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Rower
When we think about rowing today, we tend to think about hitting the rowing machines at the gym, rowing competitively for a college, university, or Olympic team, or—if you’re English like me—the annual Oxford vs. Cambridge boat race. We see rowing as an elitist sport, one that’s both physically and emotionally demanding. And for this reason we see rowing as something that brings a great deal of prestige. Suffice to say, this is a far cry from how rowing was thought of in the ancient world.
Save for pushy parents, these days rowing is optional. In antiquity, on the other hand, those who manned the boats of triremes and warships had little say in the matter. Apart from the measly ration of daily bread, there was no let up for these poor souls. They would simply go until they had done their duty (or died in the process) before enjoying a moment’s brief respite and being made to go again. As may be the case with some of the more hard-core gym subscriptions (I don’t know; I don’t go), there was no concept of an “off day”. Put simply, slackers would be lashed by the big beasty man standing behind them and keeping time.
One common misconception is that all rowers were slaves; an idea propagated by films such as “Ben Hur”. But in reality, it would have made little sense to have poorly trained (and presumably chained) men rowing your war machine when the objective was to ram the enemy vessel by means of strength, unity, and precision. Not only would this have put you at a distinct disadvantage when fighting against a superior enemy; chained men would have also been easy picking for the enemy once they’d boarded your vessel.
Instead, rowing was considered a job (albeit a bad one) that required intense training and dedication to the cause. Much like in the modern profession when you think about it! During the Classical Greek period, the job was vital. Unlike the Romans, the Greeks weren’t great road builders (with such easy coastal access they had little need for them) and so defending their waters from pirates and protecting the vital food supplies needed in the city was a necessity.