Financing the Athenian Fleet: Public Taxation and Social Relations

6. The Ship

S I X The Ship Maintenance of naval materiel entailed huge costs. Generally, the construction of new ships and the proper upkeep of existing ones was to a fairly large degree the responsibility of the state. However, a significant part of that responsibility was in practice allocated to the trierarchs. To what extent and under what circumstances this was done are the main questions I will explore in the sections to follow. In so doing I will use as my vantage point the overall naval strength of Athens in terms of hulls and equipment. The Hulls A rough but useful indication of the amount of resources required for maintenance is provided by figures relating to the size of the fleet. At the height of its strength in the fifth century the Athenian fleet numbered a little over 300ships. At the start of the Peloponnesian War there were 300 seaworthy triereis (Thuc. 2.13.8; Diod. 12.40.4). The establishment, in 431/0, of an annual reserve of 100 "select" triereis (Thuc. 2.24.2) was probably from the existing 300 seaworthy ships, not in addition to it, which would have made a total of 400.l Aristophanes (Ach. 545)speaks as if it were possible to launch 300 ships at one time, but such an effort, if ever attempted, would have been exceptional. The largest detachments known to have been in commission simultaneously are 180 (plus 20 manned by the Chalkidians) at Artemision and Salamis; 160 at the end of the Samian revolt (440/39); more than 130 in the summer of 431/0; 250 in the summer of 428; more than 218 in the spring of 413; no at Arginousai (406); and more than 140 at Aigospotamoi. All these figures relate to triereis; one hears little of pentekontors and triakontors during this period (IG I3 .i8.i5-i6). For the fourth century, the evidence admits of no certain quantitative statements before the year of the first extant naval record (7G 22 .i6o4). Modern estimates suggest that by mid-3 87 Athens possessed no more than 50to 70 triereis.2 In the context of 388, Xenophon makes the general statement that the Athenians possessed many ships (Hell. 5.1.19). Polybios (2.62.6) speaks of the manning of 100 ships in 378/7—probably the joint force of the Athenians and the Thebans. From 378/7 onward the ground is relatively firmer, as the naval records purport to furnish the total number of ships in individual years with occasional specification of the number of ships at sea and in the dockyards by the end of the year. The total for the year 378/7 (about 100) is obtained by a count of ship entries that are attested or restored in the record for that year (IG 22 .i6o4). The figures for subsequent years derive from special rubrics known as the sum-total (arithmos) formulas:3 283 ships in 357/6; 349 in 353/2; 410 (of which 18 were tetrereis) in 330/29; probablyjust as many in 326/5 (of which perhaps 50 were tetrereis); 417 (of which 50were tetrereis and 7 pentereis) in 325/4; and perhaps 365 (certainly 315 triereis and possibly 50 tetrereis) in 323/2.4 Commentary on the arithmos formulas is essential to an understanding of the nature of the information they provide, since they have hitherto been taken to give, in terms of hulls, the net potential of the Athenian navy. This is not always the case. The formula of 353/2 gives the total of 349 triereis. However, since that total includes 7 ships damaged by storms,5 349 is a paper figure; the actual number would be 342ships. The record of 330/29 reports the total number of triereis in the dockyards and at sea to be 392; then it specifies that of these 52 were at sea, while 3 horse transports had become useless in combat (1627.271-74). It appears then that ships no longer usable were again included in the formula. In addition, while the same document elsewhere lists the receipt and delivery by the dockyard officials of equipment belonging to 9 triakontors (11. 17-21), these hulls are absent from the arithmos formula; five years later, it will be seen below, some of these The Ship 127 triakontors were in commission. Finally, also absent from the formula are some smaller, lighter vessels (akatoi, 11...