Piraeus – Hellenic Maritime museum. Cute little museum near marina at Piraeus with ship models from about 15 AD onwards. I wish there was more about ancient Greek vessels especially in light of Athens’ naval dominance in 4-5BC. Alas, there was only a small exhibit about the naval Battle of Salamis which took place in 480 BC, between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles, and the Achaemenid Empire under King Xerxes. Other than that, the entry cost of EUR4/adult and EUR2/kid was worth it.
- Word of the day: triremes. A Trireme is an ancient oar-driven warship powered by about 170 oarsmen. It was long and slender, had three tiers of oars and one sail. On the bow was a battering ram that was used to destroy enemy ships. The tip of the ram was made of bronze and could easily slice through the side of a wooden ship. (Source: Wikipedia.)
- The best thing I learned today: triremes were virtually unsinkable. As such, no trireme shipwreck was found, which resulted in very sparse information about this vessel type.
