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Warship in ancient Greece. Ancient Greek military trading ships

On the Aegean coast, the origin of shipbuilding dates back to the 9th-7th centuries. BC Greek sailors adopted this art and even then created ships that were quite difficult to compete with in those days. Already in the VIII-VI centuries. BC the ancient Hellenes made long voyages across the Mediterranean Sea, and were the first to establish settlements on its western coast, in the Crimea (Pantikapaeus, Chersonesos), on the northern shore of the Black Sea (Olbia), in Italy, etc. About the journey of the Greek Petheus, almost incredible for that era, made in the 4th century. BC, is described in the book “About the Ocean”. Nearchus, the commander of Alexander the Great, was able in 325-324. BC successfully cross the ocean expanses, heading from India to Mesopotamia, and 800 ships took part in the voyage, moving along the coasts of India and Persia.


Ruins of Chersonesos

Information has reached our time that the ancient Greeks knew a method of assembling ships from ready-made components and parts, which was know-how for its time.

Outstanding discoveries of ancient Greek sailors

During their sea voyages, the Greeks managed to make a number of important geographical discoveries. This allowed ancient scientists (for example, Hecataeus of Miletus in the 6th century BC) to draw conclusions that the Earth is a sphere, to express an idea regarding the commonality of the entire World Ocean, to suggest the possibility of the existence of the Southern continent, and to be convinced of its importance for navigation constellations Ursa Minor and Ursa Major. The first of them includes the North Star), and the importance of orienting sailors along this celestial body is spoken of in the works of the mathematician and philosopher Thales of Miletus, 624-547. BC

How were the ships of the ancient Greeks different?

When building their ships, the Greeks took into account all the most important advantages of the Aegean ships, while at the same time developing their own technologies. The hulls of Greek ships were equipped with a sternpost, a stem and a keel; the plating necessarily had paired seams, and the belts were secured with wooden pins.


Ancient Greek ship

In the ancient period, the differences between merchant ships became increasingly noticeable. On military ships, one mast and a ram were installed, in the front part the deck was slightly raised, and the length of the ships fluctuated in the range of 30-35 m. The middle part of the ship's hull was made quite low, on each side there were 25 oars, supported by external beams, and as a The rudders used 2 huge stern oars.

Over time, this type of swimming device has undergone some changes, but its essence has remained largely unchanged. The speed and maneuverability of the ship were increased by increasing the number of oars, which could be arranged in two or even three rows.

The core of the Mediterranean flotillas were the famous ancient trireme ships, which in Ancient Greece were called triremes. Their width was 6 m, the hull length was from 35 to 40 m, and such ships could accommodate up to 200 sailors and armed soldiers.

Scientists believe that the ancient Greeks, who were the first to learn how to cover their boats with animal skin, most likely also invented the sail - the most important tool for controlling a ship after the oar. But nevertheless, Greek ships remained rowing for a long time, and their main “propulsion” was the muscular power of slaves sitting on the oars.

The Greeks relied not only on their own achievements in technology. They borrowed all the best from the designs of Phoenician and Aegean ships. The ancient Greek fleet was built primarily for war, so it was the Greeks who first clearly defined the differences between merchant and military ships.

The hulls of the ships had a keel, a stem and a sternpost. The skin had variable thickness, being thickest at the keel. The vessel was painted and greased, and below the waterline it was tarred or lined with lead sheets. Different types of wood were used in the construction of ships. The first Greek military rowing ships were equipped with a mast and a quadrangular sail.

A ram was installed on the bow of the ship under water or above water - the main weapon in sea battles of antiquity. The surface ram could have a different shape: from the frightening head of a mythical monster to an elegant hook made in the shape of a swan neck. The underwater ram was a pointed beam made of copper or iron, and sometimes wooden, bound with copper.

The first warships were relatively light vessels, no more than 35 m in length. Depending on the number of rows of oars, single-row unirems and two-tier biremes were first built. A 12-15 meter unireme usually had 25 rowing oars on each side. The ship was also equipped with a ram - a huge 10-meter spear. It was these ships, according to Homer, that the Greeks used during the siege of Troy.

The development of the navy did not stand still. Eventually, the main vessels of most Mediterranean fleets were triremes (the Greeks called them triremes). The ships received this name for their three tiers of oars. The total number of oars on such a ship could reach 170, and the crew now consisted of 200 people, where in addition to warriors and slave rowers there were also sailors to control the sails. Triremes reached a length of 40 m. Some of them even had several masts. The ship had a continuous combat deck, a conning tower for the commander and an impressive three-meter underwater ram. Sometimes a metal beam was installed above the ram, which broke the enemy's oars. Historians believe that the first triremes were built in Corinth - the same place where the first armored Greek warships - cataphracts - were built.

The fact that the Greek fleet was strong is evidenced by the outcome of the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. e. The Greeks, having only 380 triremes, defeated the Persians, who had 1200 ships. In addition to rams, the Greeks equipped their ships with boarding hooks - corvus and harpagus, as well as a device called a “dolphin”. It was a heavy load in the shape of a dolphin's body, suspended by a cable on a special beam that protruded over the side of the ship. When approaching an enemy ship, the “dolphin” was dropped, and it pierced the deck or bottom of the enemy ship.

On the threshold of a new era, the Greeks gradually began to move towards creating large ships. The tesaracontera, the ancient ancestor of battleships, can be called a real floating fortress. The displacement of these ships reached 3000 tons, the upper deck of the ship protected the rowers from enemy arrows, and their own archers fired from several combat towers. Back in the 4th century. BC e. The Greeks began to equip their ships with throwing machines. These were ballistae and catapults.

The ballista, or eututon, was used to throw arrows 4-5 m long, which had an iron tip or were impregnated with an incendiary mixture. Catapults could hit targets with stones or metal projectiles at a distance of up to 200 meters.
As a rule, combat vehicles on ships were placed in special towers or behind protective walls. Huge ships with up to ten rows of oars were built by Alexander the Great.

The chronicles also mention icosers - ships with 20 rows of oars, but it is likely that this is fiction, since no evidence has been found for this.

The merchant ships of the Greeks - lembas, keletes and kerkours - improved much faster than military ones. They were often equipped with two masts, and the carrying capacity of these 25-meter ships reached a thousand tons. Sometimes the front mast had a significant slope towards the bow and was somewhat reminiscent of a bowsprit. The sail raised on it made it possible to sail even with a side wind. Merchant ships always had a spacious hold, where sand was used as ballast. It is interesting that back in the 5th century. BC e. the Greeks built special ships designed to transport horses.

Most of Greece is surrounded by the sea, so the Greeks have always been considered good shipbuilders and ships of the ancient Greeks- the best watercraft of ancient times. Rich trading cities such as Athens and Corinth had powerful navies to protect their merchant ships. The largest and most maneuverable ancient Greek ship was considered trireme, propelled by 170 oarsmen. Its ram, located in the bow of the ship, punched holes in the enemy ship. But creation triremes owes to the appearance of other warships of earlier construction. This is exactly what my story is about.

pentecontor

In the archaic period from the 12th to the 8th century BC, the most common type of ship of the ancient Greeks was pentekontory.

Pentecontor was a 30-meter single-tier rowing vessel driven by twenty-five oars on each side. The width was about 4 m, the maximum speed was 9.5 knots.

Pentecontories were mostly undecked open ships. However, sometimes this ship of the ancient Greeks was equipped with a deck. The presence of a deck protected the rowers from the sun and from enemy missiles, and also increased the cargo-passenger capacity of the ship. The deck could carry supplies, horses, war chariots and additional warriors, including archers, capable of resisting enemy ships.

Originally ancient Greek pentekontory were intended mainly for transporting troops. The same warriors who later went ashore and entered into battle sat on the oars. In other words, pentecontor was not a warship specifically designed to destroy other military ships, but was a troop transport. ( Prim. Just like those on the oars of which ordinary warriors sat).

The emergence of a desire to sink the enemy along with the troops before they landed on the shore and began to ravage their native fields contributed to the appearance on the ship of the ancient Greeks of a device called the ram.

For the warship of the ancient Greeks, which participated in naval battles using a ram as the main anti-ship weapon, important indicators remained: maneuverability - the ability to quickly escape from a retaliatory strike, speed - contributing to the development of impact force, and armor - protecting from similar enemy attacks.

The preservation of these characteristics negated the calculations of the Mediterranean shipbuilders of the 12th century BC, thereby forcing the ancient Greeks to look for more rational ideas. And an elegant solution was found.

If the ship cannot be lengthened, then it can be made higher and another tier with rowers placed. Thanks to this, the number of oars was doubled without significantly increasing the length ancient greek ship. This is how it appeared bireme.

bireme

As a result of the addition of a second tier with rowers, security also increased ancient greek ships. To ram birema, the stem of the enemy ship now needed to overcome the resistance of more oars.

The increase in the number of rowers also led to the fact that they were required to synchronize their actions in order to bireme didn’t turn into a centipede entangled in its own legs. Rowers were required to have a sense of rhythm, so in ancient times the labor of galley slaves was not used. All the merrymakers were civilian sailors, and they received wages during the war, just like professional soldiers - hoplites.

bireme rowers

Only in the 3rd century BC, when the Romans had a shortage of oarsmen during the Punic Wars due to high casualties, did they use slaves and criminals sentenced for debt who had undergone preliminary training for their slaves. The appearance of the image of galley slaves actually went down in history with the advent of. They had a different design, which made it possible to have only about 15 percent of trained rowers in the team, and the rest were recruited from convicts.

The appearance of the first Birem among the Greeks dated to the end of the 8th century BC. Birema can be recognized as the first ancient ship specifically built to destroy enemy naval targets. The oarsmen of ancient ships were almost never professional warriors like land hoplites, but were considered first-class sailors. In addition, during a boarding battle on board their ship, the upper tier oarsmen often took part in the battles, while the lower tier oarsmen were able to continue maneuvering.

It's easy to imagine that the meeting biremes VIII century with 20 warriors, 12 sailors and a hundred oarsmen on board with pentecontor times of the Trojan War with 50 oars-warriors would have been disastrous for the latter. Even though pentecontor had 50 warriors on board versus 20 biremes, his team would not be able to exploit their numerical superiority in most cases. Firstly, a higher side biremes would interfere with boarding combat, and a ramming blow biremes would be twice as effective pentekontor.

Secondly, during maneuvering pentekontory all his hoplites are engaged at the oars. While 20 hoplites biremes can attack with projectiles.

Thanks to its obvious advantages, the bireme began to quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean, and for many centuries it firmly occupied the position of “light” of all large fleets. However, the place of “” two centuries later will be taken by trireme- the most widespread ancient ship Antiquity.

trireme

Trier is a further development of the idea of ​​a multi-tiered rowing ship of the ancient Greeks. According to Thucydides, the first trireme was built around 650 BC and was about 42 meters long.

In classical Greek triere there were about 60 oarsmen, 30 warriors and 12 sailors on each side. He led the rowers and sailors " celeist", the entire ship was commanded by " trierarch».

"trierarch"

Rowers on the lower tier triremes, almost at the water’s edge, were called “ Thalamites" There were 27 of them on each side. The ports cut into the ship's hull for oars were very close to the water, so when there was a slight swell, they were often overwhelmed by waves. In this case " Thalamites“The oars were pulled in, and the ports were sealed with leather patches.

The rowers of the second tier were called " zygits"and, finally, the third tier - " tranites" Oars " zygits" And " tranites"passed through ports in " Parados"- a special box-shaped extension of the hull above the waterline, which hung over the water. The rhythm of the rowers was set by a flute player, and not a drummer, as on the larger ships of Ancient Rome.

The oars of all tiers had the same length of 4.5 meters. The point is that if you look at the vertical slice triremes, then it turns out that all the rowers are located along the curve formed by the side of the ship. Thus, the blades of the three tiers of oars reached the water, although they entered it at different angles.

Trier was a very narrow ship. At the waterline level, the ship had a width of about 5 m, and allowed a maximum speed of up to 9 knots, but some sources claim that it could reach up to 12 knots. But, despite the relatively low speed, trireme was considered a very energy-equipped ship. From a stationary state ancient ships reached maximum speed in 30 seconds.

Like later Roman ships, Greek triremes were equipped with a buffer ram-proembolon and a combat ram in the shape of a trident or head.

ram trireme

The most effective weapon of ancient ships was the ram, and an auxiliary, but also quite effective means of armed struggle was boarding combat.

The success of a naval battle primarily depended on a swift attack at full speed on the side of the enemy ship, after which the crew also had to quickly reverse to change position. The fact is that the attacking ship was always at risk of attack, since it could receive more damage and get stuck in the fragments of the oars, and therefore lose speed, and its crew would instantly be attacked by various projectiles from the side of the enemy ship.

tactical maneuver of a trireme - sailing

One of the most common tactical maneuvers during naval combat in Ancient Greece was considered " diekplus"(swimming). The goal of the tactical technique was to choose a course of attack that was advantageous from the point of view of position and to deprive the enemy of the opportunity to evade the blow. For this trireme moved towards the enemy ship, delivering a glancing blow. At the same time, while passing along the side of the enemy, the rowers of the attacking ship had to retract their oars on command. After which significant damage was caused to the oars of the enemy ship on one side. A moment later, the attacking ship moved into position and delivered a ramming blow to the side of the immobilized enemy ship.

Triremes did not have stationary masts, but almost all were equipped with one or two removable masts, which were quickly mounted when a fair wind appeared. The central mast was installed vertically and stretched with cables for stability. Bow mast designed for a small sail - " artemon", was installed obliquely, supported by " acro table».

Sometimes triremes were also modernized for transport purposes. Such ships were called " hoplitagagos"(for warriors) and " Hippagagos"(for horses). Fundamentally these ancient ships no different from trier, but had a reinforced deck, a higher bulwark and additional wide gangways for horses.

Birems And triremes have become the main and only universal ancient ships The ancient period from the 4th to the 5th century BC. Alone or as part of small formations, they could perform cruising functions: conduct reconnaissance, intercept enemy trade and cargo, deliver particularly important cargo and attack the enemy on the coast.

The outcome of naval battles was decided primarily by the level of individual training of the crews - rowers, sailing crew and soldiers. However, much depended on the formation's battle formations. During the transition, the ancient ships of the Greek fleet, as a rule, followed in the wake. The line was changed in anticipation of a collision with the enemy. At the same time ships they tried to line up in three or four lines with a mutual offset of half a position. This tactical move was carried out to make it difficult for the enemy to carry out a maneuver " diekplus", after breaking the oars of any of the ships in the first row, the enemy ship exposed his side to the ramming attack of ships of the neighboring line.

In Ancient Greece, there was another tactical arrangement of ships, which in modern tactics corresponds to blind defense - this is a special circular formation. It was called " hedgehog"and was used in cases where it was necessary to protect ships with valuable cargo or avoid a linear battle with superior enemy ships.

As auxiliary ships, or raiders used single-tier galleys - " Unirems", heirs of archaic triacontors And pentecontors.

During the classical period of the 5th century BC, the fleet of Ancient Greece formed the basis of military power and was an important component of the armed forces of the Hellenic coalitions.

Military Ancient Greece fleet numbered up to 400 trier. Ancient ships were built at state shipyards. However, their equipment, repairs and even the hiring of rowers were carried out at the expense of rich Athenians, who, as a rule, became trierarchs- ship captains. At the end of the sea voyage trireme were returned for storage to the naval base in Piraeus, and the crew was disbanded.

Development ancient Greek fleet contributed to the emergence of a new category of citizens - sailors. By their hierarchical position, they were not rich people and did not have sources of permanent income outside of naval service. During the peace period, when the demand for highly skilled sailors decreased, they engaged in small trade or were hired as farm laborers for wealthy landowners. Beached sailors inhabited areas of urban poverty in Piraeus and Athens. Along with this, these were the people on whom the military power of Ancient Greece depended.

Interestingly, an ordinary worker earned approximately half a drachma per day, while ship oarsmen and hoplites received 2 drachmas daily during a military campaign. With this money you could buy 40 kg of grain, four buckets of olives or 2 buckets of inexpensive wine. A ram cost 5 drachmas, and renting a small room in a poor quarter cost 30 drachmas. Thus, in a month of sea wandering, an ordinary merrymaker could provide himself with food for the whole year.

Most large ship of the ancient Greeks, built in Antiquity, is considered mythical tesseracontera, created in Egypt by order of Ptolemy Philopator. Sources claim that this ancient ship reached a length of 122 m and a width of 15 m, and on board there were about 4,000 oarsmen (10 per oar) and 3,000 warriors. Some historians believe that it was more likely a large double-hulled catamaran, between the hulls of which a grandiose platform was built for throwing machines and warriors.

Sorry about the names Greek ships little is known. There were two in Athens triremes with luxurious exterior decoration, which had the names " Paralia" And " Salaminia" These two ships were used for ceremonial processions or for sending particularly important orders.

In the archaic period (XII-VIII centuries BC), the most common types of Greek warships were triacontor And pentecontor(respectively, “thirty oars” and “fifty oars”). The triacontor was very close in design to Cretan ships (see) and does not deserve special attention.

The pentecontor was a single-tier rowing vessel driven by five dozen oars - 25 on each side. Based on the fact that the distance between the rowers cannot be less than 1 m, the length of the rowing section should be estimated at 25 m. To this it also makes sense to add approximately 3 m each to the bow and stern sections. Thus, the total length of the pentecontor can be estimated at 28-33 m. The width of the pentecontor is approximately 4 m, the maximum speed is approx. 9.5 knots (17.5 km/h).

Pentecontories were mostly undecked (Greek. afrakta), open ships. However, sometimes deck ones were also built (Greek. cataphract) pentecontories. The presence of a deck protected the rowers from the sun and from enemy missiles and, in addition, increased the cargo and passenger capacity of the ship. The deck could carry supplies, horses, war chariots and additional warriors, including archers and slingers, who could help in battle with an enemy ship.

Initially, the pentecontor was intended mainly for the “self-transportation” of troops. On the oars sat the same warriors who later, having gone ashore, fought the war for which they sailed to Troad or Crete (see “Iliad”, “Odyssey”, “Argonautics”). In other words, the pentecontor was not a ship specifically designed to destroy other ships, but rather a fast troop transport. (Just like drakars Vikings and boats Slavs, on the oars of which ordinary warriors sat.)

The appearance of a ram on pentecontores means that at a certain moment the opposing city-states and coalitions of the Aegean basin come to the idea that it would be good to sink enemy ships along with their troops before they land on the shore and begin to ravage their native fields.

For warships designed to conduct naval battles using a ram as the main anti-ship weapon, the following factors are critical:

- maneuverability, on which depends the quick exit on board an enemy ship and rapid escape from a retaliatory strike;

– maximum speed, on which the kinetic energy of the ship and, accordingly, the power of the ramming strike depend;

– protection from enemy ramming attacks.

To increase speed, you need to increase the number of rowers and improve the hydrodynamics of the vessel. However, on a single-tier ship, such as the pentecontor, an increase in the number of oarsmen by 2 (one on each side) leads to the fact that the length of the ship increases by 1 m. Each extra meter of length in the absence of high-quality materials leads to a sharp increase in the probability that the ship will break on the waves. Thus, according to calculations, a length of 35 m is very critical for ships built using the technologies that Mediterranean civilizations of the 12th-7th centuries could afford. BC

Thus, by lengthening the ship, it is necessary to strengthen its structure with more and more new elements, which makes it heavier and thereby negates the benefits of placing additional rowers. On the other hand, the longer the ship, the larger the radius of its circulation, that is, the lower the maneuverability. And, finally, on the third side, the longer the ship in general, the longer, in particular, its underwater part, which is the most vulnerable place to be hit by enemy rams.

Greek and Phoenician shipbuilders made an elegant decision in such conditions. If the ship cannot be lengthened, then it must be make it higher and place a second tier of rowers above the first. Thanks to this, the number of rowers was doubled without significantly increasing the length of the vessel. This is how it appeared bireme.

Birema

Rice. 2. Early Greek bireme

A side effect of adding a second tier of oarsmen was the increased security of the ship. To ram the bireme, the enemy ship's stem had to overcome the resistance of twice as many oars as before.

Doubling the number of rowers has led to increased demands on the synchronization of oar movements. Each rower had to be able to very clearly maintain the rhythm of rowing, so that the bireme would not turn into a centipede, entangled in its own oar legs. That is why in Antiquity almost Not the notorious "galley slaves" were used. All oarsmen were civilians and, by the way, during the war they earned the same amount as professional soldiers - hoplites.

Only in the 3rd century. BC, when the Romans had a shortage of oarsmen during the Punic Wars due to high losses, they used slaves and criminals sentenced for debt (but not criminals!) on their large ships. However, firstly, they were used only after preliminary training. And, secondly, the Romans promised freedom to all slave rowers and honestly fulfilled their promise after the end of hostilities. By the way, there could be no talk of any whips or scourges at all.

We actually owe the appearance of the image of “galley slaves” to the Venetian, Genoese and Swedish galleys of the 15th-18th centuries. They had a different design, which made it possible to use only 12-15% of professional rowers in the team, and recruit the rest from convicts. But the Venetian galley technologies “a scalocio” and “a terzaruola” will be discussed later in another article.

The appearance of the first biremes among the Phoenicians is usually dated to the beginning, and among the Greeks - to the end of the 8th century. BC Birems were built in both decked and undecked versions.

Birema can be considered the first ship specifically designed and built to destroy enemy naval targets. The bireme rowers were almost never professional warriors (like hoplites), but they were quite professional sailors. In addition, during a boarding battle on board their ship, the rowers of the upper row could take part in the fight, while the rowers of the lower row had the opportunity to continue maneuvering.

It is easy to imagine that the meeting of the bireme of the 8th century. (with 12-20 hoplites, 10-12 sailors and a hundred oarsmen on board) with a pentecontor from the Trojan War (with 50 hoplite oarsmen) would be disastrous for the latter. Despite the fact that the pentecontor had 50 warriors on board versus 12-20, his crew in most cases would not be able to use their numerical superiority. The higher side of the bireme would have prevented boarding combat, and the ramming blow of the bireme -> pentecontor was 1.5-3 times more effective in terms of damaging effect than the blow of the pentecontor -> bireme.

In addition, if the pentecontor maneuvers with the aim of boarding the bireme, then it should be assumed that all his hoplites are busy at the oars. While at least 12-20 bireme hoplites can shower the enemy with projectiles.

Due to its obvious advantages, the bireme quickly became a very common type of ship in the Mediterranean and for many centuries firmly occupied the position of a light cruiser in all major fleets (although at the time of its appearance, the bireme was simply a super-dreadnought). Well, two centuries later it will occupy the niche of a heavy cruiser trireme– the most massive, most typical ship of classical Antiquity.

Trier

Since the first, fundamentally important step from monera (single-tier) to polyreme (multi-tier) had already been made during the transition from pentecontor to bireme, the transition from bireme to trireme turned out to be much easier.

According to Thucydides, the first trireme was built around 650 BC. In particular, we find from him: “The Hellenes began to build ships and turned to navigation. According to legend, the Corinthians were the first to begin building ships in a way very similar to the modern one, and the first triremes in Hellas were built in Corinth. The Corinthian shipbuilder Aminocles, who arrived to the Samians about three hundred years before the end of this war [meaning the Peloponnesian, 431-404 BC - A.Z.], he built four ships for them, as we know, and took place among the Corinthians. with the Corcyraeans (and from this battle to the same time about two hundred and sixty years passed)..."

The triere is a further development of the idea of ​​a multi-tiered rowing ship, has three tiers of oars and is up to 42 m long.

A length of 35-40 meters is quite critical even for advanced narrow wooden structures that lack a powerful longitudinal set (stringers). However, the logic of the arms race is to reach the most extreme, most dangerous values ​​of all technological parameters of military equipment. Therefore, the length of the trireme approached 40 m and fluctuated around this mark throughout its long history.

A typical Greek trireme had 27+32+31=90 (i.e., 180 in total) oarsmen, 12-30 warriors, and 10-12 sailors on each side. Managed the rowers and sailors celeist, the trireme as a whole was in command trierarch.

The rowers who were on the lowest tier of the trireme, that is, closest to the water, were called Thalamites. There were usually 27 on each side. The ports cut into the sides for their oars were very close to the water and even with a slight swell they were overwhelmed by the waves. In this case, the thalamites pulled the oars inward, and the ports were sealed with leather plasters (Greek: ascoma).

The rowers of the second tier were called zygits(32 on each side). And finally, the third tier - tranites. The oars of the zygits and tranites passed through the ports in Parados- a special box-shaped extension of the hull above the waterline, which hung over the water. The rhythm of the rowers was set by a flute player, and not a drummer, as on the larger ships of the Roman fleet.

Contrary to appearances, the oars of all three tiers were the same length. The fact is that if we consider the vertical section of the trireme, it turns out that the thalamites, zygits and tranites are located not on the same vertical, but on a curve formed by the side of the trireme. Thus, the blades of the oars of all tiers reached the water, although they entered it at different angles.

The Trireme was a very narrow ship. At the waterline level, it had a width of about 5 m, which with a length of 35 m gives a length to width ratio of 7:1, and with a length of 40 m - 8:1. However, if you measure it by the width of the deck, or even more so by the width of the trireme together with the parados, that is, by the maximum size with the oars retracted, then this ratio drops to 5.5-6:1.

These ships were built without frames, using external templates, with the skin fastened with dowels. The Greeks began to use round dowels, both ends of which were sawed off. Small wooden wedges made from acacia, plum or thorn were driven into such a cut. The dowels were then inserted so that the wedges were positioned across the grain. Thus, the sheathing boards were closely fitted to each other.

The length of the oars is estimated at 4-4.5 m. (Which, for comparison, is 1.5-2 m shorter than the sarissas of the sixth rank of the Macedonian phalanx.) There are very different opinions regarding the speed of the trireme. Skeptics call 7-8 knots maximum. Optimists say that a well-built trireme with excellent oarsmen could maintain a cruising speed of 9 knots for 24 hours. (On the assumption, apparently, that every eight hours the oarsmen of one tier rest, and the other two row.) Science fiction writers invent unimaginable speeds of 18-20 knots, which is the ultimate dream for a battleship from the time of the Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905). , 14-19 knots).

The modern reconstruction of the trireme ("Olympia") has not yet been able to squeeze out more than 7 knots, which is what the skeptics' arguments are based on. I really think that re a design is not yet a design. The fact that modern Englishmen used an electric hammer and a cyberchisel for their own pleasure is not at all the same as what the Greeks did a thousand times for the sake of the prosperity of the Athenian Arche. I am ready to admit that the trireme with the Piraeus serial number 1001 could achieve 10 knots with the active assistance of Neptune, and with the favor of all the Olympians and the non-interference of the malicious Hera, reach the divine 12.

One way or another, experiments with the Olympia showed: despite the low speed, the trireme was a fairly power-equipped ship. From a stationary state, it reaches half the maximum speed in 8 seconds, and the full maximum in 30. The same battleship of 1905 could breed pairs for 3-6 hours. And this is just to get moving!

Like later Roman ships, Greek triremes were equipped with a buffer ram-proembolon and a battle ram in the shape of a trident or a boar's head.

Triremes did not have fixed masts, but almost all were equipped with one or two (according to some sources, sometimes three) removable masts. With a fair wind, they were quickly installed by the efforts of the sailors. The central mast was installed vertically and stretched with cables for stability. Bow, designed for a small sail (Greek. artemon), was installed obliquely, supported on an acrotable. The third mast, as short as the bow one, also carried a small sail and was located at the very end of the deck in the stern.

Sometimes triremes were optimized not for naval battles, but for transport. Such triremes were called hoplitagagos(for infantry) and Hippagagos(for horses). Fundamentally, they were no different from ordinary ones, but had a reinforced deck and, in the case of the Hippagagos, a higher bulwark and additional wide gangways for horses.

Birems and triremes became the main and only universal ships of the classical period (IV-V centuries BC). Alone and as part of small squadrons, they could perform cruising functions, that is, conduct reconnaissance, intercept enemy merchant and transport ships, deliver especially important embassies and ravage the enemy coast. And in major battles of the main forces of the fleet (Salamin, Egospotami), triremes and biremes acted as battleships, that is, they were used in linear formations (2-4 lines of 15-100 ships each) and fought against targets of similar class.

It was the biremes and triremes that played the main role in the Hellenes’ victory over the huge Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis.

Messenger


“They obeyed the order as expected.
Dinner was prepared, and by the oarlocks
Each rower hurried to adjust the oars.
Then, when the last ray of sunshine went out
And the night came, all the rowers and warriors
With weapons, as one, they boarded the ships,
And the ships, having lined up, called to each other.
And so, adhering to the order that was indicated,
Goes out to sea and sleeplessly swims
The ship's people perform their service regularly.
And the night passed. But they didn’t do it anywhere
Attempts by the Greeks to secretly bypass the barrier.
When will the earth be white again?
The luminary of the day filled with bright radiance,
A jubilant noise was heard in the camp of the Greeks,
Similar to a song. And they answered him
With the thundering echo of the island rock,
And immediately the fear of the confused barbarians
It failed. The Greeks did not think about escape,
Singing a solemn song,
And they went to battle with selfless courage,
And the roar of the trumpet set hearts on fire with courage.
The salty abyss was foamed together
The consonant strokes of the Greek oars,
And soon we saw everyone with our own eyes;
Went ahead, in excellent formation, right
Wing, and then proudly followed
The entire fleet. And from everywhere at the same time
A mighty cry rang out: “Children of the Hellenes,
To fight for the freedom of the motherland! Children and wives
Free your native gods at home too,
And great-grandfathers' graves! The fight is on for everything!"
Our Persian speech is a monotonous hum
He answered the call. There was no time to hesitate here,
The ship's copper-clad bow immediately
It hit the ship. The Greeks began the attack,
Having broken the stern of the Phoenician with a ram,
And then the ships attacked each other.
At first the Persians managed to hold back
Pressure When in a narrow place there are many
The ships have accumulated, no one can help
I couldn’t and my copper beaks pointed,
Their own in their own, the oars and rowers are destroyed.
And the Greeks used ships, as they planned,
We were surrounded. The sea was not visible
Because of the wreckage, because of the overturned
Ships and lifeless bodies and corpses
The shallows and the coast were completely covered.
Find salvation in a disorderly flight
The entire surviving barbarian fleet tried,
But the Greeks of the Persians are like tuna fishermen,
Anything, boards, debris
The ships and oars were beaten. Screams of horror
And the screams filled the salty distance,
Until the eye of night hid us.
All troubles, even if I lead ten days in a row
The story is sad, I can’t list it, no.
I'll tell you one thing: never before
So many people on earth have never died in one day."

Aeschylus, "Persians"

At the same time, single-tier galleys (unirems), the heirs of the archaic triakontor and pentecontor, continued to be used as auxiliary ships, advice ships (messenger ships) and raiders.

Rice. 5. Late Greek pentecontor

The largest ship built in Antiquity is considered to be the semi-mythical tesseracontera (sometimes simply “tessera”), which was created in Egypt by order of Ptolemy Philopator. Allegedly, it reached 122 m in length and 15 m in width, and carried 4,000 oarsmen and 3,000 warriors. Some researchers believe that it was most likely a huge double-hulled catamaran, between the hulls of which a grandiose platform was built for throwing machines and warriors. As for the rowers, then, most likely, there were 10 people for each grandiose oar of this floating fortress.

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XLegio © 1999, 2001

The Greeks are already in I X century BC They learned from the Phoenicians to build ships that were remarkable for that time and began colonizing the surrounding territories early. V III–V I centuries BC The Greeks achieved serious success in shipbuilding. B V III -V I centuries BC the area of ​​their penetration covered the western shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the entire Pont Euxine (Black Sea).

Later they made a series of trips across the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The journey of Petheus to I 5th century BC Nearchus in 325–324 BC on 800 ships along the coasts of India and Persia to Mesopotamia.

Greek ship Pytheas


Greek ships were complex structures and their builders had to solve numerous problems related to ship strength, stability, seaworthiness, location, transmission and perception of significant concentrated loads.

The beginning of Greek shipbuilding dates back to I X–V II centuries BC The Greeks adopted these skills from the Phoenicians.

The Greeks kept their technology for assembling ships from ready-made components and parts secret.

Greek ship on a vase.


Greek ships had a keel, frames, stems - the main structural elements of the current ship hull. The following materials were used for construction: oak for the keel, acacia for the frames, pine for the spar, beech for the sheathing. The skin was made of variable thickness: the thickest strips were at the keel, along the cheekbones and at deck level. Deadwood was filled with wooden blocks. The hull below the waterline was tarred or covered with lead sheets. It was painted and greased.

Sand was used as ballast. A canvas bulwark was used to protect the crew from waves.

1-2 masts with a quadrangular sail were installed, topenants went to the ends of the yard from the top, and the yard was fixed with a cable. A small sail was placed in the space between the yard and the topenants. The front mast was made inclined towards the bow, and it was the predecessor of the bowsprit. The shape of the sail was rectangular or trapezoidal.

At the deck level, a powerful beam was installed - a parolos, on which two steering oars were attached. The Greeks were the first to build ships with a solid deck.

Early Greek trading ship. 2300 BC


Early Greek trading ship.. 2300 BC.


Merchant ships had holds. The length of the ships was 20-25 m, width 7-8 m, displacement 80-100 tons. There were several types of merchant ships: lemb, kelet, kerkur. The Greeks were the first to build a ship to transport horses. This event occurred in the 5th century. BC

Greek warships were named by the number of rows of oars: monera, diera, trireme, tetrera, pentera (era - oar). Diera (dikrota) had a narrow body. It was a fast ship with a length of 30 m, a width of 5 m, and a freeboard height of 0.5 m. Greek warships were built without frames according to external templates with fastening the skin with dowels (a dowel is a wooden nail).

Greek warship Argonauts


The distribution of oars on Greek ships was as follows: moners, diremes and triremes, respectively, with one, two and three tiers of oars, one rower per oar. With the increase in the size of the ships and due to the difficulty of placing additional tiers of oars, they returned to one row, but put five rowers at each oar.

This is how the pentera of the Syracusan ruler Dionysius arose, who introduced a new, more durable type of ship with the installation of heavy throwing machines (ballistas and catapults) on the deck. At first, the penters had a displacement of about 140 tons, a length of 30 m, a width of 6.5 m, and a waterline draft of 1.2 m. Subsequently, the displacement increased to 300 tons, the ships had 300 oarsmen and 120 warriors. Such penters had 30 oars on each side, five rowers per oar, for a total of 300 rowers on both sides.

The Greeks also built octerae (8 rowers in one half-section of the ship), tesseraconters (40 rowers in one half-section of the ship). For a two-tier octera, there are six oarsmen in the top row, two rowers per oar in the bottom row, for a total of eight.

There is information that ships with up to ten rows of oars were built by Alexander the Great. According to Pliny the Elder, in III century BC Ptolemy Philopator built a ship with four dozen rows of oars (tessaracontera) with a hull 124 m long, 17 m wide, with a freeboard height of 22 m, and with a displacement of 3000 tons.

A similar gigantic ship was built in Syracuse under the tyrant Hieron (displacement 4200 tons).

The bulk of the Greek fleet were triremes. The number of oars of the Greek trireme reached 170. The crew of the ship was about 200 people, in addition to the oarsmen (who were chained to the seats) and soldiers, there were also special sailors to control the sail. The length of the trireme reached 40 m, width - 6 m, displacement - about 90 tons. The trireme was a high-speed vessel and, according to experts, could reach a maximum speed of up to 11 knots, on short passages 7.8 knots, on long passages - 4-5 knots. On late triremes (IV century BC), to protect the oarsmen from arrows and darts, a light deck was installed - a catastroma, on which the warriors were located.

The oarsmen were usually slaves under the command of the gortator; the mode of movement was set by the flute maker. The trireme was commanded by a triarch, the senior officer was called cybernetos (navigator). It is from the Greek navigator that the name of the science of control - cybernetics, which is so important today, originates. The ship was steered by feeders, a pilot and sailors.

The anchors of ancient Greek ships were wooden with stone or lead rods. For the first time, an iron anchor was used on Greek ships.

A mandatory accessory of a warship of the ancient Greeks was a ram. It was attached to the keel and was made in the form of a trident or a boar's head. The purpose of a ram is to pierce the underwater part of an enemy ship. The stem at the top of the ram had a hawse, into which a strong cable was inserted to connect several ships in a joint attack on enemy ships. In the ancient Greek fleet, a type of ram “dolphin” became widespread, as well as boarding hooks, corvuses and harpagues. The dolphin was a heavy load on a rope, which was attached to a special beam protruding overboard and dropped onto the deck or bottom of an enemy ship, breaking through them. Dolphins were used especially successfully in the Battle of Lipari (260 BC). Corvus - a boarding bridge hinged at the bow of the ship; it was equipped with a sharp metal hook in the shape of a crow's beak. The corvus, raised on a rope, was lowered onto the deck of the enemy ship during boarding, and along it the attackers rushed to attack. Corvus - Latin for "raven", so named because of the similarity of the coupling device to a bird's claw. This design was later used in medieval galleys.

Greek merchant ship. Reconstruction 300 BC II century BC


Back in the 4th century BC. Ancient Greek ships were armed with throwing machines: catapults and ballistas (oututons). The catapult threw large stones and metal shells over a distance of 200 m, the ballista fired spears 4.5 m long with iron tips (often the spears were impregnated with an incendiary mixture of sulfur, bitumen and resin). Throwing machines were placed behind special protective walls or rolled into towers. After many centuries, shipbuilding will repeat these design solutions on a new round of the development spiral - in the 19th century, barbette and turret battleships, the ram shape of the bow.