Find of the Day: Bronze Trireme Battering Ram in Piraeus
Before there were Royal Caribbean cruise ships, fierce Greek warships plied the seas
Summer is upon us, and that means hello to the beach and also some lesser known museums. In Athens, the often overlooked Archaeological Museum of Piraeus is home to many wonders, including one of our favorite finds: the remnant of a trireme, the kind of galley used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, most notably the Phoenicians and Greeks.
The trireme is named for its three rows of oars, which were manned with one man per oar. Triremes played a vital role in the Persian Wars, the creation of the Athenian maritime empire and its downfall during the Peloponnesian War.
As Greek Column escorted a visiting American tourist, Leah H., through the museum, she stumbled upon the glass case containing the battering ram and simply said, “Wow.”
Indeed! Rams like this one were fitted to the prows of warships, and were used to rupture the hull of the enemy ship. The preferred method of attack was to come in from astern, with the aim not of creating a single hole, but of rupturing as big a length of the enemy vessel as possible.
Once the triremes were seaworthy they were highly decorated with evil eyes, nameplates, painted figureheads, and various ornaments. At the museum, you can also see one of the ancient evil eyes that adorned a trireme.
Because the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus is one of our favorites, serving up an endless catalogue of ancient Greek maritime coolness, this battering ram is our favorite Greek object of the day.
It’s worth noting that the National Museum of Underwater Antiquities is scheduled to open in Piraeus later this year.
