Archidamian War Flashcards
Thoudippas Decree
A decree passed by Cleon in 424 which increases the tribute payed by the allies from 600 talents a year to an extraordinary 1400-1500 talents a year. This represented the large amount of influence Cleon had won at the time from Pylos Sphacteria a year before.
Epiteichismos
The strategy of establishing forts in enemy territory, which was part of the Periclean strategy but only in retaliation to the enemy doing so. This was employed by the Athenians at Minoa opposite Megara in 427 and at Pylos in 425.
Brasidas
A Spartan military officer who gained influence in Sparta towards the end of the Archidamian war. He was present at Sphacteria but was severely wounded and taken back to Sparta, where in 424 he began to gather an army to march intro Thrace. Appeals from revolting Athenian allies in addition to promises for help from the Macedonian King Perdiccas made this expedition a fruitful prospect. Before Brasidas left he was also able to prevent the Athenians from instilling a democratic coup in Megara, keeping Megara part of the Peloponnesian League. In 424 he began his march into Thessaly and Thrace, bringing with him an army of 700 helots and 1700 Peloponnesian mercenaries, and soon won over the cities of Acanthus and Stagira. In the latter half of 424 or early 423, he was able to capture the Athenian city of Amphipolis, however the Sparta refused to send Brasidas more troops as their aims were set solely on recovering the captured Spartiates. In 423 Sparta signed a one year armistice with Brasidas, although this did not stop Brasidas from accepting the cities of Scione and Mende into his protection several days after the armistice was signed. In 422, the Athenians sent out an army commanded by Cleon, and Brasidas attacked the army outside Amphipolis, preventing it from fleeing and decisively defeating the Athenians. Brasidas was however killed in this fighting as well as Cleon, which gave way to negotiations for the peace of Nicias in early 421.
Cleon
Cleon was an Athenian politician who rose to significance in 427 during the debate over what to do with the captured revolting Athenian ally of Mytilene. Cleon argued that the Athenians should kill every man on the island and sell all the women and children into slavery, and the assembly agreed to this, however a day later Cleon’s opponent Diodotus argued against this idea, offering a less harsh alternative of killing only a thousand of the rebels and subjugating the rest. The assembly agreed with Diodotus and Mytilene was saved. In 425 Cleon attacked Nicias in the assembly claiming that he was a weak general because he was not attacking the Spartans at Pylos. Nicias allowed Cleon to have his command, which resulted in Cleon and Demosthenes landing at Pylos and capturing 120 male Spartiates as well as several other Spartan prisoners. This launches Cleon’s political career, allowing him to influence the assmemblt into rejecting Spartan offers for peace and to pass the Thoudippas Decree in 424. In 422, Cleon was chosen as general to lead an Athenian army into Thrace to restore order to the region, where Cleon’s army was defeated at the Battle of Amphipolis, killing Cleon in the process.
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was an Athenian general whose first major action in the Archidamian war was persuading Eurymedon and Sophocles to stop at Pylos and establish an Athenian fort there. As the Spartans attacked at Pylos and Sphcateria by land and sea, Demosthenes lead a successful defence of the Athenian fort, which resulted in the trapping of several hundred Spartan soldiers on the island of Sphacteria when the Athenian fleet returned. Several months later and with the assistance of Cimon, Demosthenes then took the island and captured 120 male Spartiates as prisoners. In 424, Demosthenes had a number of unsuccessful military expeditions into Boeotia, which culminated in the Athenian defeat at Delium when Demosthenes was prevented from entering Boeotia on the western plain which left Hippocrates to be defeated by the Boeotians.
Periesesthai
A term that refers to Pericles idea of winning though, winning the war by ensuring that the Spartans don’t win. In this way, Athens would have accomplished all her objectives.
Pylos Sphacteria
Pylos is an area near on the coast of Messenia near the small island of Sphacteria, where, in 425 the Athenian general Demosthenes elected to set up a fort there due to its strategic position for Athens. Leaving the rest of the Athenian fleet, Demosthenes and his men built an Athenian fort at Pylos, and a combined land and sea attack from the Spartans against the small Athenian garrison failed to capture the fort. When the Athenian fleet arrived at Pylos, most of the Spartan fleet was destroyed which trapped over 400 Spartans on the island. Attempts to escape were thwarted and the Spartans eventually burnt their ships to try and appease the Athenians, who ended up landing on the island after Cleon and Demosthenes led a company of lightly armed troops to surround the Spartans. The Spartans then surrendered, resulting in the capture of 120 male Spartiates which shocked the Greek world and prevented the Spartans from conducting their annual raid of Attica for fear that the Spartan prisoners would be executed.
Mytilene
A polis situated on the island of Lesbos, together with Methymna and other smaller cities. Up until 428, it was one of two remaining ship contributors in the Athenian empire, and had been preparing plans for revolt as early as 431. Athenian proxenoi alerted the Athenians about the plans for Mytilene to revolt in 428, which caused the Athenians to rapidly send a fleet of 40 triremes to blockade the city. Mytilene sent an appeal to the Spartans, who promised to help but only sent out a force of 40 ships which proved inadequate to make a real difference because of the commander’s timidity. Mytilene surrendered in 427, after which the Athenians had a debate about what to do with the revolting island. Cleon proposed to kill all the men and enslave the women and children, which the assembly voted for, however Diodotus spoke out against this a day later and persuaded the people to instead execute only 1000 of the rebels and subjugate the rest. The assembly sided with Diodotus, and a ship just reached Mytilene in time to give the new orders.
Methymna
A polis situated on Lesbos, which did not revolt with the rest of Lesbos including Mytilene in 428 BC.
Plague
A deadly epidemic which swept Athens and the Piraeus in 430, reaching its peak in 429 and recurring again in 426. The plague killed Pericles, vastly changing the Athenian political landscape for the Archidamian War, and killed approximately a third of the Athenian population. In 429, Hagnon son of Nicias went to relieve the Athenian force at Potidaea, but 1050 out of the 4000 hoplites were killed due to the plague. The plague broke down all civil and religious order in Athens, and caused them to urge for peace in 429, which was rejected by the Spartans. The Athenians only fully recovered from the plague according to Thucydides in 415 BC.
Pericles
The Athenian statesmen and most influential politician in Athens at the start of the Archidamian War. He led the Athenians in so called ‘Periclean Strategy’ which involved a number of tenants. Athens the city should always be protected and nothing should be done to threaten the safety of the city, the Athenians should avoid a pitched land battle with the Spartans at all costs, they should move their cattle to Euboea to mitigate economic devastation in Attica, they should keep a firm hold on the allies whose phoros payments Athens relied on and they should not add to the empire during the war. Additionally, the Athenians should seek decisive action with the Peloponnesian fleet wherever possible, ravage the Peloponnesian coastline, invade the Megarid twice every year and establish forts in the Peloponnese, but only if the enemy did the same. Pericles suffered at the hands of the people when the plague broke out in 430, being sacked as general for several weeks before they voted him back in again. He died at the hands of the plague in 429, resulting in a huge power vacuum within Athens.
Nicias
Nicias was an influential Athenian statesman, whose first notable action in the Archidamian war was leading 2000 Athenian hoplites in a successful battle over the Boeotians in 426 BC. In 425, he sacrificed his command at Pylos to Cleon, a mistake which boosted Cleon’s political career significantly. In 424, he led a fleet of 80 ships and 1000 hoplites in a successful action against Corinthian bases in Western Greece, defeating the Corinthians in pitched battle, and in that same year he, together with other generals, seized the island of Cythera off the Peloponnese and established an Athenian fort there.
Archidamus
One of the Spartan kings who led the first attack on Attica with an army of 40 000 Peloponnesians in 431 BC, whose name is attributed to the name of the first phase of the Peloponnesian War.
Delium
A battle that occurred in 424, the culmination of Athenian movements in Boeotia throughout the past two years. Demosthenes was supposed to lead an Athenian force through the west of Boeotia, gathering support from democrats while Hippocrates launched an army from the south. Demosthenes failed to arrive however, and Hippocrates was left to fight a large Boeotian force which defeated the Athenians, causing them to lose a staggering 1000 hoplites.
Amphipolis
An Athenian Thracian city which was important for sourcing timber and metal ore in the nearby mines. In 424 it was captured by the Spartan general Brasidas, and in 422 when Cleon with an Athenian army tried to capture the city, he was defeated by Brasidas resulting in the death of both generals.
