Sea-diver

The ancient Greeks practiced commercial and military diving, usually with little or no equipment. In the Iliad, Homer describes the use of divers in the Trojan Wars; Greek laws regulating those who dived for sunken treasure are found as early as the 3d cent. B.C. Before the introduction of modern apparatus, divers submerged with the aid of a rope and a stone weight; using the rope as a guide for position, the naked diver quickly scooped up whatever commodity was being sought.