Trireme Olympias

The Final Report

Boris Rankov

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2012
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• eBook ISBN:
  9781842178607
• Subtopic: Greek Ancient History
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This volume represents the final publication of the Olympias project, which saw the building of a full-scale reconstruction of a 170-oared Athenian trireme of the 4th century BC and its operation in five series of sea-trials in the Aegean Sea. The first three sea-trials in 1987, 1988 and 1990 have already been published in separate volumes (the last two by Oxbow) and this completes the series with reports of the 1992 and 1994 trials. The 1992 report by Paul Lipke of Trireme Trust USA, which collaborated with the Trireme Trust in the operation of the ship, offers an alternative view of the project as a whole from that presented in previous reports. The rest of the volume is devoted to some twenty-six papers presenting more recent research on the trireme, some of them originally presented at a conference held in Oxford and Henley in 1998. One group of papers by Timothy Shaw and John Coates presents the argument for making relatively small adjustments to the hull and oar-system of Olympias , which would enable the crew to generate far more power and so match the performance under oar which is implied by the ancient sources. The papers, therefore show the detailed thinking behind the modifications proposed in the second edition of The Athenian Trireme (2000). Another set of papers offers further critiques of the project, some positive and some sceptical and hostile. A third group investigates aspects of operation and performance under both oar and sail, including slipping and launching, the ancient evidence for speed under oar and physiological aspects of the ship's "human engine". A fourth group looks at aspects of construction and maintenance and a final set of papers presents some of the latest research inspired by the project, including an investigation of the effects of ramming, a reconsideration of the evidence for the dimensions of the ancient trireme and the modelling of battle manoeuvres based on the data produced by the trials of Olympias .

Table of contents

• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction and Summaries
• 1. Olympias 1992 Trials Report
• 2. Olympias on the Thames, 1993
• 3. Report of the 1994 Sea Trials of the Trireme Olympias
• 4. The Slow Trireme Experience in Olympias in 1994
• 5. Olympias at the Olympics, 2004
• 6. Preface to the Proposals for a Revised Design
• 7. From the Golden Horn to Heraclea: duration of the passage in calm weather
• 8. The Performance of Ancient Triremes in Wind and Waves
• 9. Towards a Revised Design of a Greek Trireme of the Fourth Century BC: advantages of a long stroke
• 10. The Proposed Design of any Second Reconstruction
• 11. As Seen by a Passer-by
• 12. Comments on Olympias
• 13. Comments on Olympias
• 14. The Reconstructed Trireme Olympias and her Critics
• 15. Beyond Olympias: an outsider’s view
• 16. An Unauthentic Reconstruction
• 17. On Slipping and Launching Triremes from the Peiraeus Shipsheds and from Beaches
• 18. Olympias Under Sail, and other Performance Matters: a practical seaman’s perspective
• 19. On the Speed of Ancient Oared Ships: the crossing of L. Aemilius Paullus from Brindisi
• 20. Xenophon on the Speed of Triremes
• 21. Triereis under Oar and Sail
• 22. Human Mechanical Power Sustainable in Rowing a Ship for Long Periods of Time
• 23. Paleo-bioenergetics: clues to the maximum sustainable speed of a trireme under oar
• 24. Uniformity or Multiplicity? On Vitruvius’ interscalmium
• 25. The Effect of Bilge Water on Displacement, Vertical Centre of Gravity and Metacentric Height of Olympias in the Trial Condition
• 26. Trireme Life Span and Leakage: a wood technologist’s perspective
• 27. Triremes and Shipworm
• 28. Cordone, Contracordone and Hypozomata
• 29. Collision Damage in Triremes
• 30. The Dimensions of the Ancient Trireme: a reconsideration of the evidence
• 31. Battle Manoeuvres for Fast Triremes