The collection ship rams from Egadi keeps growing

The number of ship rams recovered from the Egadi seabed keeps growing after each excavation season. My last count dated from 2019, when the counter had stopped at sixteen Roman and two Carthaginian rams (see: Still recovering ship rams from the Egadi Islands). 

Today's latest news is that two more bronze rams were excavated in 2021, bringing the total discovered to twenty-five. I must have missed last year’s discoveries. 

[Picture from The Archaeological Network - Credit RPM Nautical Foundation] 

It is incredible that the battle site at the Egadi Islands, where the Romans fought for supremacy over the Carthaginians in 241 BC, is strewn with so many shipwrecks. The ships themselves have, of course, disintegrated over the centuries, but the bronze battering rams remained intact. 

The sheer scale and rampage of this battle are beyond our imagination. Hundreds of ships sought to destroy their opponent by maneuvering in such a way that the prow of the ship where the ram was situated would hit the enemy in the flank and sink the vessel. The stakes were very high as Rome aimed to control the Central Mediterranean, where Sicily occupied a central position. 

The diving site of Egadi has yielded many more objects made of non-degradable material like bronze helmets and cheek-pieces, dozens of lead slinger bullets, together with Hellenistic and Roman coins. 

A vessel from the first half of the 4th century AD emerged from the same area. It appears to be a big merchant ship loaded with amphorae made in Lusitania (an ancient province in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula) and Baetica (in the most southerly corner of Iberia - Spain). 

After 16 years of diving, the archaeological site of the Egadi Islands has not disclosed all its treasures, and investigations will continue in 2022.