3.3 Naval Supremacy

The early years of the war saw a lot of fighting in the Mediterranean. The Ptolemaic navy was a dominant power in the east of the basin until the Romans came. However, the Romans had one significant advantage: Rhodes.

During their wars against Hellenes, Romans saw the need for a significant naval presence of their own. Several propositions for a potential shipyard were put forward – Ravenna and Capua being the most popular – but eventually, the capture of Macedonia’s shipyards decided the place for Rome’s chief naval base.
Starting from Pella, Roman ships ravaged Aegean coasts for several years. But it took the conquest of Rhodes to truly achieve supremacy of the seas. A fleet of quadriremes built by Rhodian shipwrights struck fear into the hearts of Ptolemaic sailors. A number of naval encounters was lost, and the Ptolemies found themselves on the defensive.

In 220’s, the Roman legions twice raided Syria from the decks of that new fleet. Razing Sidon, Damascus and Hierosolyma to the ground, the invaders were eventually forced to retreat both times. No permanent conquest of Syrian ports could ever be achieved as long as the ships had to travel all the way from Rhodes, open to Ptolemaic attacks.

To secure the route for further attacks, the tribune of the retreating army of the second raid on Syria, instead of landing somewhere in Pamphylia and regroup as his predecessor, decided to capture Kypros.
The garrison at Salamis was not very strong, but it fought well. It took a year, and reinforcements from the mainland, to secure the island. Once Kypros fell however, the sea was open to the Roman fleet.
The Salamis base was crucial in securing the starting position for Syrian and Egyptian campaigns a few years later. If the Ptolemies did not neglect its importance, they may not have lost Alexandria so easily. With ports of Levant and Egypt lost over the next decade, the Ptolemaic fleet disappeared from the Mediterranean, and the legions could safely cross the turbulent seas between Italy and Antioch. It was not until the Carthage decided to launch a full-scale naval offensive in 208 BC that the Roman navy had to bother itself with the movement of any enemy ships.