OLKAS or ROUND SHIP

Ancient trade ship of the age before and during the Hellenistic times.

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According to the available information coming mainly from artifacts of clay, it moved based on the wind through a square sail in the middle of the ship and without the assistance of rowers.

The relatively wide amplitude of the vessel gave it its name round ship. The merchandise it carried was mainly agricultural products,
oil and wine. Greek and foreign ports were the points of transfer of this precious cargo.

Depictions of this ship can be found in a black-figure drinking cup of 510 BC (London, British Museum),
in fragments of home-used objects, while references are also found in the texts of Herodotus and Thucydides.

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