What was a galley? A galley was a large boat of ancient times that was propelled by a team of oarsmen. The oarsmen were often slaves.

Galley

Galleys being used by the Ancient Greeks at the Battle of Salamis.

In ancient times the main sources of power for ships were the wind - which blew into sails - and oars. The wind is not very useful for larger ships if they have to change direction quickly, and so many ships had a combination of oars and sails. The large warships of ancient times used gangs of oarsmen as well as sails so that they could go as fast as possible into an attack.

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