Rhodian Trihemiolia, 120 BC. This was a “cataphract” (full deck), intermediate between a trireme and a tetrere.

The Hemiolia was a light ship, generally classified in the “aphractoï” (unbounded), peculiar to the pirates of the Aegean Sea (Chios, Lesbos, Lemnos, Sporades and Cyclades) and Asia Minor, Like the Cilicians, contrary to liburnes and lemboi, proper to the Adriatic. The configuration of these vessels remains controversial. They were sailing ships, light, small, but slightly wider than the classic monuments, having one man and more by rowing, unlike the triacontores and pentacontores. The interpretations diverge as to their configuration of rowers: According to John Morrison for example, the Hemiolia would be a monomer in which the oars are handled by two men only in the front and the back, the central part or before having A rower, in order to clear the bridge for the maneuvers of the sail as a place for the combatants.