In the archaic period (XII-VIII centuries BC), the most common types of Greek warships were Triacontor and pentekontor(respectively, "thirty oarsmen" and "fifty oarsmen"). Triakontor was very close in design to Cretan ships (see) and does not deserve special attention.
Pentekontor was a single-tier rowing vessel, driven by five dozen oars - 25 on each side. Based on the fact that the distance between rowers cannot be less than 1 m, the length of the rowing section should be estimated at 25 m. To this it makes sense to add also approximately 3 m for 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).
Pentecontors were mostly deckless (Greek. afract), open courts. However, sometimes deck houses were also built (Greek. cataphract) pentecontors. The presence of the deck protected the rowers from the sun and from enemy projectiles 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 combat with an enemy ship.
Initially, the pentekontor was intended mainly for the "self-transportation" of troops. The same warriors sat on the oars, who subsequently, having gone ashore, waged a war, for the sake of which they sailed to Troas, to Crete (see Iliad, Odyssey, Argonautica). In other words, the pentekontor was not a ship specifically designed to destroy other ships, but rather a high-speed military transport. (Just like dracars Vikings and boats Slavs, on whose oars ordinary combatants sat.)
The appearance of a ram on the pentecontors means that at some point the opposing city-states and coalitions of the Aegean basin come to the conclusion that it would be good to sink enemy ships along with the troops before they land on the shore and begin to destroy 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 a quick exit on board an enemy ship and a swift escape from a retaliatory strike;
- the maximum speed on which the kinetic energy of the ship depends and, accordingly, the power of the ramming blow;
- protection from enemy ram attacks.
To increase speed, you need to increase the number of rowers and improve the hydrodynamics of the vessel. However, on a single-tiered ship, such as the pentekontor, an increase in the number of rowers 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 quality materials leads to a sharp increase in the likelihood that the ship break in the waves. So, according to calculations, a length of 35 m is very critical for ships built using the technologies that the Mediterranean civilizations of the 12th-7th centuries could afford. BC.
Thus, while lengthening the ship, it is necessary to strengthen its structure with new elements, which makes it heavier and thus nullifies the advantages of placing additional rowers. On the other hand, the longer the ship, the greater the radius of its circulation, that is, the lower the maneuverability. And, finally, on the third hand, the longer the ship as a whole, the longer, in particular, its underwater part, which is the most vulnerable place for hitting enemy rams.
Greek and Phoenician shipbuilders under such conditions made an elegant decision. If the ship cannot be lengthened, then it must be make higher and place the second tier of rowers above the first. Thanks to this, the number of rowers was doubled without significantly increasing the length of the vessel. So there was bireme.
Birema
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Rice. 2. Early Greek bireme |
A side effect of adding a second tier of rowers was to increase the security of the ship. To ram the bireme, the stem of an enemy ship needed to overcome the resistance of twice as many oars as before.
The doubling of the number of rowers led to the fact that the requirements for the synchronization of the movement of the oars increased. 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 legs-oars. That is why in Antiquity almost not the notorious "galley slaves" were used. All rowers were civilian employees and, by the way, earned during the war as much as professional soldiers - hoplites.
Only in the III century. BC, when the Romans during the Punic Wars had a deficit in rowers due to high losses, they used slaves and criminals sentenced for debts (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 at the end of hostilities. By the way, there could be no talk of any whips and 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 allowed using only 12-15% of professional rowers in the team, and recruiting 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. Biremes were built both in deck and deckless versions.
Birema can be recognized as the first ship specially designed and built to destroy enemy naval targets. Bireme rowers were almost never professional warriors (like hoplites), but they were quite professional sailors. In addition, during the boarding battle on board their ship, the rowers of the upper row could take part in the battle, 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 rowers on board) with a pentekontor from the time of the Trojan War (with 50 rowing hoplites) would be deplorable for the latter. Despite the fact that the pentekontor had on board 50 warriors against 12-20, his team in most cases would not be able to use their superior numbers. A higher side of the bireme would have prevented a boarding battle, and the ramming blow of the bireme–> pentekontor was 1.5-3 times more effective in damaging effects than the blow of pentekontor–> bireme.
In addition, if the pentecontor maneuvers to get the bireme on board, then it should be assumed that all his hoplites are oared. While at least 12-20 bireme hoplites can shower the enemy with projectiles.
Due to its obvious advantages, the bireme quickly becomes a very common type of ship in the Mediterranean and for many centuries firmly occupies the position of light cruiser of all large fleets(although at the time of its inception, the bireme was just a superdreadnought). Well, niche heavy cruiser two centuries later triremes- the most massive, most typical ship of classical Antiquity.
Trier
Since the first, fundamentally important step from monera (single-tiered) to polyrheme (multi-tiered) had already been made during the transition from pentekontor to bireme, it turned out to be much easier to switch from bireme to trireme.
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 start building ships in a way that is already 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.], built four ships for them. with the Kerkyrians (and about two hundred and sixty years have passed from this battle to the same time) ... "
Trier is further development ideas of a multi-tiered rowing ship, has three tiers of oars and a length of up to 42 m.
A length of 35-40 meters is quite critical even for improved narrow wooden structures that lack a powerful longitudinal set (stringers). However, the logic of the arms race is to reach the most marginal, most dangerous values of all technological parameters. military equipment. Therefore, the length of the trireme crept up to 40 m and fluctuated at this mark throughout its long history.
A typical Greek trireme had 27 + 32 + 31 = 90 (that is, 180 in total) rowers, 12-30 soldiers, 10-12 sailors on each side. Managed rowers and sailors keleist, trier as a whole commanded trierarch.
The rowers who were on the lowest tier of the trireme, that is, closest to the water, were called talamites. Usually there were 27 on each side. Ports, cut into the sides for their oars, were very close to the water and even with a slight wave were overwhelmed by the waves. In this case, the talamites pulled the oars inward, and the ports were battened down with leather patches (Greek. ascoma).
The rowers of the second tier were called zigits(32 on each side). And finally, the third tier - transits. Oars of zigits and tranits passed through the ports in paradox- a special box-shaped extension of the hull above the waterline, which hung over the water. The rhythm of the rowers was set by the flutist, and not by the drummer, as on the larger ships of the Roman fleet.
Contrary to appearances, the oars of all three tiers had the same length. The fact is that if we consider the vertical section of the trireme, it turns out that the talamites, zygites and tranites are located not on the same vertical, but on a curve that is 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.
Trier was a very narrow ship. At the level of the waterline, 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 measured by the width of the deck, or even more so by the width of the trireme along with the parados, that is, by the maximum dimension with the oars retracted, then this ratio drops to 5.5-6: 1.
These ships were built without frames, according to external templates, with the plating fastened with dowels. The Greeks began to use round dowels, both ends of which were sawn. Small wooden wedges made of acacia, plum or blackthorn were driven into such a cut. Then the pins were inserted in such a way that the wedges were located across the fiber. Thus, the cladding boards fit closely 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 sarissa of the sixth rank of the Macedonian phalanx.) There are a variety of opinions regarding the speed of the trireme. Skeptics call 7-8 knots maximum. Optimists say that a well-built trireme with excellent rowers could keep a cruising speed of 9 knots for 24 hours. (Assuming, apparently, that every eight hours the rowers of one tier are resting, and the other two are rowing.) Fantasts invent incredible speeds of 18-20 knots, which is the ultimate dream for an armadillo of the times Russo-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, on which the arguments of skeptics are based. I really think that re construction is not yet construction. The fact that the modern British have worked with an electric hammer and a cyber chisel 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 squeeze 10 knots with the active assistance of Neptune, and with the favor of all the Olympians and the non-intervention of the insidious Hera, reach the divine 12.
One way or another, experiments with the Olympia showed that despite the low speed, the trireme was a fairly power-armed 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 proembolon buffer ram and a trident- or boar-head-shaped battle ram.
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 mounted by the efforts of the sailors. The central mast was installed vertically and stretched for stability with cables. Bow, designed for a small sail (gr. artemon), was installed obliquely, supported by an acrostol. 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 triplets were called hoplitagagos(for infantry) and hippagos(for horses). In principle, they were no different from ordinary ones, but they had a reinforced deck and, in the case of hippagagos, a higher bulwark and additional wide gangways for horses.
Biremes and triremes became the main and only universal ships 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 devastate the enemy coast. And in major battles the main forces of the fleet (Salamin, Egospotamy), triremes and biremes acted as ships of the line, that is, they were used in line formations (2-4 lines of 15-100 ships each) and fought against targets similar in class.
It was the biremes and triremes that played the main role in the victory of the Hellenes over the huge fleet of the Persians in the Battle of Salamis.
Messenger
"The order was obeyed, as expected.
Dinner was prepared, and to the oarlocks
Each rower hastened to adjust the oars.
Then when the last ray of the sun went out
And the night has come, all the rowers and warriors
With weapons, as one, they boarded the ships,
And the ships, lining up, called to each other.
And so, keeping to the order that was indicated,
Goes to sea and in sleepless swimming
The ship's people are regularly serving.
And the night has passed. But nowhere did
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,
There was a jubilant noise in the camp of the Greeks,
Similar to a song. And they answered him
Thundering echo of the rock of the island,
And immediately the fear of the bewildered barbarians
Proshiblo. The Greeks did not think about flight,
Singing the solemn song
And went to battle with selfless courage,
And the roar of the trumpet kindled hearts with courage.
The salty abyss was foamed together
Consonant strokes of Greek oars,
And soon we saw everyone with our own eyes;
Went ahead, in perfect 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,
Fight for the freedom of the motherland! children and wives
Free the native gods of the house,
And great-grandfathers graves! The fight is on!"
Persian speech our monotonous hum
Answered the call. It was impossible to delay here.
A ship with a copper-studded prow at once
Hit the ship. The Greeks began the attack
Ramming the Phoenician through the stern,
And then the ships went to each other.
At first, the Persians managed to hold back
Head. When in a narrow place there are many
Ships accumulated, no one to help
I could not, and the beaks directed copper,
Own in their own, destroying oars and rowers.
And the Greeks ships, as they planned,
We were surrounded. The sea was not visible
Because of the rubble, because of the overturned
Vessels and lifeless bodies, and corpses
The shallows were covered and the coast was completely.
Find salvation in a disorderly flight
The whole surviving barbarian fleet tried,
But the Greeks of the Persians, like tuna fishermen,
Anyone with anything, boards, debris
Ships and oars were beaten. Screams of terror
And the cries resounded the salty distance,
Until the eye of the night hid us.
All troubles, lead me even ten days in a row
The story is sad, I can not enumerate, no.
I'll tell you one thing: never before
So many people on earth did not die in a day."
Aeschylus, Persians
At the same time, single-tier galleys (unirems), heirs of the archaic triacontors and pentecontors, continued to be used as auxiliary ships, advice letters (messengers) and raiders.
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Rice. 5. Late Greek pentekontor |
The largest ship built in Antiquity is the semi-mythical tesseracontera (sometimes simply "tessera"), which was created in Egypt on the orders of Ptolemy Philopator. Allegedly, it reached 122 m in length and 15 m in width, carried 4,000 rowers and 3,000 soldiers. Some researchers believe that it was most likely a huge double-hull 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.
Tactics
Since, as already mentioned, the ram was the most effective weapon of the Greek warships, and the boarding battle was an auxiliary, but also quite effective means of armed struggle, the tactics of military operations at sea can be reduced to the following imperatives:
1. First of all, strive to strike at full speed on the side of the enemy ship and quickly reverse. Such a maneuver will be especially successful if the attacking ship is at least not inferior in size to the enemy ship, and even better, surpasses it. Otherwise, there is a risk that the attacking ship will not have enough kinetic energy, and the strength of its hull in the bow will be insufficient. The attacker (suppose a pentekontor) himself risks becoming a victim of an attack on a large ship (suppose a trireme), since he will receive damage b about larger than the attacked one will get stuck in the wreckage of the oars and thus lose their course, and his team will be effectively hit by various projectiles from the high side of the enemy ship.
2. In order to make it easier for yourself to choose a favorable attack angle and deprive the enemy of the opportunity to evade a blow, you need to break his oars. To do this, you should not move at an angle close to 90 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of the enemy ship, but, on the contrary, deliver a sliding counter strike, moving at an angle close to 180 degrees with respect to the course of the adversary. At the same time, while passing along sides of the enemy, the rowers of the attacking ship must retract the oars on command. Then the oars of the attacked ship along one side will be broken, and the oars of the attacking ship will survive. After that, the attacking ship goes into circulation and delivers a ramming blow to the side of the immobilized enemy ship.
A similar tactical maneuver in the Greek navy was called diekplus ("sail"). The tactical situation, called periplus ("bypass", "circle"), developed in the event that, for one reason or another, the ships passed too far from each other and at the same time the crew of the enemy ship turned out to be sufficiently prepared to quickly respond to the attack. Then both ships went into circulation, and each tried to turn around faster and have time to board the enemy. In the case of approximately equal maneuverability and crew training, the case could end in a head-on collision.
3. Finally, one should strive for the concentration and massaging of forces- especially if the enemy has a qualitative advantage, say, in a situation of a collision of uniremes and biremes with triremes. It is clear that ships of a smaller "tier" can increase their chances of winning primarily due to the massive use of the diekplus technique in combination, for example, with a boarding attack, in which two or three unirems and biremes take part against each trireme.
Thus, as we see, Connolly's statement is true that the outcome of military operations at sea was decided primarily by the level of individual training of the crews - rowers, helmsmen, sailing crew - and marines(epibatai).
However, something also depended on the squadron combat formations. At the passage, the fleet usually followed the flagship in the ranks of the wake column. The formation of the front was carried out in anticipation of a collision with the enemy.
At the same time, the ships sought to line up not in one, but in two or three rows with a mutual displacement of half a position. This was done in order, firstly, to make it difficult for the enemy to carry out the diekplus maneuver (it is obvious that even having broken the oars of any of the ships of the first row and began to describe the circulation, the enemy ship inevitably exposed the side to the ram attack of the ships of the second row). And, secondly, to prevent some of the enemy ships from reaching the rear of their fleet, which threatened to create a local two- or even three-fold numerical superiority of the enemy in battles between individual ships and groups of ships.
Finally, there was a special circular formation, which corresponded to a deaf defense. It was called "hedgehog" and was used in cases where it was necessary to protect weak ships with valuable cargo or to evade a linear battle with a numerically superior enemy.
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Rice. 6. "Hedgehog" |
The Greeks are already in I 10th century BC. they learned from the Phoenicians to build ships that were remarkable for that time and early began the colonization of the surrounding territories. V III -V I centuries BC. The Greeks made great strides in shipbuilding. V III -V I centuries BC. the area of their penetration covered the western shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the entire Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea).
Later they made a number of campaigns in the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea. Pefey's journey 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 the ship's strength, stability, seaworthiness, location, transmission and absorption of significant concentrated loads.
The beginning of Greek shipbuilding is attributed to I X–V II centuries BC. The Greeks adopted these skills from the Phoenicians.
The Greeks kept secret their ship assembly technology from ready-made components and parts.
Greek ship on a vase.
Greek ships had a keel, frames, stems - the main structural elements of the current ship hull. For the construction were used: oak for the keel, acacia for the frames, pine for the spars, beech for sheathing. Sheathing was made of variable thickness: the thickest belts were at the keel, along the cheekbones and at deck level. Deadwood was filled with wooden blocks. The hull below the waterline was pitched or covered with lead sheets. It was painted and rubbed with grease.
Sand was used as ballast. To protect the crew from the waves, a canvas bulwark was used.
1–2 masts with a quadrangular sail were installed, topenants went to the butts 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 topenants. The forward 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 bar was installed - parolos, on which two steering oars were fixed. The Greeks were the first to build ships with a solid deck.
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Greek trading ship early. 2300 BC.
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Greek trading ship early.. 2300 BC
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Merchant ships had holds. The length of the vessels is 20-25 m, the width is 7-8 m, the displacement is 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 took place in the 5th century. BC.
Greek warships were named according to the number of rows of oars: monera, diera, trireme, tetrare, pentera (era - paddle). Diera (dikrot) had a narrow body. It was a swift vessel 30 m long, 5 m wide, freeboard height 0.5 m.
Greek warship Argonauts
The distribution of oars on Greek ships was as follows: moners, dieres and triremes were, 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 planted five rowers for each oar.
This is how the pentera of the Syracusan ruler Dionysius arose, who introduced a new, more durable type of ships with the installation of heavy throwing machines (ballista and catapults) on the deck. At first, the penthers had a displacement of about 140 tons, a length of 30 m, a width of 6.5 m, a draft at the waterline of 1.2 m. Subsequently, the displacement increased to 300 tons, there were 300 rowers and 120 soldiers on the ships. Such penthers had 30 oars on each side, five rowers per oar, for a total of 300 rowers on both sides.
The Greeks also built octers (8 rowers in one half-section of the ship), tesseraconters (40 rowers in one half-section of the ship). For a two-tiered octera, there are six rowers in the top row, and two rowers per oar in the bottom row, for a total of eight.
There is evidence that ships with up to ten rows of oars were built by Alexander the Great. According to Pliny the Elder, III century BC Ptolemy Philopator built a ship with four dozen rows of oars (tessarakontera) with a hull 124 m long, 17 m wide, with a freeboard height of 22 m, and a displacement of 3,000 tons.
A similar giant ship was built in Syracuse under the tyrant Hieron (displacement 4200 tons).
The main part of the Greek fleet was made up of triremes. The number of oars of the Greek trireme reached 170. The crew of the ship - about 200 people, in addition to rowers (who were chained to the seats) and warriors, there were also special sailors to control the sail. The length of the trireme reached 40 m, the width - 6 m, the displacement - about 90 tons. The trier was a high-speed vessel and, according to experts, could reach a maximum speed of up to 11 knots, 7.8 knots on short passages, 4-5 knots on long ones. On the later triremes (IV century BC), to protect the rowers from arrows and darts, a light deck was installed - catastroma, on which the soldiers were located.
The rowers were usually slaves under the command of a gortator, the mode of movement was set by the flute player. The trier 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 originates - cybernetics, which is so important today. 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.
An obligatory accessory of the warship of the ancient Greeks is 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 the 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 wound to connect several ships during a joint attack on enemy ships. In the ancient Greek fleet, a variety of dolphin rams, as well as boarding hooks, corvuses and harpagas, became widespread. 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. Especially successfully dolphins were used in the Battle of Lipari (260 BC). Corvus - boarding bridge, hinged on the bow of the vessel; it was equipped with a sharp metal hook in the form of a crow's beak. The corvus, raised on a rope, descended onto the deck of an enemy ship during boarding, and the attackers rushed to attack along it. Corvus - in Latin "raven", so named because of the similarity of the coupling device with a bird's claw. This design was later used in medieval galleys.
Greek merchant ship. Reconstruction 300 BC 2nd century BC.
Back in the 4th century BC. ancient Greek ships were armed with throwing machines: catapults and ballistae (autyutons). The catapult threw out large stones and metal shells at 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 constructive solutions at a new turn in the spiral of development - in the 19th century, barbette and turret battleships, a ram-shaped bow.
In the water area Cypriot port of Kyrenia the remains of a Greek merchant ship 14.3 m long and 4.3 m wide were found and reconstructed, carrying olive oil and wine, This is the oldest of the ships, whose age is equal to 2300 years.
The keel of merchant ships was made of sessile oak, the frames were made of black acacia. Sheathing was made of linden or red beech. Aleppo spruce was used for the mast, yard and oars. The most efficient propulsion was the sail, as the rowers would have taken up most of the usable area. The ship was deckless with a single traditional rigged sail and was steered by two steering oars. To protect against waves, the sides were built up with a lattice of thick rods covered with leather.
On large vases of the 8th century BC. e., found in Athens, ancient Greek ships are depicted as long, narrow, armed with sharp rams. Crimean legends speak of Greek triremes: "And now, off the coast of Taurida, an armada of Greek triremes appeared - warships." But before them, in the archaic period (XII-VIII centuries BC), the most common types of Greek warships were Triacontor and pentekontor(“thirty oarsmen” and “fifty oarsmen”).
Triakontor was very close in design to Cretan ships with a built platform in the bow, over which the horns or tentacles of the Gorgon carved from wood were attached. Such a ship with an elevated bow and a stern end in the form of a dragon's tail produced a powerful mental effect on the enemies.
Due to the rather high uprights, the oars entered the water at an angle close to normal, which reduced their effectiveness. A few centuries later, this shortcoming was eliminated by pentecontors- single-tiered rowboats driven by five dozen oars - 25 on each side with a total length of the ship of 28-33 meters and a width of 4 meters. Pentecontors were mostly deckless (Greek. aphract - without a fence), that is, open courts. However, sometimes deck pentecontors were also built ( cataphract). The presence of the deck protected the rowers from the sun and from enemy projectiles, and also increased the cargo-and-passenger capacity of the ship. On the deck, it was possible to transport supplies, horses, war chariots and warriors, who originally sat on the oars. Going ashore, they waged war. A ram appears on the pentecontors to destroy enemy ships.
The ship's speed was about 9.5 knots (17.5 km/h). Its increase required an increase in the number of rowers, which on a single-tier ship would lead to a lengthening of the ship by 1 meter. In this regard, the Greek and Phoenician shipbuilders made an elegant decision: if the ship cannot be lengthened, then it must be make higher and place the second tier of rowers above the first. So there was bireme(end of the 8th century BC).
Early Greek bireme
Since the first, fundamentally important step from monera(single-tier) to polyreme(multi-tiered) has already been made when moving from pentecontor to bireme, go from bireme to triere turned out to be much easier. According to Thucydides, the first trireme was built around 650 BC.
Early Greek trireme. Projection
Trier(Greek τριήρεις ), or trireme the Romans ( tria- three and remus- paddle), was main type warship Mediterranean. This is a sailing and rowing vessel with three rows of oars located one above the other in a checkerboard pattern.
Some researchers attribute the invention of the trireme to the Phoenicians, others call the Corinthian Amenoccus. The main weapon of the trireme was a ram - a continuation of the keel beam. The displacement of the vessel reached 230 tons, length - 45 meters, crew - up to 200 people.
The strongest rowers - transits - placed on the upper deck. It was a highly paid and privileged caste. The rowers of the middle row were called zigits , lower - talamites. commanded the ship trierarch, he was subordinate to the helmsman and the head of the rowers - hortator.
The speed of the trireme on oars was 7 - 8 knots, but all three rows of oars worked only during the battle. Even with a little excitement, the bottom row was pulled into the inside of the ship, and the oar ports were tightened with leather patches.
Sailing armament consisted of a large rectangular sail and a small ( artemon) on an inclined mast in the bow of the ship. 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. The masts were made removable and removed for the duration of the battle.
The oars of all three tiers had the same length: talamites, zygites and tranites were located along a curve formed by the side of the trireme, so that the blades of the oars of all tiers reached the water, although they entered it at different angles.
Sometimes triremes were also used for transportation hoplitagagos(infantry) and hippagos(horses).
Biremes and triremes became the main and only universal ships of the classical period (IV-V centuries BC). At the same time, as auxiliary ships, advice note(messengers) and raiders continued to be used single-tier galleys (unirems) - heirs of archaic triacontors and pentecontors.
The modern reconstruction of the trireme "Olympia" has not yet been able to squeeze out more than 7 knots (13 km / h). Its construction cost almost 700 thousand dollars and took two years.
Interestingly, in 482 BC. e. in Athens, with a population of about 250 thousand inhabitants, there were about 200 triremes. By the way, in the ancient Mediterranean up to the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e. ships and boats were built, starting with the skin, successively moving on to the internal parts.
The main weapon of biremes and triremes was a ram, and tactical methods were ramming and boarding. Each trireme during the fighting carried on board a certain number of hoplites - heavily armed infantrymen, archers and slingers.
Hoplites (left - Spartan, right - Athenian) and a Scythian archer
Source: http://grekomania.ru/greek-articles/ancient-greece/211-drevnegrecheskie-suda.
- ancient greek warship
- Ancient Greek warship with three tiers of oars
ancient greek military and commercial ships
Shipbuilding in Ancient GreeceOn the coast of the Aegean Sea, the origin of shipbuilding dates back to the 9th-7th centuries. BC. Greek sailors adopted this art from the Phoenicians and already then created ships, which 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, they were the first to establish settlements on its western coast, in the Crimea (Panticapeum, Chersonesus), on the northern coast of the Black Sea (Olbia), in Italy, etc. About the journey of the Greek Pefey, almost unbelievable for that era, made in the 4th century BC. BC. described in the book "Ocean". Nearchus, commander of Alexander the Great, was able in 325-324. BC. successfully cross the ocean, heading from India to Mesopotamia, and 800 ships took part in the voyage, moving along the coast of India and Persia.
Information has reached our time that the ancient Greeks knew a method for assembling ships from ready-made components and parts, which was know-how for its time.
Outstanding discoveries of ancient Greek sailors
During sea voyages, the Greeks managed to make a number of important geographical discoveries. This allowed ancient scientists (for example, Hecateus of Miletus in the 6th century BC) to conclude that the Earth is a ball, to express an idea regarding the generality of the entire World Ocean, to suggest the possibility of the existence southern mainland, to be convinced of the importance for navigation of the 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 mentioned 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 Phoenician and 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, there were always paired seams on the skin, and the belts were fixed with wooden pins.
In the ancient period, the differences between warships and merchant ships become more and more noticeable. One mast and a ram were installed on military ships, the deck was slightly raised in the front part, and the length of the ships varied in the range of 30-35 m. rudders used 2 huge stern oars.
Over time, this type of floating facility has undergone some changes, but its essence has basically remained unchanged. The speed and maneuverability of the ship was 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 ships of the trireme, which in ancient Greece were called triremes. Their width was 6 m, the length of the hull was from 35 to 40 m, and such vessels could accommodate up to 200 sailors and armed soldiers.
Alexander 24.03. 00:58
Building a ship is a complex process that requires not only skill but also the right tool. Ancient Greece is bronze age iron processing has not yet been, not to mention alloyed steels, try for the sake of interest to make a bronze piece of iron for a planer and plan a spruce or pine tree three times ha ha. And to dissolve the log on boards or make an intelligible tongue in the board, WHAT. What tool? but with the declared volume of construction of ships. the production of carpentry tools should be almost the main branch of metal processing. But for the sake of interest, find archaeological evidence of the presence of a carpentry tool among the ancient Greeks. I tried, I didn’t find it, but the maintenance of a wooden vessel (Osmolka Cleaning the bottom) And shipyards? Dry docks. All this appears only in the X-XV century. Where did the Greeks build their ships? archaeological evidence. All we know about ancient greece these are medieval sources (at best) People, let's learn to think critically without relying on false AUTHORITIES.
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Source: http://www.letopis.info/themes/ships/korablestroenie_v_drevney_grecii.html
ancient greek warship
ANCIENT GREECEIn the history of ancient Greece navy also played a significant role.
Rice. 1.9. Map of Ancient Greece (XVI-XV centuries BC)
The Greeks already in the IX century. BC. learned from the Phoenicians how to build ships and started colonies
zation of nearby territories. The Greeks mastered the Mediterranean Sea, went through Gib-
raltar to the Atlantic, reached Britain and Scandinavia.
Rice. 1.10. Greek merchant ship (5th century BC)
An early type of Greek merchant ship, slightly different from the Phoenician prototype (Fig. 10).
At that time, navigators did not know how to manage a single sail and tack against the wind. Thus, the journey from Alexandria to Sicily, due to the predominance of a favorable southeast wind, lasted about a week, while the return journey, by oars, lasted three times longer.
The ship was kept on course with the help of a steering oar (see Fig. 1.10), which had at least two advantages over the later rudder: it made it possible to turn a stationary ship and easily replace a damaged or broken
steering oar.
Merchant ships were wide and had an extensive hold space for
Later, the basis of the Mediterranean fleets began to be the famous vessel of antiquity, the trireme, called the trireme by the Greeks (Fig. 1.11).
Rice. 1.11. Greek warship trireme-triera (264-146 BC)
Its length about the body is 35-40 m, width -6 m, capacity - about 200 people - in-
armed soldiers and sailors.
Trieres were the fastest and most formidable warships ancient world. Their high speed was ensured by the arrangement of oars in 3 rows, 20-25 pairs on each deck.
On large ships, several people stood at each oar. Their agreed
nym actions were led by an experienced feeder. Three rows of ship oars were staggered.
The ship in the bow had a heavily protruding metal-bound ram, which was located at the level of the trireme's waterline.
A ramming strike on the side of an enemy ship very often decided the outcome of the battle. It is practically impossible to close up a large hole inflicted by a ram in combat conditions.
but the damaged ship was doomed to destruction.
The upper part of the bow of the ship was raised high, and an ornament in the form of a sculpted human head was fixed on it. On the stern were ornaments in the form of a shield and a rooster's tail.
Steering oars were used to steer the ship - one from each boron.
the one at the stern. A long linen was gathered into folds along the side. During a storm or while the ship was sailing, they closed the holes for the length of the oars in the board.
At the stern there was a small superstructure - rooms for command
staff and passengers. Holes for ladders were cut in the sides, and an anchor hung on the bow.
The ship had one mast, on which a large straight sail was raised. In the front part of the side, where the name of the ship is still written, the name of the ship was written in capital letters.
Naming a ship is an ancient tradition of shipbuilders. The ship is the only human creation that is honored to receive its own name at birth.
This is due to the fact that each vessel, like a person, has an individual history.
rya of life. Ships have been given names for a very long time, but perhaps the most ancient names of ships that are known to us are the names of ships ancient egypt, built in 1580 - 1520 BC. - "Wild", "Northern", "Memphis Phenomenon".
The Greeks did not know the compass. In the open sea, they navigated by the stars, using astronomical information. The Greeks widely borrowed this information from the
Vilonians and Egyptians, famous for their astronomical observations.
However, the Greeks were the first to introduce the terms "latitude" and "longitude" to indicate the position of various points on Earth. These concepts owe their origin, apparently
mu, the shape of the Mediterranean itself.
It is also noteworthy that the improvement of ports and especially the beginning of construction
beacons. In the Alexandrian harbor, for example, a 140 m high tower was built, on top of which a fire burned at night - a resinous tree was burned.
Although the Greeks were capable, well-trained navigators,
Skye travel to that hole was a dangerous business. Not every ship reached its destination as a result of either a shipwreck or a pirate attack.
The galleys of ancient Greece plowed almost the entire Mediterranean and Black Sea, there is evidence of their penetration through Gibraltar to the north. Here they reached Britain
nii, and possibly Scandinavia. The ways of their penetration are shown on the map (Fig. 1.12).
The Greeks early began to colonize the surrounding territories. In the VIII-VI centuries. BC e. the area of their penetration covered the western shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the entire Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and the Aegean coast of Asia Minor.
Greek navigators made trips to the Black Sea. Those who came from
some blue waters of their seas, they met evil storms on the Black Sea, on its
regah barbarian tribes, and in its waters (ships then sailed along the coast) - wild feasts -
Comrade: Taurus, Akhei, Geniokhov. Therefore, the Greeks called the sea Pontos Akseinos - Negost
Rice. 1.12. Greek colonies (VIII century BC)
So it was called until the heyday of the Greek cities and colonies on the shores of the Black Sea. Then the Greeks categorically changed their mind about the Black Sea and began to call it Pontos Evkinos - the Hospitable Sea. In some sources, it was simply called Pontus or the Pontic Sea.
AT detailed descriptions features of the path along Pontus Euxinus, the Black Sea
lands and peoples inhabiting them, ancient authors of the 1st century AD. e. Seneca and Lucian noted the great role of the Scythian tribes. Therefore, in some Greek sources you can find the name - the Scythian Sea.
Rice. 1.13. Greek colonization of the Black Sea coast (IV-II centuries BC).
The names of many Greek settlements are well known to the inhabitants of the South of Ukraine - these are Olvia (near Nikolaev), Sevastopol, Cape Khersones (near Sevastopol), Feodo-
this, and others. The descendants of the ancient Greeks live in Odessa, the Crimea, on the coast of the Caucasus.
Scientists believe that the ancient Greeks, who were the first to learn how to fit their boats with animal skin, most likely invented the sail, the most important tool for controlling the ship after the oar. Nevertheless, the Greek ships remained rowing ships for a long time, and their main “driver” was the muscular strength of the 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 the Phoenician and Aegean ships. The ancient Greek fleet was built primarily for war, so it was the Greeks who for the first time clearly identified the differences between merchant and military ships.
The hulls of the ships had a keel, a stem and a sternpost. The skin had a variable thickness, the thickest at the keel. The ship was painted and greased, and below the waterline it was pitched or sheathed with lead sheets. During the construction of ships, different types of wood were used. The first military rowing ships of the Greeks were equipped with a mast and a square sail.
A ram was installed on the bow of the ship under water or above water - the main weapon in ancient naval battles. Surface ram could have different shape: from the frightening head of a mythical monster to an elegant hook, made in the form of a swan's neck. An underwater ram was a pointed beam made of copper or iron, and sometimes wooden, bound with copper.
The first warships were relatively light ships, no more than 35 m long. Depending on the number of rows of oars, single-row unirems and two-tier birems were first built. On a 12-15-meter unireme, there were usually 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. In the end, the triremes (the Greeks called them triremes) became the main ships of most Mediterranean fleets. The ships got this name for three tiers of oars. Total 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 solid 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 - in the same place as the first armored Greek warships - cataphracts.
The fact that the Greek fleet was strong is evidenced by the outcome of the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. e. The Greeks, with only 380 triremes, defeated the Persians, who had 1200 ships. In addition to rams, the Greeks equipped their ships with grappling hooks - corvus and harpagos, as well as a device called "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 on to the creation of large ships. A real floating fortress can be called tesarakontera - the ancient progenitor battleships. 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 battle towers. Even in the IV century. BC e. the Greeks began to arm their ships with throwing machines. These were ballistas and catapults.
Ballista, or eutyutona, 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 oar rows were built by Alexander the Great.
The annals also mention ikosera - ships with 20 rows of oars, but it is likely that this is fiction, since no evidence for this has been found.
The merchant ships of the Greeks - lembos, kelets and kerkurs - improved much faster than military ones. They were often equipped with two masts each, and the carrying capacity of these 25-meter ships reached a thousand tons. Sometimes the forward mast had a significant slope towards the bow and somewhat resembled a bowsprit. The sail raised on it allowed sailing even with a side wind. Merchant ships always had a capacious hold, where sand was used as ballast. It is interesting that in the 5th c. BC e. The Greeks built special ships designed to carry horses.
With the advent of the first sufficiently stable and reliable watercraft, battles began to be fought not only on land, but also on water. And the one whose ships moved faster and were better equipped won here. Even before the advent of our era, the waters of the Mediterranean and the South China Sea were plowed in large numbers by military ships, which seriously differed in design from merchant ships. In this article, we will talk about several types of warships of the ancient world, which are mentioned in historical documents.
Military ancient Egyptian ship with a rake sail
The Scandinavian historian Lundstrem was able to reconstruct in detail the appearance of the Egyptian warship of the 13th century BC. e. The length of this vessel ranged from 30 to 40 meters. Its basis was a hull in the form of a set of beams, which rested on a strong keel beam and were located across it. Such constructive solution made it possible to do without a cable tie, which was used in many ancient Egyptian trading courts. The nose of the keel bar was crowned with a powerful metal ram in the form of the head of some beast.
The steering oar here was fixed on a strongly protruding sternpost - it was only one, but very large. The body received additional strength due to cans located along its length. The rowers sitting on these banks were covered from enemy arrows by a thick bulwark. Along the edges of the ship, platforms for archers with a fence were attached. A few more archers were in a kind of wicker basket at the top of the mast.
It is worth noting that the Egyptian archers were a really serious threat to the enemy. They were armed with long-range bows, and with the help of these weapons they could hit targets at a distance of up to 160 meters.
Warships of the Greeks, Romans and Phoenicians
The earliest of the ancient Greek courts are the so-called pentecontors. They had a length of 28 to 33 meters, and their width was about 4 meters. The pentecontors were set in motion by oars. However, in some cases, they still put a mast with a sail on them. The number of rowers on these not too large ships sometimes reached fifty, and this could provide a speed of more than 9 knots. The main purpose of these ships was to transport troops to the places of future land battles. Moreover, the functions of rowers were often performed by the warriors themselves. Pentekontors were described in the Iliad, and it was on the pentekontor, according to a well-known myth, that the Argonauts set off for the Golden Fleece. Subsequently, these ships began to be additionally supplied with rams - this device made it possible to sink enemy ships before they could land on the shore.
Soon a more modern military ancient Greek ship appeared - the bireme. There were already two tiers of rowers on this ship. The presence of tiers made it possible not to make ships too long, increased their speed, and increased security. An enemy ship carrying out a ramming, colliding with a double palisade of oars, lost a significant part of its energy, a direct blow turned into a tangent, as a result, the side of the attacked ship remained intact. Birema, in addition to a ram, could have a combat tower and a special additional block for breaking through the hull of an enemy ship. The length range of biremes is from 30 to 38 meters, and the displacement of such vessels in some cases reached 100 tons.
Here it must be said that the best navigators in the period from 1500 to 1000 BC. e. There were not Greeks, but Phoenicians who lived on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea (the territory of modern Lebanon and Syria). The Lebanese cedar that grew on the local mountain slopes provided the Phoenicians with excellent material for building reliable ships. And in general, they made a great contribution to maritime affairs: they introduced a division of the horizon into 360 degrees, compiled a map of reliable landmarks in the starry sky, etc. According to historians, the Phoenician biremes appeared even earlier than the Greek ones, that is, the Greeks borrowed this type of military ship for your needs. But only the Greeks created their ships from oak and beech wood, and not from cedar.
Trireme is another warship format used by the ancient Romans, Phoenicians, and Greeks. Triremes were so called because there were three tiers of oars, located one above the other. The length of the triremes did not fundamentally differ from the length of the biremes. Triremes were unparalleled in the Mediterranean from the 7th to the 4th centuries BC. e. - at that time they were the fastest and most maneuverable warships. In particular, they played a huge role in the expansion of the Athenian Empire and its fall after the defeat in the Peloponnesian War.
The next step in military shipbuilding was taken by the Romans. In the battle of Actium, which happened in the 1st century BC. e., they demonstrated a new type of vessel - Liburnu. This vessel was much smaller than the trireme already described. Liburna had only one tier of oars, one rectangular sail and one ram.
The key advantages of Liburn are excellent maneuverability and agility, as well as high speed. Based on the trireme and libourne designs, the Italian rowing galley was eventually created.
The legendary war galleys of the Venetians
The Venetians founded their state in the 5th century on marshy islands in the Adriatic Sea. And two centuries later, it was in Venice that the same galley was created. The main innovation of this ship was its two-part design. The galley consisted of a hull, which played the role of a supporting structure, and a postit - a large wooden platform laid on top of the hull. The postitsa exceeded the hull in width, it had benches for rowers and oarlocks. Thus, for the first time, rowers were placed not in the hull itself, but on it. And to protect them from the sun, a light fabric canopy was often stretched over the deck.
Warriors and all kinds of throwing mechanisms were placed on the front of the bow platform of the galley and along the side passages. The hull of the galley was shaped like a spindle - it was very long, narrow and had a small draft. This design made it ideally suited for rowing.
Periodically undergoing changes and improvements, the galley was used as a real warship until the late Middle Ages - many countries and states completed their fleets with galleys.
Junks in ancient China
AT ancient legends it is said that the first raft was invented, along with other important things, by the legendary emperor of China, Fu Xi, who ruled in the third millennium BC. e. and supposedly had a divine nature. And it so happened that the prototype of the local ancient ships was not a hollowed out boat, but a raft. In the southern part of China, bamboo grew - an excellent material for rafts, in addition, sheep and goat skins were used to create them.
The first drawing of a Chinese warship that has come down to us was found on a bronze vase dated to the 4th century BC. e. More specifically, a two-story ship is depicted on the vase: rowers are on the first floor, and warriors with hatchets and swords are on the second. Also on the top floor you can see waving flags. Near this image there is a caption indicating that the ship belongs to the so-called Warring States Period (463-221 BC).
Another similar image is attributed to the period 202-209. BC e. But here, on the painted ship, there are clearly more archers, and also a certain warrior knocks on a drum, which is not on the earlier vase.
One of the most popular ships in China is the junk. According to researchers, junks appeared as early as 1000 BC. e. The ancient military junk had a slightly lowered, in comparison with other ships of those times, a rectangular bow and a wide stern, which, on the contrary, was very raised. And the role of the keel on such ships was performed by a very impressive rudder. Sails for junks (as a rule, there were three or five masts here) were made of mats and fixed on bamboo yards. This whole structure resembled a fan, and if necessary, the sails could be quickly rolled up into a scroll.
The massive reed mat used to make the sails of the junk, of course, significantly reduced the possible speed of the ship along the river or sea. But on the other hand, she made it possible to withstand the strongest winds. Later the mat was replaced by fabrics and this increased the speed of the Chinese junks. Many ships had additional masts, which raised, if it made sense, additional sails. The junk was also equipped a large number winches and mechanisms that facilitated the management of all available sails, even a very small crew of the ship could cope with this task.
Scandinavian drakkars and snacks
Viking warships - snackcars and drakkars - appeared much later than the ships described above, around the 8th century AD. e. But they do deserve a mention. The Vikings were very advanced navigators of their time and were even able to visit America much earlier than Columbus (today this is considered a reliable fact).
Long and graceful drakkars were distinguished by their low weight, which meant ease when rowing. If the need arose, they could even be transferred manually, "drag". Drakkars were ideal for swimming from the sea into shallow rivers, besides, they could moor quietly and imperceptibly to any gently sloping banks, which made it possible for the Vikings to catch opponents by surprise. As a rule, drakkars were made of ash, their length ranged from 35 to 60 meters, and their width - up to 6 meters. The largest such ships could have up to 70 rowers (for example, the Great Serpent Drakkar, built by order of the ruler Olaf I Tryggvasson in 1000, was designed for such a number of rowers). In many cases, quite voluminous shields were also located along the sides. Another feature of the Drakkars was that the oars were not threaded into the oarlocks, but were threaded into special "rowing hatches". Drakkars developed speeds of up to 12 knots, which was an excellent indicator for those times.
Snekkars had almost the same structure, but were smaller in size (and the team size was also smaller - up to sixty people). This, by the way, allowed snackcars to develop even higher speed.
