Macedonian rulers built larger galleys described as twenties and thirties, followed by an Egyptian forty. The forty reportedly required 4,000 rowers and about 400 other crew, with room for nearly 3,000 marines. Such numbers concentrated an extraordinary amount of manpower in a single ship and raised doubts about its suitability for ramming. Some reconstructions propose catamaran hulls, but the hull arrangement remains uncertain.
Notable Point · 48:22-49:56
The enormous crews of Hellenistic giant galleys
Reported crews of thousands show how far giant Hellenistic galleys exceeded ordinary warships, while their hull arrangement remains uncertain.