pedition to Troy and
1,000 years after the battle depicted in the Temple of Victory at
Thebes. It was fought between the Corinthians and their rebellious
colonists of Corcyra, now called Corfu.

Some of the naval expeditions recorded in Greek history were conceived
on a gigantic scale. The joint fleets of Persia and Phoenicia which
attacked and conquered the Greek colonies in Ionia consisted of 600
vessels. This expedition took place in the year 496 B.C. Shortly
afterwards the Persian commander-in-chief, Mardonius, collected a much
larger fleet for the invasion of Greece itself.

After the death of Cambyses, his successor Xerxes collected a fleet
which is stated to have numbered 4,200 vessels, of which 1,200 were
triremes. The remainder appears to have been divided into two classes,
of which the larger were propelled with twenty-five and the smaller with
fifteen oars a-side. This fleet, after many misfortunes at sea, and
after gaining a hard-fought victory over the Athenians, was finally
destroyed by the united Greek fleet at the ever-famous battle of
Salamis. The size of the Persian monarch's fleet was in itself a
sufficient proof of the extent of the naval power of the Levantine
states; but an equally convincing proof of the maritime power of another
Mediterranean state, viz., Carthage, at that early period--about 470
B.C.--is forthcoming. This State equipped a large fleet, consisting of
3,000 ships, against the Greek colonies in Sicily; of these 2,000 were
fighting galleys, and the remainder transports on which no less than
300,000 men were embarked. This mighty armada was partly destroyed in a
great storm. All the transports were wrecked, and the galleys were
attacked and totally destroyed by the fleets of the Greek colonists
under Gelon on the very day, according to tradition, on which the
Persians were defeated at Salamis. Out of the entire expedition only a
few persons returned to Carthage to tell the tale of their disasters.

[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Greek unireme. About 500 B.C.]

The foregoing account will serve to give a fair idea of the extent to
which shipbuilding was carried on in the Mediterranean in the fifth
century before the Christian era.

We have very little knowledge of the nature of Greek vessels previously
to 500 B.C.[9] Thucydides says that the ships engaged on the Trojan
expedition were without decks.

According to Homer, 1,200 ships were employed, those of the Boeotians
having 120 men ea