Hexareme

• The Hexareme was a large War Galley, popular between 400-31 BCE.
• It was probably based on the Trireme but with double the number of oarsmen per oar.

History

• The Hexareme often carried ‘castles’ near the Bow and Stern with large contingents of Marines, and Artillery in the form of Catapults.
• At the Battle of Actium (31 BCE) they were the smallest vessel in Mark Anthony‘s Fleet and the largest in Octavian‘s Fleet. After this Battle they fell into disuse.
• During the first century CE, the Imperial Fleet at Misenum, the Classis Misenensis, had only one Hexareme called the ‘Ops’. It was probably used by the Roman Emperor as a State Galley.