m an intermediate stage, situated between the two
tiers of rowers. In the absence of a plan it is not possible to say if
these platforms were floored decks, with openings cut in them, where
necessary, for the legs of the rowers; or if they were simply composed
of longitudinal beams connected by cross-pieces which served as seats,
or benches. The latter arrangement appears to be the more probable.
There are twenty oarsmen a-side, on the lower tier, and, apparently,
nineteen on the upper. No attempt is made by the artist to show more
than the rowers on one side, and, to avoid confusion, those on the two
tiers have their oars on the opposite sides of the galley, and only
one of the blades of the far side is shown. The men of the lower tier
rest their feet against supports fixed to the vertical struts which
support their platform, while those of the upper tier rest theirs,
apparently, upon the intermediate stage. The vessel is provided with a
large and a small ram, and is steered by means of two large paddles.
The prow ornament resembles a snake. In some of its features, notably
in the shape of the ram, the shallowness of the hull, and the height
and number of the stages, this galley resembles the Phoenician boat
of a somewhat later date, described on page 28. The arrangement of the
rowers is, however, totally different in the two cases, those in the
Phoenician vessel being all housed in the hull proper, while those
in the Greek galley are all placed on the stages. It is a curious
coincidence that the two specimens of galleys of the eighth and
seventh centuries B.C., of which we possess illustrations, should both
be provided with these lofty open stages.

[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Archaic Greek bireme. About 800 B.C.]

This Greek bireme, with its shallow hull and lofty, open
superstructure, could hardy have been a seaworthy vessel. The question
arises, What purpose could it have been intended to serve? The rams,
of course, suggest war; but the use of rams appears to have been
pretty general, even in small Greek rowing-boats, and has survived
into our own day in the Venetian gondola. The late Dr. A. S. Murray,
keeper of the Greek and Roman antiquities at the British Museum, who
wrote an account of the vase in the "Journal of Hellenic Studies," is
of opinion that both the subjects on this vase represent processions,
or races, held at the funeral ceremonies o