Trireme Olympias on Patrol 

Where did the fella manning the steering oars (helmsman?) sit, e.g. below decks with the rowers or above deck?

How hard was it to row? If someone wanted to recreate it at the gym, what would the setting be?

@@bombfog1 The helmsman stood between the two rudders at the stern with a tiller arm in each hand.

@@TeddyBear-ii4ycMany Thanks!

During the First Punic war the Romans lost entire fleets to storms. 100s of ships and 100s of 1000s of men. By the time of the Punic Wars Rome and Carthage primarily relied on Quinqueremes which were larger and heavier than triremes like the Olympias. Ships like them actually tended to fare better in rough weather than the triremes. Although it's worth noting the Romans were poor sailors by the standards of the ancient world so perhaps the Greeks or Phoenicians might've fared better. So yeah, storms in triremes were probably pretty horrendous.

They all bought a huge amout of matches then built it in Greece.