every year both in times of war and of peace, as the average number of triremes which was always ready was from 300 to 400. Such an annual addition was the more necessary, as the vessels were of a light structure, and did not last long. The whole superintendence of the building of new triremes was in the hands of the senate of the Five Hundred, but the actual business was entrusted to a committee called the rpinpoжоioí, one of whom acted as their treasurer, and had in his keeping the money set apart for the purpose. Under the Macedonian supremacy the Rhodians became the most important maritime power in Greece, The navy of Sparta was never of great importance.

Navigation remained for the most part what it had been before: the Greeks seldom ventured out into the open sea, and it was generally considered necessary to remain in sight of the coast or of some island, which also served as guides in the daytime: in the night, the position and the rising and setting of the different stars, also answered the same purpose. In winter, navigation generally ceased altogether. In cases where it would have been necessary to coast around a considerable extent of country, which was connected with the main land by a narrow neck, the ships were sometimes drawn across the neck of land from one sea to the other, by machines called oλko. This was done most frequently across the isthmus of Corinth.

The various kinds of ships used by the Greeks may be divided, according to the number of ranks of rowers employed in them, into Moneres, Biremes, Triremes, Quadriremes, Quinqueremes, &c., up to the enormous ship with forty ranks of rowers, built by Ptolemy Philopator. But all these appear to have been constructed on the same principle, and it is more convenient to divide them into ships of war and ships of burden (poptiká, popтnyol, ¿λkádεç, hoia, σTроyyúλai, naves onerariae, naves actuariae). Ships of the latter kind were not calculated for quick movement or rapid sailing, but to carry the greatest possible quantity of goods. Hence their structure was bulky, their bottom round, and although they were not without rowers, yet sails were the chief means by which they were propelled.

The most common ships of war, after they had once been generally introduced, were the Triremes and they are frequently designated only by the name vñes, while the others are called by the name indicating their peculiar character. Triremes, however, were again divided into two classes: the one consisting of real men-of-war, which were quick sailing vessels (Taxɛiai), and the other of transports

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either for soldiers (στρατιώτιδες οι ὁπλιταγωγοί) or for horses (ἱππηγοί, ἱππαγωγοί). Ships of the latter class were more heavy and awkward, and were therefore not used in battle except in cases of necessity. The ordinary size of a war galley may be inferred from the fact that the average number of men engaged in it, including the crew and marines, was 200, to whom on some occasions as many as thirty epibatae were added. [EPIBATAE.]

Vessels with more than three ranks of rowers were not constructed in Greece till about the year B. c. 400, when Dionysius I., tyrant of Syracuse, who bestowed great care upon his navy, built the first quadriremes (TETPηpεls), and quinqueremes (TEVτŃрεIC). In the reign of Dionysius II. hexeres (Enpeis) are also mentioned. After the time of Alexander the Great the use of vessels with four, five, and more ranks of rowers became very general, and it is well known that the first Punic war was chiefly carried on with quinqueremes. Ships with twelve, thirty, or even forty ranks of rowers, such as were built by Alexander and the Ptolemies, appear to have been mere curiosities, and did not come into common use. The Athenians at first did not adopt vessels larger than triremes, probably because they thought that with rapidity and skill they could do more than with large and unwieldy ships. In B. C. 356 they continued to use nothing but triremes; but in B. c. 330 they had already a number of quadriremes. The first quinqueremes at Athens are mentioned in anancient document belonging to the year B. C. 325. After B. C. 330 the Athenians appear to have gradually ceased building triremes, and to have constructed quadriremes instead.

Every vessel at Athens, as in modern times, had a name given to it, which was generally of the feminine gender. The Romans sometimes gave to their ships masculine names. The Greek names were either taken from ancient heroines, such as Nausicaa, or they were abstract words, such as Forethought, Safety, Guidance, &c. In many cases the name of the builder was also added.

The Romans had nothing but a very insignificant fleet of triremes up to the time of the first Punic war. They seem first to have built a small fleet in B. c. 311, in the course of the second Samnite war, when duumviri navales were first appointed. It was probably connected with the establishment of a colony in the Pontian islands. In B. C. 260, when they saw that without a navy they could not carry on the war against Carthage with any advantage, the senate ordained that a large fleet should be built. Triremes would now have been of no avail against the high-bul

warked vessels (quinqueremes) of the Carthaginians. But the Romans would have been unable to build others, had not fortunately a Carthaginian quinquereme been wrecked on the coast of Bruttium, and fallen into their hands. This wreck the Romans took as their model, and after it built 120, or according to others 130 ships. From this time forward they continued to keep up a powerful navy. Towards the end of the republic they also increased the size of their ships, and built war-vessels with from six to ten ordines of rowers. The construction of their ships, however, scarcely differed from that of Greek vessels; the only great difference was, that the Roman galleys were provided with a greater variety of destructive engines of war than those of the Greeks. They even erected turres and tabulata upon the decks of their great men-of-war (naves turritae), and fought upon them as if they were standing upon the walls of a fortress.

The following is a list of the principal parts of ancient vessels:

1. The prow (рúρа ог μÉтwπоv, prora), or

fore part of the ship, was generally ornamented on both sides with figures, which were either painted upon the sides or laid in. It seems to have been very common to represent an eye on each side of the prow. Upon the prow or fore-deck there was always some emblem (rapáσnuov, insigne, figura), by which the ship was distinguished from others. Just below the prow, and projecting a little above the keel, was the rostrum (čμẞoλoç, čμßoλov), or beak, which consisted of a beam, to which were attached sharp and pointed irons, or the head of a ram, and the like. It was used for the purpose of attacking another vessel and of breaking its sides. These beaks were at first always above the water, and visble; afterwards they were atttached lower, so that they were invisible, and thus became still more dangerous to other ships. The upper part of the prow was frequently made in the form of a swan's or goose's neck, and hence called cheniscus (xηvioкóç), and to the extreme part of the prow, whatever it might be, the general name of acrostolion (åkpoσтóλov), was given.

The command in the prow of a vessel was exercised by an officer called πрwрɛvç, who seems to have been next in rank to the steersman, and to have had the care of the gear, and the command over the rowers.

2. The stern or роор (πрýшvn, puppis) was generally higher than the other parts of the deck, and in it the helmsman had his elevated seat. It is seen in the representations of ancient vessels to be rounder than the prow, though its extremity is likewise sharp. The stern was, like the prow, adorned in various ways, but especially with the image of the tutelary deity of the vessel (tutela). It frequently terminates with an ornament of wooden planks, called aphlaston (ǎoλασтov) and aplustre, and sometimes it had a cheniscus. (See the cut, p. 223.) At the end of the stern I was frequently erected a staff or pole, to which a streamer or ribands were attached (fascia or taenia). In some representations a kind of roof is formed over the head of the steersman.

3. The bulwark of the vessel (τpán), or rather the uppermost edge of it. In small boats the pegs (okahμoi, scalmi), between which the oars move, and to which they are fastened by a thong (троnwτp), were upon the Tpúons. In all other vessels the oars passed through holes in the side of the vessel (ὀφθαλμοί, τρήματα, οι τρυπήματα).

4. The middle part of the deck in most ships of war appears to have been raised above the bulwark, or at least to a level with its upper edge, and thus enabled the soldiers

to occupy a position from which they could | see far around, and hurl their darts against the enemy. Such an elevated deck appears in the annexed cut, representing a Moneris. In this instance the flag is standing upon the hind-deck.

Moneris.

5. One of the most interesting, as well as important parts in the arrangements of the biremes, triremes, &c., is the position of the ranks of rowers, from which the ships themselves derive their names. Various opinions have been entertained by those who have written upon this subject. Thus much is certain, that the different ranks of rowers, who sat along the sides of a vessel, were placed one above the other. In ordinary vessels, from the moneris up to the quinqueremis, each oar was managed by one man. The rowers sat upon little benches attached to the ribs of the vessel, and called d62a, and in Latin fori and transtra. The lowest row of rowers was called θάλαμος, the rowers themselves θαλαμῖται οι θαλάμιοι. The uppermost ordo of rowers was called θράνος, and the rowers themselves Opaviral. The middle ordo or ordines of rowers were called ζύγα, ζύγιοι, οι ζυγῖται.

The gear of a vessel was divided into wooden and hanging gear (okɛúŋ žúλiva, and σkɛún κρεμαστά).

I. WOODEN GEAR.

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nian trireme had on an average 170 rowers. In a Roman quinquereme, during the first Punic war, the average number of rowers was 300: in later times we even find as many as 400. The lower part of the holes through which the oars passed, appears to have been covered with leather (aokwua), which also extended a little way outside the hole.

2. The rudder. [GUBERNACULUM.]

3. Ladders (Kiμakidεç, scalae). Each trireme had two wooden ladders.

4. Poles or punt poles (Kovтoí, conti). Three of these belonged to every trireme, which were of different lengths.

5. Parastatae (аρаσтáтαι), or supports for the masts They seem to have been a kind of props placed at the foot of the mast.

6. The mast (ioróç, malus), and yards (кɛpalai, antennae). A trireme had two masts, the smaller one of which was usually near the prow. The smaller or foremast was called ἱστὸς ἀκάτιος, the larger or mainmast ioròs μéyaç. The mast-head was called car[CARCHESIUM.] Respecting the mode in which the yard was affixed to the mast, see ANTENNA.

chesium.

II. HANGING GEAR.

1. Hypozomata (vπоsúμатα),were thick and broad ropes which ran in a horizontal direction around the ship from the stern to the prow, and were intended to keep the whole fabric together. They ran round the vessel in several circles, and at certain distances from one another. The Latin name for iπÓSometimes they were Swua is tormentum. taken on board when a vessel sailed, and not put on till it was thought necessary. The act of putting them on was called ὑποζωννύναι oι διαζωννύναι, or ζῶσαι. A trireme required four υποζώματα.

2. The sail (ioríov, velum). Most ancient ships had only one sail, which was attached with the yard to the great mast. In a trireme, too, one sail might be sufficient, but the trierarch might nevertheless add a second. As

each of the two masts of a trireme had two sail-yards, it further follows that each mast might have two sails, one of which was placed lower than the other. The two belonging to the mainmast were probably called ioría μεγάλα, and those of the foremast ἱστία ἀκά

τια.

NAUMACHIA.

sides of the ship, so that the pórovo in the Homeric ships were only an especial kind of Kaλúdia, or the kaλúdia themselves differently placed. In later times the Tрóтоvos was the rope which went from the top of the mainmast to the prow and sometimes the stern of the ship, and thus was what is now called the mainstay. b. Ceruchi (Kɛpouxo, iuávτes), ropes which ran from the two ends of the sailyard to the top of the mast. In more ancient vessels the iuác consisted of only one rope; in later times it consisted of two, and sometimes four, which, uniting at the top of the mast, and there passing through a ring, descended on the other side, where it formed the EiTоvoç, by means of which the sail was drawn up or let down. c. йykoiva, Latin anquina, the rope which went from the middle of a yard to the top of the mast, and was intended to facilitate the drawing up and letting down of the sail. d. IIódɛç (pedes) were in later times, as in the poems of Homer, the ropes attached to the two lower corners of a square-sail. These rodes ran from the ends of the sail to the sides of the vessel towards the stern, where they were fastened with rings attached to the outer side of the bulwark. e. 'Yπéрaι were the two ropes attached to the two ends of the sail-yard, and thence came down to a part of the ship near the stern. Their object was to move the yard in a horizontal direction. In Latin they are called opifera, which is perhaps only a corruption of hypera.

4. Παραῤῥύματα. The ancients as early as the time of Homer had various preparations raised above the edge of a vessel, which were made of skins and wicker-work, and which were intended as a protection against high waves, and also to serve as a kind of breast-work, behind which the men might be safe against the darts of the enemy. These elevations of the bulwark are called παραῤῥύMara. They were probably fixed upon the edge on both sides of the vessel, and were taken off when not wanted. Each galley appears to have had several παραῤῥύματα, two made of hair, and two white ones, these four being regularly mentioned as belonging to one ship.

NAUMA CHIA, the name given to the representation of a sea-fight among the Romans, and also to the place where such engagements took place. These fights were sometimes exhibited in the circus or amphitheatre, sufficient water being introduced to float ships, but more generally in buildings especially devoted to this purpose.

The combatants in these sea-fights, called Naumachiarii, were usually captives, or crim

inals condemned to death, who fought as in gladiatorial combats, until one party was killed unless preserved by the clemency of the emperor. The ships engaged in the seafights were divided into two parties, called respectively by the names of different maritime nations, as Tyrians and Egyptians, Rhodians and Sicilians, Persians and Athenians, Corcyraeans and Corinthians, Athenians and Syracusans, &c. These sea-fights were exhibited with the same magnificence and lavish expenditure of human life as characterized the gladiatorial combats and other public games of the Romans. In Nero's naumachia there were sea-monsters swimming about in the artificial lake. In the sea-fight exhibited by Titus there were 3000 men engaged, and and in that exhibited by Domitian the ships were almost equal in number to two real fleets.

NECKLACES. [MONILE.]
NEFASTI DIES. [DIES.]

NEBRIS, a fawn's skin (from veßpós, a fawn) worn originally by hunters and others, as an appropriate part of their dress, and afterwards attributed to Bacchus, and consequently assumed by his votaries in the processions and ceremonies which they observed in honour of him. The annexed woodcut,

Nebris.