A Greek trireme.

Trireme (Greek: τριήρης sing. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly , τριήρεις pl. , Latin: triremis sing. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. , triremes pl. ) refers to a class of warships used by the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans. Phoenicia ( Phoenician: Phoenician nunsvg|12px|נ]]Phoenician nun The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC In English, no differentiation is made between the Greek triērēs and the Latin triremis. This is sometimes a source of confusion, as in other languages these terms refer to different styles of ships.

The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar. An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end The early trireme was a development of the penteconter, an ancient warship with a single row of 25 oars on each side, and of the bireme (Greek: διήρης), a warship with two banks of oars. A galley (from Greek γαλέα - galea is an ancient Ship which can be propelled entirely by human oarsmen, used for Warfare Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly As a ship it was fast and agile, and became the dominant warship in the Mediterranean from the 7th to the 4th century BC, when they were largely superseded by the larger quadriremes and quinquiremes. A warship is a Ship that is built and primarily intended for Combat. The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC. The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. Quadriremes is the Latin name for a class of ancient Warship used in Ancient Rome, and before that in the Greek Navy. A quinquereme (Latin or penteres (Greek is a type of ancient oar-propelled warship that was used by the Greeks of the Hellenistic period and later by the Carthaginians Triremes played a vital role in the Persian Wars, the creation of the Athenian maritime empire, and its downfall in the Peloponnesian War. The History of Athens is one of the longest of any city in Europe and in the world

History

Origin

Assyrian warship with two rows of oars, relief from Nineveh, ca. 700 BC

The exact origin of the trireme is uncertain and debated, as our evidence comes from literary sources and depictions in reliefs and pottery fragments, which are open to misinterpretations. Depictions of two-tiered ships (biremes), with or without the parexeiresia (the outrigger, see below), are common in 8th century BC vases and pottery fragments, and it is at the end of that century that the first references to three-tiered ships are found. An outrigger is a part of a boat's Rigging which is rigid and extends beyond the side or Gunwale of a boat The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC. According to Thucydides, the trireme was introduced to Greece by the Corinthians in the late 8th century BC, and that the Corinthian Ameinocles built four such ships for the Samians. Thucydides ( C 460 BC &ndash C 395 BC) ( Greek Θουκυδίδης Thoukydídēs) was a Greek Corinth, or Korinth ( Greek Κόρινθος ( is a city in Greece. The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC. Samos (Σάμος is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off ^[1] Although this was interpreted by later writers, like Pliny and Diodorus, to mean that triremes were invented in Corinth,^[2], it is likely that the earliest three-tiered warships originated in Phoenicia. Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, ( AD 23 – August 25, AD 79 better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient Author Phoenicia ( Phoenician: Phoenician nunsvg|12px|נ]]Phoenician nun Fragments from an 8th century relief at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh depicting the fleets of Tyre and Sidon have been interpreted as depicting two- and three-level warships, fitted with rams. Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture Nineveh ( Akkadian: Ninua; Aramaic: ܢܝܢܘܐ Hebrew נינוה Nīnewē; Arabic نينوى Naīnuwa) Tyre ( Arabic صور Ṣūr, Phoenician Phoenician wawsvg|12px|ו]] Ṣur, Hebrew Sidon,or Saïda, ( Arabic ar صيدا; Phoenician phoenician yodh In warfare ramming is a technique that was used in the air sea and land combat The 2nd century Christian scholar Clement of Alexandria, drawing on earlier works, explicitly attributes the invention of the trireme (trikrotos naus, "three-tiered ship") to the Sidonians. Saint Clement of Alexandria (born Titus Flavius Clemens) (c150 - 211/216 was the first notable member of the Church of Alexandria, and one of its most ^[3]

Early use and development

The Lenorman Relief, from the Athenian Acropolis, depicting the rowers of an aphract Athenian trireme, ca. The Acropolis of Athens is the best known Acropolis (high city The "Sacred Rock" in the world 410 BC. Found in 1852, it is one of the main pictorial testaments to the layout of the trireme.

Herodotus mentions that the Egyptian pharaoh Necho (610–595 BC) built triremes on the Nile, for service in the Mediterranean, and in the Red Sea, but this reference is disputed by modern historians, and attributed to a confusion, since "triērēs" was by the 5th century used in the generic sense of "warship", regardless its type. Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now Events and trends 619 BC — Alyattes becomes king of Lydia. 619 BC — Death of Zhou xiang wang, King of the Zhou Events and trends 599 BC — Vardhamana Mahavira, last Tirthankar of Jainism is born The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River The Red Sea is a Salt water Inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ^[4] The first definite reference to the use of triremes in naval combat dates to ca. 525 BC, when, according to Herodotus, the tyrant Polycrates of Samos was able to contribute 40 triremes to a Persian invasion of Egypt. Events 529 BC — Cambyses II started to rule He is son of Cyrus II. Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash In modern usage a tyrant is a single ruler holding absolute power over a State or within an Organization. Polycrates (Πολυκράτης son of Aeaces, was the Tyrant of Samos from c Samos (Σάμος is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire ( haχɒmaneʃijɒn (558–330 BC was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. ^[5] Thucydides meanwhile clearly states that in the time of the Persian invasions, the majority of the Greek navies consisted of (probably two-tiered) penteconters and ploia makrá ("long ships"). ^[6]

In any case, by the early 5th century, the trireme was becoming the dominant warship type of the eastern Mediterranean, with minor differences between the "Greek" and "Phoenician" types, as literary references and depictions of the ships on coins make clear. The first large-scale naval battle where triremes participated was the Battle of Lade during the Ionian Revolt, where the combined fleets of the Greek Ionian cities were defeated by the Persian fleet, composed of squadrons from their Phoenician, Carian, Cypriot and Egyptian subjects. The Battle of Lade was a naval encounter that took place in 494 BC between the Ionians and the Persians. The Ionian Revolts were triggered by the actions of Aristagoras, the Tyrant of the Ionian city of Miletus at the end of the 6th century Geography Physical Ionia was of small extent not exceeding 90 geographical miles in length from north to south with a breadth varying from 40 to 55 miles but to this Municipalities of Caria Cramer's detailed catalog of Carian towns in Classical Greece is based entirely on ancient sources Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía

Persian and Peloponnesian Wars

Partly as a result of Athenian support to the Ionian Greeks, the Persian Great King Darius started moving against metropolitan Greece. Darius I the Great (c 549 BC&ndash486 BC 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 Dārayavahuš: "Possessing goodness" Having ascended to power amidst controversy and bloodshed The Persian fleet roamed the Aegean Sea unopposed, but the first invasion force was defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. The Battle of Marathon ( Greek: Μάχη τοῡ Μαραθῶνος Machē tou Marathōnos) during the Greco-Persian Wars took place in 490 Events By place Greece Darius I sends an expedition under Artaphernes and Datis the Mede across The second invasion, under Xerxes, included a massive land army and a large navy, which were to cooperate closely. Xerxes I of Persia was a King of Persia (reigned 485–465 BC of the Achaemenid dynasty.

Athens was at that time embroiled in a conflict with the neighbouring island of Aegina, which possessed a formidable navy. Aegina ( Greek: Αίγινα ( Egina) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, 17 miles (30 km from In order to counter this, and possibly with an eye already at the mounting Persian preparations, in 482 BC the Athenian statesman Themistocles used his political skills and influence to persuade the Athenian assembly to start the construction of 200 triremes, using the income of the newly discovered silver mines at Lavrion. Events By place Greece The Athenian Archon Themistocles secures the Ostracism of his opponents Themistocles ( Greek:; c 524&ndash459 BC was an Athenian soldier and statesman ecclesia or ekklesia ( Greek) was the principal assembly of the democracy of ancient Athens during its Golden Age ( Laurion redirects here For the Moth Genus, see Laurion (moth. The first clash with the Persian navy was at the Battle of Artemisium, where both sides suffered great casualties. The naval Battle of Artemisium took place according to tradition on the same day as the Battle of Thermopylae on August 11 480 BC, though its exact date However, the decisive naval clash occurred at Salamis, where Xerxes' invasion fleet was decisively defeated. The Battle of Salamis ( Ancient Greek:) was a decisive naval battle between the Greek City-states and Persia in September 480 BC in the

After Salamis and another Greek victory over the Persian fleet at Mycale, the Ionian cities were freed, and the EWSF Delian League was formed under the aegis of Athens. The Birds ( Greek: Ornithes) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes in 414 BC The Battle of Mycale, Ancient Greek, grc-Latn Mache tes Mycales, was one of the two major battles that ended the Persian invasion of Greece during the The Delian League was an association of approximately 150 5th-century BC Greek City-states under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue Gradually, the predominance of Athens turned the League effectively into an Athenian Empire. The source and foundation of Athens' power was her strong fleet, composed of over 200 triremes. It not only secured control of the Aegean Sea and the loyalty of her allies, but also safeguarded the trade routes and the grain shipments from the Black Sea, which fed the city's burgeoning population. In addition, as it provided permanent employment for the city's poorer citizens, the fleet played an important role in both maintaining and promoting the radical Athenian form of democracy. Athenian democracy developed in the Greek City-state of Athens Athenian maritime power is the first example of thalassocracy in world history. The term thalassocracy (from the θάλασσα meaning sea and κρατείν meaning "to rule" giving θαλασσοκρατία "rule of the sea" Aside from Athens, other major naval powers of the era included Syracuse, Corfu and Corinth. Syracuse, as a place name may refer to In Italy Syracuse Sicily the Province of Syracuse In the United States Corfu (Κέρκυρα Kérkyra, ˈkʲe̞ɾkʲiɾa Κέρκυρα or Κόρκυρα Corcyra Corfù is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea Corinth, or Korinth ( Greek Κόρινθος ( is a city in Greece.

In the subsequent Peloponnesian War, naval actions fought by triremes featured prominently, and despite numerous land engagements, Athens was finally defeated through the destruction of her fleet during the Sicilian Expedition and finally, at the Battle of Aegospotami, at the hands of Sparta and her allies. The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian expedition to Sicily from 415 BC to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. The naval Battle of Aegospotami took place in 404 BC and was the last major battle of the Peloponnesian War. The city of Sparta ( Doric Σπάρτα Attic Σπάρτη

Construction of the trireme

Model of a Greek trireme

No surviving written source gives complete information on the construction or form of the trireme. Already in the 4th century, the writer Zosimus laments the loss of the information concerning the trireme's construction. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini / Common era) was that Century Zosimus ( ''fl'' 490s-510s was a Byzantine historian who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius ^[7]

Because the triremes had positive buoyancy, no remains of the ship have been found on the seabed^[8], and scholars have had to rely on indirect evidence in texts, depictions on monuments and amphorae, as well as indirect archaeological evidence, most prominently the ship sheds of Piraeus. In Physics, buoyancy ( BrE IPA: /ˈbɔɪənsi/ is the upward Force on an object produced by the surrounding liquid or gas in which it is An amphora (plural amphorae or amphoras) is a type of Ceramic Vase with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body Most of it concerns the "classical" type of the 5th century, especially as used by Athens. Valuable further information as to the validity of past assumptions was provided by the trireme reconstruction project (see below).

Dimensions

Excavations of the ship sheds (neōsoikoi) at the harbour of Zea in Piraeus, which was the main war harbour of ancient Athens, were first carried out by I. Piraeus (pɪˈræʊs Πειραιάς, piɾeˈas Πειραιεύς, piɾeˈefs is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, and a Dragatsis and Wilhelm Dörpfeld in the 1880s. Wilhelm Dörpfeld (or Doerpfeld) ( 26 December 1853 &ndash 25 April 1940) was a German Architect, best known ^[9] These have provided us a with general outline of the Athenian trireme. The sheds were ca. 40 m long and just 6 m wide. These dimensions are corroborated by the evidence of Vitruvius, whereby the individual space alloted to each rower was 2 cubits. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c 80–70 BC died after c 15 BC was a Roman Writer, Architect and Engineer (possibly praefectus fabrum For the multi-touch interface see CUBIT (multi-touch. For the unit of information see Qubit. ^[10] With the Doric cubit of 0,49 m, this results in an overall ship length of just under 37 m. ^[11] The height of the sheds' interior was established as 4. 026 metres, leading to estimates that the height of the hull above the water surface was ca. 2. 15 metres. Its draught was relatively shallow, about 1 metre, which, in addition to the relatively flat keel and low weight, allowed it to be beached easily.

Construction

The mortise and tenon joint method of hull construction employed in ancient vessels.

Construction of the trireme differed from modern practice. The ancient Mediterranean practice was to build the outer hull first, and the ribs afterwards. A hull is the body of a Ship or Boat. It is a central concept in floating vessels as it provides the Buoyancy that keeps the vessel from sinking To secure and strengthen the hull, ropes (hypozōmata) were employed, fitted in the keel and stretched by means of windlasses. Hence the triremes were often called "girded" when in commission. ^[12]

The triremes were made of softwoods, primarily pine and fir, with the latter preferred, according to Theophrastos, for its lightness. This article is about the tree For other uses of the term "pine" see Pine (disambiguation. Firs ( Abies) are a genus of between 45-55 species of Evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. Theophrastus ( Greek:; 371 – c 287 BC a Greek native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic Larch and plane were used for the ship's interior parts. Larches are Conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. ^[13] The large requirements of timber for ship construction led not only to the deforestation of much of southern Greece, but also to imports of timber from Macedon and Thrace, or even from as far as Lebanon. Macedon or Macedonia ( Greek grc Μακεδονία grc-Latn Makedonía) was the name of a kingdom centered in the northern-most Thrace (Тракия Trakiya or "Trakija" or Trakia, Θράκη Thráki, Trakya is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية ^[13]

The use of lightwoods meant that the ship could be carried ashore by as few as 140 men,^[14] but also that the hull soaked up water, which adversely affected its speed and maneuverability. The ship had therefore to be beached regularly for maintenance. ^[13]

Propulsion and capabilities

The ship's primary propulsion came from the 170 oars (kōpai), arranged in three rows, with one man per oar. Evidence for this is provided by Thucydides, who records that the Corinthian oarsmen carried "each his oar, cushion (hypersion) and oarloop". Corinth, or Korinth ( Greek Κόρινθος ( is a city in Greece. ^[15] The ship also had two masts, a main (istos megas) and a small foremast (istos akateios), with square sails, while steering was provided by two paddles at the stern.

Classical sources indicate that the trireme was capable of sustained speeds of ca. 6 knots at a relatively leisurely pace. ^[16] There is also a reference by Xenophon of a single day's voyage from Byzantium to Heraclea Pontica, which translates as an average speed of 7. This article is about the city See also Byzantine Empire. Byzantium ( Greek: Βυζάντιον Latin: la BYZANTIVM Heraclea Pontica ( Greek: Ηράκλεια Ποντική modern day Karadeniz Ereğli, in the Zonguldak Province of Turkey, on the Black 37 knots. ^[17] These figures seem to be corroborated by the tests conducted with the reconstructed Olympias: a maximum speed of 8 knots and a steady speed of 4 knots could be maintained, with half the crew resting at a time. ^[18]

Crew

The total complement (plērōma) of the ship was about 200. ^[19][20] Unlike other states, the Athenian crews were not composed of slaves, but entirely of citizens.

The trierarch

The ship's captain was known as the trierarch (triērarchos). Trierarch was the title of officers who commanded a Trireme in the classical Greek world He was a wealthy Athenian citizen (usually from the class of the pentakosiomedimoi), responsible for manning and maintaining the ship for 35 years, which otherwise belonged to Athens. In the cities of 5th Century BC Ancient Greece the Pentacosiomedimni (Πεντακοσιομέδιμνοι were the top class of citizens set out by the Politician Solon The triērarchia was one of the liturgies of ancient Athens, and although it afforded great prestige, it constituted a great financial burden, so that in the fourth century, it was often shared by two citizens, and after 397 BC it was assigned to special boards. A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group according to their particular traditions

The deck crew

The deck and command crew (hypēresia) was headed by the helmsman, the kybernētēs, who was always an experienced seaman and often the actual commander of the vessel. Other officers were the bow lookout (prōreus or prōratēs), the boatswain (keleustēs), the quartermaster (pentēkontarchos), the shipwright (naupēgos), the piper (aulētēs) who gave the rowers' rhythm and 2 toicharchoi, in charge of the rowers on each side of the ship. In addition, there were 10 sailors, handling the masts and the sails. ^[21]

The rowers

Depiction of the position and angle of the rowers in a trireme. The form of the parexeiresia, projecting from the deck, is clearly visible.

The 170 rowers (eretai) were recruited from the poorer strata of Athenian society (the thētai). Constitutional theory defines a timocracy as either a State where only property owners may participate in Government; or a government ^[22] As a result of long practice in peacetime, they were skilled professionals, ensuring Athens' supremacy in naval warfare. The rowers were divided according to their positions in the ship into thranitai, zygitai, and thalamitai. According to the excavated Naval Inventories, lists of ships' equipment compiled by the Athenian naval boards, there were:

• 62 thranitai in the top row (thranos means "deck"). They rowed through the parexeiresia, an outrigger which enabled the inclusion of the third row of oars without significant increase to the height and loss of stability, of the ship. Greater demands were placed upon their strength and synchronization than the other two rows. ^[22]
• 54 zygitai in the middle row, named after the beams (zygoi) on which they sat. ^[22]
• 54 thalamitai or thalamioi in the lowest row, (thalamos means "hold"). Their position was certainly the most uncomfortable, being underneath their colleagues and also exposed to the water entering through the oarholes, despite the use of the askōma, a leather sleeve through which the oar emerged. ^[23]

The marines

A varying number of marines (epibatai), usually 10-20, were carried aboard for boarding actions. At the Battle of Salamis, each Athenian ship was recorded to have 14 hoplites and 4 archers (usually Scythian mercenaries) on board,^[24] but Herodotus narrates that the Chiots had 40 hoplites on board at Lade^[25] and that the Persian ships carried a similar number. The Battle of Salamis ( Ancient Greek:) was a decisive naval battle between the Greek City-states and Persia in September 480 BC in the The word hoplite ( Greek: hoplitēs; pl hoplitai) derives from hoplon ( plural hopla) meaning an item of armour or equipment thus 'hoplite' The Scythians or Scyths (Σκύθες Σκύθοι were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding Nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash Chios (Χίος pronounced ˈçio̞s alternative transliterations Khíos and Híos) is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated The Battle of Lade was a naval encounter that took place in 494 BC between the Ionians and the Persians. ^[26] This reflects the different practices between the Athenians and other, less professional navies. Whereas the Athenians relied on speed and maneuverability, where their highly trained crews had the advantage, other states favoured boarding, in a situation that closely mirrored the one that developed during the First Punic War. The First Punic War ( 264 to 241 BC) was the first of three major wars fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic. As the presence of too many heavily armed hoplites on deck tended to destabilize the ship, the epibatai were normally seated, only rising to carry out any boarding action. ^[27] The hoplites belonged to the middle social classes, so that they came immediately next to the trierarch in status aboard the ship.

Tactics

In the ancient world, naval combat relied on two methods: ramming and boarding. In warfare ramming is a technique that was used in the air sea and land combat Boarding, in its simplest sense refers to the insertion onto a ship's deck of people Artillery in the form of ballistas and catapults was widespread, especially in later centuries, but its inherent technical limitations meant that it could not play a decisive role in combat. The ballista ( Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα - ballistra, from - βάλλω ballō, "to throw" plural ballistae A catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw a Projectile a great distance without the aid of an explosive substance—particularly various Rams (embolon) were fitted to the prows of warships, and were used to rupture the hull of the enemy ship. The preferred method of attack was to come in from astern and behind, with the aim not of creating a single hole, but of rupturing as big a length of the enemy vessel as possible. The minimum speed necessary for a successful impact was about 10 knots. Another method was to brush alongside the enemy ship, with oars drawn in, in order to break the enemy's oars and render the ship immobile, to be finished off with ease. Unlike later eras, boarding actions were not very frequent with the triremes. Their small size allowed for a limited number of marines to be carried aboard, and during the 5th and 4th centuries, emphasis was laid on maneuverability and speed, not on armor and firing power, although fleets less confident of their ability in ramming were prone to load more marines onto their ships. Marines (from the English adjective marine, meaning of the sea, from Latin language mare, meaning sea via French adjective In any case, prior to engagement, the masts and railings of the ship were taken down, hindering any attempt at using grappling hooks. In Grappling or Wrestling the term hook refers to an arm or leg position designed to help control an opponent The Athenians especially became masters in the art of ramming, using light, un-decked (aphraktai) triremes. A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a Ship.

Squadrons of triremes employed a variety of tactics. A squadron is a small unit or formation of Cavalry, armour, Aircraft (including Balloons) or Warships Army The periplous (Gk., "sailing around") involved outflanking or encircling the enemy so as to attack them in the vulnerable rear; the diekplous (Gk. The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c , "Sailing out through") involved a concentrated charge so as to break a hole in the enemy line, allowing galleys to break through and then wheel to attack the enemy line from behind; and the kyklos (Gk. , "circle") and the mēnoeidēs kyklos (Gk. "half-circle"), were defensive tactics to be employed against these maneuvers. In all of these maneuvers, the ability to accelerate faster, row faster, and turn more sharply than one's enemy was very important.

Changes of engagement and construction

During the Hellenistic period, the light trireme was supplanted by larger warships in dominant navies, especially the pentere/quinquereme. This article focuses on the historical aspects of the Hellenistic age for the cultural aspects see Hellenistic civilisation. A quinquereme (Latin or penteres (Greek is a type of ancient oar-propelled warship that was used by the Greeks of the Hellenistic period and later by the Carthaginians The maximum practical number of oar banks a ship could have was three. So the numbers did not refer to the banks of oars anymore (for biremes, triremes and quinquiremes), but to the number of rowers per vertical section, with several men on each oar. The reasons for this development was the increasing use of armor on the bows of warships against ramming attacks, which again required heavier ships for a successful attack. This increased the number of rowers per ship, and also made it possible to use less well-trained personnel for moving these new ships to the minimum impact speed of 10 knots. This change was accompanied by an increased reliance on tactics like boarding, missile skirmishes and using warships as platforms for artillery. Boarding, in its simplest sense refers to the insertion onto a ship's deck of people Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine

Triremes continued to be the mainstay of all smaller navies. While the Hellenistic kingdoms did develop the quinquireme and even larger ships, most navies of the Greek homeland and the smaller colonies could only afford triremes. A quinquereme (Latin or penteres (Greek is a type of ancient oar-propelled warship that was used by the Greeks of the Hellenistic period and later by the Carthaginians It was used by the Diadochi Empires and sea powers like Syracuse, Carthage and later Rome. The Diadochi (plural of Latin Diadochus, from Greek Διάδοχοι, Diadokhoi, "successors" were the rival successors Syracuse (Siracusa Sicilian: Sarausa, Classical Greek: / transliterated Syrakousai) is a historic City in Carthage (Καρχηδών Karkhēdōn, Carthago from the Phoenician קרת חדשת phn-Latn Qart-ḥadašt meaning new town) refers Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 The difference to the classical 5th century Athenian ships was that they were armored against ramming and carried significantly more marines. Lightened versions of the trireme and smaller vessels were often used as auxiliaries, and still performed quite effectively against the heavier ships, thanks to their greater maneuverability.

With the rise of Rome the biggest fleet of quinquiremes temporarily ruled the Mediterranean, but during the civil wars after Caesar's death the fleet was on the wrong side and a new warfare with light liburnians was developed. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 A quinquereme (Latin or penteres (Greek is a type of ancient oar-propelled warship that was used by the Greeks of the Hellenistic period and later by the Carthaginians The Liburnians (or Liburni, Greek: Λιβυρνοί were an ancient people inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern By Imperial times the fleet was relatively small and had mostly political influence, controlling the grain supply and fighting pirates, who usually employed light biremes and liburnians. But instead of the successful liburnians of the civil war, it was again centered around light triremes, but still with many marines. Out of this type of ship the dromon developed. The dromons (from Greek δρόμων dromon, ie "runner" were the most important Warships of the Byzantine navy from the

Reconstruction

Main article: Olympias (trireme)

In 1985–1987 a shipbuilder in Piraeus, financed by Frank Welsh (a Suffolk banker, writer and trireme enthusiast), advised by historian J. S. Morrison and naval architect John F. Piraeus (pɪˈræʊs Πειραιάς, piɾeˈas Πειραιεύς, piɾeˈefs is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, and a John (Sinclair Morrison, or JS Morrison as he was better known as an author was a British classicist whose work led to the reconstruction of an Athenian Trireme Coates (who with Welsh founded the Trireme Trust that initiated and managed the project), and informed by evidence from underwater archaeology, built a reconstructed Athenian trireme, Olympias.

Crewed by 170 volunteer oarsmen and oarswomen, Olympias in 1988 achieved 9 knots (17 km/h or 10. 5 mph). These results, achieved with inexperienced crew, suggest that the ancient writers were not exaggerating about straight-line performance. In addition, Olympias was able to execute a 180-degree turn in one minute and in an arc no wider than two and one half (2. 5) ship-lengths. Additional sea trials took place in 1987, 1990, 1992 and 1994. In 2004 Olympias was used ceremonially to transport the Olympic Flame from the port of Keratsini to the main port of Piraeus as the 2004 Olympic Torch Relay entered its final stages in the run-up to the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The Olympic Flame or Olympic Torch is a Symbol of the Olympic Games. Piraeus (pɪˈræʊs Πειραιάς, piɾeˈas Πειραιεύς, piɾeˈefs is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, and a The 2004 Summer Olympics Torch Relay took the Olympic flame across every habitable Continent, returning to Athens, Greece. The Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was held on August 13, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi

The builders of the reconstruction project considered that it effectively proved conclusively what had previously been in doubt, that Athenian triremes were arranged with the crew positioned in a staggered arrangement on three levels with one person per oar. This would have made optimum use of the available internal dimensions. However since modern humans are on average approximately 6 cm (2 inches) taller than Ancient Greeks (and the same relative dimensions can be presumed for oarsmen and other athletes), the construction of a craft which followed the precise dimensions of the ancient vessel led to cramped rowing conditions and consequent restrictions on the modern crew's ability to propel the vessel with full efficiency, which perhaps explains why the ancient speed records stand unbroken.

Sources

• Casson, Lionel (1991). The Ancient Mariners, 2nd ed, Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01477-9.  
• Coates, John F. (April 1989). "The trireme sails again". Scientific American 261 (4): 68–75.  
• Foley, Vernon; Soedel, Werner (April 1981). "Ancient oared warships". Scientific American 244 (4): 116–129.  
• Fields, Nic (2007). Ancient Greek Warship, 500-322 BC (New Vanguard Series 132). Osprey Publications. ISBN 978-1-84603-074-1.  
• Meijer, Fik (1986). A History of Seafaring in the Classical World. Croom and Helm.  
• Morrison, John S. (1974). "Greek naval tactics in the 5th century BC". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration 3 (1): 21–26.  
• Morrison, John S. ; Coates, John F. ; Rankov, Boris N. (1986). "Athenian Trireme: the History and Reconstruction of an Ancient Greek Warship". Cambridge University Press.  
• Morrison, John S. ; Williams, R. T. (1968). Greek Oared Ships: 900–322 BC. Cambridge University Press.  
• Morrison, John S. (2004). AGE OF THE GALLEY: Mediterranean Oared Vessels since pre-Classical Times. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0851779553.  
• Wallinga, Herman T. (1993). Ships and Sea-Power Before the Great Persian War: The Ancestry of the Ancient Trireme. E. J. Brill. ISBN 9004092250.  
• Warry, John (2004). Warfare in the Classical World. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2794-5.  
• Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

References

External links

• Hellenic Navy web page for the reconstructed Olympias trireme
• E. J. de Meester's page
• Merchant ships page
• A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), entry on "Warships"
• The Trireme Trust
• HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SHIP - LECTURE NOTES - 26. Triremes, from the Centre for Maritime Archaeology of the University of Southampton