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Weapons
Since Greece was bordered on three sides by water the Greeks became great shipbuilders. They developed some of the best warships. In about 500 B.C. they developed a warship called the tirireme that had three set rows of oars on each side. The warship was around 125 feet long and 20 feet wide. The crew was over 200 men including 160 men to man the oars and a squad of soldiers It went about eight miles an hour. In the fourth century B.C. the quadriereme was built with four rows of oars on each side followed by the quinqureme with five rows. They just kept getting bigger and bigger. Ancient Greeks knew that a heavy stone that was shot would cause damage but a sling only had a small pouch which couldn't hold a heavy stone. They used lead to make bullets by pouring molten lead into molds that were an inch in diameter. Since they were more streamlined they could be shot with better accuracy. They sometimes etched insults into the molds which would be imprinted on the bullets like: A nasty present. The flame throw is believed to have been first used in 424 B.C. in the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens. It was a hollow log that had a bellows on one end that would blow flaming sulfur, pitch and a gasoline like substance against the walls of the city under attack. They started fighting with flaming arrows in 186 B.C. They were most likelly coated with a mixture ofr sulfur, quicklime, and pitch. In 399 B.C. Dionysius hired men to develop a bow that could shoot heavier arrows than handheld bows. They created the gastraphetes (belly bow). The archer had to brace the handle against his stomach while pulling the bowstring using both arms. Since the archer could use both arms it could be bigger than a regular bow. It shot a heavy arrow about three hundred yards. They later developed a belly bow to throw larger arrows and rocks but it was too big for one man to hold. It sat on a woonden base and the archer turned a winch until it was pulled back far enough to be fired. Philip of Macedon had men develop large weapons that could fire ammunition from far away. They called them katapultos (catapults). They were machines that would shoot large stones and arrows at walls and ships. They were machines that would shoot large stones and arrows at walls and ships. Since they didn't have elastic they used horsehair, animal tendon, and gut.
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