''Chelandion'' ( el, χελάνδιον) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

galley warship, a variant of the '' dromōn'' that also functioned as a

cargo transport Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been e ...

History

The term ''chelandion'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''kelēs'', " courser", and first appeared during the early 8th century. In the medieval

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

used in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

, it was rendered ''chelandium'' or ''scelandrium'' (and thence the 12th-century ''sandanum'' transport), while the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

rendered the name as ''shalandī'' (plural ''shalandiyyāt'') and used it for a probably similar type of vessels in their own navies. In common with the general characteristics of the ''dromōn'' type, the ''chelandion'' was a

bireme A bireme (, ) is an ancient oared warship ( galley) with two superimposed rows of oars on each side. Biremes were long vessels built for military purposes and could achieve relatively high speed. They were invented well before the 6th century BC ...

galley, i.e. with two rows of oars, which provided its main means of propulsion, although it also featured one or two lateen sails, and was steered by two quarter rudders at the stern. It could also be equipped with siphons for projecting the feared Greek fire, the

Byzantine navy The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a direct continuation from its Imperial Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state th ...

's secret incendiary weapon. The term ''chelandion'' is usually used interchangeably with ''dromōn'' in medieval literary sources, leading to much confusion as to the exact nature of the ship and its differences with the ''dromōn'' proper. It appears, however, that the type originated as a horse-transport (''hippagōgon''). This in turn implies some differences in construction from the standard ''dromōn'': at the very least, the presence of a special compartment running the length of the vessel amidships to accommodate a row of

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...

s would increase its beam and hold depth. In the 10th century, ''chelandia'' formed the bulk of the

, serving in two types: the ''chelandion ousiakon'' () or simply ''ousiakon'' or ''ousiakos'', so named because it was manned by an ''ousia'' of 108 men, and the ''chelandion pamphylon'' (Greek: χελάνδιον πάμφυλον), or simply ''pamphylon'' or ''pamphylos'', crewed with up to 120–160 men, its name either implying an origin in the region of Pamphylia as a transport ship or its crewing with "picked crews" (from , "all tribes")..

References

Sources

* {{refend Byzantine ships Galleys