a curve, most frequently ter- minated by an ornament rep- resenting the head of a water- fowl bent backwards. This w<is termed the apclustrc or ehe- niscus {■)({]7'ir7KOi\ from xijv, a goose); or by a head in pro- file, probably suggestive of the •sign {Trapdcrij^iov, Acts xxviii, 11) or name of the ship. Out- side of the.se ornaments were projections at each end, which increased the dimensions with- out adiling to the capacity or tonnage of the vessels. This must be kept in mind in es- timating the relative size of ancient and modern ships. On ._ J, ^ ^ ^ ^ '^~^ the stern-projections we some-
'^ ^J J times sec an awniug repre-
Ancient Egyptian War-ga)Iey; the sail being clewed up during the action. (Thebes.) gp^ted, as in the ship on the
a, raised forecastle, in which the archers were posted: (.another pont for the archers, aud the pilot. (2: . i .. i> •• i .v
r. a bulwark, to protect the rowers;/, stingers, iu the top. tomb at 1 OmpCIl ; aiul On the
SHIP
695
SHIP
Ancient Ship. (From a painting at Pompeii.)
corresponding projections at the bow, we are informed by Liician, in his description of an Alexandrian sliip, that the anchors were stowed, and also the ryrpo- (peia and Tvepiayioytlt;. The arpofpua may be inter- preted capstans for heaving up the anchors, and the tte- piaywytig oars or paddles for helping the ship round when " slack in stays," rendered by Hedericus " instru- mentum ad circumagendam navem." In the picture of Theseus deserting Adriadne, from Herculaneum, we see the cable coiled round a capstan near the stern. We see also the roof of one of the o/o/o-f ic, or cabins, mentioned bj- Lucian in his description of the ship of Alexandria. It will be observed that the mode of furl- ing the sails like a window-curtain, more fully indicated in another figure, is marked bj- the outline of the sole or lower edge of the sail. Of two other customary or- naments, however, one is probably implied, and the sec- ond is distinctly mentioned in the account of Paul's voyage. That personification of ships which seems to be instinctive led the ancients to paint an ej'e on each side of the bow. Such is the custom still in the Med- iterranean, and indeed our own sailors speak of " the eyes" of a ship. This gives vividness to the word aiT- o03aX//£7i', which is used (Acts xxvii, 15) where it is said that the vessel could not "bear up into" (literally "look at") the wind. This was the vessel in which Paul was wrecked. An ornament of that which took him on from Malta to Pozzuoli is more explicitly re- ferred to. The "sign" of that ship (irapd(n]iiov, Acts xxviii, 11) was "Castor and Pollux" (lucida sidera — brilliant constellations, auspicious to navigators, Horace, Od. i, 3; Liv. xxxvii, 92; Tacit. Aim. vi, 34; Ovid, Trist. i, 10, 1) •, and the symbols of these heroes (proba- bly in the form represented in the coin engraved under that article) were doubtless painted or sculptured on each side of the bow, as was the case with the goddess Isis on Lucian's ship (»'/ npwpa Tt)v tmovvfiov rijc VEilic; ^ebv txovaa rrjv 'Ian' eKarepio^tv, Navig. c. 5). The Rev. George Brown found an inscription at Port Phenia which had been on an ancient building, superintended by an Alexandrian gubernator {Kiil5epvr]Ti)c, Acts xxvii, 11), of the ship whose sign was " Isopharia." In the list of the Attic fleet we find names like those of the mod- erns, such as "Agatha," " Amphitrite," "Aura," " Delia," " Lyra," " Europa," " Centaur," " Roma," etc.
2. Masts, Sails, Ropes or Rigrjing, Yards, Oars, etc. — These, in distinction from the hull or vessel itself, were collectively called cKtvi] or <jKtvi],gear {ja Se avfinav- ra (TKtvt) KaXsTrai, .Tul. Poll.). We find this word twice used for parts of the rigging in the narrative of the Acts (xxvii, 17, 19). The rig of an ancient ship was more simple and clumsy than that employed in modern times. Its great feature was one large mast, with one large square sail fastened to a yard of great length. Such was the rig also of the ships of the Northmen at a later period. Hence the strain upon the hull and the danger of starting the planks were greater than under the present system, which distributes the me- chanical pressure more evenly over the whole ship. Not that there were never more masts than one, or more sails than one on the same mast, in an ancient
merchantman. But these were repetitions, so to speak, of the same general unit of rig. In the account of Paul's shipwreck very explicit mention is made of the apreiMov (Acts xxvii, 40 ), which is undoubtedly the " foresail" (not " mainsail," as in the A. V.). Such a sail would be almost necessary in putting a large ship about. On that occasion it was used in the process of running the vessel aground. Nor is it out of place here to quote a Crimean letter in the Times (Dec. 5, 1855) : " The ' Lord Raglan' [merchant-ship] is on shore, but taken there in a most sailorlike manner. Directly her captain found he could not save her, he cut away his mainmast and mizzen, and, setting a topsail on her foremast, ?'an her ashore stem on," Such a mast may be seen raking over the bow, in representations of ships in Roman coins. In the Old Test, the mast (loroc) is mentioned (Isa. xxxiii, 23) ; and from another prophet (Ezek. xxvii, 5) we learn that the cedar-wood from Leb- anon was sometimes used for this part of ships. There is a third passage (Prov. xxiii, 34, ban dxn) where the top of a ship's mast is probably intended, though there is some slight doubt on the subject, and the Sept. takes the phrase differently. Both ropes {(f)^oivia. Acts xxvii, 32) and sails (itrWa) are mentioned in the above -quoted passage of Isaiah; and from Ezekiel (xxvii, 7) we learn that the latter were often made of Egyptian linen (if such is the meaning of arpiof^Lvi]). Tiiere the word T^;aXffw (which we find also in Acts xxvii, 17, 30) is used for lowering the sail from the yard. It is interesting here to notice that the word vTroaTiWofiai, the technical term for furling a sail, is twice used by Paul, and that in an address delivered in a seaport in the course of a voj'age (Acts xx, 20, 27). It is one of the very few cases in which the apostle em- ploys a nautical metaphor. The annexed cut, from a marble in the Borghese collection at Rome, gives a good idea of the relative size and position of the sails, al- though in other respects the details are incorrect. It will be observed from this, as well as from the figure of the ship from the tomb at Pompeii, the sails are divided into compartments by ropes sewed across them; so that should the sail be torn in a storm, the injury would be confined to one of the squares. The name of the great and proper mast (o fi'tyaq Ka'i yvljaioq laroc) was aca- tion [aKuTiov) ; the mast at the stern epidromus, ac- cording to Julius Pollux, who adds that the smallest was called dolon, without, however, mentioning its posi- tion. Isidore of Seville gives the same names to the sails in a passage evidently taken from the foregoing, which is as follows: "Acatium velum maximum et in medium navi constitutum, epidromus secundaj amplitu- dinis sed ad puppim. Dolon minimum velum et ad pro- ram artemo dirigendce potius navis causa commendatum quam celeritate." It has generalh' been supposed by this that the sail at the bow was called the dolon. Mr. Smith, however, in his essay has shown, by numerous extracts from ancient authors, that the dolones were