Mass/weight of a triere

[Jona Lendering]

I will reply later; I guess you're right, although my estimates are lower.

What is your source for 70 tons? Jasper mentions 40. (Frankly, I always confuse several types of tonnage.)

As always, doing the numbers is astonishing, don't we love Antiquity?

Yes! Here's one from my book on Alexander the Great: during the siege of Tyre, according to Diodorus, the Tyrians put sand on shields and heated them until the sand was red-hot, and after that, they threw the hot sand on the attackers. I asked a glassblower, who confirmed that, depending on the structure and components, sand can not turn red until 1400 degrees. However, iron shields will start to melt at 800. How this is is possible, is one of the mysteries of ancient metallurgy.