Greece in Conflict 479-446BC (Greek 1.2) Flashcards
1
Q
Three authors?
A
- No detailed historical narrative for the events of these years
- Three writers we rely on:
o Thucydides
He focuses on the conflict between Athens and Sparta and their allies which began in 431
“Pentecontaetia” – modern term given to Thucydides’ account of this time period
o Diodorus Siculus
Greek from Sicily who wrote “Universal History” between 60 and 30
Only a few scraps of this books remain
Spent time at Athens
Diodorus’ use of Ephorus’ organised his work by topic where as Diodorus meant in chronological order - This caused him to merge a number of events in one year into one
o Plutarch
Born some time before AD 50 in the town of Chaeronea in Boeotia and died in 120 AD
Wealthy background and well educated
Biographer rather than a historian so more interested in Character analysis
Weighs up sources well
2
Q
Consquences of the Persian war?
A
- Thucydides 1.89
o Begins where Herodotus finishes with the siege of Sestos
o After the battles of Plataea and Mycale the Peloponnesian’s headed home but the troops from Athens, Ionia and the Hellespont to the strong hold of Sestos in the North
o Besieged it and took it under Athenian leadership - Thucydides 1.89-93
o He outlines the tension between Athens and Sparta
o Athenians sought to rebuild their city
3
Q
Peloponnesian League
A
- Sparta had been the most powerful state in the Greek world
- Alliance of states in the Peloponnesian but some members states from elsewhere
- League probably originated in the 550s and reach its full from by 504
- Key principles of the League:
o If any city of the League was attacked by a non-member, Sparta was duty bound to come to their aid
o The League was bi-cameral (Had 2 voting blocks) One block was the Spartan assembly, other one was a congress of all the states. If Spartan assembly for peace it needed a majority in other congress to take action
o If the Peloponnesian league declared war, then Sparta levied the army and provided its commander-in-chief - This league became the Hellenic League
- Athens had played a crucial role in the victory over the Persians
- Thucydides says that the growing Athenian power was a cause of concern for Sparta
o Sparta doesn’t want an rival - Thucydides 1.90-91
o Rebuilding of Athens’ walls in 478
o A trick by Themistocles
o Walls were hastily built
o Themistocles had urged them to build this wall back in 493/2 when it was his year to be eponymous archon
o Great foresight and planning here - City of Athens lay 5 miles away from the port of Piraeus
o Themistocles saw a vital keeping the connection was - Thucydides 1.107
o In about 458 the Athenians built the Long Walls down to Piraeus and Phaleron (old harbour)
o Defensive walls allowed the city of Athens to have a secure connection to its harbour and therefore security in times of siege
o Thucydides – the seeds for the future conflict between Athens and Sparta were sown when the Spartans’ learnt that the Athenians had rebuilt their walls
o - Thucydides 1.92
o “the Spartans showed no signs of displeasure towards Athens …. All the same the Spartans had not got their own way and secretly they felt aggrieved because of it”
4
Q
What were the other events of 478? (Delian League)
A
o The Spartan commander, Pausanias, regent for his cousin, Pleistarchus, subdued the major part of Cyprus, close to the Persian naval bases in Phoenicia. After this success, he went to Byzantium and also completed a victory
o Ionians resisted the arrogant way he was treating them and called for Athens to take command
o A number of sources speak of Pausanias’ arrogance and treachery at this time, and it is clear at least that he was unpalatable to the other Greeks. However, given Thucydides’ comments about the Spartan annoyance with Athens mentioned above, it is mysterious that the Spartans were apparently so content to allow the Athenians to take over the leadership of the anti-Persian alliance.
5
Q
Two main Athenians?
A
o Story about two main Athenians
Aristeides
Cimon
o Both aristocratic with conservative views
o Aristeides was famous for his fairness and would become a key figure in the establishment of the new alliance.
o Cimon had great pedigree as the son of Miltiades, the hero of Marathon in 490. He would emerge as the military commander of the new alliance in its early years
6
Q
Description of the founding of the Delian League
A
o The formation of the Delian league itself is described by Thucydides
o Delian league is the name given by modern historians – no name in ancient sources
o League first met in the spring of 477 at Delos
Delos was sacred but also central
o Initial task was to assess which cities would provide ships and which would provide money for the upkeep of the Navy
o “. . . to compensate themselves for their losses by ravaging the territory of the
o King of Persia” – Thucydides’ opinion
7
Q
Motives for the creation of the League
A
- Motives for the creation of the League
o Athenians declared that their intention was to take revenge on the Persians
Hidden agenda was to build up a Navy
o Another interpretation suggests that the original intention really was to take revenge on the Persians, but that this intention changed as time went on and the Athenians grew more powerful.
o Thucydides gives some information about the structure of the League. The treasury was set at Delos but the Athenians elected representatives from their own citizen body to manage it. The figure of 460 talents has long been controversial, since this is more than Athens is known to have been collecting in the late 450s, when there were more members of the alliance.
8
Q
Structure of the Delian League
A
- Unclear of structure of the alliance but most likely one block was all the states and another was just Athens
9
Q
Aristedes’ role
A
- Diodorus (11.46-47) and Plutarch (24.1-5)
o Information about Aristeides’ role
o the account of Aristeides’ fairness in both authors is borne out by inscriptional evidence: the tribute figures, which first appear from 453, show that cities did contribute according to their size and ability to pay
10
Q
Spartas thought of the Delian League
A
- Diodorus (11.50)
o He suggests that the Spartans were so alarmed about Athens’ new status
o Unreliable?
o Thuycdides comment that the Spartans were willing to leave the leadership of the alliance to Athens
o The Diodorus passage speaks of pro- peace and pro- war factions in Sparta, which certainly existed later in the century. If the pro- peace faction did indeed prevail as Diodorus suggests, then it may just be that Thucydides did not acknowledge the presence of dissenting views in Sparta at 1.95
11
Q
Achievements of the Delian League
A
- Thuycdides 1.97-101
o Achievements of the league in its early years
Drove Persian out of Northern Aegean
Suppressed them down to South-West Asia Minor
The greatest triumph came in the early 460s with a remarkable victory at the mouth of the River Eurymedon in southern Asia Minor
o Xerxes died soon afterwards in 465 and his successor Artaxerxes seems to have changed policy towards the Greeks. - Plutarch Life of Cimon 12.1-4
o Account of the battle of Eurymedon
12
Q
Athens oppression and Thasos
A
- Plutarch 11
o Cimon was the only general that treated the Allies fairly - Thucydides 1.98
o The rule of the Athenians in the Delian League became oppressive towards those who wished to leave the alliance
o “This was the first case when the original constitution of the League was broken and an allied city lost its independence, and the process was continued in the cases of the other allies as various circumstances arose.” - The first evidence of Athenian coercion had already come in 472, when the Euboean town of Carystus was forced to join the League.
- Thucydides then goes on to mention the revolt of the wealthy island of Thasos in 465 following Athenian interference in its valuable trade markets and a mine it controlled in nearby Thrace. He claims that the Thasians appealed to the Spartans for help, and that they were about to give it when their attentions were diverted by a terrible earthquake at home
o Did Sparta use earthquake to avoid war?
o Sparta didn’t have a total majority for war
Some still see Athens as an ally
13
Q
Build up to first Peloponnesian War
A
- Came as a result of a earthquake which struck Sparta in about 465 and a helot revolt
- Thucydides 1.101-103
o The subsequent dismissal of the Athenian troops by the Spartans produced a dramatic response in Athens:
o Anti-Spartan views now hardened and foreign policy changed dramatically. The Athenians denounced the treaty of alliance they had made with Sparta through the Hellenic League in 481,
o Formed an alliance with Sparta’s great Peloponnesian rival, Argos, as well as with the region of Thessaly in the north of Greece, with which Sparta had been at war in the 470s
o In 461, the pro-Spartan Cimon was ostracised from Athens for ten years
o Border war between Sparta, Corinth and Megara
o Megarians after defeat loomed sided with Athens
o This was a significant coup for the Athenians, since the location of Megara provided them with a buffer against an attack by Peloponnesian land forces. This new alliance meant that members of the two Leagues, Corinth and Megara, were at war with one another for the first time. Crucially, it also set Athens and Corinth against one another
o “It was chiefly because of this that the Corinthians began to conceive such a bitter hatred for Athens”
o This hostility (enmity) would be central for the outbreak of war
14
Q
Events of First Peloponnesian War
A
- Thucydides 105-108
o Describes the events of the first Pelopennesian war
o 15 years
o The Athenians were particularly harsh against their long- term rival Aegina, an important trading hub in the Saronic Gulf.
o Although the Athenians were generally successful against the Corinthians, the Athenians felt threatened enough to build the Long Walls in about 458
o In 457 Athens marched to meet the Spartan-led force at Tanagra in Boeotia
o Although the Spartan- led forces won, the success was short-lived. The Athenians soon returned to Boeotia and won a comprehensive victory over the local peoples at Oinophyta. As a result, for the next ten years or so, Athens controlled a wide area of central Greece: Phocis, Eastern Locris and the whole of Boeotia except for Thebes
o In the same year, the Athenians forced the Aeginetans to join the Delian League. This was the greatest extent of land that the Athenians would ever control.
15
Q
What happened in Egypt and what was the impact of this?
A
- Thucydides 1.104
o The Delian league sent troops to Persian controlled Egypt to support a revolt
o Athenians had their eyes on a foothold in Egypt: potential trade links, the weakening of Persian power in the Mediterranean, and access to the rich grain supply of the Nile valley - 1.109-110
o The Persians sent a task force to face the rebels and routed them
o The Athenians lost most of their fleet of 250 ships and withdrew their forces from the region
o This defeat was probably a major factor in the Athenian decision to relocate the treasury of the Delian League to Athens in 454/3
