A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

N

NAENĬA. [[Funus].]

NĂTĀTĬO, NĂTĀTŌRĬUM. [[Balneum].]

NĀVĀLIA, docks at Rome where ships were built, laid up, and refitted. They were attached to the emporium outside of the Porta Trigemina, and were connected with the Tiber. The emporium and navalia were first included within the walls of the city by Aurelian.—The docks (νεώσοικοι or νεώρια) in the Peiraeeus at Athens cost 1000 talents, and having been destroyed in the anarchy were again restored and finally completed by Lycurgus, the contemporary of Demosthenes. They were under the superintendence of regular officers, called ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν νεωρίων.

NĀVĀLIS CŎRŌNA. [[Corona].]

NĀVARCHUS (ναύαρχος), the name by which the Greeks designated both the captain of a single ship, and the admiral of a fleet. The office itself was called ναυαρχία. The admiral of the Athenian fleet was always one of the ten generals (στρατηγοί) elected every year, and he had either the whole or the chief command of the fleet. The chief officers who served under him were the trierarchs and the pentecontarchs, each of whom commanded one vessel; the inferior officers in the vessels were the κυβερνῆται or helmsmen, the κελευσταί or commanders of the rowers, and the πρωρᾶται, who must have been employed at the prow of the vessels. Other Greek states who kept a navy had likewise their navarchs. The chief admiral of the Spartan fleet was called navarchus, and the second in command epistoleus (ἐπιστολεύς). The same person was not allowed to hold the office of navarchus two successive years at Sparta. [[Epistoleus].]

NAUCRĀRĬA (ναυκραρία), the name of a division of the inhabitants of Attica. The four ancient phylae were each divided into three phratries, and each of these twelve phratries into four naucraries, of which there were thus forty-eight. What the naucraries were previous to the legislation of Solon is not stated anywhere, but it is not improbable that they were political divisions similar to the demes in the constitution of Cleisthenes, and were made perhaps at the time of the institution of the nine archons, for the purpose of regulating the liturgies, taxes, or financial and military affairs in general. At any rate, however, the naucraries before the time of Solon can have had no connection with the navy, for the Athenians then had no navy; the word ναύκραρος therefore cannot be derived from ναῦς, ship, but must come from ναιω, and ναύκραρος is thus only another form for ναύκληρος in the sense of a householder, as ναῦλον was used for the rent of a house. Solon in his legislation retained the old institution of the naucraries, and charged each of them with the equipment of one trireme and with the mounting of two horsemen. All military affairs, as far as regards the defraying of expenses, probably continued as before to be regulated according to naucraries. Cleisthenes, in his change of the Solonian constitution, retained the division into naucraries for military and financial purposes; but he increased their number to fifty, making five for each of his ten tribes; so that now the number of their ships was increased from forty-eight to fifty, and that of horsemen from ninety-six to one hundred. The statement of Herodotus, that the Athenians in their war against Aegina had only fifty ships of their own, is thus perfectly in accordance with the fifty naucraries of Cleisthenes. The functions of the former ναύκραροι, or the heads of their respective naucraries, were now transferred to the demarchs. [[Demarchi].] The obligation of each naucrary to equip a ship of war for the service of the republic may be regarded as the first form of trierarchy. As the system of trierarchy became developed and established, this obligation of the naucraries appears to have gradually ceased, and to have fallen into disuse. [[Trierarchia].]

NAUCRĀRUS. [[Naucraria].]

NĀVIS, NĀVĬGIUM (ναῦς, πλοῖον), a ship. The numerous fleet, with which the Greeks are said to have sailed to the coast of Asia Minor, must on the whole be regarded as sufficient evidence of the extent to which navigation was carried on in those times, however much of the detail in the Homeric description may have arisen from the poet’s own imagination. In the Homeric catalogue it is stated that each of the fifty Boeotian ships carried 120 warriors, and a ship which carried so many cannot have been of very small dimensions. What Homer states of the Boeotian vessels applies more or less to the ships of other Greeks. These boats were provided with a mast (ἱστός) which was fastened by two ropes (πρότονοι) to the two ends of the ship, so that when the rope connecting it with the prow broke, the mast would fall towards the stern, where it might kill the helmsman. The mast could be erected or taken down as necessity required. They also had sails (ἱστία), but no deck; each vessel however appears to have had only one sail, which was used in favourable winds; and the principal means of propelling the vessel lay in the rowers, who sat upon benches (κληΐδες). The oars were fastened to the side of the ship with leathern thongs (τροποὶ δερμάτινοι), in which they were turned as a key in its hole. The ships in Homer are mostly called black (μέλαιναι), probably because they were painted or covered with a black substance, such as pitch, to protect the wood against the influence of the water and the air; sometimes other colours, such as μίλτος, minium (a red colour), were used to adorn the sides of the ships near the prow, whence Homer occasionally calls ships μιλτοπάρῃοι, i.e. red-cheeked; they were also painted occasionally with a purple colour (φοινικοπάρῃοι). When the Greeks had landed on the coast of Troy, the ships were drawn on land, and fastened at the poop to large stones with a rope which served as anchors. The Greeks then surrounded the fleet with a fortification to secure it against the attacks of the enemy. This custom of drawing the ships upon the shore, when they were not used, was followed in later times also, as every one will remember from the accounts in Caesar’s Commentaries. In the Odyssey (v. 243, &c.) the building of a boat (σχεδία) is described, though not with the minuteness which an actual ship-builder might wish for. Ulysses first cuts down with his axe twenty trees, and prepares the wood for his purpose by cutting it smooth and giving it the proper shape. He then bores the holes for nails and hooks, and fits the planks together and fastens them with nails. He rounds the bottom of the ship like that of a broad transport vessel, and raises the bulwark (ἴκρια), fitting it upon the numerous ribs of the ship. He afterwards covers the whole of the outside with planks, which are laid across the ribs from the keel upwards to the bulwark: next the mast is made, and the sail-yard attached to it, and lastly the rudder. When the ship is thus far completed, he raises the bulwark still higher by a wicker-work which goes all around the vessel, as a protection against the waves. This raised bulwark of wicker-work and the like was used in later times also. For ballast Ulysses throws into the ship ὕλη, which according to the Scholiast consisted of wood, stones, and sand. Calypso then brings him materials to make a sail of, and he fastens the ὑπέραι or ropes which run from the top of the mast to the two ends of the yard, and also the κάλοι with which the sail is drawn up or let down. The πόδες mentioned in this passage were undoubtedly, as in the later times, the ropes attached to the two lower corners of the square sail. The ship of which the building is thus described was a small boat, a σχεδία, as Homer calls it; but it had like all the Homeric ships a round or flat bottom. Greater ships must have been of a more complicated structure, as ship-builders are praised as artists. Below ([p. 266]), a representation of two boats is given which appear to bear great resemblance to the one of which the building is described in the Odyssey.—The Corinthians were the first who brought the art of ship-building nearest to the point at which we find it in the time of Thucydides, and they were the first who introduced ships with three ranks of rowers (τριήρεις, Triremes). About B.C. 700, Ameinocles the Corinthian, to whom this invention is ascribed, made the Samians acquainted with it; but it must have been preceded by that of the Biremes, that is, ships with two ranks of rowers, which Pliny attributes to the Erythraeans.[3] These innovations however do not seem to have been generally adopted for a long time; for we read that about the time of Cyrus the Phocaeans introduced long sharp-keeled ships called πεντηκόντοροι. These belonged to the class of long war-ships (νῆες μακραί), 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 στρογγύλαι, 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 (Moneris).

Moneris. (Montfaucon, vol. IV. pt. II. pl. 142.)

Their name varied accordingly as they had fifty (πεντηκόντοροι), or thirty (τριακόντοροι), or even a smaller number of rowers. A ship of war of this class is represented in the preceding woodcut. The following cut contains a beautiful fragment of a Biremis with a complete deck. Another specimen of a small Biremis is given further on.—

Biremis. (Winckelmann, pl. 207.)

Navis Aperta. (Coin of Corcyra.)

The first Greek people whom we know to have acquired a navy of importance were the Corinthians, Samians, and Phocaeans. About the time of Cyrus and Cambyses the Corinthian Triremes were generally adopted by the Sicilian tyrants and by the Corcyraeans, who soon acquired the most powerful navies among the Greeks. In other parts of Greece and even at Athens and in Aegina the most common vessels about this time were long ships with only one rank of rowers on each side. Athens, although the foundation of its maritime power had been laid by Solon [[Naucraria]], did not obtain a fleet of any importance until the time of Themistocles, who persuaded the Athenians to build 200 Triremes for the purpose of carrying on the war against Aegina. But even then ships were not provided with complete decks (καταστρώματα) covering the whole of the vessel. Ships with only a partial deck or with no deck at all, were called ἄφρακτοι νῆες, and in Latin naves apertae. Even at the time of the Persian war, the Athenian ships were without a complete deck. Ships which had a complete deck were called κατάφρακτοι, and the deck itself κατάστρωμα. At the time when Themistocles induced the Athenians to build a fleet of 200 sail he also carried a decree, that every year twenty new Triremes should be built from the produce of the mines of Laurium. After the time of Themistocles as many as twenty Triremes must have been built every year both in times of war and of peace, as the average number of Triremes which was always ready amounted to between three and four hundred. 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 τριηροποιοί, 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 greatest 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 daytime: in the night the position, rising and setting of the different stars 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 ὁλκοί. This was done most frequently across the isthmus of Corinth.—The various kinds of ships used by the Greeks might 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 Ptolemaeus 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 (φορτικὰ, φορτηγοὶ, ὁλκάδες, πλοῖα, στρογγύλαι, 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 the chief means by which they were propelled were their sails. The most common ships of war in the earlier times were the pentecontori (πεντηκόντοροι), but afterwards they were chiefly Triremes, and the latter are frequently designated only by the name νῆες, while all 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 (ταχεῖαι), and the other of transports either for soldiers (στρατιώτιδες or ὁπλιταγωγοί) or for horses (ἱππηγοί, ἱππαγωγοί). Ships of this 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 two hundred, to whom on some occasions as many as thirty epibatae were added. [[Epibatae].]—Vessels with more than three ranks of rowers on each side were not constructed in Greece till about the year 400 B.C., when Dionysius I., tyrant of Syracuse, who bestowed great care upon his navy, built the first Quadriremes (τετρήρεις), and Quinqueremes (πεντήρεις). In the reign of Dionysius II., Hexeres (ἑξήρεις) 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 they 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 the year B.C. 356 they continued to use nothing but Triremes; but in B.C. 330 the republic had already a number of Quadriremes, which was afterwards increased. The first Quinqueremes at Athens are mentioned in a document belonging to the year B.C. 325.—Among the smaller vessels we may mention the ἄκατος or ἀκάτιον, which seems to have been sometimes used as a ship of burden. The name Scapha (σκάφη) denotes a small skiff or life-boat, which was commonly attached to merchantmen for the purpose of saving the crew in danger.—Liburna, or Liburnica, in Greek λιβυρνίς or λιβυρνόν, is a name given apparently to every war-ship, from a bireme up to those with six lines of rowers on each side, but in the time of Augustus, liburnae even with six lines of rowers were considered small and swift in comparison with the unwieldy ships of Antony at Actium. They were usually provided with a beak, whence a navis rostrata is generally the same as a Liburna. They were first constructed by the Liburnians (whence they derived their name), and formed the main part of the fleet of Augustus in the battle of Actium.—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 also was added.—The Romans appear to have first become aware of the importance of a fleet during the second Samnite war, in the year B.C. 311: when duumviri navales were for the first time appointed by the people. The ships which the Romans now built were undoubtedly Triremes. This fleet, however insignificant it may have been, continued to be kept up until the time when Rome became a real maritime power. In the year B.C. 260, when the Romans saw that without a navy they could not carry on the war against Carthage with any advantage, the senate ordained that a fleet should be built. Triremes would now have been of no avail against the high-bulwarked 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 the Romans 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 of from six to ten ranks 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 (see cut, [p. 260]).

BIREMIS.

A. Prora, πρώρα.
B. Oculus, ὀφθαλμός.
C. Rostrum, ἔμβολος.
D. Cheniscus, χηνίσκος.
E. Puppis, πρύμνη.
F. Aplustre, ἄφλαστον, with the pole containing
the fascia or taenia.

G. τράφηξ.
H. Remi, κώπαι.
I. Gubernaculum, πηδάλιον.
K. Malus, ἱστός.
L. Velum, ἱστός.
M. Antenna, κεραία, κέρας.
N. Cornua, ἀκροκέραιαι.

O. Ceruchi, κεροῦχοι.
P. Carchesium, καρχήσιον.
Q. κάλοι, καλῴδια.
R. πρότονος.
S. Pedes, πόδες.
T. Opifera, ὑπέραι.

We now proceed to describe the parts of ancient vessels.—1. The prow (πρώρα or μέτωπον, prora) 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 (παράσημον, insigne, figura) by which the ship was distinguished from others. At the head of the prow there projected the στόλος, and its extremity was termed ἀκροστόλιον, which was frequently made in the shape of an animal or a helmet. It appears to have been sometimes covered with brass and to have served as an embole (ἐμβολή) against the enemy’s vessels. The ἀκροστόλιον is sometimes designated by the name of χηνίσκος (from χήν, a goose), because it was formed in the shape of the head or neck of a goose or swan, as in the accompanying woodcut.

Cheniscus. (From a Painting at Herculaneum.)

The cheniscus was often gilt and made of bronze. Just below the prow and projecting a little above the keel was the Rostrum (ἔμβολος, ἔμβολον) or beak, which consisted of a beam, to which were attached sharp and pointed irons, or the head of a ram and the like. This ἔμβολος was used for the purpose of attacking another vessel and of breaking its sides. These beaks were at first always above the water and visible; afterwards they were attached lower, so that they were invisible, and thus became still more dangerous to other ships. The annexed woodcuts represent three different beaks of ships.

Rostra, Beaks of Ships. (Montfaucon, pl. 133.)

The command in the prow of a vessel was exercised by an officer called πρωρεύς, 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 (πρύμνη, puppis) was generally above 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). In some representations a kind of roof is formed over the head of the steersman, and the upper part of the stern frequently has an elegant ornament called aplustre, and in Greek ἄφλαστον, which constituted the highest part of the poop. It formed a corresponding ornament to the ἀκροστόλιον at the prow. At the junction of the aplustre with the stern on which it was based, we commonly observe an ornament resembling a circular shield: this was called ἀσπιδεῖον or ἀσπιδίσκη. It is seen on the two aplustria here represented. The aplustre rose immediately behind the gubernator, and served in some degree to protect him from wind and rain. Sometimes there appears, beside the aplustre, a pole, to which a fillet or pennon (ταινία) was attached, which served both to distinguish and adorn the vessel, and also to show the direction of the wind.—3. The τράφηξ is the bulwark of the vessel, or rather the uppermost edge of it. In small boats the pegs (σκαλμοί, scalmi) between which the oars move, and to which they are fastened by a thong (τροπωτήρ), were upon the τράφηξ. In all other vessels the oars passed through holes in the side of the vessel (ὀφθαλμοί, τρήματα, or τρυπήματα).—

Aphlaston, Aplustre.

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 woodcut representing a Moneris.

Moneris. (From a Painting at Pompeii.)

In this instance the flag is standing upon the hind-deck.—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 ἑδώλια, and in Latin fori and transtra. The lowest row of rowers was called θαλάμος, the rowers themselves, θαλαμῖται or θαλάμιοι. The uppermost ordo of rowers was called θράνος, and the rowers themselves θρανῖται. The middle ordo or ordines of rowers were called ζυγὰ, ζύγιοι or ζυγῖται. Each of this last class of rowers had likewise his own seat, and did not, as some have supposed, sit upon benches running across the vessel. The gear of a vessel was divided into wooden and hanging gear (σκεύη ξύλινα, and σκεύη κρεμαστά).

I. Wooden Gear.—1. Oars (κώπαι, remi). The collective term for oars is ταῤῥός, which properly signified only the blade or flat part of the oar, but was afterwards used as a collective expression for all the oars, with the exception of the rudder. The oars varied in size accordingly as they were used by a lower or higher ordo of rowers, and from the name of the ordo by which they were used, they also received their special names, viz., κώπαι θαλάμιαι, ζύγιαι, and θρανίτιδες. Each 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 (ἄσκωμα), which also extended a little way outside the hole.—2. The rudder (πηδάλιον, gubernaculum).

Gubernacula, rudders. (From an ancient Lamp and Gems.)

Before the invention of the rudder, vessels must have been propelled and guided by the oars alone. This circumstance may account for the form of the ancient rudder, as well as for the mode of using it. It was like an oar with a very broad blade, and was commonly placed on each side of the stern, not at its extremity. The annexed woodcut presents examples of its appearance as it is frequently exhibited on gems, coins, and other works of art. The figure in the centre shows a Triton blowing the buccina, and holding a rudder over his shoulder. The left-hand figure represents a rudder with its helm or tiller crossed by the cornucopia. In the third figure Venus leans with her left arm upon a rudder to indicate her origin from the sea. The rudder was managed by the gubernator (κυβερνήτης), who is also called the rector navis as distinguished from the magister. A ship had sometimes one, but more commonly two rudders; but they were managed by the steersman to prevent confusion. In larger ships the two rudders were joined by a pole, which was moved by the gubernator, and kept the rudders parallel. The contrivances for attaching the two rudders to one another and to the sides of the ship, are called ζεῦγλαι or ζευκτηρίαι.—3. Ladders (κλιμακίδες, scalae). Each Trireme had two wooden ladders, and the same seems to have been the case in τριακόντοροι.—4. Poles or punt poles (κοντοί, conti). Three of these, of different lengths, belonged to every Trireme.—5. Παραστάται or supports for the masts. They seem to have been a kind of props placed at the foot of the masts.—6. The mast (ἱστός, malus). The ancients had vessels with one, two, or three masts. The fore-mast was called ἀκάτειος, the mainmast, ἱστὸς μέγας. A triaconter, or a vessel with 30 rowers, had likewise two masts, and the smaller mast here, as well as in a trireme, was near the prow. In three-masted vessels the largest mast was nearest the stern. The masts as well as the yards were usually of fir. The part of the mast immediately above the yard (antenna), formed a structure similar to a drinking-cup, and bore the name of carchesium (καρχήσιον). Into it the mariners ascended in order to manage the sail, to obtain a distant view, or to discharge missiles. Breastworks (θωράκια) were fixed to these structures, so as to supply the place of defensive armour; and pulleys (τροχηλίαι, trochleae) for hoisting up stones and weapons from below. The continuation of the mast above the carchesium was called the “distaff” (ἠλακάτη), corresponding to our top-mast or top-gallant mast.—7. The yards (κέρα, κεραίαι, antennae).

Ceruchi. (From an ancient Lamp.)

The mainyard was fastened to the top of the mast by ropes termed ceruchi, as seen in the preceding woodcut. To the mainyard was attached the mainsail, which was hoisted or let down as the occasion might require. In the two extremities of the yard (cornua, ἀκροκέραιαι), ropes (ceruchi, κηροῦχοι) were attached, which passed to the top of the mast; and by means of these ropes and the pulleys connected with them, the yard and sail, guided by the hoop, were hoisted to the height required. There are numerous representations of ancient ships in which the antenna is seen, as in the two woodcuts here appended. In the second of them there are ropes hanging down from the antenna, the object of which was to enable the sailors to turn the antenna and the sail according to the wind.

Antennae. (From ancient Gems.)

II. Hanging Gear.—1. Hypozomata (Ὑποζώματα), thick and broad ropes running in a horizontal direction around the ship from the stern to the prow, and 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 ὑπόζωμα is tormentum. Sometimes they were 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, or διαζωννύναι, or ζῶσαι. A Trireme required four ὑποζώματα.—2. The sail (Ἱστίον, velum). Most ancient ships had only one sail, which was attached with the yard to the great mast. In a Trireme also 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 called ἱστία μεγάλα, and those of the fore-mast ἱστία ἀκάτεια. The former were used on ordinary occasions, but the latter probably only in cases when it was necessary to sail with extraordinary speed. The sails of the Attic war-galleys, and of most ancient ships in general, were of a square form. Whether triangular sails were ever used by the Greeks, as has been frequently supposed, is very doubtful. The Romans, however, used triangular sails, which they called Suppara, and which had the shape of an inverted Greek Δ (⛛), the upper side of which was attached to the yard.—3. Cordage (τοπεῖα) differed from the σχοινία or κάλοι. The σχοινία (funes) are the strong ropes to which the anchors were attached, and by which a ship was fastened to the land; while the τοπεῖα were a lighter kind of ropes and made with greater care, which were attached to the masts, yards, and sails. Each rope of this kind was made for a distinct purpose and place (τόπος, whence the name τοπεῖα). The following kinds are most worthy of notice:—a. καλῴδια or κάλοι, were probably the ropes by which the mast was fastened to both sides of the ship, so that the πρότονοι in the Homeric ships were only an especial kind of καλῴδια, or the καλῴδια themselves differently placed. In later times the πρότονος was the rope which went from the top of the mainmast (καρχήσιον) to the prow of the ship, and thus was what is now called the main-stay. b. Ceruchi (κεροῦχοι, ἱμάντες), ropes which ran from the two ends of the sail-yard to the top of the mast. In more ancient vessels the ἱμὰς 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 ἐπίτονος, by means of which the sail was drawn up or let down. c. ἄγκοινα, Latin anquina, was 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. Πόδες (pedes) were in later times, as in the poems of Homer, the ropes attached to the two lower corners of a square sail. These πόδες 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. Ὑπέραι 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 according to the wind. 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 παραῤῥύματα. 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.—5. Σχοινία are the stronger and heavier kinds of ropes. There were two kinds of these, viz. the σχοινία ἀγκύρεια, to which the anchor was attached, and σχοινία ἐπίγυα or ἐπίγεια (retinacula), by which the ship was fastened to the shore or drawn upon the shore.—6. The anchor (ἀγκύρα, ancora). We have already remarked that in the Homeric age anchors were not known, and large stones (εὐναὶ, sleepers) used in their stead. When anchors came to be used, they were generally made of iron, and their form resembled that of a modern anchor. Such an anchor was often termed bidens, διπλῆ, ἀμφίβολος or ἀμφίστομος, because it had two teeth or flukes; but sometimes it had only one, and was then called ἑτεροστόμος. The technical expressions in the use of the anchor are: ancoram solvere, ἀγκύραν χαλᾷν, to loose the anchor; ancoram jacere, ἀγκύραν βάλλειν or ῥίπτειν, to cast anchor; and ancoram tollere, ἀγκύραν αἴρειν or ἀναίρεσθαι, to weigh anchor, whence αἴρειν by itself means “to set sail,” ἀγκύραν being understood. The following figure shows the cable (funis), passing through a hole in the prow (oculus). Each ship of course had several anchors. The last or most powerful anchor, “the last hope,” was called ἱερά, sacra, and persons trying their last hope were said sacram solvere.—The preceding account of the different parts of the ship will be rendered still clearer by the drawing on [p. 263].

Biremis. (From a Marble at Rome.)