this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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"Row, you dogs! Row!"
It really reinforces just how little space aboard those pre-Age of Sail ships there really is. Just about enough to lay down. I remember reading about later medieval ships during the Crusades where crew and/or passengers would sleep on the deck, because there wasn't enough of a hold.
Think about it. The rowers were slaves with their hands shackled to the oars for days on end.
The bottom of a trireme would have been covered in shit and piss.
Galleys were about the worst slavery job out there, except maybe the mines. I bet this is pretty similar to that.
Nah, both Greeks and Romans preferred free men, freedmen, and citizens for rowers. Rowers in the Graeco-Roman period were professionals who needed to tightly coordinate during combat - slaves could not be relied upon to give that kind of peak-effort.
Some medieval and early modern galleys would use rowing slaves chained to their benches but they were moving much heavier ships, and usually multiple men to a single oar, and needed more raw strength than coordination.
TIL. Although I don't know if that changes much, regarding the shit and piss situation.