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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

required for the accomplishment of the latter was by no means so great aswas necessary in the former cases. In regard to its form, it varied in the samemanner as the shape, and what is scientifically called the character, of the headsof ships built in modern times do, and the country to which the vessel belonged.

The favourite emblem of each particular nation rarely failed to make itsappearance when any opportunity presented itself where it could be introduced.On such an occasion, the owl, for instance, was ever conspicuous on the Athenianprow, and the cock, as the emblem of vigilance, on that of vessels belonging tosome of the Phoenician colonies : they were formed, particularly in the useful,unornamental part, of the closest and hardest wood each country afforded ; andthe exterior being shod with iron, or other hard metal, rendered them extremelyformidable.

A variety of forms and fashions of this offensive and defensive weapon, ifit be allowed to use that term, have been transmitted to the present time oncoins, and other remnants and relicks of antiquity. They will be best explainedby the annexed Plate.

Fig. i represents the prow of a ship as appearing on the reverse of a coinstruck at Amphipolis, a city in Macedonia.

Fig 2 and 3 are the prows of vessels taken from a coin, struck at Aradus, anisland belonging to the Phoenicians.

Fig. 28, 29, 30, and 35, are also the prows of vessels somewhat moreornamented, as represented on more perfect coins belonging to the sameislands.

Fig. 4 exhibits the beak of a vessel copied from Strada, said to have beenbuilt in the time of Augustus Caesar, the rostrum sunk, as was the generalpractice in the later ages, below the surface of the water.

Fig. 5 is the representation of the prow of a vessel as given on the coins ofChersonesus, in Crete.

Fig. 6, 7, 8, and 9, are the prows of vessels belonging to Smyrna, in Ionia.

Fig. 10 is taken from a Roman coin, supposed to have been struck about thetime of the Tarentine war.

Fig. 11 is the prow of a vessel of Panormus, in Sicily.

Fig. 12, 16, 25, and 26, are the prows of vessels belonging to Corcyra, anisland in the Ionian sea, now called Corfu.

Fig. 13 is a representation of the fore body of a galley, with the oars, fromthe coins of Ascalon, in Palestine.

Fig.