.gif)
by Kenny McMahon, Nick Chadha, and Paul Hotchkiss
 Introduction
to Greek Boats and Ships |
Greek
Cargo Ships |
Quiz
on Greek Ships |
| Greek
Warships |
Navigation
|
Bibliography |
| Naval
Tactics |
Pictures
of Ancient Greek Ships |
Return
to Science Topics |
Introduction to Greek Boats and Ships
Boating and sailing became very important to the Greek way of life. The Greeks needed ways to import and export trade goods both within Greece and to other countries. The mountainous terrain of Greece made sailing the easiest way. Wars also caused countries to learn about sailing. Navies became a must in these wars. For instance, the battle of Salamis (480 B.C.) was won because the Athenian navy was superior to the Persian navy.
There were three main types of boats during this time. One was the military ship, one was the cargo ship, and there were also small craft. The military and cargo ships played a major role in ancient Greek wars and shipping. Small craft were smaller boats for just a few passengers, somewhat like a modern rowing dinghy.
The ships of Ancient Greece began as very basic, but there were a lot of improvements over time, so that the ships soon became very fast, and the Greeks became very efficient in their sailing techniques. This is one reason why the Greeks were so powerful in their time.
At first, Greek warships started as long narrow one level ships. The ships were designed to go fast so they could transport troops to the sights of battles. These ships had a single tier (level) of 25 oarsmen on each side, and were called pentekontors.
Over time, Greek warships were improved drastically. The ships were made faster by adding more oarsmen. The Greeks also put bronze rams on the bows of the warships. The ram could then be used to attack other ships.
The most prominent fighting ship of this time was the trireme. The Greeks started using the trireme extensively around 500 B.C.. The trireme was better than the pentekontor because it had three times as many oarsmen. Trireme is an English version of the word trieres, which means "three-fitted." Archaeologists have debate over the exact interpretation of "three-fitted," but most agree it means the trireme had three tiers of oars with one man to an oar. The trireme used this arrangement of oarsmen instead of just one tier of oarsmen like the pentekontor. Greek vases actually depict triremes with oarsmen in this arrangement of three tiers. The trireme was a very quick warship and could have reached speeds of up to 14 knots in good weather. Triremes were approximately 118 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 8.5 feet tall. 170 oarsmen propelled the trireme, but the trireme only carried about 14 soldiers. This is because at this time warships were no longer used just for transporting soldiers, warships were also used in naval battles. Since gunpowder wasn't invented yet, the Greeks used this military vessel to ram into the enemy's hull. This would disable the ship or sink it. This tactical maneuver was called diekplous, or in English "break through and ram." The main weapon for ramming into enemy ships was the bow of the ship. This was covered with a bronze ram. For more information on how the trireme was used to ram enemy ships, see Naval Tactics below.
There was one problem with the trireme. It was rather light and was blown off course when high winds arose. This lead the Greeks to make four tier boats called quinqueremes. These four tiers of oars with two men to an oar. This made the boat a lot heavier and less easy to blow off course. These boats were made of wood with metal spikes to hold the wood together. The most common wood used was fir, cedar, and pine. The bottom of these boats were sheathed with lead to protect them from being rammed. Some even melted wax and added a pigment to make it look like paint.
To find out more about the Greek trireme visit The Trireme Trust homepage. This page contains information about triremes and pictures of The Olympias, a modern day replica of the Ancient Greek warships.
Naval tactics play a very important role in any sea battle. In Classic Greece, the most useful tactical maneuver was called diekplous, or in English "break through and ram." The main weapon for ramming into enemy ships was the bow of the ship. The bow of a warship was covered with a bronze ram. The Greeks would position their warships to ram the bow into the side of the enemy ships. Once in position, the oarsmen would row their warship very quickly into the hull of the enemy warship, and the bronze ram would pierce the side of the enemy ship. The trireme was a very useful warship because of its speed. With all 170 oarsmen rowing hard, the trireme could ram enemy ships at very high speeds and sink the enemy ships.
The Greeks used very clever tactics to defeat the Persian fleet at the battle of Salamis. The Persians used triremes as their main warship, just like the Greeks. The Persian fleet had many more warships than the Greek fleet, but the Greeks were able to defeat the Persians with some quick thinking and a little trickery. In one encounter with the Persian fleet, the Greeks won because they allowed the Persians to surround them. Usually it was a bad idea to let the enemy ships surround your fleet, but the Greek fleet used this to their advantage. The Greek ships quickly turned to face the Persian ships. Then the Greek ships traveled out towards the enemy ships surrounding them, and hit the enemy ships at full speed, sinking many of the Persian ships. This maneuver surprised the Persians because they did not expect the Greeks to be so aggressive in attacking. A few days later, the Greek and Persian fleets met again at Salamis. This time the Greeks tricked the Persian fleet. The Greeks were able to convince the Persian commanders that the Greek fleet would escape from Salamis in the middle of the night. The Persians did not want this to happen, so the Persian fleet of triremes was ordered to keep watch all night long. The Greek oarsmen slept, while the Persian oarsmen were busy rowing through the night. At dawn, the Greeks quickly attacked the Persian fleet. Despite being outnumbered, the Greeks were able to win because the Greek oarsmen were well rested and ready for battle. The Persian oarsmen, however, were very tired from patrolling the bay all night long.
The second most common ship in ancient Greece was the cargo ship. These ships were used to transport imports and exports. These boats are what made ancient Greece prosperous. It saved a lot of time to transport goods by water rather than by land. The land was too mountainous to travel across easily. These ships used sails and sometimes oars and rowers. Sailing was more technically difficult than rowing since you had to learn about the wind and how to adjust your sail to meet the wind. These ships traveled at an average speed of 5 knots. In order to sail in contrary winds (sail into the wind) the cargo ships would sail in a zigzag pattern. This caused the ships to travel twice the distance they would have traveled with a good wind, and so it took twice as long as being able to sail direct. Naturally people tried to sail when the wind was in the right direction!
Cargo ships were also made of wood and averaged about 150 tons around 400 B.C. Later, in 240 B.C., boats were weighing 350 to 500 tons. Ships began adding sails with the increase in size. Two to three masts were common. Some cargo ships were called trading ships or haulers. These ships had very deep hulls and broad beams (width), which helped them sail close to the wind. Haulers were usually around 60 feet long.
Understanding navigation was very important to a sailor's survival. Steering, sails, and anchors all were very important to a ship's safe arrival. The trireme was steered by a pair of heavy, broad-bladed oars. These oars were controlled by one man. The sails depended on the strength of the mast. If the mast wasn't strong then adjustments couldn't be made. The sail was raised and lowered according to the wind. When the wind was light the sail was fully extended. When the wind became gusty and strong the sail would be lowered. In severe wind and storm the sails would be lowered completely for fear that the ship might be blown over. Anchors became very important. It meant survival or total loss while at shore. In early Greek times a plain stone was used to hold the boat in place. This faced the Greeks with two problems: how to get the arm of the anchor to bury itself, and how to get it to stay. The Greeks then made an anchor with two arms which were perpendicular with the sea flow. The arms could 'saw' their way into holding position. These were like the anchors we use today. Anchors were made of wood and lead. The lead made the tip and the top of the anchor. The body was made of wood.
1) The three main types of boats in Ancient Greece were _____, _______, and _________ .
2) Greek warships used a tactic called diekplous, which means "_____________ ."
3) The word trireme is actually an English version of the word trieres, which means "___________ ."
4) The Greek trireme was capable of reaching speeds of up to __ knots.
5) The Greeks used quick thinking and superior naval tactics to defeat the Persians at the battle of ____________ .
6) ______ ships were wider and larger than warships, and were used to carry goods.
7) The ships described in problem 6 could travel at approximately _ knots.
8) A very important part of sea travel is a good understanding of ___________ .
Kenny McMahon, Nick Chadha, and Paul Hotchkiss.
Bibliography
Casson, Lionel. Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1971.
Demand, Nancy. A History of Ancient Greece. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc,: New York, 1996.
Green, Maureen. "After 1,500 years a trireme tries its water wings," Smithsonian, Vol. 8, No. 10, January 1988, pp.74-84.
Johnston, Paul. Ship and Boat Models in Ancient Greece. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. 1985.
Morrison, J. S., Coates, J. F. The Athenian Trireme. Cambridge University Press. 1986.
White, K. D. Greek and Roman Technology. Cornell University Press, Ithica, New York. 1984.
