tration: FIG. 14.--Probable arrangement of oar-ports in ancient
galleys.]

[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Suggested arrangement of oar-ports in an
octoreme.]

It appears to be certain that the oars were not very advantageously
arranged, or proportioned, in the old Greek galleys, or even in the
Roman galleys, till the time of the early Caesars, for we read that the
average speed of the Athenian triremes was 200 stadia in the day. If the
stadium were equal in length to a furlong, and the working day supposed
to be limited to ten hours, this would correspond to a speed of only two
and a half miles an hour. The lengths of the oars in the Athenian
triremes have been already given (p. 42); even those of the upper banks
were extremely short--only, in fact, about a foot longer than those used
in modern 8-oared racing boats. On account of their shortness and the
height above the water at which they were worked, the angle which the
oars made with the water was very steep and consequently
disadvantageous. In the case of the Athenian triremes, this angle must
have been about 23.5 deg.. This statement is confirmed by all the paintings
and sculptures which have come down to us. It is proved equally by the
painting of an Athenian bireme of 500 B.C. shown in Fig. 9, and by the
Roman trireme, founded on the sculptures of Trajan's Column of about 110
A.D., shown in Fig. 16.[11] In fact, it is evident that the ancients,
before the time of the introduction of the Liburnian galley, did not
understand the art of rowing as we do to-day. The celebrated Liburnian
galleys, which were first used by the Romans, for war purposes, at the
battle of Actium under Augustus Caesar, were said to have had a speed of
four times that of the old triremes. The modern galleys used in the
Mediterranean in the seventeenth century are said to have occasionally
made the passage from Naples to Palermo in seventeen hours. This is
equivalent to an average speed of between 11 and 12 miles per hour.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Roman galley. About 110 A.D.]

[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Liburnian galley. Conjectural restoration.]

The timber used by the ancient races on the shores of the Mediterranean
in the construction of their ships appears to have been chiefly fir and
oak; but, in addition to these, many other varieties, such as pitch
pine, elm, cedar, chestnut, ilex, or evergreen oak, ash, and alder, and
even orange wood, appear to have been tried from time to time. They do