Travel and Transportation in Ancient Greece

It has been suggested that the first ships of Egypt were reed boats. In ancient China ships were modeled after swimming ducks and were even made to look like them. In northern Europe the first ships were modeled after skin boats. But none of these environments provided the motive for building ships that the Aegean did. In that sea were inviting crystal clear waters and green islands that could be seen from shore. Oared ships were described in many stories of ancient times. These seem to have been modeled after the dugout canoe. But a sailing ship was also developed along different lines... Danaus is given in one myth as the first to sail such a ship as he seemed to feel his daughters were unfit for oars. But the sailing ship seems to have been based on the first ships made of lumber boards. Early on these ships were literally sewn together while the later ships were mortised and tenoned. Joining wood edge to edge is quite old as the following passage suggests: