Aplustrum
Aplustre (Latin aplustre), or aphlaston (Greek), is a decorative extension of a ship sternpost, usually resembling a rooster tail. Besides rooster-tail forms, aplustres could also resemble the head of a goose or swan; this gave rise to another name, anserculus (Latin for "little goose"). Aplustres, like ship hulls, were brightly painted. Homer, for example, called the ships of Odysseus "red-cheeked" (Homer, Iliad, II,637) and "black" (Homer, Iliad, II,644; 652).
Aplustr. Reproduced from Sheffer J. De milita navali veterum. Ubsaliae,1654. P. 157
Various forms of aplusters. Reproduced from Sheffer J. De milita navali veterum. Ubsaliae,1654. P. 159The stern ornament could become a war trophy, symbolising the capture or defeat of an enemy vessel. Juvenal (Satires X.134–136) includes ship ornaments among the signs of military glory. This does not make the aplustre literally the standard of an infantry century: the comparison concerns the symbolic significance of part of the ship.
Image of aplustr on the coin. Reproduced from Sheffer J. De milita navali veterum. Ubsaliae,1654. P. 125Related topics
Literature and sources
- Sheffer J. De militia navali veterum. Ubsalie 1654. P. 125 - History of the Military Fleet of Rome and Byzantium";. Bannikov, Morozov; SPb,2014; pp. 64,65
- Juvenal. Satires, X.134–136.
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