So was anyone gonna tell me the Greek navy still has a fully functional trireme?
Her name is Olympias! She was built in 1987 and can sail up to 9 knots (17 km) per hour!
Olympias weighs 47 tonnes, but is remarkably agile, able to make a 180 degree turn within one minute. Everything but the bracing ropes was constructed of the same materials as in ancient Greece. (They used steel instead of hemp rope for cost reasons.)
Experiments with Olympias have helped us understand the capabilities of warships from ancient Greek and Roman times. Triremes like her were built for speed, maneuverability, and aggressive ramming. (Her beak alone weighs 200 kg.) It appears that many of the seamanship feats described by Thucydides were indeed possible!
Olympias is now an exhibit at Naval Tradition Park in Palaio Faliro, Athens, Greece. She's usually dry docked these days, but I've found a couple videos of her at sea!
Edit: Initially got her top speed wrong, sorry. It is now corrected!
please know we are booping everyone who sends us boops right back with much love! (only the boops are coming from the team’s main blog since tumblr won’t let us boop from bearotonin 😔)