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.)
FOOTNOTE:
[3] Biremes are sometimes called by the Greeks δίκροτα. The name biremis is also applied to a little boat managed by only two oars.
NAUMĂCHIA, the name given to the representation of a sea-fight among the Romans, and also to the place where such engagements were exhibited. These fights sometimes took place 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 criminals 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 sea fights 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 characterised 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 in that exhibited by Domitian the ships were almost equal in number to two real fleets.
NAUTŎDĬCAE (ναυτόδικαι), magistrates at Athens, who had jurisdiction in matters belonging to navigation and commerce, and in matters concerning such persons as had entered their names as members of a phratria without both their parents being citizens of Athens, or in other words, in the δίκαι ἐμπόρων and δίκαι ξενίας. The time when nautodicae were first instituted is not mentioned, but it must have been previous to Pericles, and perhaps as early as the time of Cleisthenes. The nautodicae were appointed every year by lot in the month of Gamelion, and probably attended to the δίκαι ἐμπόρων only during the winter, when navigation ceased, whereas the δίκαι ξενίας might be brought before them all the year round.
NĔFASTI DIES. [[Dies].]