Description

The trireme in antiquity

The trireme appeared around 550 B.C. in the Eastern Mediterranean evolving from the earlier ship type of pentekontoros. It was a light, long and narrow ship, with a low keel. It had three rows of oars with 170 oarsmen, which made it the fastest and most flexible warship of antiquity. With these characteristics the fleet of Greek triremes managed to crush the much larger fleet of the Persians in the naval battle of Salamis in the 48th BC.

The OLYMPIAS trireme

Between 1985 and 1987 an international research team in collaboration with the Hellenic Navy built  Olympias, a life-size replica of an Athenian trireme. The construction and navigation of Olympias answered many questions such as the maximum speed of the trireme, the coordination among oarsmen and more. Today Olympias is harboured in the Hellenic Maritime Heritage Park, Palaio Faliro and is open to the public.

Bibliography

Morrison J., & Coates J. (1986). The Athenian trireme: the history and reconstruction of an ancient Greek warship. Cambridge, etc.: University Press

Gardiner, R. (1995). The Age of the galley: Mediterranean oared vessels since pre-classical times. London: Conway Maritime Press

Shepherd, W. (2010). Salamis 480BC. The naval campaign that saved Greece. Osprey Publishers

Πλατής, Σ. (1989). «Η Αθηναϊκή Τριήρης – 2.500 χρόνια μετά», Ναυτική Επιθεώρηση, Τόμος 130, Τεύχος 458, (Ιουλ.- Αυγ. 1989), 79-104

Wallinga T. H., «The Trireme and History», Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 43, Fasc. 1/2 (1990), 132-149