side. They were arranged, as before stated, in
three tiers, not, however, directly one over the head of another, but
obliquely, each at once above and behind his fellow. Each rower had the
sole management of a single oar, which he worked through a hole pierced
in the side of the vessel. To prevent his oar from slipping he had a
leathern strap, which he twisted round it, and fastened to the thole,
probably by means of a button. The remainder of the crew comprised the
captain, the steersman, the petty officers, and the sailors proper, or
those whose office it was to trim the sails and look to the rigging.
The trireme of Persian times had, in all cases, a mast, and at least one
sail, which was of a square shape, hung across the mast by means of a
yard or spar, like the "square-sail" of a modern vessel. The rudder
was composed of two broad-bladed oars, one on either side of the stern,
united, however, by a cross-bar, and managed by a single steersman. The
central part of a trireme was always decked, and on this deck, which
was generally level with the bulwarks, stood and fought the men-at-arms,
whose business it was to engage the similar force of the enemy.

The weapon of the trireme, with which she was intended chiefly to
attack her foe, was the beak. [PLATE XXXI., Fig. 3.] This consisted of
a projection from the prow of the ship, either above or below the
water-line, strongly shod with a casting of iron, and terminating either
in the head of an animal, or in one or more sharp points. A trireme was
expected, like a modern "ram," to use this implement against the sides
of her adversary's vessels, so as to crush them in and cause the vessels
to sink. Driven by the full force of her oars, which impelled her almost
at the rate of a modern steamer, she was nearly certain, if she struck
her adversary full, to send ship and men to the bottom. She might
also, it is true, greatly damage herself; but, to preclude this, it was
customary to make the whole prow of a trirene exceedingly strong, and,
more particularly, to support it with beams at the side which tended to
prevent the timbers from starting.

Besides triremes, which constituted the bulk of the Persian navy, there
were contained in their fleet various other classes of vessels, as
triaconters, penteconters, cercuri, and others. Triaconters were long,
sharp-keeled ships, shaped very much like a trireme, rowed by thirty
rowers, who sat all upon a level, like the rowers in moder