Ships and Sea-Power before the Great Persian War : The Ancestry of the Ancient Trireme

by: Wallinga, H.T.

Ships and Sea-Power before the Great Persian War
The Ancestry of the Ancient Trireme
Series:
Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume: 121
Author: H.T. Wallinga
This book presents a new theory about the developments in shipping and naval organization that culminated in the invention - around 530 BC in the eastern Mediterranean - of the trireme, and the subsequent adoption of this first specialized warship of antiquity by all the naval powers of the time.
New interpretations are proposed of Greek and Assyrian iconographic data and of hitherto ignored evidence in Herodotos and Thukydides, the non-military factors determining developments are emphasized. Thukydides' fundamental essay on the genesis of Greek sea-powers is studied in depth, the rarity of these sea-powers stressed, and the peculiar background of the naval power of Phokaia and the Samian tyrant Polykrates exposed. The problem of the trireme's place of origin, the factors determining its invention, probably in Saïte Egypt, and its immediate adoption by the Persian king Kambyses are discussed. The first naval operations of the Persians are surveyed, reasons and circumstances of the trireme's introduction into the navies of the Greek city-states analysed with special attention for Themistokles' navy bill.
The book offers ancient historians and classical philologists a radically new approach to archaic maritime and naval history. It will also be useful to (nautical) archaeologists.

Preliminary Material
Pages: i–xv
Introduction
Pages: 1–12
Thukydides and early naval developments
Pages: 13–32
Shipping in the eighth century B.C.
Pages: 33–65
The new Greek sea-powers of the sixth century B.C
Pages: 66–102
The invention of the trireme and the creation of the Persian navy
Pages: 103–129
The trireme in Hellas: Themistokles? navy bill and the Persians
Pages: 130–164
Epilogue
Pages: 165–168
The crews of Greek and Persian triremes
Pages: 169–185
Bibliography
Pages: 187–193
Index of ancient authors cited
Pages: 195–201
General Index
Pages: 202–217
Illustrations
Pages: p1–p13
Supplements to Mnemosyne
By: A.D. Leeman, C.J. Ruijgh, and H.W. Pleket
Pages: 219–222

Ships and Sea-Power before the Great Persian War : The Ancestry of the Ancient Trireme

by: Wallinga, H.T.

• ISBN-13: 9789004096509 / 978-90-04-09650-9
• ISBN-03: 9004096507 / 90-04-09650-7
• E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1992