Triremes at rest: On the beach or in the water?

Abstract

We have been fortunate enough to witness in our own time the launching of a reconstruction of an ancient trireme. Questions about the trireme's architecture that had been debated for centuries were definitively resolved by the research that preceded the building of the reconstruction. However, certain aspects of the care and handling of triremes remain to be examined. Among them is the notion that triremes in commission were customarily hauled up onto the beach at night.