Liburna

A Liburne (Latin: Liburna Greek λιβυρνίς ) was originally in the Roman fleet a lightweight, zweirangiges ( provided with two rows of oars ) and moving warship ( bireme ).

The Romans took over the ship type of the Illyrian Liburni. At the battle of Actium the commanded by Marcus Agrippa Vipsanius fleet consisted of Octavian (later Augustus ), primarily from Liburni.

In imperial times Liburni became the main type of ship of the Roman fleet ( Liburna could henceforth also " warship " generally mean ). They were versatile, so to monitor shipping lanes, fighting pirates, escorting the merchant fleet, as well as to transport the land army.

Whether Liburni had constructive peculiarities which distinguished them from other rowing boats, is controversial in research. There they were obviously in different sizes ( and possibly only with a rowing row), the smaller for use in Roman river fleets, such as on the Rhine ( Classis germanica) and Danube ( Classis Pannonia ).

The successor was the type Pamphile in the Byzantine fleet of the 9th century.