In ancient times, the ship’s nose was always tried to be decorated with a sculpture. The names of these figures are different, depending on the country to which the ship belonged. Most of all there were female images, but not only. What was the meaning of ship sculpture? And why were there the most feminine entities on them?
A bit of history
In the old days there were no women on the ship. This is a bad omen. At the same time, the nose of the ship was decorated with a sculpture in the form of a woman. Belief says that so the sailors laid their trust in her, considering the figure able to calm the oncoming storm.
In the XVIII century, the figure on the bow of the ship gained diversity. Already you can meet ancient heroes, images of animals, portraits in sculpture and even whole compositions from many figures.
Such nasal sculptures were named differently: in Rome - rostroy, in Greece - caryatids. Sometimes they were called latrine. The word has German roots. Galyun is a platform under the bowsprit in the bow of the ship. It was there that the sculptures were located.
Each figure on the bow of the ship was the pride of the shipowner. They were always made forward. This is a symbol of the ship. After serving the working term, the ship was decommissioned, and the bow figure was necessarily removed. After the ships, it became the decoration of the walls of the master's houses, other buildings, columns. Subsequently, such sculptures were in maritime museums.
Today, the name "galleon figure" on the bow of the ship is a designation of a sculpture by the name of the ship on the bow. However, in marine terminology, she remained “ludicrous, ” according to her location. Interestingly, on the same overhang were latrines for the ship's crew. Hence the modern name for ship toilets is latrine.
Superstition
In ancient times, ships were relatively primitive. Mariners who served on them often felt powerless before the water element. Believing in various deities, they tried in every way to appease them, asking for help in taming the wind, waves, averting misfortunes and attracting good luck. Spirits were supposed to protect the ship from any misfortunes, storms, shallows, dangerous winds. And even if it happened that the ship was sinking, the deities accompanied the souls of the dead sailors to the country where the dead stay.
Which images were preferred in different countries?
If you look into Ancient Egypt, then the figure on the bow of the ship basically depicted a sacred bird. The Phoenicians preferred the carved wooden head of the horse, as a symbol of the speed of the ship. The Greeks and Romans installed an enraged dragon or boar, as a sign of intimidation of a potential enemy. Vikings also preferred dragon heads.
For the Norwegian ships, the wooden heads of the dragon were also carved, and the Slavs decorated the boats with the heads of goats and rams. Among the ancient ships there are also those that are decorated with sculptures of peacocks.
Images of the gods also often adorned ships, especially among the ancient Greeks. There, preference was given to Nick - the goddess of victory. In the decoration of the ships you can find many different mythological characters. This is mainly Neptune and Mercury - the ancient Roman gods, the patrons of trade and navigation.
What else were the sculptures talking about?
Often nasal figures in a direct, symbolic or allegorical form indicated the name of the vessel. This helped to understand the name and purpose of the ship, as many people still could not read.
For such purposes, a wide variety of sculptural images were used: from emperors to heroes of the Moors and Indians. Very often a significant sculpture was the figure of a woman on the bow of a ship, virgins, monks and saints.
Already in the middle of the sixteenth century, shipbuilders in Spain and Portugal installed very perfect, in the artistic sense, sculptures on galleons (large three-masted sailboats designed to transport valuable goods). Thus, by the 17th century, rich sculptural decoration had become firmly embedded in shipbuilding and became a very common attribute of all sailboats.
Often, the splendor of the decoration of the ship was not inferior to the luxurious palaces of its owners. It also happened that it even surpassed them. If it was a question of naval forces, then the goal was to demonstrate the power of the owners. Pan-European symbols on warships were heraldic lions and eagles. They showed the strength and nobility of warriors.
The lion often adorned the staves of the flagship Swedish vessels. On the ship of Eric IV, the Swedish king, a roaring lion was depicted in a crown.
