BBC DocumentariesThe Trireme Quest
TV-PG
1987 • E5 5 gru 1987 60 minFifty years ago Professor
John Morrison dreamed of rediscovering the secrets of the Greek Trireme. The design of this legendary warship - powered by 170 oarsmen and with a deadly battering ram - had long been forgotten. But the triremes had once given the Greeks supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean and allowed their culture to flourish.
This year, after a lifetime of detective work among the art and literature of the ancient world, this gentle Cambridge scholar saw his dream come true. A replica, based on his findings, was built - and a trireme put to sea in the Aegean again for the first time in 2,000 years.
John Morrison dreamed of rediscovering the secrets of the Greek Trireme. The design of this legendary warship - powered by 170 oarsmen and with a deadly battering ram - had long been forgotten. But the triremes had once given the Greeks supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean and allowed their culture to flourish.
This year, after a lifetime of detective work among the art and literature of the ancient world, this gentle Cambridge scholar saw his dream come true. A replica, based on his findings, was built - and a trireme put to sea in the Aegean again for the first time in 2,000 years.
