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Transport in Ancient Greece: Ships of Ancient Greece, Diolkos, Athenian Sacred Ships, Bireme, Paralus, Penteconter, Sacred Way, Holkos

Item  9781157965541
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Paperback (General Books; Nov 24 2010)
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Transport in Ancient Greece: Ships of Ancient Greece, Diolkos, Athenian Sacred Ships, Bireme, Paralus, Penteconter, Sacred Way, Holkos
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Diolkos (, from the Greek , dia "across" and , holkos "portage") was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth. The short cut allowed ancient vessels to avoid the dangerous circumnavigation of the Peloponnese peninsula. The line "as fast as one from Corinth", penned by the popular comic playwright Aristophanes, indicate that the trackway was regarded as common knowledge and had acquired a certain reputation for swiftness. The main function of the Diolkos was the transfer of goods, although in times of war it also became a preferred means of speeding up naval campaigns. The 6 km (3.7 mi) to 8.5 km (5.3 mi) long roadway was a rudimentary form of railway, and operated from ca. 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD. The scale on which the Diolkos combined the two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships remained unique in antiquity. The Diolkos saved ships sailing from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea a dangerous sea journey round the Peloponnese, whose three headlands had a reputation for gales, especially Cape Matapan and Cape Malea. By contrast, both the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf were relatively sheltered waters. In addition, the overland passage of the Isthmus, a neck of land 6.4 km (4.0 mi) wide at its narrowest, offered a much shorter route to Athens for ships sailing to/from the Ionian coast of Greece. Excavated western end close to the Gulf of CorinthAncient literature is silent on the date of the construction of the Diolkos. For Thucydides (460 BC395 BC) the Diolkos already seemed to be something ancient. Excavated letters and associated pottery found at the site indicate a construction date at the end of the 7th or b... More:
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