Lembus

A lembus (from Greek "λέμβος" - lembos^[1]) was an ancient Illyrian galley, with a single bank of oars and no sails. It was small and light, with a low freeboard. It was a fast and maneuverable warship, capable of carrying 50 men in addition to the rowers.^[2] It was the galley used by Illyrian pirates.^[3] Illyrians used them at Medion under Agron, and at Elis, Messene, Phoenice, Issa, Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra and Paxus under Teuta. Philip V of Macedon used lembi during the First Macedonian War.^[4]

Notes

1. λέμβος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
2. Wilkes, p. 157; Polybius, 2.3.
3. Wilkes, p. 163.
4. Walbank, p. 69, Polybius, 5.109.

References

• Polybius, Histories, Evelyn S. Shuckburgh (translator); London, New York. Macmillan (1889); Reprint Bloomington (1962).
• Walbank, F. W. (1940) Philip V of Macedon
• Wilkes, John, The Illyrians (Peoples of Europe), Blackwell Publishers, (December 1, 1995) ISBN 0-631-19807-5