Product Description

'The work that gave me most pleasure last year was undoubtedly the on-going Conway's History of the Ship...intoxicating' Jan Morris in The Independent. The Age of the Galley charts the development from the earliest paleolithic craft to the classical tireme and its Roman and Byzantine successors. As a warship, the galley survived the coming of the three masted sailing ship, and later chapters are devoted to its mediaeval and Renaissance successors. An unprecedented line-up of over one hundred leading maritime historians and specialists from around the world has been assembled to ensure that the work is informative, authoritative and fully international in it outlook. Essays are also included on related but more general aspects and themes of the period under review such as material resources, battle tactics, shipbuilding, gunnery, exploration or technology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #372260 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'The work that gave me most pleasure [last year] was undoubtedly the on-going Conway's History of the Ship... intoxicating' Jan Morris in The Independent

About the Author
Professor John Morrison, a distinguished classical scholar and past President of Wolfson College, Cambridge, is probably the world's leading authority on ancient oared craft. He was a leading light in the Olympias trireme project, for which he provided the academic research, and is the co-author (with R T Williams) of Greek Oared Ships, and (with John Coates) of The Athenian Trireme and Greek and Roman Oared Ships.

Customer Reviews

Highly technical, if somewhat confused
A true treatise on the history of the galleys of the 'Middle Sea,' this book dwells almost obsessively on the physics of rowing in the various galley configurations, with an enormous amount of detail into the Greek trireme type in particular. Predominantly, this is because an actual reproduction of a trireme, or what is thought to be a trireme, actually exists, which allows for much examination not available for other types. While this is well and good, I found it to be often intrusive when dealing with other galley types, with the result being that the subject matter tends to jump around a fair bit, not following a logical and progressive flow of information. It would also be of interest if some examples of galley tactics, or discussion of galley actions were included, so as to get a better feel for the subject. While discussions of rowing are certainly required in any tome about galleys, almost nothing is said about sailing techniques and strategies, particularly when applied to the lateen rig. That said, if you are interested in the technical aspects of galleys, with little or no interest in the social or historical context in which they were used for 2000 years, then this is the book for you!