Synopses & Reviews
Shortly before the launch of the reconstructed Greek warship, Olympias, the first edition of The Athenian Trireme was published, providing historical and technical background to the reconstruction of the ship. Since then, five seasons of experimental trials have been conducted on the ship under oar and sail, and the lessons learned have been supplemented by new archaeological discoveries and by historical, scientific and physiological research over the past fifteen years. For this second edition, the text has been recast and a number of substantive changes have been made. In addition, there is an entirely new chapter that describes the trials of Olympias in detail, reports the performance figures, and outlines the changes desirable in any second reconstruction. There are nineteen new illustrations, including eleven photographs of Olympias at sea demonstrating features of the design that could be represented only by drawings in the first edition.
Review
"Clearly written and well-organized...Generously illustrated with maps, drawings, and photographs...[it] will fascinate anyone interested in the sea and ships, ancient history, or classical archaelogy." Historian"The new edition of The Athenian Trireme continues the success of the first...the new chapter and the up-dating of some of the material and the bibliography make the new volume a worthwhile effort." Phoenix
Synopsis
Second edition of the technical and historical background to the reconstruction of a Greek warship.
Synopsis
Since the appearance of the first edition of The Athenian Trireme in 1986, five seasons of experimental trials have been conducted in the reconstructed ship. There have been relevant new archaeological discoveries and much historical, scientific and physiological research. For this second edition, the text has been recast and a number of substantive changes have been made. In addition, there is an entirely new chapter which describes the trials in detail and proposes modifications to the ship's design. There are 19 new illustrations, including 11 photographs of Olympias at sea.
Synopsis
The trireme was the warship which brought Athens pre-eminence in Greek waters in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The exact structure of the trireme has puzzled scholars through the centuries and various attempts have been made to reconstruct the ship. John Morrison, a classical scholar, and John Coates, a naval architect, perfected a design which fulfils the essential structural requirements as these emerge from a study both of the archaeological evidence and of the historical accounts of sea-battles. This formed the basis for the reconstructed trireme Olympias.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. Questions and answers; 2. Evolution and supersession of the trieres; 3. The Salamis campaign; 4. Sybota and the gulf of Corinth; 5. Cynossema, Cyzicus and Arginusae; 6. Naval movements; 7. The men; 8. The ships I; 9. The ships II; 10. The materials; 11. The reconstruction: fundamentals of design; 12. The reconstruction: main features; 13. The Athenian trireme reconstructed: sea trials of Olympias; Appendix I: Fast triereis; Appendix II: The Lenormant relief in projection.