Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/116

 Other writers insist that the oars, by reason of their length, would be unmanageable; but in approaching the question of rowing such ponderous vessels, which more properly belongs to and shall be treated of in a subsequent portion of this work, it will be found that the oars described by Callixenus are not longer than those which have been used in galleys, of which authentic accounts exist. It may be denied that four thousand men could have been made available as oarsmen in any vessel; but if it be possible to work the upper bank of oars, which shall hereafter be shown to be practicable, it will be found on examining the drawing and number of oar-ports, that with ten men to each oar, two thousand rowers could be placed at their stations on each side of the vessel, or, in all, "four thousand rowers," as described by Callixenus.

Nor was this the only vessel of huge dimensions constructed during the reign of the Ptolemies. Callixenus describes another, the Thalamegus, or the "carrier of the bed-chamber" which was half a stadium (three hundred feet) in length, thirty cubits wide, and forty cubits high. From his elaborate description we learn that she was fitted with every conceivable luxury, and in a style of magnificence much superior to that of any other ship or floating structure of the period; with "colonnades," "marble stairs," and "gardens," whence it may safely be concluded that this vessel was never meant for seagoing purposes. But there is no reason to question her existence. Such a vessel might have remained moored on the Nile, or on one of the great lakes or canals, as a pleasant place of resort during the hottest months of an Egyptian summer.