Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An ancient Greek ship of burden carrying fifty oars.
  • noun In Greek antiquity, a commander of fifty men.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Gr. Antiq.) A Grecian vessel with fifty oars.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun history, obsolete A galley-type Grecian vessel with fifty oars.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek πεντηκόντερος ("fifty-oared").

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Examples

  • The half company is technically called a pentecostys, and a quarter company an enomoty, and the officers in charge of them respectively penteconter and enomotarch.

    Anabasis 2007

  • The most common galley at Aulis was probably the penteconter, a fifty-oared ship about ninety feet long, with twenty-five rowers sitting along each side of the hull.

    The Trojan War Barry Strauss 2006

  • The most common galley at Aulis was probably the penteconter, a fifty-oared ship about ninety feet long, with twenty-five rowers sitting along each side of the hull.

    The Trojan War Barry Strauss 2006

  • With the addition of the trireme from Tenos, they represented twenty-three city-states, from Athens, which had 180 triremes at Salamis, to Seriphos, which provided a penteconter.

    The Battle of Salamis Barry Strauss 2004

  • Leucas, for instance, sent only three triremes; Cythnos sent only a trireme and a penteconter; while Melos, Siphnos and Seriphos sent only penteconters—two from Melos, one each from Siphnos and Seriphos.

    The Battle of Salamis Barry Strauss 2004

  • Leucas, for instance, sent only three triremes; Cythnos sent only a trireme and a penteconter; while Melos, Siphnos and Seriphos sent only penteconters—two from Melos, one each from Siphnos and Seriphos.

    The Battle of Salamis Barry Strauss 2004

  • For now, we need note the presence of only one other kind of oared ship in both fleets of 480 B.C.: the penteconter.

    The Battle of Salamis Barry Strauss 2004

  • With the addition of the trireme from Tenos, they represented twenty-three city-states, from Athens, which had 180 triremes at Salamis, to Seriphos, which provided a penteconter.

    The Battle of Salamis Barry Strauss 2004

  • For now, we need note the presence of only one other kind of oared ship in both fleets of 480 B.C.: the penteconter.

    The Battle of Salamis Barry Strauss 2004

  • Anything less than a penteconter would be useless, and that long hull would never survive the North Atlantic.

    The Boat of a Million Years Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1989

Comments

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  • "'So that is a galley,' said Martin, with great satisfaction... 'And if I do not mistake, it has five and twenty oars of a side. That makes it the exact equivalent of the classical penteconter: Thucydides must have seen just such a boat. What joy!'"

    --Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbour, 196

    February 19, 2008

  • A type of Greek galley with 50 oars.

    February 19, 2008

  • "A ship modelled on the legendary Argo, which carried Jason and the 50 Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, has set sail from the central Greek city of Volos on a two-month journey to Venice.

    "It is a replica of a penteconter (a galley with one tier of 50 oars, 25 on either side) with a ram that was used to attack and sink enemy vessels."

    – Associated Press, Sydney Morning Herald (16 June 2008), www.smh.com.au/news/world/legendary-boat-goes-for-gold-again/2008/06/15/1213468240671.html

    June 16, 2008

  • Nice! Thanks, rolig!

    June 17, 2008