Editing Trireme (section)

===Dimensions===
Excavations of the ship sheds (''neōsoikoi'', νεώσοικοι) at the harbour of Zea in [[Piraeus]], which was the main war harbour of ancient Athens, were first carried out by Dragatsis and [[Wilhelm Dörpfeld]] in the 1880s.<ref>[http://www.rgzm.de/Navis2/Home/HarbourFullTextOutput.cfm?HarbourNR=Piraeus Piraeus: Cantharus, Zea, Munichia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830035442/http://www2.rgzm.de/Navis2/Home/HarbourFullTextOutput.cfm?HarbourNR=Piraeus |date=30 August 2007 }}, from the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum of Mainz</ref> These have provided us with a general outline of the Athenian trireme. The sheds were ca. 40 m long and just 6 m wide. These dimensions are corroborated by the evidence of [[Vitruvius]], whereby the individual space allotted to each rower was 2 [[cubits]].<ref>Vitruvius, ''De architectura'' I.2.4</ref> With the Doric cubit of 0.49 m, this results in an overall ship length of just under 37 m.<ref>Fields (2007), p. 8</ref> The height of the sheds' interior was established as 4.026 metres,{{Citation needed|date=October 2007}} leading to estimates that the height of the hull above the water surface was ca. 2.15&nbsp;metres. Its [[Draft (hull)|draught]] was relatively shallow, about 1&nbsp;metre, which, in addition to the relatively flat keel and low weight, allowed it to be beached easily.{{Citation needed|date=October 2007}}