The square sail was prevalent throughout the ancient world but, while this made for the most efficient sailing speeds with the wind at your back, it was of little use when attempting to sail against the wind. Fore-and-aft rigging was the solution to that problem. In this system, the sail is set parallel to the keel of the vessel, rather than at right-angles. This allows greater manoeuvrability when facing into the wind. While fore-and-aft rigging did not become widespread until many centuries later, there is ample evidence to confirm that it was employed by ancient shipwrights with the 'sprit', the triangular lateen and the quadrilateral lateen all in use.
