Athenian Trireme
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THE TRIREME
By: Dimitri
Oared warships, lie at the heart of the Hellenic civilizations history of which the Trireme is the most famous. In the seventh and sixth centuries BC they transported the colonists from their mother cities to all parts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In 480 BC the Greeks won possibly their most significant battle against the much larger Persian fleet in the narrow waters of Salamis. Athens supremacy at sea was founded upon the crucial role that she played in the victory. The skilled use of the triremes enabled her to win, and maintain for some decades, supremacy over some of her former allies. But who were the ancient Greeks and what is the Hellenic civilization?
When talking about ancient Greece we think of a civilization of warrior peoples who excelled at military combat both on land and at sea. A people who revolutionized the way man thought about himself and about the world around him. Whether through science, art, philosophy or athletics the Greek frame of mind was geared in the pursuit of excellence. The Greek/Hellenic civilization has survived from roughly 1600 B.C. up to present day, where its history is still taught today in high schools and universities. Its legacy can be seen in many forms today as in athletics and the Olympic games and also politically, the Western worlds adoption of the democratic form of government. However Greece in ancient times was not the unified Greece of modern day although Greeks did share a common language and cultural practices. Greece back then was a collection of city Ð-states or polis with his or her own citizens, laws and constitutions. The community was sovereign. Nonetheless when a foreign ruler such as the Persians came to invade Greece, the Greek city states primarily Athens and Sparta united for a common cause to expel the invaders. The main defeat of the Persian forces came at the battle of Salamis where the Athenian navy heavily outnumbered, decimated Xerxes fleet in close quarters. After the repulsion of the Persians the naval forces under Athenian command liberated the Greek cities of Asia Minor and the offshore Islands, part of Cyprus and even invaded Egypt. Naval warfare had become the choice selection of warfare and the trireme was its most potent instrument.
So how did the trireme contribute to the Hellenic civilization? Through the invention of the trireme, Greeks, primarily the Athenians revolutionized naval warfare battle tactics. The tactics were used against the Persians at the Battle of Salamis (480B.C.), which stopped the enemy from taking over and collectively unified the Greek poleis against a common cause. Furthermore the trireme through its supremacy at sea propelled Athens into a maritime super-power ensuring its legacy in history.
A trireme is best described by an examination of its name: tri meaning three and reme meaning the Latin word remus. These ships were made to take up sails for swift traveling when the winds were favorable. However, when the winds were not favorable or weak; when the water was shallow; or if there was some tight navigating to perform, the ship could move with man-powered oars. Triremes were warships; cargo and passengers were usually transported across the seas by different types of ships built according to principles similar to those of the trireme. The historian Herodotus writes that the average crew of a trireme was two hundred men not counting the trierarch. This includes 170 rowers, the ships officers, sailors and soldiers. The common tactics of the time were to ram ones opponent. Most ships at the time were equipped with a large battering ram at the bow, which was used to crush the sides of an opponent. Advances in Greek warship design were aimed at achieving the speed necessary for successful ramming without loss of stability.
The chief offensive maneuvers in the tactical doctrine of fifth century Greek navies were: (1) bow-to-bow advances (antiproroi), (2) encirclement (periplous), and (3) the breakthrough (diekplous). Ships normally sailed in line ahead formations; before battle they deployed in line abreast formations. Combat was fierce and attacks were directed on the vessel and the crew. Attacks against the vessel came from bow-to-bow fighting (antiproroi) where the objective was to maneuver your trireme to puncture a hole into the enemy vessel or get close enough to shear the oars off her sides rendering her immobile. Attacks against the crew came from heavily armed infantry in the form of marines, archers and spearmen. The soldiers would propel their missile attacks on the enemy vessel and would then board it when the distance was decreased leading to hand-to-hand combat.
The most basic form of warfare at sea was using the head-on-ramming method (antiproroi) where the two vessels collided and sought to destroy the hull of the vessel with the bow. However the Phoenicians developed an even more destructive technique where the vessel would slightly miss a head-on collision with an enemy ship and at the last moment turned and flanked the vessel causing enormous damage to the ships side. This maneuver later evolved into the tactic known as Periplous.
In the periplous, the fleet attacking performs the maneuver by backing water slowly in front of the enemy fleet keeping its rams facing the enemy until the outer ships can flank the opponent and ram their sides. At the same time, the remainder of the fleet stops backing water and advances to attack. This is the tactic that was used at the Battle of Salamis in 480BC to great affect. Another tactic used was the (diekplous), or breaking through the lines. This maneuver was ideally suited for speed and mobility, which was a hallmark of the trireme. In this scenario a fleet with speed would approach the enemy fleet and punch a hole through the enemy line by ramming its lead ship into it. The remainder of the fleet would come through and the next ship in line would sheer the ships oars and finish off the crippled opponent. Any ship in the opponents line turning to aid its sister ship will expose its own vulnerable side to a ram from the enemy fleet. The diekplous also served as a great way to lay siege to enemy ships and draw your opponent into hand-to-hand combat.
A counter measure to the diekplous was to deploy two lines deep to make it difficult for the lead ship to break through. This tactic would trap the lead ship and engulf it within its lines. The only draw back being that the battle line is shortened leaving the fleet vulnerable to a periplous. When a fleet was surrounded and outnumbered it was best to