532 REPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



that event the walls, unsupported by couuectiiig beams, were apt to 

 become loosened from their holds and cause the whole structure to 

 collapse. 



In order to prevent this sinking of the prows the (jirding was applied, 

 consisting in the tying of the ship by means of a stout cable, the hypo- 

 zome (tormentum). Many views have been expressed as to the nature 

 and the application of the hypozome.' 



According to the theory which is most consistent with the accounts 

 given in the ancient literature'^ the girding was performed by a single 

 or doable cable fastened to the heavy plaited rings surrounding vStem 

 and stern posts, often met with in ancient illustrations^ and running 

 upon stout crutch like sui)ports, being probably tightened by jmlleys 

 as soon as the connections began to loosen from continued simr thrusts 

 or by heavy seas. 



The sticks forming the supports for the hypozome, and whicli accord- 

 ing to ancient accounts were part of the articles of equipment of a ship, 

 have heretofore been tlumght to be lateral supports of the mast.* 



The most terrible weapon of the ancient war shij) was the spur, a 

 structure projecting from the bow, covered with iron or coi)i)er, prol)- 

 ably an invention of the Plnenicians, wiiose vessels carried it 700 B. C. 

 It was at first ])laced below the water line, but in the ancient Greek 

 ships it was placed above the water ^ at a point where keel, stem- 

 post, strutframes, and wales centered their combined force, in order to 

 make the destructive thrust as effective as possible. 



The effective application of the oar is dependent on the ]>roportion 

 of the inner to the outer lever, which has been found to be the most 

 satisfactorily accomplished with a proportion of 1 : 2-3." 



For determination of size but very insutticient data exist, i)rincipally 

 in the length and width of the ship sheds,' which, however, can be but 

 relatively correct, since alongside of the ship articles belonging to it 

 had to be stored. A scale is also found in a x>assage by Vitruvius," 



' Scheffer: De militia navali, i, 4, p. 48, Upsala, 1654 ; Le Roy: Troisieme memoir 

 snr la marine dos ancieus, Ilistoire de I'Acadeiiiic, xxxviii, p. 589, Paris, 1777; 

 Schncidrr: Vitriiv., x, 15, 6, Leipzig, 1808; Boeckh: Urkunden,p. 134; Bef/er: Thesaur. 

 Brand., iii, 40t>; Moulfancon: L'antiiinitc expliqn6, iv, 2, p. 214, pi. 134; Smith: 

 Hehiffbau der Grieclien und Kiimer, p. 30; Breiisltu/: Nautik der Alten, p. 171; 

 Assmann: Jalirb. d. K. D. Inst., 1889, 2 Heft, p. 99, 100; Gmser (Dumicheu): Flotte 

 eiuer iigyptischen Kiinigeu; Assmann: Seewesen, pp. 1594, 1604, 1614; Banmeister: 

 Deukmiiler d. Klass. Altertb., iii, p. 1.593, 1604, tig. 1671; Musee de Marine du Lonvre, 

 ]). 8; Berlin. Piiil. Wocheuschrift, 1889, Nos. 31, 32; Droi/sen: Griechische Kriegsal- 

 terth., p. 259; Brcnsing: Die Lrisuug der Tricrenfrage, p. 26. 



-Assmann: Seewesen, p. 1.594, 1604. 1614. 



^Banmeister: Uenkmiiler d. Klass. Altortli. iii, p. 1604. 



"Berl. pbilol. Wocbensehrift, 1889, No. 16, 31, 32. 



■'Assmann: Seewesen, p. 1613. 



^Assmann: Seewesen, ]>. 160S. 



'' Droysen: Griecliiscdie Kriegsaltertbiimer, p. 279. 



'^I'itrnrins : de arcdiitectnra, i, 2, 4, "in navibns ex interscalmis, qnod (^inr/xoix'/ 

 dicitur;" see Marcns Meibomius: De fabrica triremium. Amstelod., 1671,re2)rinted; 

 Qraevius: Thesaur. antiq, Rom., xii, 553, 573, 



