The Greeks have always been a maritime people, and in ancient times many cities had significant navies, the most important being that of Athens. Naval battles with such enemies as the Persians and other Greek states punctuate Greek history, and several important innovations are thought to have come from the Peloponnese, allowing bigger and faster craft to be built and thus extending Greek power and influence. To produce a ship therefore was a logical step for Atlantic, although it must have been quite an ambitious project for its time, which was the mid 1970s.
The picture of this model you see above is not ours - in fact we do not own a copy and have never handled one. Pictures are to be found on the internet, but this item is very rare these days, and commands high prices when one does appear.
From images we can deduce that the product contains two identical ships, plus some sprues of Greek Army and Greek Life in the Acropolis figures. The ships are both small, with just 13 oars down each side on a single layer, so this is a long way from the famous Greek triremes that most people imagine when they think of ancient Greek vessels. However at the bow there is a ram, so while far from a powerful ship, this one was certainly built for war. Also present is a tiny open-sided cabin - more of a bus shelter really - at the stern, just big enough for a seat and the sitter, but no more. Another feature, which we find highly doubtful, is the row of shields placed along each side, looking far more Norse than anything from the Greek world. So while we do not claim to be experts, this model seems more of a toy than anything that can be justified historically.
As a model the idea is a good one, but undoubtedly size and therefore cost were major factors in the design, and the compromises are considerable. It would take companies like Zvezda to make far better models much later, but they were operating in a much more mature and wealthy market, and benefiting also from the considerable knowledge gained in recent years on how such ships appeared and were operated. So like the rest of the range this is primarily a toy, but an impressive one all the same, though these days this model, long out of production, has much better alternatives made by others.
When we obtain an example of this model we will update this page with the same depth of details found on the other pages in this feature.