The most technologically advanced weapon of its day

The trireme.

Capable of going over 9 knots, this ancient vehicle of destruction was the most adaptable weapon system of its day.

170 rowers, 10-15 Soldiers, and more crew manned the ships. Athens in particular represented democracy where rowers of all wealth levels rowed side by side.

The ship is famous through standardized parts, but the complexity of the ships themselves cannot be understated. Over 6000 man days was needed to construct one, and large fleets could have hundreds of ships. They were stringently designed to the strictest engineering principles.

Still, these ships were used thousands of years ago, and some thing had to limit them. They had to be pulled ashore every night to keep the wood from rotting.

Still, the Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Persians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians used the ships to great effect.

In fact, the rise of the Athenian Empire is largely in part due to the dominance of Athens fleet of triremes and triremes and later quiremes were central to Rome’s pacification of the sea.

The main tactics were ramming and boarding with some use of artillery on deck.

The ships even had the power to ward of evil spirits with large eyes painted onto the bows

I present you the trireme:






Apologize, it may not have been wood rot but something to do with the wood bloating from water