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The Hellenistic Giant Galley 'Tessarakonteres' - one of the largest human-powered vessels in history.
Tessarakonteres (in Greek - "forty-rowed"), or simply "forty" - was a very large catamaran galley reportedly built in the Hellenistic period by Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt.
The name "forty" refers not to the number of oars, but to the number of rowers on each column of oars that propelled it, and at the size described it would have been the largest ship constructed in antiquity, and probably the largest human-powered vessel ever built.
These warships resembled to floating fortresses, very similar in size to the modern large battleships and aircraft carriers.
Taking into account the crew needed for the tessarakonteres’ navigation, its officers, its military guards and the rest of the staff, and of course the 4,000 oarsmen, the total personnel of the vessel would be around 6,000 men, the same number with that of a modern carrier’s crew.
The sole advantages of the tessarakonteres were its size and its deck. This kind of vessel, enormous even for the modern standards, was appropriate to demonstrate the power of the Ptolemaic Kingdom to enemies and allies. Additionally, if it was used in military operations its deck could carry catapults of colossal size, and/or large numbers of troops.
According to these descriptions, supported by modern research by Lionel Casson, the enormous size of the vessel made it impractical and it was built only as a prestige vessel, rather than an effective warship.
The use of these enormous polyeres-warships was gradually abandoned by the Hellenistic fleets, due to the high maintenance costs and the difficulty of their navigation.
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APOCALYPSE ANONYMOUS by
ATOSHI ANARKOMOTO