Editing Trireme (section)

{{Short description|Ancient vessel with three banks of oars}}
{{About|ancient warships|the venture capital firm|Trireme Partners}}
{{Redirect|Trieres|the beetle genus|Trieres (beetle)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
[[File:Greek Galleys.jpg|thumb|Fleet of triremes made up of photographs of the modern full-sized replica ''[[Olympias (trireme)|Olympias]]'']]
A '''trireme''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|r|aɪ|r|iː|m}} {{respell|TRY|reem}}; {{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|trirēmis}}<ref>from ''tri-'' "three" + {{wikt-lang|la|rēmus}} "oar"</ref>|with three banks of oars}}; cf. {{langx|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|τριήρης}}|{{grc-transl|τριήρης}}<ref>from τρι- ({{grc-transl|τρι-}}) "three" + {{wikt-lang|grc|ἐρέτης}} ({{grc-transl|ἐρέτης}}) "rower"</ref>|three-rower}}) was an [[ancient navies and vessels|ancient vessel]] and a type of [[galley]] that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the [[Mediterranean Sea]], especially the [[Phoenicians]], [[ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] and [[ancient Rome|Romans]].<ref name=JC2>{{cite book|last=Coates|first=John F.|title=The Athenian Trireme|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|pages=127–230}}</ref><ref name=WF1>{{cite book|last=Welsh|first=Frank|title=Building the Trireme|url=https://archive.org/details/buildingtrireme0000wels|url-access=registration|year=1988|publisher=Constable and Company Limited|location=London|isbn=978-0094668805 }}</ref>

The trireme derives its name from its three rows of [[oar]]s, manned with one man per oar. The early trireme was a development of the [[penteconter (ship)|penteconter]], an ancient warship with a single row of 25 oars on each side (i.e., a single-banked boat), and of the [[bireme]] ({{langx|grc|διήρης}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|diērēs}}), a warship with two banks of oars, of Phoenician origin.<ref>Casson (1995), pp. 57–58</ref> The word ''dieres'' does not appear until the Roman period. According to Morrison and Williams, "It must be assumed the term pentekontor covered the two-level type".<ref>Morrison and Williams 1968:155</ref> As a ship, it was fast and agile and was the dominant [[warship]] in the [[Mediterranean]] from the 7th to the 4th centuries BC, after which it was largely superseded by the larger [[quadrireme]]s and [[quinquereme]]s. Triremes played a vital role in the [[Persian Wars]], the creation of the [[Ancient Athens|Athenian]] maritime empire and its downfall during the [[Peloponnesian War]].

Medieval and early modern [[galley]]s with three files of oarsmen per side are sometimes referred to as triremes.<ref>See index in Morrison (2004) for examples.</ref>