Piraeus and the Athenian navy

Classical Athens was known for its powerful navy. Connected to its port at Piraeus (really three harbors) by its 'long walls,' the Athenians were able to hold out indefinitely against the Spartans during the Peloponnesian War. It was only after the Athenians left their walls and attacked Syracuse on Sicily did the tide of the war turn decidedly against them.

The backbone of the Athenian navy was the trireme - a ship of 170 oarsmen (no slaves - only free men) with some marines, officers, and archers for a total of about 200. At its height, Athens had four hundred triremes - meaning at least 80,000 men to sail them (not to mention the manpower necessary for maintenance and provisions). By the standards of the ancient world, this is an immense naval force.


This is the harbor of Zea, near Piraeus. In 450 BC, nearly the enitre scope of the shore was covered with ship-sheds, or structures which housed the triremes. They had to be kept out of the water except when sailing to avoid salt-water corrosion and water-rot.

Archaeologists have identified ship-shed space for 196 triremes in this bay.






This is what's left of one of the ship-sheds. It's in the basement of a modern building. The depression running diagonally from left to right is where the ship's keel would have been (padded by wood, I'm sure). The square at the bottom right corner is a support for one of the shed's side walls. The columns are all modern and are holding up the building above.





Not much information about triremes has survived. The ships were too light to sink to the ocean floor when they were sunk, and so they were either captured and repaired or they broke up in the waves. Some art has helped reconstruct what they must have looked like. This is the Lenormant relief and is important for its depiction of the three banks of oars characteristic of triremes.

The Olympias was built in the 1980s as a full-scale model of an ancient trireme. Engineers, archaeologists, and mariners used marine knowledge and ancient images to come up with this.

The metal 'beak' was for ramming enemy ships. Looks a little like Daffy Duck, if you ask me.






From the stern. (back)













Three banks of oars.




























The island of Salamis, on the left. It's hard to tell where the island ends and where Piraeus begins. In 480 BC, after the Persians had occupied and burned Athens, the Athenians - who had evacuated to Salamis - and their allies defeated the Persians in a naval battle. The Greeks were heavily outnumbered, but managed to win with superior discipline and tactics.

It's easy to see why Homer called this the 'wine-dark sea.'

The small tower foundation to the right was built under Kimon in the early 4th century BC.

A more modern ship from the Greek navy. The Aberof was the Greek flagship until the mid-20th century.











This image of St. Nikolas appeared miraculously on this bucket on the Aberof. I'm not sure how they decided it was Nikolas, but I'm sure it has to do with being the patron saint of sailors, or the ship, etc. (I'm not sure if he is the patron saint of these things or not; I'm not up to speed on my saints and am too tired to look it up right now.)