which was of the greatest moment to the ancient war-vessel. Galleys with fifty oars on either side had already been constructed,[1] and all the speed that a hundred pairs of hands could give had been obtained, when the invention of the bireme exhibited the means of nearly doubling the power without much increasing the weight to be moved, since but little additional height or breadth was required.
The normal adjustment of the horizontal space between the oarsmen was then, as it is now, regulated by that canon of the ancient philosopher, ‘Man is the measure of all things.’ Twice the man’s cubit gives room for his legs when in a sitting posture. Hence the two-cubit standard (σχήμα διπηχαίκόυ) which is referred to by Vitruvius as the basis of proportion in other constructions besides ships and boats, Given this as the interscalmium (space between the thowls) or distance between points at which the oars in the same tier were rowed, it is clear that the rowing space of a vessel’s side would he, for a penteconter, gr twenty-five a side, seventy-five feet, and for a hecatonter, if there ever was such a thing, 150 feet. To this must be added the parts outside the oarage space (παρεξειρεσία), for the bows ten feet, and something more, say twelve feet, for the stern. So that a penteconter would be a long low galley of about ninety-seven feet in length. The new invention nearly doubled the number of oars without increasing the length of the oarage space.
It was found that by making apertures in the vessel's sides at about three feet from the water and dividing the space between the (zyga) thwarts, room could be made for a second row of men with shorter oars, but still handy and able to add to the propulsion of the vessel. For these seats were found in the hold (thalamus), and hence while the upper tier of the bireme took their name from the zyga, benches or thwarts, and were called ‘Zygites,’ the men of the lower tier were called ‘Thalamites.’ These names were continued when the invention of the ‘thranos,’ or upper seat, had added a third or upper tier
- ↑ Perhaps even with a hundred, if ίχατδξυγες is to be taken literally.
