Trireme - Athenian Warship - Greco-Persian War - Salamis Battleship - 480 BC - Small - pure Bronze statue
Condition: New, Made in Greece. Material: Pure Bronze
Height: 15 cm - 5,9 inches
Width: 18 cm - 7,1 inches
Length: 6,5 cm - 2,6 inches
Weight: 190 g
It
was an oared warship with three rows of oars on each side. It
constituted the masterpiece of ancient Greek naval art and the glorified
weapon in the Persian wars. It was the revolutionary development of the
bireme (very probably from the Corinthian shipbuilder Ameinokles) with
the addition of a supplementary row of oarsmen in the empty space next
to the gunwale at a higher level than that of the other oarsmen. For the
guarantee of the required torque, the brilliant outboard oarlocks
(outriggers) were devised. The three rows of oarsmen ensured the ship
triple motion force than the penteconter without a necessarily increase
in length. This was an important advantage in persecutions and the
embolisms/ramming of opponents. Navigation was achieved with the two big
oars of the stern. Complementarily, it had a big square sail in the
middle and a smaller one at the stern with many pulleys for its
unencumbered handling. The crew usually consisted of 170 oarsmen, 10
sailors, 14 (to 80 in special cases) warriors, 5 commanders and the
captain. It reached 40 metres in length, 5,20 metres in width and 1,10
metres in draft. Its speed reached 12 naval miles per hour. Usually, it
had a full deck mainly for the protection of the oarsmen but also the
unencumbered transport of warriors.