Note 136 — ESSAYS. (continued 2)
Reading edition
Some modern writers have thought that a picture of shipping was beneath the dignity of the Portico of Minerva; and have laboured hard to prove that Paralus was a hero; Hemionis a heroine. But Paralus invented long ships, and the Athenians named their favourite galley, which was a trireme, after him. Hemionis is another name for Nausicaa, a sea nymph, or the daughter of a sea king. The vessel named after her was a long ship, a trireme also; and as the vessels of war of Athens were sacred to Minerva, what could be a more appropriate ornament for her portico, than a picture of ships?
The triremes Paralus and Salamina are mentioned by Thucydides, in his 3rd book, as performing an eminent service to Athens, in the Lacedæmonian war. It seems that Paralus, or Paralia, was the name of the vessel that brought the news of the defeat of Ægospotamos to Athens.
So much for the opinion that Paralus may be a hero, but cannot be a ship.