{"content":"((:navis))","bibliography":"Bagnall, R. S. et al., Graffiti from the Basilica in the Agora of Smyrna (2016): 430-431.","apparatus":"","photos":[],"sourceFindSpot":"Basilica of the Agora of Smyrna, Izmir, Turkey","principleContributors":"Roger S. Bagnall","lastRevision":"2016-10-03","editor":"Roger S. Bagnall","commentary":"Graffito of a ship sailing on port tack, possibly a liburna, located on the eastern face of Pier A100. The graffito is partially damaged by a large gap in the plaster that has destroyed the ship’s stern and the left half of the sail. The ship is characterized by a large central mast, which is covered in a motif of crisscrossing lines identifying the rigging. A set of vertical lines, also meant to represent the rigging as well as the sail’s brailing ropes, departs from the yard and reaches the ship’s deck, defining a large trapezoidal sail. Above the yard, a series of diagonal lines departing from the central mast (considerably narrower than the portion visible below the yard and terminating in a very stylized καρχήσιον) are part of the κηροῦχοι. The keel is flat, and the prow is slightly rounded. Above the gunwale is a lattice motif representing the boat’s sidescreen, suggesting that the liburna was of the cataphract type. The prow terminates with a short triangular στόλος with no ἀκροστόλιον above it. From the keel projects an exaggerated ἔμβολος, in the shape of a stylized penis, with a diagonal line on the tip identifying the epithelium, confirming that the vessel has to be interpreted as a navis rostrata. ","caption":"Drawing of a boat","writingStyleInEnglish":"Graffito/incised","property":{"englishPropertyName":"Basilica","italianPropertyName":"Basilica","insula":{"shortName":"Agora","fullName":"Agora","city":{"name":"Smyrna","pleiadesId":"550771"}},"propertyTypes":[{"name":"Basilica","description":""}],"numberOfGraffiti":325,"uri":"Smyrna/Agora/1","propertyName":"Basilica","propertyNumber":"1"},"figuralInfo":{"drawingTags":[{"name":"Boats","description":"drawings of boats"}],"descriptionInLatin":"((:navis))","descriptionInEnglish":"boat"},"trismegistosNumber":null,"uri":"https://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/graffito/AGP-SMYDP1001","agpId":"AGP-SMYDP1001","citation":"AGP-SMYDP1001, <i>The Ancient Graffiti Project</i>, &lt;https://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/graffito/AGP-SMYDP1001&gt; [accessed: 29 Apr 2026]","graffitoHeight":"25","graffitoLength":"22.5","pleiadesId":"550771","locationMetadataLink":"properties/Smyrna/Agora/1"}