The size of her ships as described by Herodotus.
The superiority of Athens was, however, due to
political rather than commercial causes; and her
people were chiefly famed for their daring and
prowess as warriors at sea. To the Athenians,
Greece was mainly indebted for her freedom from
the Persian yoke. It was the Athenian fleet that
resisted successfully the gigantic navy of Xerxes;
and the description of this fleet, by Herodotus, is
almost the only information we possess with regard
to the size of Greek ships, and of the relative
maritime power of the different Greek states. Describing
the naval force which defeated the Persian
fleet off the promontory of Artemisium, Herodotus
states:[1]—"The Greeks engaged in the sea-service
were these. The Athenians furnished one hundred
and twenty-seven vessels to the fleet; but the Platæans,
from a spirit of valour and zeal, though inexperienced
in the sea-service, assisted the Athenians
in manning the ships. The Corinthians furnished
forty ships, the Megarians twenty; the Chalcideans
manned twenty, the Athenians having furnished them
with ships; the Æginetans eighteen; the Sicyonians
- [Footnote: oar cost 5 drachmæ (Andoc. p. 81); and Lucian, Dial. de Mort. 4,
charges the anchor for Charon's boat at 3 dr. The tropoter cost 2 obols; a needle for sewing the sail, 3 obols; and the pitch, wax, nails, &c, 2 drachmæ more. Again, Demosthenes speaks of a bottomry bond of 3000 drachmæ; and Polyænus states, generally, that a ship cost a talent. Usually the State found the hull, and the trierarch the fittings. In the naval service the pay and the provisions were generally joined together: 20 minæ was good pay for a month, and the complement of a trireme about 200 men; the proportion of sailors, rowers, and fighting men varying considerably at different times. The thranitæ got the best pay (Arnold's note, Thucyd. vi. 43). The whole equipment of shipping (for war) was under the control of trierarchs (Böckh, Publ. Economy of Athens, bk. iv. c. 11).]
- ↑ Herodotus, book viii. ch. 1 and 2.
