Lateen sail
Vela latina (triangular) generalizada
- Date
- c. 600 · confidence low
- Place
- Eastern Mediterranean (Byzantium) and the Red Sea
- Credited to
- Late Roman and Byzantine sailors; later adopted by the Arabs
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A triangular sail bent to an oblique yard, allowing ships to sail close-hauled and tack quickly. It became widespread in the Mediterranean in the early Middle Ages and came to dominate Islamic navigation.
Late Roman iconography (2nd–4th centuries) shows triangular sails; their widespread use is medieval and is often wrongly attributed to the Arabs.
What it led to
- the dhows of the Indian Ocean and Arab trade with India and East Africa
- Mediterranean galleys and coastal shipping
- the mixed rig of Iberian caravels and naos
Built on
- Roman square sail
- Hellenistic spritsail