Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea

The ships of Greek and Roman myth and epic: the Argo, the ships of Odysseus, the ship of Theseus, Aeneas’s fleet and the 1,186 ships gathered at Aulis.

This chapter of Sacred Ships holds 13 ships. For each one we give the source, what happens, and only what the text itself says about the vessel. See all 102 ships on one page.

Subject to interpretation, Marea can build any of these ships as a scale model, with the maximum detail the scale permits. We build her as the text describes her: the timber, the oars, the sails. Seventeen of these texts even give her size or her crew.

This database was put together by Ai Refloat™, Marea’s own artificial intelligence, from published translations of the texts and from museum and university sources. Ai Refloat is still young & like any teenager, it can be a little volatile and unpredictable at times, but above all, it is learning fast. So this list may well contain mistakes and we welcome the input of everyone who knows these texts and traditions better than we do.

Have you spotted a mistake? Tell us which ship and which text, and we will amend it accordingly. Tell us here

The ships

Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Argo Voyaging ship
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16
Tradition Greek
Argus builds the Argo on Athena's advice to carry Jason and the Argonauts to Colchis for the Golden Fleece. It passes the Clashing Rocks, which stay fixed ever after. Stranded in Libya, the crew carry it on their shoulders for twelve days. It is dedicated to Poseidon at the Isthmus and becomes the constellation Argo Navis.
The vessel Fifty oars, all manned by the Argonauts. Athena fits a speaking timber from the oak of Dodona into the prow.
Sources Wikipedia: Argo · theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
Odysseus's Raft Raft or coracle
Homer, Odyssey 5.244 to 312
Tradition Greek
On Calypso's island Odysseus builds a raft in four days and sails on the fifth with a fair wind. Poseidon's storm wrecks it and he drifts to the land of the Phaeacians.
The vessel Twenty trees felled with a double bladed bronze axe, trimmed with an adze, bored and pinned with pegs and joints, with a sail from cloth Calypso gives him.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
Odysseus's Black Ship Voyaging ship
Homer, Odyssey 10 and 12
Tradition Greek
Within sight of Ithaca the crew open Aeolus's bag of winds and are blown back. At the Laestrygonian harbour the other eleven ships are smashed and only this one escapes. It carries him past the Sirens, but after the crew eat the cattle of Helios, Zeus destroys it.
The vessel A black, hollow, oared ship, with the mast step where Odysseus stands bound past the Sirens.
Sources Odyssey 10 · Odyssey 12
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Phaeacian Ship Voyaging ship
Homer, Odyssey 8.550 to 571; 13.85 to 89 and 13.162 to 164
Tradition Greek
Phaeacian ships need no pilots because they know the thoughts of men and every city. One carries the sleeping Odysseus home to Ithaca, faster than a hawk. On its way back Poseidon turns it to stone.
The vessel No pilots and no steering oars, hidden in mist and cloud, and at speed it springs forward like four yoked stallions.
Sources Odyssey 8 · Odyssey 13
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Ship of Theseus Voyaging ship
Plutarch, Life of Theseus 23.1
Tradition Greek
Theseus sails home from Crete after killing the Minotaur but forgets to change the black sails for white. His father Aegeus throws himself into the sea, which takes his name. Athens keeps the ship for centuries, replacing its planks as they decay, and it becomes the classic puzzle about identity.
The vessel A ship of thirty oars. Plutarch quotes Simonides that the second sail was scarlet, dyed with the flower of the holm oak.
Sources Wikipedia: Ship of Theseus
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Tyrrhenian Pirates' Ship Voyaging ship
Homeric Hymn 7, To Dionysus
Tradition Greek
Pirates seize the young Dionysus. Wine streams through the ship, a vine and ivy spread over sail and mast, and the god becomes a lion in the bows. The sailors leap overboard and become dolphins; only the helmsman is spared.
The vessel A well decked black ship with sail, mast and forepeak, hung with a fruiting vine and twined with ivy.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Roman
Aeneas's Ships That Became Sea Nymphs Fleet
Virgil, Aeneid 9.77 to 122
Tradition Roman
The Trojan fleet was built from Cybele's sacred pines on Mount Ida. When Turnus tries to burn it, each ship tears loose, dives like a dolphin and rises as a sea nymph.
The vessel Ships of the pines of Cybele's forest on the summit of Ida.
Sources Aeneid IX
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Roman
The Ships of the Boat Race Fleet
Virgil, Aeneid 5.104 to 243 and 5.664 to 699
Tradition Roman
At the funeral games for Anchises four ships race around a rock; Sergestus strikes the reef and Cloanthus wins. Later the Trojan women set the fleet alight, and Jupiter's rain saves every ship except four.
The vessel Gyas's Chimaera, huge like a floating city, with oars in three tiers; the others are the Pristis, the Centaur and the Scylla.
Sources Aeneid V
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Chest of Danaë and Perseus Chest or basket
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.1; Aeschylus, fragment 274
Tradition Greek
Acrisius shuts his daughter Danaë and her baby Perseus in a chest and throws it into the sea. It washes up on Seriphos, where the fisherman Dictys hauls it in with his net and raises the boy.
The vessel A chest, which Dictys finds tremendously heavy.
Sources theoi.com: Danaë · Apollodorus 2
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Ship of Danaus Voyaging ship
Apollodorus, Library 2.1.4
Tradition Greek
In conflict with his brother Aegyptus, Danaus builds a ship on Athena's advice and flees with his daughters aboard. Apollodorus says he was the first to build a ship.
The vessel The first ship ever built. No size or oar count given.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
Paris's Ships Fleet
Homer, Iliad 5.59 ff
Tradition Greek
The craftsman Phereclus built the ships that carried Paris to take Helen. Homer calls them the source of ills for all the Trojans, and for Phereclus, who dies in battle.
The vessel “Shapely ships”, by a craftsman skilled in every kind of intricate work.
Sources Iliad 5
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Achaean Fleet at Aulis Fleet
Homer, Iliad 2.494 to 759
Tradition Greek
The Greek fleet gathers at Aulis before sailing for Troy. In later tradition it sails only after Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia. The Catalogue lists 29 contingents under 46 captains.
The vessel 1,186 ships: 100 under Agamemnon, 90 under Nestor, 80 under Diomedes; 120 men in each Boeotian ship; 50 archer oarsmen in each of Philoctetes' seven.
Sources Wikipedia: Catalogue of Ships
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Wrecked Fleet of Ajax the Lesser Fleet
The primary text is not named on the page checked
Tradition Greek
At the fall of Troy, Ajax son of Oileus seizes Cassandra inside Athena's sanctuary. Because the Greeks do not punish him, Athena wrecks their fleet on the way home and Ajax drowns.
The vessel The homeward Greek fleet; no description.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.