6. A Note on the Navigation Space of the Baris-Type Ships from Thonis-Heracleion

‘Painting ships’ (naves pingere), as Pliny the Elder said about the activities of the painter Protogenes (‘until the age of fifty he was also a ship painter…’), may have two meanings: the first is to adorn ships; the second consists of representing ships in paintings. During Alexander’s funerals, the painter Apelles — or his workshop — may have produced four panels adorning the hearse of the Conqueror and celebrating the military power of the Macedonian. Among these depictions was his war fleet. However, this picture, linked to the event that defines the early Hellenistic period, is neither the first nor the only one to represent ships. This chapter will explore these two very different pictorial exercises over a long period of time.

Few artists are described as ‘ship painters’. As a prefect of the imperial war fleet in Misenum, Pliny knew ships very well. Therefore, in calling someone a ship painter, he might imply both artistic and technical expertise. We should therefore pay particular attention to the work of Protogenes. What precisely was a ship painter in the ancient Mediterranean?