History of North America

Why is a trireme called trireme?

Trireme means "three-rower" in Latin, and it refers to the three rows of oarsmen that were used on ancient Greek and Roman warships. Each row of oarsmen sat on a different level of the ship, with the top row being the highest and the bottom row being the lowest. The top row of oarsmen used the longest oars, and the bottom row used the shortest oars. This arrangement allowed the ship to achieve a high speed, as the oarsmen could row in unison. Triremes were also very maneuverable, as they could be turned quickly by using the oars on one side of the ship to row forward and the oars on the other side to row backward.