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.

Bagnall, R. S. et al., Graffiti from the Basilica in the Agora of Smyrna (2016): 430-431.

Drawing of a boat