# A question about "Troy"....

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 9, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352 "2004-03-09T21:28:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352/1 "2004-03-09T21:28:16Z")

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In the preview, they show a shot of hundreds, maybe thousands of war ships.

Is there any historical evidence on how big the the largest sea battle would have been before 0 BC?

MtM

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352/2 "2004-03-09T21:57:50Z")

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According to the Illiad, in its List of Ships, the Greek fleet was made up of 1,196 ships. If you’re looking at numbers for non-legendary battles, at the battle of Salamis, the Persian fleet had around 700 ships and the Greek fleet had around 300.

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**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352/3 "2004-03-09T22:01:17Z")

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**Captain Amazing** is correct. Read Herodotus’ account of the Persian Wars, for the historical evidence.

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**Author:** ![dinoboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dinoboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinoboy)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352/4 "2004-03-09T23:37:44Z")

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You can catch a brief account of the Battle of Artemisium and Battle of Salamis [here](http://www.geocities.com/caesarkevin/battles/Greekbattles1.html).

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352/5 "2004-03-10T00:04:13Z")

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Hey, it’s poetry, not history:

> [@](#):
>
> Is this the face that launched a thousand ships,  
> And burned the topless towers of Ilium?

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**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352/6 "2004-03-10T05:07:36Z")

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I thought the ships were used to transport all of the soldiers to Troy, not neccessarily as war ships to have battles with.

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**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-troy/233352/7 "2004-03-10T05:34:39Z")

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After you adjust for PR the battle actually consisted of three guys in a coracle lobbing coconuts at some guy on a raft.