Trireme in the context of "Battle of Artemisium"

The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V and led by the navies of the Republic of Venice and the Spanish Empire, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. The Ottoman forces were sailing westward from their naval station in Lepanto (the Venetian name of ancient Naupactus – Greek Ναύπακτος, Turkish İnebahtı) when they met the fleet of the Holy League which was sailing east from Messina, Sicily.

Lepanto marks the last major engagement in the Western world to be fought almost entirely between rowing vessels, namely the galleys and galleasses, which were the direct descendants of ancient trireme warships. The battle was in essence an "infantry battle on floating platforms". It was the largest naval battle in Western history since classical antiquity, involving more than 450 warships. Over the following decades, the increasing importance of the galleon and the line of battle tactic would displace the galley as the major warship of its era, marking the beginning of the "Age of Sail".

The naval Battle of Pylos took place in 425 BC during the Peloponnesian War at the peninsula of Pylos, on the present-day Bay of Navarino in Messenia, and was an Athenian victory over Sparta. An Athenian fleet had been driven ashore at Pylos by a storm, and, at the instigation of Demosthenes, the Athenian soldiers fortified the peninsula, and a small force was left there when the fleet departed again. The establishment of an Athenian garrison in Spartan territory frightened the Spartan leadership, and the Spartan army, which had been ravaging Attica under the command of Agis, ended their expedition (the expedition only lasted 15 days) and marched home, while the Spartan fleet at Corcyra sailed to Pylos.

Demosthenes had five triremes and their complements of soldiers as a garrison, and was reinforced by 40 hoplites from a Messenian ship that happened to stop at Pylos. In total, Demosthenes probably had about 600 men, only 90 of which were hoplites. He sent two of his triremes to intercept the Athenian fleet and inform Sophocles and Eurymedon of his danger. The Spartans, meanwhile, had 43 triremes and a large land army. Finding himself thus outnumbered, Demosthenes pulled his remaining three triremes up on land and armed their crews with whatever weapons were at hand. He placed the largest part of his force at the strongly fortified point facing the land. Demosthenes then hand-picked 60 hoplites and a few archers and brought them to the point where he anticipated the Spartans would launch their amphibious assault. Demosthenes expected that the Spartans would hit the south-west corner of the peninsula where the defensive wall was the weakest and the land was most suitable for a landing. The Spartans attacked where Demosthenes had expected, and the Athenians were faced with simultaneous assaults from land and sea. The Athenians held off the Spartans for a day and a half, however, causing the Spartans to cease their attempts to storm Pylos and instead settled in for a siege.

Köprüçay, ancient Eurymedon (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυμέδων), is a river that is situated in Antalya Province, Turkey, and empties into the Mediterranean.

At its mouth, in the 460s BC (the actual date is highly disputed), the Athenian general Cimon defeated a large Persian force of ships and men moving westwards (Battle of the Eurymedon). The two land and sea battles lasted one day and included Cimon's capture or destruction of the entire Phoenician fleet of 200 triremes.

A naval fleet is the largest operational formation of warships in a navy, typically under a single command and organized for strategic missions. While modern fleets are permanent, multi-role forces (e.g., carrier strike groups), historical fleets were often ad hoc assemblies for specific campaigns. The term "fleet" can also synonymously refer to a nation’s entire navy, particularly in smaller maritime forces.

Fleets have shaped geopolitics since antiquity—from the trireme fleets of Athens to the nuclear-powered carrier groups of today—enabling power projection, trade protection, and deterrence. Multinational fleets, such as NATO’s Standing Maritime Groups, demonstrate their continued diplomatic-military role.

Peucestas (Ancient Greek: Πευκέστας, Peukéstas; lived 4th century BC) was a native of the town of Mieza, in Macedonia, and a distinguished officer in the service of Alexander the Great. His name is first mentioned as one of those appointed to command a trireme on the Hydaspes. Prior to this he must have distinguished himself for his personal valour and prowess, as he was the person selected by Alexander to carry before him in battle the sacred shield, which he had taken down from the temple of Athena at Troy. In this capacity he was in close attendance upon the king's person in the assault on the capital city of the Malavas (325 BC); and all authors agreed in attributing the chief share in saving the life of Alexander upon that occasion to Peucestas, while they differed as to almost all the other circumstances and persons concerned.

For his services on this occasion he was rewarded by the king with almost every distinction which it was in his power to confer. On the arrival of Alexander at Persepolis, he bestowed upon Peucestas the important satrapy of Persis, but, previous to this, he had already raised him to the rank of somatophylax (the king's bodyguard), an honour rendered the more conspicuous in this instance by the number of those select officers being augmented on purpose to make room for his admission. At Susa, also, Peucestas was the first of those rewarded with crowns of gold for their past exploits. After this he proceeded to take possession of his government, where he conciliated the favour of the Persians subject to his rule, as well as that of Alexander himself, by adopting the Persian dress and customs, in exchange for those of Macedonia; whence he is considered a Persophile.

Trierarch (Greek: τριήραρχος, romanized: triērarchos) was the title of officers who commanded a trireme (triēres) in the classical Greek world.

In Classical Athens, the title was associated with the trierarchy (τριηραρχία, triērarchia), one of the public offices or liturgies, which were filled by wealthy citizens for a year. As the name implies, the trierarch was responsible for the outfitting and crewing of a trireme, and for commanding it in battle. Trierarchs thus had to be men of considerable means, since the expenses incurred could run as high as a talent in the course of a year. As the cost of the office was great, co-trierarchs (syntriērarchoi) were also appointed. By the 4th century BC, trierarchies in Athens were assumed by navy boards (symmoriai), as the financial burden of the job had become too great.

Olympias is a reconstruction of an ancient Athenian trireme and an important example of experimental archaeology. It is also a commissioned ship in the Hellenic Navy of Greece, the only commissioned vessel of its kind in any of the world's navies.