Boats with blunt bows and pointed sterns in Roman Egypt

Abstract

A number of model boats of terracotta that can be connected with Roman Egypt display a low blunt bow and a higher sharp stern (catalogue A). This direction of sailing is indicated by the position of deck huts closer to the sharp stern while their open ends point to the blunt one, the position of engraved  oars (or rudders?), mast banks arranged closer to the blunt end, and the line of vision of persons on board towards this end. Two varieties of blunt-bow boats are also seen in stone reliefs, mosaics, or paintings. Some models can be connected to the idea of child gods in Ptolemaic popular religion.
The type seems to go back to a blending of ancient Egyptian traditions of  box-like boats with impulses by Greek, Phoenician or Cypriote ships with high and sharp sterns. The Roman period knew blunt-bow vessels under the name of horeia, wrecks of which have been excavated in Italy and France.