Re: Rightarm Islanders (long)

From: andrew968859 <andrew.157barton_at_H2Cwus7BQwfFiPZdu2mwbOS-aCd-rR8tkhpOeX2iEXY4tgOeAbvX_qHUyh_>
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:57:18 -0000

>
> From my reading of the subject many years ago triremes were a step
> in an arms race involving bigger and bigger galleys. They are best
> known because the Greeks used triremes to defeat the Persian biremes
> at Salamis. Subsequently quadriemes and quinquiremes were also used.

And bigger numbers as well. 6ers and 7ers were common in the fleets of Alexander's successors.

It is unlikely that ships larger than triremes had extra banks of oars. The most convincing account I've seen said that a quadrireme had two banks of oars with two men per oar, a quinquereme one bank of two-man oars and one of three-man oars, and so on.

Andrew