Cercurus
κέρκουρος
Cercurus (κέρκουρος, κερκοῦρος), a light, swift-sailing vessel, used both in war and in commerce, is first mentioned in the Persian wars (Hdt. 7.97). Its invention is attributed by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 7.208) to the Cypriotes, by others to the Corcyraeans (Suid. s. v.), while some modern writers derive its name from its resemblance to a fish of this name (Plin. Nat. 32.152). This kind of ship is mentioned by several writers. (Harpocrat., Hesych. sub voce; Diod. Excerpt. 506, 61; Lucil. ap. Non. 533, 27; Plaut. Merc. 1.1, 86; Stich.2.2, 44; 33.19.) [NAVIS]
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.