Illyrian lembs engraved onLabeatan coins of the 2nd century BC.
Thelemb,lembus orlembos (Ancient Greek:λέμβος,lembos;[1]Latin:lembus) was an ancient wide term covering a range of small ships, which were used for different purposes, both civilian and military.[2]
It was small and light, with a lowfreeboard. It was a fast and maneuverable warship, capable of carrying 50 men in addition to the rowers.[3] It was the galley used by Illyrian pirates.[4] Illyrians used them atMedion underAgron, and at Elis, Messene, Phoenice, Issa, Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra and Paxus underTeuta.[citation needed]Philip V of Macedon used lembi during theFirst Macedonian War.[5]
The lemb was more common among the Illyrians of the southernAdriatic, while in the northern Adriatic, the more common ship was theliburna which originated from theLiburnians.[6] The lemb appears in several Illyrian coins of the southern Adriatic communities, which were politically connected with the Illyrian kingdom, like theLabeatae, theDaorsi, and the cities ofScodra andLissus.[7]
The term λέμβος,lembos has been recorded in Classical sources since the 4th century BC onwards.[8] TheIllyric-Greek term λέμβος was laterLatinized aslembus.[9] The ultimate source of the term is obscure.[10] An Illyrian origin has been suggested.[11][10][12]
The lembi were small ships used originally for civilian purposes, and thereafter adapted to warfare usages, with at least three sub-types:[13]
small ship used in theAegean as towing boat, ship's boat, transportation boat, and platform for the catapults;
southernAdriatic (Illyrian) lemb fornaval 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: aMacedonian prototype of the Illyrian lemb was built at the behest of kingPhilip 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.
