04-04-2005, 01:39 PM
I know a fellow who went to Greece to row on the Olympias a few years ago. Sounds like a fascinating vacation!<br>
<br>
But I think the reconstruction is incorrect on a couple points. In his book "The Ship", Bjorn Landstrom concludes that the upper 2 rows of oarsmen were actually on the same seat, the inner man's oar going out through a lower port than the outer man's. The lowest tier of rowers sat below and between the upper two. It makes a very compact arrangement and greatly reduces the height and bulk of the ship. Now, I'm not sure how much 3-dimensional testing has been done with this arrangement! It seems to work in his cross-sectional illustrations, but no idea if it works in real life.<br>
<br>
Secondly, there is an old article from Scientific American that shows very clearly that the Greeks used a "sliding seat" method of rowing, similar to early modern racing shells. The bench or seat was actually fixed in place, but the rower had a leather pad strapped to his backside on which he slid back and forth with each stroke. (There is a Greek writer who berates his countrymen for going ashore and hitting the bars with their rowing pads still tied to their butts!) This greatly increases the length of the stroke, and allows the legs to do much of the work. THAT gives you some speed! On modern racing shells, the seat itself slides on rollers, but same net effect. Note that the Romans did NOT use this method, they just sat there and rowed as on the modern Olympias. So the whole sliding seat method was lost to history until the 19th century.<br>
<br>
Also note that this may make Landstrom's rower arrangement unworkable, but again I don't know for sure.<br>
<br>
Rowers in Classical Greece and Republican Rome were typically from the lower classes because those men were too poor to equip themselves as heavy infantry. Greek hoplites and Roman legionaries (at that time) were drawn from the landed men since they could afford the necessary armor and weapons. The Roman system was very strict regarding the requirements for each specific class on the income scale. The lower classes filled in as light infantry or rowers when necessary.<br>
<br>
Row, row, row! Khairete,<br>
<br>
Matthew <p></p><i></i>
<br>
But I think the reconstruction is incorrect on a couple points. In his book "The Ship", Bjorn Landstrom concludes that the upper 2 rows of oarsmen were actually on the same seat, the inner man's oar going out through a lower port than the outer man's. The lowest tier of rowers sat below and between the upper two. It makes a very compact arrangement and greatly reduces the height and bulk of the ship. Now, I'm not sure how much 3-dimensional testing has been done with this arrangement! It seems to work in his cross-sectional illustrations, but no idea if it works in real life.<br>
<br>
Secondly, there is an old article from Scientific American that shows very clearly that the Greeks used a "sliding seat" method of rowing, similar to early modern racing shells. The bench or seat was actually fixed in place, but the rower had a leather pad strapped to his backside on which he slid back and forth with each stroke. (There is a Greek writer who berates his countrymen for going ashore and hitting the bars with their rowing pads still tied to their butts!) This greatly increases the length of the stroke, and allows the legs to do much of the work. THAT gives you some speed! On modern racing shells, the seat itself slides on rollers, but same net effect. Note that the Romans did NOT use this method, they just sat there and rowed as on the modern Olympias. So the whole sliding seat method was lost to history until the 19th century.<br>
<br>
Also note that this may make Landstrom's rower arrangement unworkable, but again I don't know for sure.<br>
<br>
Rowers in Classical Greece and Republican Rome were typically from the lower classes because those men were too poor to equip themselves as heavy infantry. Greek hoplites and Roman legionaries (at that time) were drawn from the landed men since they could afford the necessary armor and weapons. The Roman system was very strict regarding the requirements for each specific class on the income scale. The lower classes filled in as light infantry or rowers when necessary.<br>
<br>
Row, row, row! Khairete,<br>
<br>
Matthew <p></p><i></i>
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
