Recall, if you will, the first time you read Book 2 of Homer’s Iliad. The section likely to have given you the most trouble — unless, of course, you’re blessed with an obsessive interest in ancient naval warfare — is the much-remarked-upon Catalogue of Ships, a rundown of not just the contingents of the Achaean army sailing to Troy, but also the ships they’re doing it in. However evocative Homer’s poetry, more than a few modern readers may face a certain difficulty imagining ancient Greek vessels for themselves. Fortunately for them, the YouTube channel Deconstructed recently put out the video above, which uses 3D imagery to explain the workings of an entire trireme, part by historically accurate part.
And what is a trireme? Two and a half millennia ago, says the video’s narrator, it was “the most powerful warship in the Mediterranean.” This despite the fact that it had “no engine, no cannons, and no heavy armor”: just “a narrow wooden hull, a bronze ram, and 170 men rowing in perfect rhythm.”
Welcome to ancient Greece, where raw, synchronized manpower could win a major war. Named for the “three superimposed tiers of one-man oars on each side of the vessel,” the trireme “pushed the technological limits of the ancient world, with every part of its design optimized for speed and maneuverability.” So swift was its acceleration, regardless of wind conditions, that a single strike of its bronze ram could prove decisive.
Among the most effective maneuvers for a fleet of triremes were the diekplous, in which the ships “rode through gaps in the enemy formation, then turned to attack the exposed sterns of opposing ships,” and the periplous, in which they sailed “around the enemy line to attack from the side or rear.” Not that Homer had reason to sing of such tactics, at least as performed by triremes, which were only put into use in the seventh century BC. That was five or six hundred years after the notional period of the legendary Trojan War, which, as the Iliad tells us, involved triaconters and penteconters, ships propelled by a mere 30 to 50 oarsmen as against the 170 stacked into the trireme. Even in those days, as Homer’s contemporary listeners would have felt, technology was marching on — with the technology of war at the forefront.
Related content:
Ancient Greek Armor Gets Tested in an 11-Hour Battle Simulation Inspired by the Iliad
How an Ancient Roman Shipwreck Could Explain the Universe
Hear the First Book of Homer’s Iliad Read Aloud in the Original Greek
Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. He’s the author of the newsletter Books on Cities as well as the books 한국 요약 금지 (No Summarizing Korea) and Korean Newtro. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter at @colinmarshall.
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