The Athenian Trireme: The History and Reconstruction of an Ancient Greek Warship

by J.S. Morrison

The trizeme was the warship which brought Athens preeminence in Greek waters in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The exact structure of the trireine has puzzled scholars through the centuries and various attempts have been made to reconstruct the ship. John Morrison, a classical scholar, and John Coates, a naval architect, have perfected a design which they believe fulfils the essential structural requirements as these emerge from a study both of the archaeological evidence and of the historical accounts of sea- battles. A full-size replica of the Threme has now been built in a Greek shipyard following Morrison's and Coates' specifications and is to be launched in Piraeus this autumn and commissioned into the Hellenic Navy. The Athenian Trireme provides the background and describes the ancient ship in battle and in transit, the men who manned her and the materials of which she was made. In the final chapters, John Coates. discusses fundamentals underlying the design from the point of view of the naval architect and describes the main physical features of the reconstructed ship.

Genres: Ancient History, History, Nonfiction, Greece, Maritime

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

John Sinclair Morrison (1913 - 2000) - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sin...

Reviews

[Daniel Cicero]

A very clear, detailed and fascinating book about the reconstruction of an Athenian Trireme (Trieres). The first half of the book covers the archeological, literary and iconographic evidence for the design and operation of the ship. The authors used that evidence to write a specification for a shipyard to actually build one. In itself, that's an amazing achievement.

The second half of the book discusses the construction and performance of the ship under oar and sail. I found this section really engaging. What can be gleaned from the ancient sources runs up on the rocks and shoals of physics, materials, engineering and human physiology. As any good experiment does, the reconstructed ship proved that a three-tiered galley with one man per oar, with all oars of the same length, was possible. At the same time, it brought to light areas where the design might be improved, such as the canting of the seats to develop more power from the oars. These are things probably known to the ancient Greeks, but lost to us, which must be rediscovered through reconstructions like this.

[Mae]

this was fucking boring in writing but really interesting in content. me and mr horn are going to build a trireme

[Joe White]

This is a reference type book concerning the recreation of an actual rowed trireme. This is always close at hand for review.