February 19, 2007
Ancient Greek fitness
When a reconstructed ancient Greek trireme manned by top rowers couldn't match the speeds recorded in ancient texts, it seemed fairly obvious that the problem was with the reconstruction. I was following the trireme project pretty closely at the time, and I recall reading that there were some problems with the interpretation of the design that sharply limited performance: in particular, the ergonomics of the rowing stations, which did not allow the rowers to fully use the strength of their legs. But now we see this:
We may not be as fit as the people of ancient Athens, despite all that modern diet and training can provide, according to research by University of Leeds (UK) exercise physiologist, Dr Harry Rossiter.It might be more accurate to have written, "the efficiency of the human engine in the warship". The efficiency of the same engine in a different warship was likely significantly higher -- though it garners more headlines to triumph ancient athleticism.Dr Rossiter measured the metabolic rates of modern athletes rowing a reconstruction of an Athenian trireme, a 37m long warship powered by 170 rowers seated in three tiers. Using portable metabolic analysers, he measured the energy consumption of a sample of the athletes powering the ship over a range of different speeds to estimate the efficiency of the human engine of the warship. The research is published in New Scientist.
Previous trireme posts here and here; the Trireme Trust has not been updated for a few months, but is a treasure trove of information and links.
Posted by David on February 19, 2007 3:26 PM
I've often thought about the fitness of Roman soldiers, marching day after day, pacing out the length and breadth of the Roman Empire, throwing up forts, building roads, fighting the crazy barbarians. They must have had muscles of steel and incredible endurance; weaklings were left behind to muck with politics and bring down the empire from within by poor judgment and infighting of a different kind. Can you imagine a march, day after day, month after month, from Roma to Londinium? And 20 years was what they signed on for, not 2. No wonder Roman legions were fearsome; they had no walls to hide behind except their own shield walls.
Posted by: Sarah
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on February 26, 2007 3:44 PM
Regarding those who powered the triremes, a couple of thoughts. Wasn't the "oar power" added to by "wind power'? Also, the triremes were oared by slaves as I understand it, not athletes taking care of their bodies but slaves being driven to exhaustion and death when circumstances demanded. Would those factors have made a difference?
Posted by: Sarah
on February 26, 2007 3:48 PM
Sarah,
Greek warships were not manned by slaves, though in an emergency slaves might be given their freedom for serving on a warship. It took a lot of training and skill for a crew to be effective in battle. Oarsmen were paid well and during wars cities often poached oarsmen from one another with offers of higher pay and bonuses, at least through the Classical period. IIRC, some cities introduced conscription sometime just before the Hellenistic period, possibly while Philip II was romping around Greece.
Crew skill and fitness was an absolute must in ancient Greek trireme warfare.
Posted by: Larry on February 28, 2007 11:47 PM
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