this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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MORE ROWS OF ROWERS (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by PugJesus to c/historymemes
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The name “forty” refers not to the number of oars, but to the number of rowers on each vertical “column” of oars that propelled it

What the hell, 40 per column, just how many rowers did it have all together?!

Edit: Wow, 4000! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessarakonteres However the controversy section is well worth a read hah.

[–] PugJesus 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ptolemy Philopator built [a ship] of forty banks of oars, which had a length of two hundred and eighty cubits, and a height, to the top of her stern, of forty-eight; she was manned by four hundred sailors, who did no rowing, and by four thousand rowers, and besides these she had room, on her gangways and decks, for nearly three thousand men-at‑arms. But this ship was merely for show; and since she differed little from a stationary edifice on land, being meant for exhibition and not for use, she was moved only with difficulty and danger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessarakonteres

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Yes I'd just found that! That's insane.

At the end though the Controversy section implies it was probably exaggerated. Even as a show vessel it would have been grossly impractical with the technology at the time. Still, it's so fantastical, I love it!