slave galley
Rowed prison vessel
A slave galley is a large oared warship or trading vessel powered by enslaved rowers, common in the Mediterranean from ancient times through the 18th century.
The rowers were typically prisoners of war, criminals, or captured people sold into bondage, chained to their benches and forced to row under brutal conditions.
The term appears in historical contexts and figuratively to describe any oppressive, labor-intensive situation: This office feels like a slave galley.
- oarLever for watercraft
- chainLinked segments forming length
- ball and chainFetter limiting prisoner movement
- shackleMetal limb restraint
- rowingPulling oars to move
trireme · prisoner · Mediterranean · open sea · sea voyage · whip · sweat · bench · hull · overseer · manacle · toil · ancient · ancient Rome · Roman · pirate · captive · human cargo
- ancient shipstrireme, bireme, quadrireme, longship, Viking ship
- historic shipstrireme, longship, caravel, carrack, bireme
- Mediterranean boatstrireme, bireme, carrack, galleon, quadrireme
- ancient merchant vesselstrireme, bireme, dhow, junk, spice trader
slave galleysailing ship
Wind-propelled ocean vessel
clipper ship · tall ship · schooner · brigantine · windjammer
slave, galley, slaves, slaved, slaving, slavish, slavishly, slavery, enslaved