical expeditions tracing the route of the ancient seafarers.

Ship construction

After processing the available scientific data using ancient illustrations on vases and reliefs, as well as written and archaeological sources, members of the Odesa Archeological Museum, under the direction of Prof. Vladimir N. Stanko, Ph.D., proposed the building of a bireme because, in antiquity, it had been the most widely used vessel in the northern Black Sea region.

The ship was constructed in 1989 at the Sochi Naval Shipyard by a team led by shipwright Damir S. Shkhalakhov. Ivlia was built from Durmast oak and Siberian larch, while the oars were made of beech. The technical design of the project was carried out by specialists of the Nikolayev University of Shipbuilding. The main sponsor of the construction of the ship was the Black Sea Shipping Company.

Expedition route

Starting from Odesa in Ukraine in 1989, Ivlia followed the routes of the ancient mariners on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic Ocean, covering more than 3,000 nautical miles in six expedition seasons and visiting over 50 European ports, finally sailing up the river Seine to reach Paris. To celebrate the completion of the voyages, the Mayor of Paris and future President of France, Jacques Chirac, was received on board the Ivlia. The expedition's progress was widely covered by international media. During the time of the voyage, hundreds of articles were published, along with dozens of TV and radio reports. The ship was regularly visited by official delegations and thousands of tourists. Ivlia also took part in international maritime festivals: Colombo'92 in Genoa (Italy), Brest’92,[2] Cancal’93, and Vieux Greements’94 (France). Over six seasons the crew members included more than 200 people – citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, France, Greece and Georgia.

Scientific aspects

The authors of the project, Igor Melnik, Mikhail Agbunov and Pavel Goncharuk, together with the staff of the Odesa Archaeological Museum and the Nikolayev University of Shipbuilding, developed the research program of the expedition primarily to address the following objectives:

The practical experience gained on Ivlias expeditions enabled the project authors to affirm:

In addition, the research program conducted on board Ivlia included the participation of the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas. In accordance with the research program, developed under the leadership of the Acad. Y. P. Zaitsev. During the expedition, density, salinity, transparency and contamination of seawater were regularly measured. Also regular measurements were made of environmental parameters and the level of pollution of the seawater, assessments of the state of marine flora and fauna, and a variety of medical experiments were conducted. The data obtained during the six years of voyages are summarized in the articles and books subsequently published by the authors of the project.

Literature

External links

Notes and References

  1. [John Sinclair Morrison|Morrison]
  2. Brest 92. L'Album De La Fete. Gilles Daniel,- Le Chasse-Maree, 1992.
  3. The Ancient Mariners. Lionel Casson. Princeton University Press. 1991.
  4. Historical Maritime Sailing in models and Reconstructions, Igor Melnik, - Kyiv, Phoenix, 2010.
  5. The Athenian Trireme, J.S. Morrison, J.F. Coates, N.B. Rankov, - Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  6. Roller, Duane W. (2006). Through the pillars of Herakles: Greco-Roman exploration of the Atlantic. Taylor & Francis, pp. 27-28.