# Dromones, Biremes, Triremes and... Sermones?!?



## Silveryou (Mar 20, 2021)

"A *dromon* (from Greek δρόμων, _dromōn_, "runner") was a type of galley and the most important warship of the Byzantine navy from the 5th to 12th centuries AD, when they were succeeded by Italian-style galleys. It was developed from the ancient liburnian, which was the mainstay of the Roman navy during the Empire." (Dromon - Wikipedia)




​"A *bireme* (/ˈbaɪriːm/, _BY-reem_) is an ancient oared warship (galley) with two decks of oars. Biremes were long vessels built for military purposes and could achieve relatively high speed. They were invented well before the 6th century BC and were used by the Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Greeks." (Bireme - Wikipedia)



​"A *trireme* (/ˈtraɪriːm/, _TRY-reem_; derived from Latin: _trirēmis _"with three banks of oars"; Ancient Greek: τριήρης _triērēs_, literally "three-rower") was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans." (Trireme - Wikipedia)



​"A *sermon* is an oration or lecture by a preacher (who is usually a member of clergy). Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. Elements of the sermon often include exposition, exhortation, and practical application. The act of delivering a sermon is called preaching. In secular usage, the word _sermon_ may refer, often disparagingly, to a lecture on morals." (Sermon - Wikipedia)



​Wait, what?!?

Can someone please tell me why Anna Komnene (Anna Komnene - Wikipedia) in her Alexiad (Alexiad - Wikipedia) talks about sermons side by side to some famous “Greek-Roman-Byzantine” ships?


Alexiad 3.9 “He prepared ‘dromones’ {light galleys} and biremes and triremes and ‘*sermones*’ and various kinds of freight-ships, fitting them out from the maritime districts and collecting as large forces as possible from the continent to further his purpose.” (http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/alexiad_dawes.pdf)


"...δρόμωνάς τε καὶ τριήρεις ἑτοιμάζων καὶ διήρεις καὶ *σέρμωνας*..." (Αλεξιάς/Βιβλίο 3 - Βικιθήκη)

The obvious thing to do is certainly to search for some ships called sermones! But I have probably been unlucky and this ship was unobtainable... except in one curious book called _Gente di Galera_ by Guglielmo Peirce, an Italian “historian” of English descent. What is written on it at page 148 (the only time sermons are mentioned in 926 pages) is very curious. Let's read it together:



​Wow! When someone begins to look at historians doing their job, he will always find that something is off. How in Hell is it possible that the word _sermones _(_σέρμωνας_) magically transformed into _dermones _(_δέρμωνας_)?!? If you search on the internet you will find that this word clearly always begins with a *σ *(sigma) and NOT a *δ *(delta). Scams upon scams upon scams.

The given “explanation” is therefore total bullshit. The author of this 1000 pages book says that the freshly introduced _δέρμωνας_ (_dermones_) is a late corruption of the original word _δρόμωνάς _(_dromons_)!!! Therefore he is implicitely saying that Anna Komnene was so dumb to list dromons TWICE in the same period! Was she so incompetent to not even be able to distinguish between two different kind of ships?!? Of course we know that historians know everything better, expecially when they change words to prop their own narrative. What a shame!

Having said that, it is clear to me that sermons were in fact ships used in that time (whenever these events happened), but still I am intrigued by the modern meaning of this word. Is it possible to find a connection between an ancient ship and an oration by a preacher? This is what I am ambitiously trying to do, and if I'm wrong... who cares!

There are two researchers in particular, Francesco Carotta, author of _Jesus was Caesar_ and Joseph Atwill, author of _Caesar's Messiah_, who have showed a very interesting and detailed connection between the Gospels' Jesus and Julius Caesar (Carotta) or Titus (Atwill). I am not going to explain their point of view in detail here, but what brings together these authors is that they give possible concrete explanations to the miracles and wonders of the Saviour, without the need to imagine otherworldly interventions. I obviously think they are on track with their works, but I'm not gonna say this is the truth. Everyone is free to think and believe what they want.

If one bears in mind the reasonings of Carotta and Atwill, then it's impossible not to see some kind of manipulation of real events in the case of the most famous and by far most important example of sermon in history: the *Sermon on the Mount* (Sermon on the Mount - Wikipedia).
Atwill in particular has shown the fascinating parallelism between Titus' three years campaign in the Jewish War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War) culminating with the conquest of Jerusalem and Jesus' three years Ministry (Ministry of Jesus - Wikipedia) culminating with his triumphal entry in Jerusalem. Where did both these two characters supposedly began their jobs? On the “Sea of Galillee”! Keeping this in mind I wonder if the “Sermon on the Mount”, an event happened near that sea, could really be something entirely different. Is it possible that this sermon was in fact a sort of misinterpretation (or maybe something done on purpose, as I personally suspect) of a real military event during Titus' campaign?



​This is my “theory”. The original word _σέρμων _(sermon) was probably indicating the battleship upon which Titus (or Caesar or whoever that general really was) was sailing on, probably the flagship. When the word was translated from Greek to Latin something happened. _σέρμων_ can be divided in two parts: _σέρ-_ (ser-) and -_μων_ (-mon). The first part, _σέρ-_ (ser-), was translated/interpreted with the word _assertion _from Latin verb _asserere _which means “to assert, to support vigorously”. I can clearly see, in a broad sense, the same meaning delivered by the modern word sermon, which is an affirmative and vigororous way of preaching, as in the case of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The second part, -_μων_ (-mon), was translated/interpreted with the word _mountain _from Latin _mons_, no need of explanations here.

Am I sure about all of this? Not at all! But it seems to me that the reasoning is logical in a sense, if you have in mind, as I said, the works of those two authors. I would like to know your opinion though. Thanks.


----------

