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On the construction of the ‘Syracusia’ (Athenaeus V. 207 A-B)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Fik Meijer  and
André Wegener Sleeswyk
André Wegener Sleeswyk
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam University of Groningen
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Extract

It is perhaps significant that one of the more informative texts on ancient shipbuilding predates the period in which Greco-Roman shipping flourished. It is Homer's description of how Odysseus built a ship () on the island of the nymph Calypso, with which he intended to return to his native island of Ithaca (Od. 5.244–57). The text is of exceptional interest because it gives as early as the eighth century B.C. a stepby- step description of the tenon-and-dowel ‘shell-first’ method typical of Greco- Roman ship-building, which has been so amply confirmed in the last few decades by underwater archaeology in the Mediterranean.

Type
Shorter Notes
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , December 1996 , pp. 575 - 578
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1996

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References

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