Penteconter

• The Greek Penteconter was a long fast undecked War Galley with 50 oars, 25 on each side.
• It was the vessel used in Classical Antiquity and continued in use from the in Ancient Greece until approximately 31 BCE.

Description

• Its Dimensions were approximately 100 feet (30 m) long, by 13 feet (4 m) wide, with a speed of around 10 knots.
• It had a long, thin keel and was used as a merchant ship, a warship or as a general transport.
• The Penteconter evolved into the Bireme and the Trireme and was itself superseded by a smaller vessel called the Lembos.

Triaconter

• The Triaconter was a shorter version with 15 oars per side.

Lembos

• The Lembos referred to various types of small vessel with less than 50 oarsmen, that were used for reconnaissance, communications and Troop movements.

Trireme

• The Trireme became the standard war galley of the ancient world and was in use between 525 BCE to 324 CE.
• It had 170 oars arranged in three banks of oars.

Trihemiolia

• Trihemiola means three and a half.
• It was used by the Rhodian Navy, Athenian Navy, Ptolemaic Navy and the Pergamum Navy.
• It was similar to a Trireme, but smaller. It had 144 crew (the Trireme had 200) of which only 120 were oarsmen.

Hemiolia

• A fast War Galley developed in the 4th century BCE, whose name meant one and a half and which probably had 15 oars on either side. It was used by Alexander the Great in his conquest of Persia.

Liburnian

• The Liburnian was a bireme from Liburnia (Croatia) which was eventually adopted as the standard warship of the Roman Navy.

Polyreme

• This was a Galley with more than three rows of oars.
• The Naval Arms Race with Carthage from 400 BCE onwards produced the Polyreme.