The sea transport is an old form of transport. It has been used for years to transport people and cargo. There are many countries that have left a significant mark in sea transport. We will now discuss about one such marine power. Greece – The Ancient Marine Power will help you to understand the contribution that the country has made in the world of sea transport.

The best part is that the Greeks loved the sea. They would like to go out in the sea and enjoy the natural beauty of the same. They never used it to fight wars or to conquer countries. They loved to swim in the sea and explore the same.

There are many mythological and pre historic stories that are associated with the Greek navy. This also includes the story of the Troy. A Greek philosopher named Hesiod had once said that the merchants to load their cargo in small ships. This will ensure that if there is an accident at least some of the cargo will be saved. This was a very deep lesson that we all must follow. The two ships named Danais and Argo belonged to the Greek merchant navy. Both the ships were very strong and had fifty oars.

We will now move to the historic age and how Greece – The Ancient Marine Power. The Greeks were the first who though that there could be colonies made and they can use ships to trade all over the world. They wanted political freedom and freedom of spirits.

The Greeks however did not intend to make colonies with violence and stealing. They wanted harmony and mutual growth. It was 8th century when the Greeks started the concept of building colonies all across the world.

The Greek sailors by 4th century had sailed through the Mediterranean they moved from Syria, Cyprus and moved into the Black sea. They also moved from Libya, Italy and Spain. They had a huge seamanship. This was mainly because they had entered so many countries and they were in full time trade.

The seamanship of Greece even today is very high. The cities in Greece that had successful merchant fleets are Fokaia, Athens and Megara to name a few.
Even two and a half thousand years ago Greece had a strong shipping industry. They also had some strong colonies in Samos, Fokaia and Militos.

The Greeks believed that the future of the Athens was in the sea and this is exactly why the navy was given so much importance. They built about one hundred Triireis. These were the warships of Greece. They were built to protect the coastline and the merchant ships. They were so powerful that they made the Greek navy one of the most powerful in the whole world.

The Greece ensured that they had trade with more than three hundred cities. They had a huge crew of able seamen. The country was well protected and it was ensured that no one could attack the country from the sea. Piraeus became the largest maritime centre in the world. The grain trade itself was around 150,000 tons a year. The powerful navy made Greece one of the richest and the strongest countries in that time. At that time they had about three types of vessels. One was about 130 tons. The other category was 25 tons and the third one was about four hundred tons. Most of these used oars and sails.

After the battle of Amorgos in 322 B.C the Greece lost its position of being the superpower in navy. Later Alexander the great conquered Greece. He opened the routes from Greece to India. This gave a whole new dimension to the Greek Navy. India at that time was known as one of the richest nations in the world. These trade links between the two countries proved very beneficial to the Greeks.

Later Rome occupied Greece and almost all the known parts of the world. However, the people of Greece continued to use ships for trade. This was not allowed in Rome. The Roman kings took help from the Greeks to build ships as they knew all about ship building at that time. Time changed and Greece saw the rise and fall of many empires.

However, the knowledge and expertise that Greece had in ship building and operation remained unchanged. There is more to it that we could not discuss in this one article. We have tried to touch some of the main aspects of Greece – The Ancient Marine Power.

These were some of the points that must be mentioned when there is a discussion on Greece – The Ancient Marine Power. We hope you will be able to appreciate the contribution of Greece to the marine transport even more after reading this article.

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