Editing Trireme (section)

==Crew==
The total complement (''plērōma'') of the ship was about 200.<ref>Thucydides VI.8, VIII.29.2</ref><ref>Xenophon, ''Hellenica'', I.5.3–7</ref> These were divided into the 170 rowers (''eretai''), who provided the ship's motive power, the deck crew headed by the trierarch and a marine detachment. The [[trierarch]] would be situated in the rear of the ship, and relay orders to the rest of the crew via the rowmaster. For the crew of Athenian triremes, the ships were an extension of their democratic beliefs. Rich and poor rowed alongside each other. [[Victor Davis Hanson]] argues that this "served the larger civic interest of acculturating thousands as they worked together in cramped conditions and under dire circumstances."<ref>Hanson (2006), p. 252</ref>

During the Peloponnesian War, there were a few variations to the typical crew layout of a trireme. One was a drastically reduced number of oarsmen, so as to use the ship as a troop transport. The thranites would row from the top benches while the rest of the space, below, would be filled with [[hoplites]]. In another variation, the Athenians used 10 or so trireme for transporting horses.<ref>Hanson (2006), p. 257</ref> Such triremes had 60 oarsmen, and rest of the ship was for horses.

The trireme was designed for day-long journeys, with no capacity to stay at sea overnight, or to carry the provisions needed to sustain its crew overnight. Each crewman required 2 gallons (7.6 l) of fresh drinking water to stay hydrated each day, but it is unknown quite how this was stored and distributed.<ref>Hanson (2006), p. 258</ref> This meant that all those aboard were dependent upon the land and peoples of wherever they landed each night for supplies. Sometimes this would entail traveling up to eighty kilometres in order to procure provisions. In the [[Peloponnesian War]], the beached Athenian fleet was caught unawares on more than one occasion, while out looking for food ([[Battle of Syracuse (415 BC)|Battle of Syracuse]] and [[Battle of Aegospotami]]). Cities visited, which suddenly found themselves needing to provide for large numbers of sailors, usually did not mind the extra business, though those in charge of the fleet had to be careful not to deplete them of resources.<ref>Hanson (2006), p. 259</ref>

===Trierarch===
In Athens, the ship's patron was known as the [[trierarch]] (''triērarchos''). He was a wealthy Athenian citizen (usually from the class of the ''[[pentacosiomedimni|pentakosiomedimnoi]]''), responsible for manning, fitting out and maintaining the ship for his liturgical year at least; the ship itself belonged to Athens. The ''triērarchia'' was one of the [[Liturgy (ancient Greece)|liturgies]] of ancient Athens; although it afforded great prestige, it constituted a great financial burden, so that in the 4th century, it was often shared by two citizens, and after 397 BC it was assigned to special boards.

===Deck crew===
The deck and command crew (''hypēresia'') was headed by the helmsman, the ''kybernētēs'', who was always an experienced seaman and was often the commander of the vessel. These experienced sailors were to be found on the upper levels of the triremes. Other officers were the bow lookout (''prōreus'' or ''prōratēs''), the boatswain (''keleustēs''), the quartermaster (''pentēkontarchos''), the shipwright (''naupēgos''), the piper (''aulētēs'') who gave the rowers' rhythm and two superintendents (''toicharchoi''), in charge of the rowers on each side of the ship. What constituted these sailors' experience was a combination of superior rowing skill (physical stamina and/or consistency in hitting with a full stroke) and previous battle experience. The sailors were likely in their thirties and forties.<ref>A War Like No Other, pp. 238–239</ref> In addition, there were ten sailors handling the masts and the sails.<ref>Fields (2007), pp. 14–15</ref>

===Rowers===
[[File:Trireme cut-fr.svg|300px|right|Depiction of the position and angle of the [[rower]]s in a trireme. The form of the ''parexeiresia'', projecting from the deck, is clearly visible.]]

In the ancient navies, crews were composed not of [[galley slave]]s but of free men. In the Athenian case in particular, service in ships was the integral part of the military service provided by the lower classes, the ''[[thetes|thētai]]'', although [[metics]] and hired foreigners were also accepted.<ref>Rachel L. Sargent, "The Use of Slaves by the Athenians in Warfare", ''Classical Philology'', Vol. 22, No. 3 (Jul. 1927), pp. 264–279 (266–268)</ref><ref>Ruschenbusch, Eberhard, "Zur Besatzung athenischer Trieren“, ''Historia'', Vol. 28 (1979), pp. 106–110 (106 & 110)</ref> Although it has been argued that slaves formed part of the rowing crew in the [[Sicilian Expedition]],<ref>A. J. Graham, "Thucydides 7.13.2 and the Crews of Athenian Triremes", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'', Vol. 122 (1992), pp. 257–270 (258–262)</ref> a typical Athenian trireme crew during the Peloponnesian War consisted of 80 citizens, 60 metics and 60 foreign hands.<ref>Ruschenbusch, Eberhard, "Zur Besatzung athenischer Trieren“, ''Historia'', Vol. 28 (1979), pp. 106–110 (110)</ref> Indeed, in the few emergency cases where slaves were used to crew ships, these were deliberately [[freedman|set free]], usually before being employed.<ref>Casson (1991), p. 188</ref> For instance, the tyrant [[Dionysius I of Syracuse]] once set all slaves of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] free to man his galleys, employing thus freedmen, but otherwise relied on citizens and foreigners as oarsmen.<ref>Rachel L. Sargent, "The Use of Slaves by the Athenians in Warfare", ''Classical Philology'', Vol. 22, No. 3 (July 1927), pp. 264–279 (277)</ref>

In the Athenian navy, the crews enjoyed long practice in peacetime, becoming skilled professionals and ensuring Athens' supremacy in naval warfare. The rowers were divided according to their positions in the ship into ''thranitai'', ''zygitai'', and ''thalamitai''. According to the excavated Naval Inventories, lists of ships' equipment compiled by the Athenian naval boards, there were:
* 62 ''thranitai'' in the top row (''thranos'' means "deck"). They rowed through the ''parexeiresia'', an outrigger which enabled the inclusion of the third row of oars without significant increase to the height and loss of stability of the ship. Greater demands were placed upon their strength and synchronization than on those of the other two rows.<ref name=Fields13>Fields (2007), p. 13</ref>
* 54 ''zygitai'' in the middle row, named after the beams (''zygoi'') on which they sat.<ref name="Fields13" />
* 54 ''thalamitai'' or ''thalamioi'' in the lowest row, (''thalamos'' means "hold"). Their position was certainly the most uncomfortable, being underneath their colleagues and also exposed to the water entering through the oarholes, despite the use of the ''askōma'', a leather sleeve through which the oar emerged.<ref>Fields (2007), pp. 13–14</ref>

Most of the rowers (108 of the 170 – the ''zygitai'' and ''thalamitai''), due to the design of the ship, were unable to see the water and therefore, rowed blindly,<ref name="Hanson 2006, p. 240">Hanson (2006), p. 240</ref> therefore coordinating the rowing required great skill and practice. It is not known exactly how this was done, but there are literary and visual references to the use of gestures and pipe playing to convey orders to rowers. In the sea trials of the reconstruction ''[[Olympias (trireme)|Olympias]]'', it was evident that this was a difficult problem to solve, given the amount of noise that a full rowing crew generated. In [[Aristophanes]]' play ''[[The Frogs]]'' two different rowing chants can be found: "''ryppapai''" and "''o opop''", both corresponding quite well to the sound and motion of the oar going through its full cycle.<ref>Morrison, Coats & Rankov (2000), pp. 248–250</ref>

===Marines===
A varying number of marines (''epibatai''), usually 10–20, were carried aboard for boarding actions. At the [[Battle of Salamis]], each Athenian ship was recorded to have 14 [[hoplites]] and 4 archers (usually [[Scythians|Scythian]] mercenaries) on board,<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Parallel Lives'' Themistocles XIV</ref> but [[Herodotus]] narrates that the [[Chios|Chiots]] had 40 hoplites on board at [[Battle of Lade|Lade]]<ref>Herodotus, VI.15.2</ref> and that the Persian ships carried a similar number.<ref>Herodotus, VII.184.2</ref> This reflects the different practices between the Athenians and other, less professional navies. Whereas the Athenians relied on speed and maneuverability, where their highly trained crews had the advantage, other states favored boarding, in a situation that closely mirrored the one that developed during the [[First Punic War]]. Grappling hooks would be used both as a weapon and for towing damaged ships (ally or enemy) back to shore. When the triremes were alongside each other, marines would either spear the enemy or jump across and cut the enemy down with their swords.<ref name="Hanson 2006, p. 254">Hanson (2006), p. 254</ref> As the presence of too many heavily armed hoplites on deck tended to destabilize the ship, the ''epibatai'' were normally seated, only rising to carry out any boarding action.<ref>Fields (2007), p. 15</ref> The hoplites belonged to the middle social classes, so that they came immediately next to the trierarch in status aboard the ship.