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 three, quadriremes four, quinqueremes five, and so forth, up to the enormous ship of Ptolemy Philopator, which we have already noticed. But the chief point of controversy has been what constituted a bank.

According to Homer, the Greek fleet at the siege of Troy consisted entirely of uniremes. They were then undecked, with the exception of a platform at each end on which the archers or principal fighting men stood, and were guided by oars or sweeps at both extremities so as to ensure rapid evolution. Pliny states that the Erythræans were the first who built biremes. Various ancient writers give the Corinthians the credit for having been the first to construct triremes. "And now Greece," remarks Thucydides, "began to construct navies and to apply herself more assiduously to nautical affairs. The first who introduced a change in the structure of vessels, so as to form them very nearly in the present mode, are said to have been the Corinthians; and triremes are thought to have been built first for Greece at Corinth. It appears, too, that Ameinocles, a Corinthian shipbuilder, also constructed four such vessels for the Samians."

Although triremes, in the time of Thucydides, and for some centuries afterwards, were more approved for purposes of war than any other description of vessel, the authority of Pliny, Athenæus, Polybius, and others is sufficient proof that vessels of four, five, six, and ten banks of oars were built;—that Alexander increased the number of banks to twelve;*