I don’t care to watch that entire movie, ever, not merely because of the gaying-up the script rec’d from Gore Vidal, but I enjoy the entire sequence aboard the ship. That kind of panic would not have occurred in reality, the rowers (whether or not one accepts the possibility that they were indeed galley slaves and not ‘workers’) were disciplined, and didn’t have time to daydream out the ‘windows’. I hope that a sunken galley / trireme from an ancient battle is someday found and excavated, to settle this slave/worker contro once and for all.
You have to figure the rowers would be well fed or the boat wasn’t leaving the dock - especially if the skipper wants to go water skiing after lunch.
Get the silent 1925 version! Just as exciting, art deco costumes, great naval battle and chariot race as good as the 1959 version.
It’s also shorter with less gab.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016641/