Rostratus (masculine), rostrata (feminine) or rostratum (neuter) is a
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 of the ...
adjective meaning "beaked, curved, hooked, with a crooked point, or with a curved front".
![MCR - colonna rostrata di C Duilio 1150130](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/MCR_-_colonna_rostrata_di_C_Duilio_1150130.JPG)
In marine warfare, the term ''beak'' (''rostrum'') referred to the
ram bow
A ram was a weapon fitted to varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. The weapon comprised an underwater prolongation of the bow of the ship to form an armoured beak, usually between 2 and 4 meters (6–12 ft) in length. This would be dri ...
s on warships, which were metal or metal-covered beams projecting from ships' bows, used to pierce enemy vessels by ramming.
Roman usage
Columna rostrata (
Rostral column
A rostral column is a type of victory column originating in ancient Greece and Rome, where they were erected to commemorate a naval military victory. Its defining characteristic is the integrated prows or rams of ships, representing captured ...
)
After the
Battle of Mylae
The Battle of Mylae took place in 260 BC during the First Punic War and was the first real naval battle between Carthage and the Roman Republic. This battle was key in the Roman victory of Mylae (present-day Milazzo) as well as Sicily itself. ...
in 260 BC during the
First Punic War
The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and grea ...
, a ''columna rostrata'' (a
victory column
A victory column, or monumental column or triumphal column, is a monument in the form of a column, erected in memory of a victorious battle, war, or revolution. The column typically stands on a base and is crowned with a victory symbol, such as a ...
), was placed in the
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient ...
in honour of
Gaius Duilius
Gaius Duilius ( 260–231 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. As consul in 260 BC, during the First Punic War, he won Rome's first ever victory at sea by defeating the Carthaginians at the Battle of Mylae. He later served as censor in 258, an ...
. It was so called because it was adorned with the beaks (ram bows) of the captured Carthaginian vessels.
The ''columna rostrata'' became a favourite site for speeches.
Corona rostrata
A ''corona rostrata'' was a golden wreath, decorated with small golden prow and beak of a ship. These were awarded to commanders who were victorious in naval warfare.
Modern usage
![Helicina rostrata](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Helicina_rostrata.jpg)
In modern usage the adjective is used in
Linnaean taxonomy
Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts:
# The particular form of biological classification (taxonomy) set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his ''Systema Naturae'' (1735) and subsequent works. In the taxonomy of Linnaeus t ...
to refer to a wide variety of species because of the beaked form of part of their anatomy. Examples include:
* ''
Abrotanella rostrata'' is a species of cushion plant in the family
Asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
whose white florets produce distinctively beaked cypselae (fruiting bodies).
* ''
Bembix rostrata
''Bembix rostrata'' is a species of sand wasp native to Central Europe. The genus ''Bembix'' - of which ''B. rostrata'' is among the most distinctive species - has over 340 species worldwide and is found mostly in warm regions with open, sandy so ...
'' is a species of
sand wasp A sand wasp is a wasp of one of the following groups:
* '' Ammophila'', a narrow-waisted genus of hunting wasps that often nests in sandy soil
* Bembicini
The Bembicini, or sand wasps, are a large tribe of crabronid wasps, comprising 20 genera ...
native to Central Europe whose
labrum is extended into a narrow beak.
* ''
Canthigaster rostrata'', known as the Caribbean sharpnose-puffer fish, lives in the Western Central Atlantic and is a puffer fish in the fish family
Tetraodontidae
Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...
* ''
Carex rostrata
''Carex rostrata'', the bottle sedge or beaked sedge, is a perennial species of sedge in the family Cyperaceae.
Range and habitat
The species is native to Holarctic fens and can be found in Canada and the northern part of the United States, and ...
'', known as beaked sedge or bottle sedge, is a large waterside grasslike perennial whose fruits have a beaked shape
* ''
Helicina rostrata
''Helicina rostrata'' is a species of tropical land snail with an operculum, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Helicinidae.
This is an endangered species.
Distribution
This land snail is found in Guatemala and Nicaragua
...
'' is a species of tropical land snail with a small beak-like projection on one side of the aperture of its shell (see image)
* ''
Heliconia rostrata
''Heliconia rostrata'', the hanging lobster claw or false bird of paradise, is a herbaceous perennial plant native to El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, and naturalized in Puerto Rico. Other heliconias g ...
'', known as Patujú or lobster claw, is a herbaceous perennial native to north west South America, with characteristic claw-shaped or beak-shaped flowers (see image)
* ''
Yucca rostrata
''Yucca rostrata'' also called beaked yucca, is a tree-like plant belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. The species is native to Texas, and the Chihuahua and Coahuila regions of Mexico. This species of ''Yucca'' occurs in areas that are arid with li ...
'', the beaked yucca, is a tree-like plant belonging to the genus ''
Yucca
''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flo ...
'' in southern U.S. and northern Mexico.
* ''
Zebrasoma rostratum
''Zebrasoma rostratum'', the longnose surgeonfish or black tang, is a marine reef tang in the fish family '' Acanthuridae''. They may live at water depths of or more. The fish grow to a maximum length of . Zebrasoma rostratum is found in the S ...
'', known as the longnose surgeonfish or black tang, is a marine reef tang in the fish family
Acanthuridae. It is so called because of its protruding snout.
See also
*
Rostrum (disambiguation)
Rostrum may refer to:
* Any kind of a platform for a speaker:
**dais
**pulpit
* Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects
* Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships
* Ro ...
*
Rostra
The rostra ( it, Rostri, links=no) was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium towards the senate house and deli ...
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite web, url=http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/mores/military/coronae.htm, title=Crowns and Laurels, author=Catherine McMullen, date=December 2000, access-date=2009-03-27]
[{{cite web, url=http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/latin_rus/37653/rostratus, title=rostratus, work=Словари и энциклопедии на Академике, access-date=2009-03-27]
[{{cite web, url=http://www.modelshipbuilder.com/resources/nautical-terms-for-the-model-ship-builder.pdf, title=Nautical Terms For The Model Ship Builder, date=11 January 2007, work=Model Ship Builder, access-date=2009-03-29, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704173151/http://www.modelshipbuilder.com/resources/nautical-terms-for-the-model-ship-builder.pdf, archive-date=2008-07-04]
[{{cite web, title=An Elementary Latin Dictionary, author=Charlton T. Lewis, url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0060%3Aentry%3D%2314302, year=1890, access-date=2009-03-27]
[{{cite web, url=http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=25802, title=Zebrasoma rostratum - Longnose surgeonfish, work=FishBase, year=2009, access-date=2009-03-29]
External links
Image of the Columna Rostrata of C. Duiliustaken from
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' is an English language encyclopedia first published in 1842. The second, improved and enlarged, edition appeared in 1848, and there were many revised editions up to 1890. The encyclopedia covered la ...
. William Smith, LLD. William Wayte. G. E. Marindin. Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. 1890
Latin words and phrases