HistoryArt

Nah, both Greeks and Romans preferred free men, freedmen, and citizens for rowers. Rowers in the Graeco-Roman period were professionals who needed to tightly coordinate during combat - slaves could not be relied upon to give that kind of peak-effort.

Some medieval and early modern galleys would use rowing slaves chained to their benches but they were moving much heavier ships, and usually multiple men to a single oar, and needed more raw strength than coordination.

Galleys were about the worst slavery job out there, except maybe the mines. I bet this is pretty similar to that.