Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Prora

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

PRORA (πρῷρα). The prow, or forepart of a ship (Caes. Cic. Virg. Ovid, &c.). Almost all the representations of ancient vessels, whether in sculpture, painting, or mosaic, are extremely deficient in characteristic details, the artists confining themselves to the expression of certain conventional generalities, rather than attempting a faithful delineation by which the constructive principle would be understood; so much so, that where only fragments remain, as in the preceding illustration, disputes have arisen respecting the identity of the part, whether it was intended for the head or stern. The example (Prora/1.1) annexed, from an ancient painting preserved in the Bourbon Museum at Naples, affords, however, a specimen, perhaps unique, of the prow of an ancient vessel, which is clear and precise in its details, as well as practicable in the eyes of experienced seamen (Jal, Archéologie Navale, tom. i. p. 24.); and resembles in a very remarkable degree a vessel now employed by the Calabrese, and often seen in the port of Naples, called a chebek (Italian, sciabecco).

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  Prora/1.1