Pliny the Elder reports that Aristotle ascribed the invention of the quadrireme (; , "tetrērēs") to the Carthaginians. Although the exact date is unknown, it is most likely the type was developed in the latter half of the 4th century BC. Their first attested appearance is at the Siege of Tyre by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and a few years later, they appear in the surviving naval lists of Athens. In the period after Alexander's death (323 BC), the quadrireme proved very popular: the Athenians made plans to build 200 of these ships, and 90 out of 240 ships of the fleet of Antigonus I Monophthalmus (r. 306–301 BC) were "fours". Subsequently, the quadrireme was favoured as the main warship of the Rhodian navy, the sole professional naval force in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the Battle of Naulochus in 36 BC, "fours" were the most common ship type fielded by the fleet of Sextus Pompeius, and several ships of this kind are recorded in the two praetorian fleets of the Imperial Roman navy.