Building Odysseus ship (A penteconter)

Homer says that Odyseus was the leader of 12 ships, which all hat red cheeks. Thats in Illias 2.637. It refers at this moment at the beginning of the expedition to Troy. Further on, is to said that Odyseus was not their King. He wssnt a King, he was the leader of a House (οίκος). There was no State, that time society's strusture was based on Οικος (Houses). It seems Odyseus Οικος was a strong one, so he was the leader among other Houses that they had relations with.Screenshot_20200816-090917_Gallery.jpg
 
Last edited:
Penteconter hat 50 oars... need another 25

πεντηκόντορος = πεντήκοντα fifty and όρος, ερέτης oarsman
 

Attachments

  • 20200823_102723.jpg
    20200823_102723.jpg
    60.2 KB · Views: 7
Last edited:
Black hull and red chicks... and ofcourse eyes in order to have a safe trip. Aflasto (άφλαστο) at the stern and akrostolio (ακροστολιο) at the stem were some kind of symbols.... I believe more in a religious way.

Michael Shanks fabricated the eyes... I.have just painted them. I thank him very much for his wonderfull work and for such a precious present.20200922_130319.jpg
 
This will look very awesome, when all the oars are installed.
Small comment, if it is allowed: Maybe it is possible to reduce with some sanding the thickness of the oar-blades?
I am sure, that the oarsmen, who were in accompany of Odyseus were very strong guys, but they would be happy...... ;)
 
@Uwek ROTF nice and taktfull said! And yes you are right.

Wuao... I knew length was ok, 4m. Weigh -after my calculations its 25kg- also ok. But I had that negative feeling that blades were longer as they should. Now...you said so, so now I know that also ... blades are thicker as they should!

Stilll they are 1mm thick, if I bring it on a half mm, it would be very thin but still too thick to the scale of the real oar (0.5 x 72= 36mm).

So I say....
:cool: Dont forget Homer wasnt writting over shipbuilding... he was writting poetry over heroes with supernatural powers! So consider the thicker blades as poetic licence!

Anyway oars have to be redone... thinner and a slightly narrower blade.
 
Last edited:
Homer specifically says that the two forestays (so there were 2 forestays) were cut during the storm and so because the mast remained hanging on the backstay (it was just one) fell backwards and smashed the head of the helmsman standing on the stern.20201009_133031.jpg20201009_132943.jpg
 
Dear Messis - your build of the Penteconter has been a great inspiration to me and has motivated me to start research on what will be a very unusual subject as well. By the way, your model looks incredibly realistic and is a beautiful construction to look at.
 
The Chinese Bai-ban or "White Board" boat.
 
Oh... sorry for my ignorance... I have no idea about those ships. Are they ancient Chinese ships?
 
Back
Top