View source for Lembus

{{Short description|Ancient term for a variety of small ships}}
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| image2 = LabiaTan Coin of Illyria.png
| footer = Illyrian lembs engraved on [[Labeatae|Labeatan]] coins of the 2nd century BC.
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The '''lemb''', '''''lembus''''' or '''''lembos''''' ({{langx|grc|λέμβος}}, ''lembos'';<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dle%2Fmbos λέμβος], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref> {{langx|la|lembus}}) was an ancient wide term covering a range of small ships, which were used for different purposes, both civilian and military.{{sfn|Boršić|Džino|Radić Rossi|2021|p=193}}

It was small and light, with a low [[Freeboard (nautical)|freeboard]]. It was a fast and maneuverable warship, capable of carrying 50 men in addition to the rowers.<ref>Wilkes, p. 157; [[Polybius]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plb.+2.3 2.3].</ref> It was the galley used by Illyrian pirates.<ref>Wilkes, p. 163.</ref> Illyrians used them at [[Medeon (Acarnania)|Medion]] under [[Agron of Illyria|Agron]], and at Elis, Messene, Phoenice, Issa, Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra and Paxus under [[Teuta of Illyria|Teuta]].{{fact|date=December 2017}} [[Philip V of Macedon]] used lembi during the [[First Macedonian War]].<ref>Walbank, [https://books.google.com/books?id=o-EaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 p. 69], [[Polybius]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plb.+5.109 5.109].</ref>

The lemb was more common among the [[Illyrians]] of the southern [[Adriatic]], while in the northern Adriatic, the more common ship was the [[liburna]] which originated from the [[Liburnians]].{{sfn|Boršić|Džino|Radić Rossi|2021|p=ix}} The lemb appears in several Illyrian coins of the southern Adriatic communities, which were politically connected with the [[Illyrian kingdom]], like the [[Labeatae]], the [[Daorson|Daorsi]], and the cities of [[Scodra]] and [[Lissus (Illyria)|Lissus]].{{sfn|Boršić|Džino|Radić Rossi|2021|p=50}}

==Name==
The term λέμβος, ''lembos'' has been recorded in Classical sources since the 4th century BC onwards.{{sfn|Boršić|Džino|Radić Rossi|2021|p=174}} The [[Illyrian languages|Illyric]]-[[Greek language|Greek]] term λέμβος was later [[Latin]]ized as ''lembus''.{{sfn|Hyllested|2004|p=222}} The ultimate source of the term is obscure.{{sfn|Kahane|Kahane|Tietze|1988|p=278}} An Illyrian origin has been suggested.{{sfn|Boršić|Džino|Radić Rossi|2021|p=192}}{{sfn|Kahane|Kahane|Tietze|1988|p=278}}{{sfn|Skutsch|1985|p=622}}

==Usage==
The lembi were small ships used originally for civilian purposes, and thereafter adapted to warfare usages, with at least three sub-types:{{sfn|Boršić|Džino|Radić Rossi|2021|pp=175, 195}}
*small ship used in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] as towing boat, ship's boat, transportation boat, and platform for the catapults;
*southern [[Adriatic]] (Illyrian) lemb for [[Illyrian warfare#Illyrian navy|naval warfare]], piracy (also attacking unarmed ships), trade, and swift transport of the troops: the southern Adriatic shipbuilders most likely adopted and developed an already existing small and fast Aegean type of ship;
*upgraded Macedonian fighting lemb: a [[Macedon]]ian prototype of the Illyrian lemb was built at the behest of king [[Philip V of Macedon]], who ordered one hundred lembs to be built by Illyrian shipbuilders, in order to transport his troops in 216 BC. Philip's shipbuilders further developed in 214 BC this ship type by enlarging it into a bireme warship. Those warships were even fitted with rams.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*[[Polybius]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+1.1 ''Histories''], [[Evelyn S. Shuckburgh]] (translator); London, New York. Macmillan (1889); Reprint Bloomington (1962).
*{{cite book|last=Hyllested|first=Adam|title=Per Aspera Ad Asteriscos: J. E. Rasmussen 60|publisher=Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität Innsbruck|year=2004|isbn=9783851246940|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=celaAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{cite book|last1=Kahane|first1=Henry Romanos|last2=Kahane|first2=Renée|last3=Tietze|first3=Andreas|title=The Lingua Franca in the Levant: Turkish Nautical Terms of Italian and Greek Origin|publisher=ABC Kitabevi|year=1988|isbn=9789750900976|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DwHAQAAIAAJ}}
*{{cite book|first1=Luka|last1=Boršić|first2=Danijel|last2=Džino|first3=Irena|last3=Radić Rossi|title=Liburnians and Illyrian Lembs: Iron Age Ships of the Eastern Adriatic|publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd|year=2021|isbn=9781789699166|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auMlEAAAQBAJ}}
*{{cite book|last=Skutsch|first=Otto|title=The Annals of Q. Ennius|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1985|isbn=9780198144489|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zJ0AAAAIAAJ}}
*[[F. W. Walbank|Walbank, F. W.]], ''Philip V of Macedon'' Cambridge University Press, 2013. {{ISBN| 9781107630604}}.
*Wilkes, John, ''The Illyrians (Peoples of Europe)'', Blackwell Publishers, (December 1, 1995) {{ISBN|0-631-19807-5}}

{{Illyrians}}

[[Category:Ship types]]
[[Category:Ancient piracy]]