Pentecontere

The Pentekontere ( Greek πεντεκόντορος "fifty oars") was an ancient Greek type of ship with 25 rowers on each side. Penteconters were about 30 to 40 meters long and about 4 meters wide. They were a common type of rowing ship ( longship ) during the archaic period of Greece. Pentekonteren were among the first ships with a ram .

Mural from a temple in Nymphaion (Crimea) , today in the Hermitage (Saint Petersburg)

A similar ship with 30 rowers is a Triakontere .

The successors to the fifty oars were the Diere and Trieres , in which the rowers were arranged in two or three rows one above the other while being of the same length, making the ships much more agile. The trireme was built around 680 BC. Developed by the Corinthian shipbuilder Ameinocles . The Pentekontere was an early form of the galley, which was quite long, narrow and flat. Due to their sleek design, attempts were made to build up the highest possible speed for pile driving maneuvers. In addition to the oars, the ship was equipped with a rectangular sail.

There are opinions that the ancient Greeks only succeeded with trireme to counter the unfavorable currents and the headwind in the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus and to penetrate into the Black Sea with their ships. According to this, the earliest Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast could only be found after 680 BC. Have been founded. On the other hand, A. John Graham showed, among others , that journeys through the straits into the Black Sea even before the early 7th century BC BC were not impossible if one waited for more favorable winds and knew some fairways in which the current is less strong or even contrary.

Web links

Mythical ship: researchers repeat Argonaut voyage. In: Spiegel Online . September 14, 2006(report on the reconstruction of the Argonaut Pentekontere).; accessed on June 20, 2019

Individual evidence

↑ Greek Pentekontere . In: Military knowledge . November 10, 2015 ( militaer-wissen.de [accessed on August 11, 2017]).
↑ First represented by Rhys Carpenter : The Greek Penetration of the Black Sea , AJA 52, 1948, pp. 1-10, which describes the invention of the trireme in the early 7th century BC. Dated; see also Greek Pentekontere . In: Military knowledge . November 10, 2015 ( militaer-wissen.de [accessed on August 11, 2017]).
↑ Alexander John Graham: The Date of the Greek Penetration of the Black Sea. , BICS 5, 1958, pp. 25-42 .; previously some arguments with Benjamin w. Labaree: How the Greeks Sailed into the Black Sea , AJA 61, 1957, pp. 29-33.

[1] Greek Pentekontere . In: Military knowledge . November 10, 2015 ( militaer-wissen.de [accessed on August 11, 2017]).

[2] First represented by Rhys Carpenter : The Greek Penetration of the Black Sea , AJA 52, 1948, pp. 1-10, which describes the invention of the trireme in the early 7th century BC. Dated; see also Greek Pentekontere . In: Military knowledge . November 10, 2015 ( militaer-wissen.de [accessed on August 11, 2017]).

[3] Alexander John Graham: The Date of the Greek Penetration of the Black Sea. , BICS 5, 1958, pp. 25-42 .; previously some arguments with Benjamin w. Labaree: How the Greeks Sailed into the Black Sea , AJA 61, 1957, pp. 29-33.