In some of the vessels there are apertures like oar-ports, though no oars are shown in them, which raise a presumption that the invention of the Bireme, the origin of which is uncertain, may with some probability be attributed to the Egyptians.
"Boating"
W. B. Woodgate Commentator: Harvey Mason
If the number of the zygites in the penteconter was twenty-five a side, and the first Bireme was a converted vessel of that class, the number of thalamites, owing to the contraction of the bow and the stern, would necessarily be two or three a side less.
"Boating"
W. B. Woodgate Commentator: Harvey Mason
Thus in the Bireme the zygite, as he sat on his bench, had behind him and below him his thalamite whose head was about 18 inches behind the zygite thwart and a little above it.
"Boating"
W. B. Woodgate Commentator: Harvey Mason