Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

78,1 - NAVIS. NAVIS.
It is a general opinion that in the Homeric age I varied accordingly as they had fifty (TreVT-K4dvTosailors did not venture out into the open sea, but poe), or thirty ('rpLaicdvtopos), or even a smaller
that such was really done is clear from the fact, number of rowers. A ship of war of this class is
that IHomer makes Odysseus say that he had lost represented in the previous woodcut, which is taken
sight of land, and saw nothing but the sky and from Montfaucon, I'Antiq. LEz liq. vol. iv. part. 2
water (Od. xii. 403; comp. xiv. 302; Virg. Aen. pl. 142.
iii. 192, &c.), although on the whole it may be The following woodcut contains a beautiful frag..
admitted, that even down to the historical times ment ofa Bireme with a complete deck. (Winckelthe navigation of the ancients was confined to mann, lifonumln. Antics. inedit. pl. 207.) Another
coasting along the shore. Homer never mentions specimen of a small Bireme is given further on.
engagements at sea. The Greeks most renowned
in the heroic ages as sailors were the Cretans,
whose king Minos is said to have possessed a large
fleet, and also the Phaeacians. (Thucyd. i. 4;
Hom. Od. viii. 110, &c.)
After the times of the Trojan war, navigation, p,.X',
and with it the art of ship-building, must have be- _ X
come greatly improved, on account of the establishment of the numerous colonies on foreign coasts, \
and the increased commercial intercourse with
these colonies and other foreign countries. The
practice of piracy, which was during this period
carried on to a great extent not only between
Greeks and foreigners, but also among the Greeks The first Greek people whom we know to have
themselves, must likewise have contributed to the acquired a navy of importance were the Corinthians,
improvement of ships and of navigation, although Samians, and Phocaeans. About the time of Cyrus
no particulars are mentioned. In Greece itself the and Cambyses the Corinthian Triremes were geneCorinthians were the first who brought the art of rally adopted by the Sicilian tyrants and by the
ship-building nearest to the point at which we find Corcyraeans, who soon acquired the most powerful
it in the time of Thucydides, and they were the navies among the Greeks. In other parts of Greece
first who introduced ships with three ranks of and even at Athens and in Aegina the most common
rowers (TpippeLS, Trirenzes). About the year 700 vessels about this time were long ships with only
B.C. Ameinocles the Corinthian, to whom this in. one rank of rowers on each side. Athens, although
vention is ascribed, made the Samians acquainted the foundation of its maritime power had been laid
with it (Thucyd. i. 13; Plin. H. NT. vii. 57); but by Solon [NAUCRARIA], did not obtain a fleet of
it must have been preceded by that of the Bitrenes, any importance until the time of Themistocles, who
that is, ships with two ranks of rowers, which persuaded them to build 200 Triremes for the purPliny attributes to the Erythraeans.* These in- pose of carrying on the war against Aegina. But
novations however do not seem to have been gene- even then ships were not provided with complete
rally adopted for a long time; for we read that decks (earaaTarpciAara) covering the whole of the
about the time of Cyrus the Phocaeans introduced
long sharp-keeled ships called lrEvTnr trwcoopo. (Hle.
rod. i. 163.) These belonged to the class of long KY
war-ships (vies.alcpal), and had fifty rowers,
twenty-five on each side of the ship, who sat in
one row. It is further stated that before this
time vessels called o'rpoyyVhAai, with large round
or rather flat bottoms, had been used exclusively
by all the Ionians in Asia. At this period most
Greeks seem to have adopted the long ships with
only one rank of rowers on each side; their name
vessel. (Thucyd. i. 14; Herod. vii. 144:) Ships
with only a partial deck or with no deck at all,
were called &ppa'ro L uyes, and in Latin naves
apertae. A fine representation of such a one is
~ figured above from a coin of Corcyra. The ships
- described in Homer had no decks. and were all
b p pa'oe (Thucyd. i. 10), and the only protection
- —' ------ -. —-- for the men consisted of the'icpia or bulwark.
(Hom. Od. xii. 229.) Even at the time'of the
Persian war, the Athenian ships were without a
B* iremes are sometimes called by the Greeks complete deck. (Thucyd. i. 14.) Ships which had
iScpora (Cic. ad Altt. xvi. 4; Hirt. Bell. A le-x. 47.) a complete deck were called icaTrdppaKrot, and
The name biremis is also applied to a little boat the deck itself KTa'To'rpwjua. Their invention is
managed by only two oars. (Horat. iii. 29. 62; ascribed by Pliny to the Thasians. At the time
Lucan, viii. 562, x. 56.) - when Themistocles induced the Athenians to build