Lembus

A lembus (from Greek "λέμβος" - lembos[1]) was an ancient Illyrian galley, with a single bank of oars and no sails. It was small and light, with a low freeboard. It was a fast and maneuverable warship, capable of carrying 50 men in addition to the rowers.[2] It was the galley used by Illyrian pirates.[3] Illyrians used them at Medion under Agron, and at Elis, Messene, Phoenice, Issa, Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra and Paxus under Teuta. Philip V of Macedon used lembi during the First Macedonian War.[4]

Notes

  1. λέμβος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  2. Wilkes, p. 157; Polybius, 2.3.
  3. Wilkes, p. 163.
  4. Walbank, p. 69, Polybius, 5.109.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/5/2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.