Why Paralos?

Paralos, a trireme, exhibits the sense of marine history that is dear to people who work with the sea or indeed on it. The story of the ship is described below, stretching in known terms for about sixty years, but is expected to have fared alongside the fortunes of the legendary City of Athens during its entire existence. With the name and pride of the trireme, we also list the ancient mariners’ skill in navigating the treacherous Aegean Sea.

As such, Paralos is a ship of unique capabilities that yet manages to symbolise so much more — especially in her sacred position. We can only hope to match the valuable service she gave to Athens to our clients.

The Story

Paralos (also spelled as Paralus) was the name of one of ten sacred ships of old Athens when that city was yet the Queen of Hellas. As such, it is one of the earliest identifiable vessels and definitely one which for its time is mentioned the most, especially by Thucydides in his ‘History of the Peloponnesian War’. Paralos rarely shied from battle as you’ll read below though indeed the Hellenes in general were not ones to run when gods or men had to be faced off!

The crew of the Paralos, the Parali, are also described by Thucydides as ones to always oppose oligarchy. As such, he makes these crewmen sound as strong and principled men, as the reader will be able to distinguish below!

The Archidamian War

The first known conflict, not counting a chase across open water, where the Paralos took its measure took place off Corcyra in 427 BC where she led a fleet of 10 other triremes, not including another sacred vessel the Salaminia, against a flotilla of 33 Peloponnesian vessels while twenty more of the Peloponnesians fought against the allied Corcyrian fleet. The Athenians favoured a slow withdrawal which they carried out until sundown. The Athenians, though giving ground, and their allies the Corcyrians won the field after the next few days with an Allied fleet of sixty more triremes arriving on site.

The Second War

In 411 BC, the crew of the vessel under strategoi Diomedon and Leon prevented Samos from falling subject to an oligarchic coup. The same crew ended up suffering when they brought news of this to Athens, not realising that the place “From where the fine triremes come” had fallen to a group of nobles called the Four Hundred. A few of the Parali were killed, the others moved onto a troop-ship.

The Parali had the upper hand in that move, in the long run, however as when the troop-ship was meant to transport emissaries of the Four Hundred to Sparta, the crew mutinied and imprisoned the ambassadors. They made landfall in the nearby Argos, brought onboard Argive ambassadors to Samos and the rest of the fleet and made their way there.

The later war sees Paralos as one of the few ready ships when the Spartans surprised Conon at Aegospotami. Of the nine ships, eight escaped with the strategos while Paralos took on itself the sad duty of bringing the tidings to her polis. Paralos arrived at her home base at night, and word of the disaster spread through the city at speed. Yet, an assembly was gathered and the city made ready for siege for the citizens were afraid that the final doom they had sealed on others in the past would now be brought upon themselves.

373 BC

The next time Paralos comes into written history is when in 373 BC Iphicrates took over the task of relieving Corcyra when once again the notorious Spartans were besieging the place. Iphicrates had been chosen instead of Timotheus whom the people had taken to be too careful. Iphicrates, therefore, assembled his troops and also mobilised the Paralos along with the afore-mentioned Salaminia to assist Corcyra. The troops were untrained, but Iphicrates was able to direct them such that the men trained during the day and constantly practised battle manouevers while on the way. Yet, they did not arrive any later than they should and they always made use of fine weather. The plan was a success, and Iphicrates managed to defeat his enemies though Corcyra itself had suffered considerable casualties, including their leaders.

After this time, the fair state trireme seems to pass out of known events — until now, when we have brought its name back!