It was a natural consequence of the geographical position of Greece that seafaring developed far more quickly. Even in the heroic period fairly good ships were built, though they were better suited for coasting than sailing in the open sea. They were moved by twenty to fifty sailors, seated on thwarts on either side of the ship, while their oars were suspended in leathern straps between the rowlocks; if the wind was favourable, they replaced the oars by a sail suspended from the mast by a sail-yard; in the stern, the helmsman directed the course of the ship with the rudder. The ship of Odysseus was thus represented, even in later art, cutting its way through the sea (compare Fig. 191). Still, this picture, which dates from a much later period, cannot give us a proper conception of the build of the Homeric ships: we should rather turn to the representations from ancient vases on Figs. 192 and 193, in spite of the roughness and smallness of the drawing. Both these have a strong spur at the prow, and were, therefore, apparently used for naval warfare, with which the Homeric age was not yet acquainted. Probably the ships of the heroic age had high projecting ends both forward and aft. [Illustration: FIG. 191.] As in the Homeric age, so probably also in the following period, the ships were constructed in such a [Illustration: FIG. 192.] [Illustration: FIG. 193.] manner as to be tolerably flat, and accommodate only one line of rowers on each side; consequently, in large ships there would be fifty oarsmen or more on either side. But they soon began to build the ships higher and to arrange the oarsmen in several ranks one above another, in two rows, as in Fig. 194, but more commonly in three rows, and these ships were then called Triremes; in later times, especially after the fourth century, there were four or even six rows, and possibly still more. The arrangement of these rowers’ benches is of particular interest, and is made tolerably clear by the Athenian relief represented in Fig. 195.[G] The rowers’ benches occupied the whole [Illustration: FIG. 194.]