''Thalamegos'' (plural: ''Thalamegoi'') was a type of houseboat, yacht, or barge mainly found in the Nile River, Egypt. They were used as freight carriers and

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

. The most famous and largest thalamegos was a huge twin-hulled

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

, a two-story Nile River palace

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

that was commissioned by

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

king Ptolemy IV Philopator for himself and his wife Arsinoe III ''ca.'' 200 BCE.

Etymology

The name comes from (room carrier) from the Greek ''Thalamos'' which means room and ''Ago'' which means haul/carry/lead.

Description and role

Due to the popularity of Ptolemy IV's thalamegos, they are usually described as palace barges or floating palaces. Callegaro pointed out that the name refers to a type of barge of that time. Appian recorded that Ptolemy II Philadelphus possessed 800 thalamegoi which could be used for military service. Some were used for cruising the Nile for government business and religious ceremonies. There were also thalamegoi configured as pleasure-craft and cargo carriers.

Ptolemy IV's thalamegos

Callixenus of Rhodes described Philopator's vessel in his ''Peri Alexandreias'':

The Thalamegos had the length of half a
stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
, and width by the widest part of 30 cubits. Its height, including the structure of the pavilion, reached almost 40 cubits. ..Its form resembled neither warships nor merchant ships but had been altered to suit the depths of the river. Thus, the lower part was shallow and wide and instead was high in height. The upper parts, and especially that of the bow, stretched considerably, and its curvature was well traced. It had a double bow and a double stern, and it rose to the top because in the river the waves often rise very high.
In its intermediate cavity were built the banquet halls, the bedrooms, and everything else that is needed for daily life. ..Near the bow one came upon a chamber devoted to Dionysos; it contained thirteen couches and was surrounded by a row of columns. It had a cornice that was gilded as far as the surrounding architrave; the ceiling was decorated in accordance with the spirit of the god. In this room, on the right-hand side, a recess was built, which was entirely covered with real gold and precious stones so that it looked like a stone wall. Enshrined in it were portrait statues of the royal family made of Parian marble.

It is estimated that this thalamegos was about long, high, and wide.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Largest passenger ships Barges Royal and presidential yachts Ancient Egyptian ships

Etymology

Description and role

Ptolemy IV's thalamegos

See also

References

Bibliography