Of the length cf the oars in the trireme we have an indication in the fact that the length of supernumerary oars (repwég) rowed from the gangway above the thranites, and therefore probably slightly exceeding the thranitic oars in length, is given in the Attic tables as 14 fect 3 inches. The thranites were probably about 14 feet. ‘The zygite, in proportion to the measurement, must haye been Io}, the thalamite 73 feet long. Comparing modern oars with these, we find that the longest oars used in the British navy are !8 feet. The University race is rowed with oars 12 feet ginches. The pro- portion of the loom inboard was about one third, but the oars of the rowers amidship must have been somewhat longer inboard. ‘The size of the loom inboard preserved the necessary cyuilibrnum. The long oars of the larger rates were weighted inboard with lead. ‘Thus the topmost oars of the tesseraconteres, of which the length was 53 fect, were exactly balanced.at-the.rowlock.
The. Attic trireme was built light for speed and for ramming purposes. Ter dimensions, so far as we can gather them from the scattered notices of antiquity, were probably approximately as fol- lows :—length of rowing space (fyewmor), 93 feet; bows, 11 feet ; stern, 14 feet; total, 118 feet; add to feet for the beak. The breadth at the water-line is calculated at 14 feet, and above at the broadest part 18 feet, exclusive of the sangways ; the space hetween the diaphragmata mentioned above was 7 feet. The deck was 11 feet above the water-line, and the draught aboul 8 to 9 fect. All the Attic triremes appear to have been built upon the same model, and their gear was interchangeable. The Athenians had a peculiar system of girding the ships with long cables (jrufopara)}, each trireme having two or more, which, passing through eyeholes in front of the stem-post, ran all round the vessel lengthwise immecti- ately under the waling-pieces. They were fastened at the stern and tightencd up with levers. These cables, by shrinking as soon as they were wet, tightened the whale fabric of the vessel, and in action, in all probability, relieved the hull from part of the shock of ramming, the strain of which would be sustained by the waling- pieces convergent in the beaks. These rope-girdles are not to he confused with the process of undergirding or frapping, such as is narrated of the vessel in which St. Paul was being carried to Italy. The trireme appears to have had three masts. The mainmast carried square sails, probably two in number. The foremast and the mizen carried lateen sails, In action the Greeks did not use
sails, and cverything that could be lowered was stowed below.