STEINBY : The Roman republican navy (előszó)
The idea for this book first originated when I realized how little we know about the Roman Republican Navy. I wanted to learn about it, but soon discovered that in general books on ancient history, the navy is only discussed in the context of the First Punic War and in specialist books, the Romans are called "landlubbers", to explain why they supposedly did not like seafaring. I was intrigued to know why there was so little interest in the subject and whether the idea of the Romans as a nation avoiding seafaring was true at all. There was a substantial gap in research and a curious situation with sources, which seemed to contradict each other. Above all, it seemed to me, the big picture of the Roman navy and its importance for Roman expansion was missing. All this made the Roman Republican Navy a fascinating object of study.
I have many people and institutions to thank. First, I should like to thank Prof. 0lli Salomies for giving me the opportunity to do research at the Department of Classical Philology at the University of Helsinki. Prof. Paavo Castrén read and commented on chapters of this book and I have greatly benefited from his valuable comments. I thank him for many enlightening conversations and his unfailing support over the years.
At Oxford, Wadham College provided a most pleasant and inspirational environment for research. I have benefited enormously from the insight, expertise and encouragement of the late Peter Derow. He read and commented upon chapters of this book, many of them in more than one version. Our discussions were most creative and fun. He made me think.
I am grateful to Prof. Kalervo Hovi and all the staff at the Department of General History at the University of Turku for many useful discussions and their continuous support of my work. I would especially like to thank former lecturer Matti Männikkö, who first introduced me to historiography and source criticism.
For financial support, I am indebted to the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation, the Finnish Konkordia Fund, the E.J. Sariola Foundation, and the Oskar Öflund Foundation.
My English was revised by Keith Battarbee and Margot Stout. Any remaining slips or mistakes are naturally mine.
Finally, I am grateful to Prof. Jaakko Frösén and the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters for accepting this study for publication in the series Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum.
Turku, 25.8.2007
Christa Steinby
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