Midterm 2 Lecture cards Flashcards
What Happened 1000-800 BCE?1.)Traditional Argument/Pomeroy:
2.) why it’s wrong
1.) The traditional argument
Greece developed rapidly due to population expansion in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE
Politics was organized around a king (generally the largest land holder) and his retinue (a band of armed warriors).
Because of population growth, elites came to have a certain amount of trouble retaining pasture lands, leading to larger social and economic changes.
2.) why it’s wrong:
The Greeks have nothing to do with this.
They are again a periphery of near eastern development
Population growth is not the causal factor
Rather, trade is what ultimately creates population growth (though not on the scale envisioned by some).
Scholars conjecture a population growth rate of 66% over a century, 8th to 7th century BCE
This is not possible in pre-modern societies.
No vaccines, no antibiotics, no antiseptics.
The average female is not fertile until 20 in this period and most are infertile by 35.
To create 66% population growth, Greek women would have need to produce at minimum six children in this span, 40-50% of whom died before age 6. While theoretically possible, this assumes a total absence of warfare, epidemic disease and other factors limiting population growth.
What REALLY Happened 1000-800 BCE (prof’s argument)
Core-State Periphery.
As the Itinerary of Wenamun reveals, new polities had become powerful by the 11th century.
The Phoenician lead the resurgence of trade and expansion through colonization.
Phoenicians
-Solidly Monarchical
-Developed Religion
-Worship of El, Baal, and Astarte and Hadad
Agriculture
Plant Grafting
Exportation of Viticulture and Olive Cultivation
Colonization: Phoenician Colonies appear on Cyprus c. 1000 BCE (Kition)
Phoenician Colony in Greece
- Thasos: on Greece. Guys living in Thatch huts sitting on gold
a. Phoenicians arrive 950. Built temple to Melqart (TYRE GOD)
b. THis place has lots of timber, access to black sea, and gold veins. super good spot for trade colony
c. Viticulture is old, but Phoenicians create new growth and huge local demand
i. eventually locals break phoenician monopolies on wine
d. evidence for core-state periphery interaction
Phoenicians and Wine
- Viticulture is old, but the Phoenicians managed to create new markets with huge local demand.
- Colonies became the center of native and indigenous interaction.
- Begin on islands and expand inland in lots of cases
characteristics of Phoenician Colonies
- Were independent city-states. Generally began with 1000-2000 members
- In many places, they blended ultimately with nearby native populations
- This allowed for trade increases and huge wealth.
- Coastal land, due to piracy was unsettled, so the Phoenicians took advantage.
- Phoenician Colonies go all the way West in Europe and North Africa (Carthaginians are Phoenicians)
Phoenician Script & currency:
g. LANGUAGEL north-west semitic canaanite
i. circa 800: group of Phoenicians separate off as jews, We worship Yahweh not Baal. Oldest Jewsih scripts written in Phoenician/Canaanite script
iv. NOT LIKE LINEAR B redistribution, but rather TRADER tablets. Specialization of labor within small colonies.
v. NO MONEY: but bullion exists. its a coin-like thing
Phoenician effects on Greece:
- Unlike Sicily, Sardinia or Iberia, Greece had more developed institutions.
- The arrival of the Phoenician reignited trade and specialization.
- Proto- Geometric and Geometric pottery indicate the recovery of lost skills.
- Pottery techniques only matter if you have something to trade
- apparently Greek wine is shitty but they traded it anyway
- Phoenicians Ultimately have to abandon their colonies in the area by 850 BCE.
- More Greeks in Italy than Greece by 650
State formation V1 (Sparta):
characteristics and development process
Defensive Agricultural, Territorial, Domestic (Sparta):
Step 1: A group of local Basileis agree to unite their various holdings under a central government.
Step 2: The Basileos with the most land becomes the highest official. The other basileis agree to his JUDICIAL rule in order to establish Private Property holdings
Step 3: Retainers and dependents of the basileis form the original demos of the new state.
Step 4: Any nearby groups not agreeing to unite become subjected to the power of the newly united state and will be acquired violently.
Step 5: New city-state grows as neighbors are subjugated.
Step 6: A dominant class of original members of the city-state rules over those who join later.
State formation V2 (Corinth):
- ) Formation
- ) Political Developments
- Trade, Overseas, International (Corinth)
FORMATION
- Certain areas of Greece are not large agricultural territories.
- Although there may be large land possessors, there are not enough of them to unite interests over land.
- In these places, a merchant class develops over the 9th century BCE.
- Merchants and Land possessors ultimately work out a mutually beneficial deal.
- Land owners need exports to deal with any surplus, merchants need products and safety.
- A third class of skilled laborers develops to support the exchanges between these classes.
- Corinth has a cool Canal (shore of peloponnese very dangerous, easier to cut through Corinth)
2.) POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Begin similarly to agricultural states.
Basileos is retained, etc…
However, the class of skilled laborers and merchants grew quickly.
Puts pressure on elite to open up,
Aristocracies displace hereditary kings quickly
Eventually will lead to democracy in many of these states.
Boule
An aristocratic tool of control and consensus building. Characteristic of Trade and International Greek polities (IE Corinth model). Especially pre-stasis.
In the 8th century, it ruled many Greek states
Often accompanied by an annual series of magistrates, who have designated powers that we once all exercised by a single basileos.
Property restrictions prohibit anyone not rich from joining the club BUT also provide a method for the newly rich to be heard if enrolled.
annual magistrates
-after they get rid of the basileus and set up boule, one guy will be general, one chief priest, one ruleer of year, one in charge of weights & measures all for a year
Stasis
- A particular condition of Greek city-states.
- A form of internal civil war, though not always violent.
- Occurs regularly in most Greek city-states, particularly during times of rapid economic or political development.
- Can become dangerous: Massacres, expulsions, mercenary armies.
Colonization
2.) boule and colonization
- Movement of the rich.
- More than one son.
- Not enough land/material wealth to divide and maintain status.
- Colonization is a pressure valve/opportunity for these men, not some great mass of population, as envisioned by your textbook.
BOULE &
- Allows domestic aristocracy to preserve their positions while trying to provide for descendants. (IE dont have to split up your land if you send your sons to a colony. Thereby your family can stay in Boule indefinitely)
- allows development of a wider governing class.
Why travel to a colony?
risky, but if successful, you have a chance of getting really rich nd really influential in new colonies
-for rich men interested in preserving family status/boule land reqs. Not just preservation. Also the hope of advancing your family even further! Get riches in foreign lands and rule those lands
Corinth as Colonizing power
Corinth
Founds Corcyra
Founds Syracuse
Dominates trade with Italy.
Corinthian Pottery: 730-600 BCE (black figure). Dominant in Meditteranean by 630
(Athenian Pottery comes to life c. 650) red figure not until later though. Black figure dominant hella
Corinth is Real spark that ignites the rest of the Greek mainland
Developed rapidly
United trade across the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.
Sparta Formation:
- Developed in the 9th century BCE
- Four villages, later a fifth
- Two Kings (Basileis)
- Example of V.1 of Greek State Formation
- Driven by agriculture
- pottery (like athens) by 650 in black figure style
Sparta Empire Formation
-Sparta landlocked so in conflict with south for sea access
-9th century conflicts over access to the sea caused the villages at the top of the Laconian Plain to synoikize into Sparta.
-The newly formed city-state was vastly more powerful than those city states in its vicinity.
This led to a series of military campaigns against its neighbors, hardening its army but also establishing imperial control over defeated city-states in its vicinity.
-Any remaining free city-states choose to make a deal with Sparta to accept Spartan dominance in exchange for protection. These people become the Perioeci (those who live around).
Perioeci
- 8th century
- The Perioeci constitute a dependent class that provides certain functions to the new state.
- Most likely this is a form of agricultural tax in the earliest period. In exchange, the perioeci gain freedom from invasion as Sparta provides a professional and permanent army.
- It is essentially a mafia-type power dynamic and thus mutually beneficial
- Greeks like any others. Live in their own cities, conduct their own local business.
- May act as retainers to Spartan warriors.
- Most are Craftsman and Agriculturalists.
- Eventually form their own military units and serve in Spartan Army
First Messenian War & resultant class
- (740-720 BCE)
- Helots
- The sources allege that it was continuation of the Dorian Invasion (BS)
- Most likely it has to do with a need for land for exports. Messenia is very fertile as well.
- It is in this moment that Sparta becomes a true Empire.
- Messenia had city-states, Messene being the primary example.
- These are obliterated.
- WAR DID NOT HAPPEN DUE TO POP GROWTHRather, Empires acquire land because they have the ability.
- All Empires are nothing more than supremely aggressive states that successfully prosecute wars and learn how to manage subject populations.
Spartan Kings and Senate(spartan name?)
- The Spartans had dual kingship.
- This was mediated by a -Gerousia -(the Greek version of Senate).
- Kings were expected to command in war and be judicial officials. The Gerousia acted as their advisors and were elected by citizens to the office. In reality, there could have been very few men over sixty (so it was almost a fait accompli).
- However, the Spartans also always seem to have possessed an ekklesia. If you were a Spartan citizen, you had a responsibility to attend.
- Spartan Ekklesia
2. Spartan “Dining halls”
- ASSEMBLY OF ALL CITIZENS decide war and invasion decisions by shouting suggestions basically
- Because decisions were mediated by the demos at large, decisions about war and peace were collective from a early period.
- This breads military unity and a military ethos amongst soldiers (organically at first).
- Success in war then reinforces institutional design and leads to entrenchments.
- Thus the early Spartan warriors likely met for dinner because they were professional soldiers and these were their drinking buddies. - SYSSITION: -Over time this became the formal SYSSITION or all male dining club
Other Spartan Institutions
- ) Govern children
- ) State land structure
- ) State police
SPURRED BY RESOURCES ACQUIRED 740-720 in FIRST MESSENIAN CONFLICT
Agoge to govern children
Kleros structure of state land
Krypteia or secret police.
-AGOGE: Spartan system of raising children
-formal system of military education. all that matters is military discipline!
-for a phalanx to succeed “everybody has to be a big boy” lol
kleros/kleroi: state laand. Spartans extract a percentage of kleros surplus
-After completing AGoge and getting assigned to Sysstition you get a parcel of kleros rights
Klepteia: secret police
Slave class in sparta (name and description)
HELOTS:
-Fully subjugated Greeks.
-Destruction of urbanization
Division of land
-Assignment of state slaves and land to individual Spartans.
-Supervision by state police and also the owners.
-No justice, just violence (hence the crazy myths about killing helots).
-Did have families, could have stuff but not land.
Spartan Empire by 700 and only colony name
- Fully developed around 700 BCE
- Seventh Century is a period of expansion.
- Colonization in Italy and the -Foundation of TARENTUM occurs around 700
- It is the only colony, and clearly a tool of the perioeci to expand their economic horizons.
- Its also a reward for the help in the Messenian War. Tarentum allowed those who wished to escape the Perioeci status. (I.e. not the myth).
Limits of Spartan Growth:
- ) a lost war
- ) a revolt that takes resources
Sparta attempts to move east.
Loses the battle of Hysiae c. 670 BCE to Argos.
650 Messenians Revolt leading to second Messenian War
Peloponnesian League
- PELOPPONESIAN LEAGUE forms 7th century. hella big
- convinces lots of DORIAN neighbors to join
- Sparta is only one who can declare war
- Corinth can’t declare war
- allows Sparta to intervene in affairs of other cities outside their previous control
- gives Sparta extensive knowledge as well. League is information center and Sparta is decisionmaker
- congress of league at Sparta. delegates get vote
- Sparta never makes the leap to making this into a true empire. This is like an informal empire
- conflic limitation mechanism. dorians shouldn’t kill dorians. cultural unity
Sparta by 650
-The Spartan Empire has begun its conversion into a settled state.
-Institutions are fully developed
Repression of helots is guaranteed by a professional army
-Resources are guaranteed by trade through the Perioeci.
-Spartan citizens live a life of relative peace and luxury at the center of the new forming territorial state.
-It becomes a developed apartheid state by 600 BCE.
ARCHAIC PERIOD
dates and general qualities
Archaic
750-500BCE
Greece reaches a period of general prosperity by 700
Trade with Phoenicians had led to widespread economic and intellectual developments.
Many Greeks were now literate.
Many Greeks were also now master craftsman
Archaic Poetry
a: famous dude
b girl from Lesbos
c poetry development
From Epic to Lyric
a: Archilochus of Paros: c. 650
Archilochus of Paros
-poem about running away from a battle mercenary lol
-blase attitude towards fighting
Archilochus is one of the founders of lyric /epic (?) poetry form
-Sappho of Lesbos: first female writer. Lesbian
sexuality in ancient Greece very different from modern sexuality
8th century only Homer and Hesiod Now we have hundreds of travelling bards Singing songs of love, death, and war Ancient Rock Music Ancient Rock Stars Developed in the early to mid 7th century BCE
Symposium
“Greek drinking parties” sort of like Spartan sysstetion
- come to my house for dinner! listen to lyric poetry! - descends into flute girls and prostitutes? lolol - kylix "red solo cups." Always something weird at the bottom. Massive goblet of wine lol - in later Greecethey are pictures of people vomiting - Greeks drink mixed wine. Alcohol mixed with water good for water purity - also drink pure wine for drunkenness
Lydian Empire
- Developed c. 700. United old Hittite Lands in Western Turkey
- Capital at Sardis
- HAVE COINAGE FOR FIST TIME
- Herodotus, Book 1 gives the history of a line of kings.
- EVENTUALLY fight greeks at Ephesos in 560: first important military contact bw near east & Greeks
- Developed Orthogonal city planning (like manhattan)
Ionian Philosophical Revolution & first important “pre-socratic” philospopher
Thales of Miletus
-c600
(The earth rests on water. (De Caelo 294a28)
Water is the archê of all things. (Metaph. 983b18)
The magnet has a soul. (De Anima 405a19)
All things are full of gods. (De Anima 411a7)
Natural phenomena can explain questions of “why”
also Pythagoras: not just a theorem, also a sort of cult of math and order
PROFESSOR SAYS THESE PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS COMBINED WITH OTHER SOCIAL PRESSURES EVENTUALLY LEAD TO TYRANNY AND DEMOCRACY BC OF THOUGHT REFORMS
Tyrants and features of tyranny
Often a step towards democracy.
Used by the people to oust the old guard
Commonly also put an end to debt bondage to the rich, which seems to have afflicted many Greeks in the mid to late 7th century
Period of wealth redistribution
Leads to rise of the citizen driven polis.
Cypselus
657-628: Corinthuian early and famous tyrant. Exiles members of the boule and aristocracy. Populist?
Etruscans
- Spread Greek cultural developments throughout Italy.
- Gave rise to Rome in the end, which was conquered c. 700 by Etruscans.
- Rome becomes a republic by expelling Etruscan overlords. -This will set it on a path that ultimately leads to the world’s largest empire and the conquest and destruction of Greece.
Attica and Importance to Athens development
For it is clear that the classical Athenian polis was of a scale wholly untypical of such entities.
Indeed, small as the territory of Attica may seem to us today, with a total area of around 2,650 km2 it was perhaps as much as fifty times larger than the average Greek polis.
Athenian Unification date as suggested by myth vs archeology
MYTH: synoikism in dark ages leads to Theseus
Mythical king Theseus, Athenian legend, not accepted by scholars
Some have argued that synoikism could have occurred in the Mycenaean period and was simply resumed on the other side of the Greek Dark Age. Derivation of Theseus legend.
Most have posited a date in the 9th or 8th centuries BCE based on the development of late geometric pottery.
Support for 8th century argument is limited to a few texts and the evidence of unified art and language in this period
ARCHEOLOGICAL REALITY
Unification of Attica under the power of Athens over the 7th and 6th centuries
How is this achieved?
Naturally, through Civil War between leading families, who through periods of exile managed to draw the entire region into Athenian affairs.
Archons and function:
their council called:
The Archons
Chiefs of Athens in this period
Originally three, then expanded to nine
Gradually limited from life time appointments to ten year appointments to one year appointments
The list of yearly archons begins in 682 BCE
Former Archons became members of the Areopagus Council, which served as an advisory body to ruling archons. Important because they chose the next year’s archons
DRACO and first law codes in Athens
Draco, also spelled Dracon (f621 BCE), Established some of the first “truly athenian” state characteristics
Athenian lawgiver whose harsh legal code punished both trivial and serious crimes in Athens with death—hence the continued use of the word draconian to describe repressive legal measures.
-formalized archonship and areopagus council which had been introduced in 683
debts could be punished by debt bondage (slavery).
Draco’s code was later regarded as intolerably harsh, punishing trivial crimes with death; it was probably unsatisfactory to contemporaries, since Solon, who was the archon in 594 bc, later repealed Draco’s code and published new laws, retaining only Draco’s homicide statutes. A
Later authors refer to other laws of Draco, which may be genuine; but the constitution ascribed to Draco in chapter 4 of the Constitution of Athens by Aristotle is certainly a later fabrication.
Solon and reforms:
Born 638. Athens
Appears to have been appointed to an extraordinary archonship in 594
Given powers to reconstitute the state on new terms.
Why? The Late 6th century had not been prosperous.
Aristocrats were also expelled and likely agitating from outside after Draco?
Many families were located in the far south and far north east of Attica.
There, they begin to develop new power bases and new armies for themselves.
REFORMS
- *Created property classes based on income. Determined if you were eligible to hold certain high offices
- although also established some means of elevating yourself
Abolished debt bondage (allowed under Draco)
Instituted council of 400 (boule) which prepared what was to be voted on by the assembly. Alternative to Areopagus council.
balance between keeping old families in power (areopagus and property restrictions on class designations) and allowing more democraticy reforms (boule/council of 400 have great power over ekklesia) also people can rise in class by getting more wealth, enfranchising entrepreneurs and hoplite class
Athens immediately after Solon (600)
Attica/Athens? begins to move to unite the whole peninsula under its power.
However, previously exiled families remained strong in these areas and encouraged the development of factions, identified by land holding type
Certain parts of Attica are advantageous for certain forms of production.
Specialization in agriculture combined with an expanding Athenian State led to new forms of unrest
Athens From 575-25
Attica goes through a period of civil war and tyranny. Moderates vs oligarchs vs Pesistratos and democrats. Although Pesistratos also helps bring about Athenian stability and establishes many lasting institutions
Peisistratos: 561- 527 BCE
and sons
Athenian Tyrant
Responsible for the much of the important developments in Attica, and its continued democratization.
Peisistratos brought a lot of unused land in Attica into Olive and Grape cultivation.
some don’t like him bc he’s a tyrant
SONS
His Sons tried to hold power. I guess they failed?
Kleisthenes and reforms:
Complicated slide on organization of athens under his reforms
after 509/508: expulsion of peisistrtos’ Tyrant sons
period of aristocratic weakness. Pesistratids had filled areopagus with their cronies, which was fine until they got kicked the fuck out. Therefore, Kleisthenes empowets boule/ekklesia more. Also tries to limit aristocratic drama/bitchiness through tribal reforms (see below)
REFORMSL council (boule) now consists of 500 members, 50 from each of ten tribes
ORGANIZATION:
-traditional tribes tried to be replaced by demes/locality organizations
INTO DEMES (like towns/provinces) as opposed to local phratries (tribal fraternities) with the goal of MIXING TRIBES to limit conflict and civil war grouped by tribes and trytyes which eventually constitute the council of 500
MEDES and PERSIAN EMPIRE ORIGINS
7th C A little known people, the Medes expand, including conquering Persia
Archaeologically, they are extremely hard to find.
Sometime in the 7th century BCE, a group of tribes with similar language and religion allied with one another to create a kingdom. This was likely a result of the fact that their western boarder consisted on the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Cyrus the Great:
AAccount from Herodotus
Founder of Persia
Ruled 560-530 BCE
Established the Persians as the ruling clans of the Median Empire
Revolted against the Median Empire in the period 553-549 BCE
The Median Empire ended when Cyrus captured the Median Capital at Ecbatana.
Between 550- 539 BCE, he destroyed the Lydian and Neo-Babylonian Empires
early persia Depends on the figure of Cyrus to a great extent.
His death leads to years of confusion over who would be emperor and establish a dynastic line
Persians as Imperial Rulers. How are they?
Conquest is not consolidation
When you conquer quickly, you then have to administrate what you conquer.
This is harder than conquest
Persians are generally quite good at it.
Taxation in exchange for peace and prosperity.
Religious freedom, respect for local customs.
One problem: local forces are kept in local arms…This will be a huge concern
DARIUS
Seized power (522).
Introduced Old Persian as the ceremonial, written language of the Empire and Aramaic as its lingua franca.
Developed new palaces and the royal road
Developed Satrapies
HERODOTUS gives an extended story on the rise of Darius in 522 BCE, in book 3.61 and following.
He argues that a Magian usurped the throne claiming to be the legitimate heir, Smerdis, who was already dead.
This is actually nearly the same story told by Darius himself in the Behistun Inscription
Darius actions 521 (after rising to power)
Nearly the whole year had to be spent reconsolidating previous Persian conquests.
Darius or his generals were nearly always successful. His army was composed primarily of loyal Persians and Medes at this time.
So what happened when he captured a usurper? He kills the shit out of them and tortures them like a total badass
Darius’ Reforms & Satrapy System
2.) ionians
Darius created the Satrapy system of the Persian Empire. He imposed a regular system of Tribute as well (given in Herodotus 3.90), something on the order of 830, 000 lbs of silver
Formal Divisions of the Empire. Think of them as provinces
They grow in number over time
Each Satrapy has a Satrap, who is the appointed governor of the land in the territory.
Satraps are Persian Nobles
- ) The Ionians were now subjects of the Persian Empire
- (had been since cyrus the great but now. Formally forced to pay tribute and render other services.)
- Leads to desire for a revolt against Persian power.)
Ionian Revolt:
- ) Athens’ involvement: why do they get involved?
- ) What happens in the revolt?
- ) End of Ionian Revolt
499-493 BCE During the reign of Darius.
2.)Believe they were in some sense mother city
Felt a new sense of power after fixing their internal problems.
Kleisthenes and his reforms were effective
3.) In 498 BCE, the Athenians decided to test their new found power.
They manned a fleet to send to Ionia.
498 was a good year.
The combined forces captured and burned Sardis, the capital of the Persian Satrapy.
However, the force was ambushed and defeated at Ephesus.
4.) Athenians gtfo after they lose at Ephesus
Battle of Lade (near Miletus, the center of Ionian power). No Athenians involved.
Huge Sea Battle
Aftermath of Ionian Revolt
Athens and Eretria became targets as soon as the Ionian Revolt ended.
492: Mardonius conquers Thrace and Macedonia.
490: Campaign of Datis (Naval) and Artaphernes (Land). Captured Eretria
By 490, the Persians are ready to invade mainland Greece.
The Persian Wars (Dates)
Prof use an expansive definition (basically 500 Ionian revolt -404 Fall of Athens)
Persia was still present and active until the Fall of Athens in 404, though they receded in direct military conflict.
In fact, one could argue that this war does not end until Alexander destroys the Persian Empire in the Late 330s BCE.
Battle of Marathon
- Persians attack Greece and Athens. Led by Darius. Athenians soundly defeat Persians. Story told by Herodotus
The true start of the conflict.
First Persian Invasion of Mainland Greece
Massive Greek Victory
Details from notes: defile, battle bad for Persian cavalry, armored hoplites show their prowess, Persians not united
Phalanx
Ultimately, it is a method of casualty limitation. Heavy armor, long spears and hoplon shield allow for essentially the ancient versian of a tank.
relies on coordination and trust bw members to not break rank
Siege warfare is neigh impossible.
Phalanx allows differences to be worked out over land.
Aftermatho of Marathon
a. Persians go home having had their butts kicked (490)
b. Darius is pissed when he hears about it. He wasn;t at marathon
c. 489: Egyptian satrapy fully revolted. Uh oh Persians in deep shit
d. Darius dies before he can kill athenians or Egyptians
i. replaced by XERXES
Xerxes after death of Darius:
- Xerxes comes 486
a. Herodotus is so biased against Xerxes
b. he sets up Persians to look effeminite
c. So Persians wear trousers: to Greeks that is awful
i. only a Persian would wear trousers!
d. Xerxes agrees to get back at the Athenians after they take back Egypt
i. Egypians easy to take care of in a year and a half
e. Huge expeditionary force in Susa, bridge Hellespont with boats
i. they then sail around to thrace and down thessaly
ii. Xerxes builds a canal to avoid going around mount athos
iii. He also sets off Macedonian state formation after subjecting all the Northern Greek peoples
iv. Eventually they get down to Thermopylae
Battle of Thermopylae
2.) after battle:
480BCE
a. It was much narrower in antiquity due to erosion
b. Tons of people from Peloponese and some Athenians and lots of others
c. They alll fight until it is clear they will lose. They fight in rotational defense of wall/positions
d. When it is clear they will lose to Persians, THEN 300 Spartans stay and fight till the death
e. “human beings are many but men are few”
f. 4 day battle of Greeks kickin ass
i. only a few persians can fight at a time so it is like 100 rounds of 30*30 instead of 1 round of tons of persians against a few Greeks
g. Persian army soldiers really can’t kill the phalanx
i. the only way they do it is by flanking around mountains
ii. Greeks actually knew that Persians found the path. Then everybody abandons ship except Spartans and another few others
iii. Leonidas leader of Spartan force
2.) AFTER THERMOPYLAE
Xerxes marches on Athens
The Athenians surprisingly abandon the city.
Load everything onto boats and move to nearby Islands.
Battle of Artemesion
h. Battle of Artemision: Simultaneous naval battle
i. indecisive
ii. happens at same time at thermopylae (480)
iii. athennians have 127 triremes and 170 rowers 30 marines (127*200 people)
iv. Corinthians furnish 40 ships
1. SO BY this period CORTINTH is not that wealthy
2. Athens is already by 480 dominant sea power in Greece
v. Battle is 200 ships vs 300 or so. generally a draw in massive battle
vi. Sometime between 490 and 85, Athenians discover LAURION SILVER MINES silver mines. free money!
vii. Athenian state immediately claims the mines
viii. So between those two dates they build a massive fleet
i. Themistocles: anybody can put proposal to ecclesia. He says best use of money is for state to build a massive navy
Themistocles and Laurion Silver mines
Discovery of the Laurion Mines
Themistokles convinces the Athenians to use the money to build a Navy
Also uses the money to finish the Piraeus. Navy and Piraeus when combined with long walls essential to greek imperial power
Enables athens to build giant ass navy and win battle of Artemesian, as well as become dominant Greek sea power
Battle of Salamis
- Battle of Salamis 480
a. Chaos of naval battle
b. MASSIVE number of ships killin the shit out of each other
c. use a similar strategy of compressing the Persian fleet in a narrow area
d. MASSIVE victory for the Greeks. Athenians flank on the left
e. Ultimately is a battle between Phoenicians (not Persians) and greeks
i. morale advantage to Greeks. lots of the subjects of Persians barely fight
f. Xerxes decides to get the hell out of dodge: he wanders back to Persia.
i. army abandons athens and heads north to Thrace
Why did Greeks defeat the Persians twice?
As a united people, a nation state in the modern sense, there were in fact quite strong.
Unified fighting style (Phalanx, Trireme)
Unified desire to defend Hellas (as a concept)
Easily united into mass armies and navies
Also advantage of fighting at home.
Advanced understanding of tactics
Period from 480-449
PERIOD AFTER 1st and 2nd PERSIAN INVASIONS
-beginning officially of Delian league
Your textbook really fails here.
Why?
We have very few sources for this period.
Herodotus stops and Thucydides does not tell us much.
Mostly we have to reconstruct this history from Athenian Inscriptions and a very much later Roman sources
Early Delian League
Officially, the Athenians established the Delian League 480-449 period after Persians invade. , an alliance of city-states intended to defeat the Persians.
Additionally, the Athenians also tried to expand their own direct territorial holdings.
Over time, the league morphs into an empire
capital at delos: meeting point in Aegean sea
Contributions of member states originally in ships
as it becomes more imperial, shifts to cash (phoros) contributions
Democratic radicalization in athens in 480-449 period
This is often presented as a development of the Persian Wars.
The men who rowed the boats attained power through their actions and gained a new sense of solidarity.
This is ridiculous.
It has to do with continued growth of the HOPLITE CLASS.& tensions bw traditional elite and newly powerful hoplite class
Was thus the result of a rising trend in economic prosperity. As the numbers of the hoplite class grew, the increasingly tried to seize power from the oligarchs. It has nothing to do with rowing boats.
Athenian Trade with Carthage
2.) developments in carthage as result? developments in Athens as result?
Beginning in the 550s, the Athenians began to develop a relationship with the city-state of Carthage.
Why? Population growth created a need for grain, which Athens cannot produce.
Carthage sat on amazing grain bearing land in North Africa.
2.) Led to an massive explosion of Carthaginian colonies in North Africa to supply grain.
Led to an massive increase in Athenian products in the western Mediterranean.
Carthage took oil and wine from Athens and then directly redistributed these products into areas previously dominated by Corinthian networks of trade.
Red Figure Pottery
c. 520 BCE, the Athenians created a new pottery style, red figure vase painting.
It contrasted strongly against Corinthian Black Figure.
Allowed Athens to stand out in new markets in the Western Med.
demonstrates Athens’ increasing economic and trade importance
Coins and the Delian League
From 480 BCE, the Athenian tetradrachmae becomes the most circulated coin in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Highly standardized, they come to be seen much like today’s dollar.
Athens is increasingly unwilling to accept any other coinage and comes to force all allies to align their coinage with Athenian standards.
Most just adopt use of the owl
By 462, Athens is directly acquiring the wealth of the Delian League through ccoin tribute and using it to build it’s own massive navy.
.
Battle of Eurymedon
- ) prelude and delian league
- ) outcome
1.) Athens assumes command of a combined navy and begins to press against Persian interests on the Mediterranean Seaboard. Lasts from 476- 469/6
Battle of Eurymedon was the most important.
2.) Occurs on land and sea
Delian League v. Persians
469/66 BCE
Skyros/ Direct Athenian imperial expansion
475: following end of Persian wars
In addition to prosecuting the Persians, the Athenians also attack nearby islands
Skyros was the first victim, c. 475 BCE.
The inhabitants are expelled and the Athenians divided the land among themselves, called a Cleruchy (one type of Athenian state expansion).
Revolt of Naxos,
470 BCE
Athenians respond violently
Siege the city
Loss of Autonomy
Shows an increasing imperial trend in Athens
Also lead many states to seek a new solution.
Payment in cash now accepted instead of ships and crews
Constant campaigning was becoming an issue and this solution solved it.
Revolt at Thasos
2.) Economic/league repercussions
465
Revolt from the League
Crushed by Cimon
Forced to give up all wealth to the Athenians and became part of the Athenian State
2.) Leads to short period of general discontent. led to payment in cash instead of ships, then discontent subsides
Egypt revolt from Persia and subsequent Athenian invasion
2.) Athenian invasion
In 462, due to internal Persian conflicts, Egypt revolted from the Persian Empire.
The Athenians seized this opportunity to invade Egypt.
2.) Initial Athenian victories lead to siege of Memphis up the Nile river.
Athenian Siege of Memphis
After Athenians win battles over egyptians in 461/460,
Probably 459-455 BCE.
Athenians are essentially (along with Egyptian allies) in control of the Nile Delta
But they fail.
480-465Peloponnesian League activities
Not much of anything.
These city-states had gone back to their usual existence.
Sparta was generally unhappy with Athenian actions.
Corinth was witnessing the loss of western Mediterranean markets.
However, peace prevailed.
Massive Earthquake + Helot revolt
- ) Earthquake
- ) Helot revolt. How are the Spartans doing?
- ) Athens involvement
465, ends a period of general peace in Peloponnese. A massive earthquake devastated the Peloponnesus.
This led the Helots to revolt against the Spartans.
a. spartan helot slaves combine with Messenians
b. advance against city of Sparta, but they retreat before fighting spartans
c. try to defend against Spartan reconquest of lost land
d. Spartan asks for Athenian help
e. Athenians freak out after discovering Spartans enslave fellow Greeks
f. Estrangement bw two states. Spartans: we called you (athens) to help, and you berate us and insult us and left?
g. Athnians leave 465
h. Spartans deal with revolt until462
i. Spartans win and regain control
Cimon
j. Cimon (greek naval commander) was Athenian expert (proxenos) of Sparta
- famous for battle of Salamis and Eurymidon as well as crushing revolt at Thasos in 465
- oligarchic-favor. Supports areopagic council against Ephialtes
i. After athenians freak out at Spartans, they freak out at him and OSTRACIZE him/exile (see above)
Processural vs post-processural archeological interpretation
&positivism?
Processural, scientifically based approach. Development and aggregation of large data sets (pottery, coins, buildings, hearths, anything) to develop large scale understanding of life as lived.
Post-processural, theoretical archaeology concerned primarily with agency.
Five Modes of Historical Reading
Political (How does government work? Who possesses internal political power in various places and periods, how are leaders treated? Power? Extensive, intensive).
Economic, primarily evidence of wealth, its perceptions and its deployment in societies
Social, relations between classes (free, slave/rich, poor/etc…)
Religious, attitudes and development of religious practice (generally with reference to its political functions as well).
Military, tactical and strategic
Ephialtes and Reforms
(died 461 bc), leader of the radical democrats at Athens in the 460s, who by his reforms prepared the way for the final development of Athenian democracy. His hostility toward Sparta and his advocacy of power for the Athenian common people made him the enemy of the pro-Spartan politician Cimon, who had the support of the nobles. Elected general soon after 465, Ephialtes unsuccessfully opposed (462) the sending of an Athenian contingent under Cimon to assist in putting down a revolt of the helots in Sparta. The Spartans, however, dismissed the Athenian troops sent to relieve them. Outrage over the dismissal swung Athenian opinion in Ephialtes’ favour, so that he was able in 462/461 to carry measures stripping the aristocratic court, the Areopagus, of its political power and to establish the dominance of the Ecclesia (the Popular Assembly), the Boule (Council), and law courts. Opposition to these measures resulted in the assassination of Ephialtes, but his political revolution was consolidated.
- Areopagic Council had been losing favor since arcons began to be chosen by lot in the 480s
- after Ephialtes’ reforms, areopagus simply a high court in charge of murder trials and some religious stuff
- but they had a lot of power under influence of Cimon
ANACYCLOSIS
c. Greeks believe that govt influences (democracy, oligarchy, monarch) should be in balance
i. Or else this will result in ANACYCLOSIS
- Aristocracy into oligarchy democracy into mob monarchy into tyranny
First Peloponnesian war
- ) initial stuff
- ) Sparta gets involved
- ) Athens revenge
- ) end
War (460-445)
Traditionally known as the First Peloponnesian War, though it is not anything like the Second.
I would term it, First Panhellenic War.
Athens, Corinth, Argos, Megara, Thebes and Sparta all get involved.
Starts when the Athenians make an alliance with Argos, c. 461/460.
Megara soon followed.
This hemmed in the Corinthians
2.) Sparta gets involved 458/457
Sparta invades Doris to remove the Phocians. (north of boeotia)
Remote part of Greece but puts a Spartan and allied army into the field.
After deciding to walk home, the Spartans take up a position in Boeotia
- ) Athens invade and conquer Boeotia
- then lose it 447
4.)ends 445. Athens lost Boeotia, almost lost euboa (retaken by Pericles) Megara defects back to spartans after oligarchic coup. Sparta invades but doesn’t do much damage
Long Walls
Developed also in Athens in this period 460-457.
Related to power. To keep the Athenian machine functioning it was necessary to acquire grain constantly.
With possessions in Skyros and Thasos, the Athenians always had access to the Black Sea and Ionia.
Allowed them to import food even if the city was under siege, as long as the navy remained intact.
Battle of Tanagra
457 first pelop war
Clash of Sparta and Athens.
Spartan victory and ensures their safe passage home.
The Athenians took out their frustration on the Boeotians.
i. Spartans on way home from kicking ass at Doris
ii. Clash between Spartans and Athens directly
iii. Athenians try to box Spartans in
iv. Athenians get butts kicked
v. Spartans super pissed off burn everything they can find in the Megarid
1. Cut down olive trees which might take a generation to regrow
2. Kill Megara for defecting to the dirty Athenians
Battle of Oenophyta
457
Athenians had just lost battle of tanagra to Spartans
athens conquering boeotia
Lots of reasons are given for the conversion of the Delian League into the Athenian Empire.
At this point (i.e. 457/456), it would have been apparent to most of the islanders that Athens was simply too powerful. These actions were direct growth of the Athenian State, not the league. Areas conquered paid tribute to Athens.
Basic theory: nations will submit to empires when the cost of war is too great and the chances of victory exceedingly low. Ideology can significantly warp this calculus, however
\
i. Boeotia conquered By Athenians and incorporated
ii. Athenians then start conquering Spartan allies
iii. By 457 tables have turned
iv. After Spartans returned home, Athens basically went crazy
v. They are sailing around pelopponesus at this point threatening shit pretty close to Sparta
1. Hold forts in Peloponnesus
2. Also besieging Memphis with the Delian league at same time
3. Tribute going straight into Athenian coffers not the league in this Peloponnesian case
.
Delian League Treasury moves to Athens
b. what do we learn from it?
454 after battle of oenophyta/
The collection of tribute moves to Athens.
Leads to the creation of a unique series of records.
The Athenian Tribute Lists
Dedications by subject city-states to Athena as a tithe
Allows us to calculate Athenian State Finances in this period
Athenian tribute lists
i. Portion of the overall tribute
1. In other words Athens donates a portion of tributes to Athena (god)
2. What we learn: Athens getting 10k in Talents a year from tribute (The Parthenon cost a reported 1000 T)
a. Massive massive amount of money
b. IMPERIAL SUCK
i. Sucking resources from provinces to get power in city center
Peace of Callias
449 BCE
Officially ends the Persian Wars
Poorly recorded and understood but mostly accepted because the amount of direct conflict after this period was limited.
Athenian Loss of Boeotia
447
Athenian defeated in battle.
Evacuate the territory.
Importantly, this taste of Athenian Imperialism set the Boeotian city-states about strengthening their own alliance structure for the future.
THUCYDIDES history of peloponnesian war.
-says attacked by “Boeotian exiles” but probably a real revolt
The Boeotian League
11 city-states normally and their associated lands and small settlements.
Each elected one Boeotarch to serve as a general. They also send delegates to a federal council/decision making body in Thebes.
For the next 100 years Boeotia becomes a major player in Greek affairs.
a. operates kind of like US:
b. Federated league. Each state sends a rep to a federal council
c. federal council governs states in larger defensive league
d. Boeotarchs
e. starts 5th c. 4th century takes down sparta and comes to real power and importance
Athenian Golden Age
450-430
Pericles
Born in 495; died of the plague in 429 (along with 30,000 others).
Partnered with Ephialtes in 460s.
Came to power after Cimon was exiled in 461.
Populist extraordinaire:
Introduced pay for jurors.
Restrictions on citizenship.
Territorial empire & cleruchies.
Elected strategos 25 years in a row.
Athenian democracy: to govern and be governed in turn.
Pericles = democratic paradox?
though still in name a democracy, was actually governed by its first citizen.”
-thucydides
Athena Parthenos
Statue of Athena in Parthenon
Democratic Athens made public all expenditures
The statue cost more than the entire Parthenon!
The Panathenaic Festival
Ever four years.
Began in 566 BC; by the mid-fifth century it was a celebration of the Athenian empire.
Each state sent a delegation to the festival with an offering of a cow and a panoply of armor.
Focus = the Acropolis.
The procession ended at the Parthenon.
Oh, and don’t forget! Tribute assessments for the next four years.
Athenian Tragedy
: heroic and grand, often set in the mythic past.
Purpose = to evoke pity and display the worst conditions of life
Comedy
and aristophanes piece!
funny! relax and laugh at each other you crazy bastards. distraction from everyday horrors
Aristophanes: On the origins of the Peloponnesian War:
“Going to Megara, some young pricks
in their cups stole Simaetha, the whore.
The Megarians, bummed and all garlicked up
in retaliation, grabbed two of Aspasia’s whores.
Thenceforth, the start of the war burst forth
on all the Greeks on account of three whores.
Thereupon, pissed, his almightiness Pericles
lightninged, thundered, and fucked up Greece.”
-Aristophanes, Acharnians (c. 425).
Sophistry
Democratic Athens was a highly deliberative state.
Sophists: formal, expensive education in public speaking.
In practice, only the wealthy elite got training in how to speak in public.
Yet some aristocrats thought it unbecoming to charge a fee for a service, rather than income from inherited landed wealth.
Gymnasia
centers of informal education.
Close connection between athletics, education, health.
Leisure & education: Athenians were living way above subsistence
Gymnos = naked.
Socrates
how do we know about him?
what was he known for?
why was he killed?
- Socrates:
a. Why kill socrates?
b. Socrates: often thought of as a poor guy always prodding Athenians
c. He didn’t write anything. Everything we know from Plato or Xenephon
d. Peacetime stonemason and wartime hoplite. He fought in 3 important battles in Peloponnesian war
e. definitely a mixed character
f. “Gadfly” of Athens
g. he would ask deceptively simple question, which would reveal that people actually know nothing at all
h. SOCRATIC METHOD: dialectic method of inquiry
i. to solve a problem, you must break a question down into a series of other questions
ii. scientific method linked to this
i. famous among youth. Adults thought he was a pain in the ass
j. Socrates would cruise through AGORA(central point in city) and question people
i. what a troll lolol
ii. agora is center of public activity and a market
k. His kind of thinking didn’t really impact Athenian state of affairs
i. dealing with elites for elites
l. 399: Sentenced to death
i. corrupting youth and impiety (not beliveing in state gods)
ii. he agreed to die. He was condemned by jury of peers, so if he didn’t die would undermine democracy
iii. criteus? group of 30 oligarchs take over democratic state
iv. Socrates likely cought up in a bunch of shitty drama
Metics
- Metics: people who live in Athens for more than 6 months but aren’t citizens
a. have to pay taxes for privilege of living in Athens
Thucydides
- Thucydides:
a. long brutal books with sentences that go on for a page in a half
b. Extremely wealthy Athenian genera
i. personal wealth from family gold mines
ii. 460-400
iii. General in beginning of war but exiled 424
iv. Thucydides: unique for considering causation - research and “objective” understanding of facts,
a. founder of history? not Herodotus?
b. The “real cause” vs “proximate cause”
c. Sparta afraid of new athenian power
d. might is right? realism?
e. basic idea is that international system is anarchic mediated by power
f. Might rather than law: warfare more important than law in “realistic” world - While Thucydides is often held up as “pre-machiavellian realist” he is actually a very complicated figure
a. ge gives you liberalism (mediation & hierarchy/ex UN) as well as realism
v. Thucydides exiled because he didn’t get to a city before it turned Spartan (Amphipolis)
Melian Dialogue
416
- Melians and Thucydides: colony of Spartans but neutral in first 15 years of war
a. Athenians say: let us in or we will come in and kill you
b. “the strong do what they can the weak suffer what they must”
c. Melians argue back saying that Athens should follow concept of justice, or else eventually Athens will be on the receiving end and will receive no justice
d. Athenians say “we are getting rid of you because you are a symbol of a place we let live so we can’t let you live or else we’ll be perceived as weak”
e. Scholars used to think Thucydides was a history boss
i. but prof says “holy crap this was biased!”
ii. he leaves out events that don’t support his argument - some of those events in Diodorus
- so Thucydides is extremely complicated
Athenian imperial structure
c. Imperial officials in imperial holdings:
i. Archon/ruler or lord/those with power. We don’t really know if this was a separate position/person from the positions below
ii. overseers: When Athens takes a pace, episkopoi(overseers) set up colonial administration/boule/democratic institutions
iii. garrison commanders/ Phrourarchoi: hangs out after overseer/episkopoi leaves. Guarantees that the colony stays loyal to Athens and functions properly
iv. heralds(kerykes?): Heralds read the Athenian laws and make the laws public (ppl couldn’t read back then). These are real officials not like derpy medieval guy
Athens messing with corinth and corcyra & epidamnus
- 431/432: Athens meddling in Corinthian politics
a. in times of peace Athens is suppose to stay out of dorian/corinthian affairs and stick to their islands
b. Why didn’t they just stay put? Because expansion is beneficial to those from the center
c. Epidamnus: colony of Corsira which is colony of Corinth.
i. complicated! For Corinth these places are importnt because it is how you sail to Sicily.
ii. epidamnus goes to civil war. they look to corsira (corcyra?)for hellp, they refuse so the epidamnians then go for Corinth. Corcyra is stupidly wealthy - oracle of delphi: should we go back to Corinth for help?
- oracle of delphi says yes
iii. Corinth gets pissed at corcyra
iv. corcyra goes to Athens for help! uh oh
v. Athens and Corsira both need each other
vi. Sparta gets pissed
vii. Sparta and Athens make demands
viii. inevitable war because demands are ridiculous
Second peloponnesian war general stuff
ix. war breaks out 431. 421 peace 416-404 athens falls
x. Peloponnesian league vs Athenian empire both at maximum size
1. like if cuban missile crisis had gone off
xi. Athens dominates sea. Long walls + empire = grain
1. so Spartans either have to get through walls or find some other strategy
2. Spartans decide just to dominate the land and burn Athenian land
3. Athens is like “fine sparta burn our shit we don’t care we have a port”
1st Phase of 2nd peloponnesian war)
1.) events
Archidamian War 431-421 Main phase of direct competition Involves the whole Peloponnesian League against the Athenian Empire. Basic Strategies Athens= Dominate the Sea Sparta= Dominate the Land -"indignation against athenians intense"
1.) Spartan King Archidamus invades Attica
Athenians respond by harassing any Peloponnesian commerce.
Population of Attica is forced into the city state and its walls, leading to a huge surge of problems.
-although athens at this point has crazy shit tons of money
The Funeral Oration and Plague
thucydides narrative structure
Glory of Pericles/athens & death of pericles by plague
431/430
Oration is one of the most famous speeches.
Lays out the glory of Athens contrasted against the militaristic Sparta.
But Thucydides goes right into the plague narrative after the speech finishes.
There was a golden age before the plague.
The funeral oration was its last moment
Pericles would die and with him the dream of Athens
THUCYDIDES CLOSES NARRATIVE HERE. next 6 books dont matter
First Sicilian Expedition
Small Athenian Force sent to Sicily in 427.
Intended to directly disrupt Syracusean and Corinthian interests
i. textbook fs this up
ii. Western sicily is Carthiginian/phoenician area
iii. Eastern is Doric Greek
iv. Athens wants to interdict these areas
1. keep them from pumping money to Pelopponesus
v. attempted to disrupt Corinth/Syracusian interests
1. doesn’t really do much
Second Peloponnesian war 431-429
- 431-429: “annual rythym of stupidity”
a. Spartan king invades Attica every year sometime in the Summer
b. Athenians occasionally coonize little parts of peloponnesus
c. Athens and Attica FORCED INTO CITY
d. Why can’t athens fight on land?
e. Because Sparta has huge army. 2/3rds of forces from everyone in Peoponnesian league
i. 40-60k troops? kind of crazy large for Greeece - Athens: 400k peope trapped in 100k city space
a. Athens has crazy amounts of money and 600 ships/year
b. Athens has 300 triremes
c. Pericles thinks victory would be certain because of finances?
d. Athenians take 1/3rd of navy and burn coastal peloponnesus viking style
i. trying to loosen bonds bw people and Spartans - There is no massive pitched battle. Nothing on scale of Plataea
The Battle of Plataea (peloponnesian wars)
The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I.
Greek victory!
424: Battle of Delium
source: plato
Boeotians vs. Athens
Athenian Defeat, though a small force
Socrates was present at the Battle
SOURCE?: PLATO
iv. Emergence of Theban 25 deep line for sheer weight and force
1. usually 8 in line
2. essentially it works lol
v. Also recorded in Plato’s symposium
1. older gentlemen sitting around having symposium (drinking party)
2. philosophical discussion about love and sources of love etc
3. Alcibiades shows up wasted “he is that guy”
a. sits on couch next to Socrates and concerned that he can’t get Socrates to sleep with him. He tried lots of weird shit apparently lol
b. he praises Socrates.
c. About actions at Delium!
d. Apparently Socrates was Hoplite
a. 429 fall of Potidaea
a. 429 fall of Potidaea
b. Siege of Plataea by Spara (allows sparta access to Thebes and Boeotia), access to attica
i. they build a giant ramp like at Masada
ii. Spartan victory eventually. although thucydides focusing on cuteness more than effects
422: Battle of Amphipolis & Peace of NICIAS
Major Event
Death of Cleon and Brasidas
Leads both parties to consider the end of the war.
Leads to Peace of Nicias in 421 and the end of the Archidamian War
Revolt of Mytiline
c. Revolt of Mytilene in 428
i. town inionian sea
ii. leads to Thucydides MYTILENE DEBATE
Should we kill everyone in Mytiline after they revolted? Mytiline had been cool before
Once the Mytilenians arrived in Athens, Salaethus was immediately executed and the assembly gathered to assess the situation and voted on the punitive actions that would be taken. The Athenian assembly, scared of further revolt, hastily sentenced all of the male citizens of Mytilene to death, while the women and children would be sold into slavery. According to Thucydides, after the decision was made a trireme was dispatched to Mytilene to carry out the orders and the Athenians, enraged by premeditated revolt, slaughtered all of the prisoners, who numbered around a thousand.[18]
The next day, the Athenians realized the unprecedented brutality of their actions and some became hesitant about the hurried decision to kill and enslave the citizens of Mytilene. A second debate, which Thucydides called the Mytilenian Debate, took place in order to reassess the course of action that should be taken. The debate consisted of varying opinions, the first of which was presented by Cleon of Athens. Cleon, a prominent member of Athenian society, spoke to defend the previous decision against doubts and to assert that the guilty party got the punishment they deserved. Cleon’s reputation was violent and ruthless. Indeed Thucydides describes him as “the most violent man in Athens.”[19]
Cleon began by questioning the worth of a democracy: “Personally I have had occasion often enough already to observe that a democracy is incapable of governing others, and I am all the more convinced of this when I see how you are now changing your minds about the Mytilenians.”[20] He also implied the Athenians have become jaded by sophist oratory and questioned the worth of free speech. He described the Athenians as “victims of their own pleasure in listening, and are more like an audience sitting at the feet of a professional lecturer than a parliament discussing matters of state.” [20] He finishes his speech by urging the populace to not “be traitors to your own selves.”
After Cleon’s speech, Diodotus spoke in defense of his previous opposition to the death sentence. He stated that “haste and anger are… the two greatest obstacles to wise counsel….”[21] Diodotus argued the issue was not a question of Mytilene’s guilt, and whether Athens should seek vengeance; rather it was a question of what is in Athens’ best interest. Citing one of Cleon’s main arguments for his position, Diodotus questioned whether the death penalty is really a means of deterrence from revolt or just the opposite. He finished by asking Athenians to fundamentally question what is right and just and look to moderation rather than aggressive punishment. Instead, he urged the Athenians to spare the Mytilenians in an effort to create an alliance.
Following Diodotus’ speech, the assembly recast their votes. Diodotus’ rational argument prevailed and managed to persuade the assembly not to massacre the Mytilenians. The Athenians, who initially ardently supported the total annihilation of the Mytilenians, now found themselves hesitant. As a result, the votes, which were originally unanimous, were narrowly passed in favor of Diodotus.
destruction of Plataea
d. 427 destruction of Plataea
i. converted to Spartan public land, sort of like Helot land
ii. anybody who lives there can be your slave! yay!
j. 425: Battles of Pylos and Sphacteria
i. Athens does really well
ii. Athens goes to allies and says “look guys, time to pony up double”
1. results in revolts
Battle of Pylos: Athens wins naval battle near Pylos. It is Cleon’s crazy idea to go so far away. This strands 500 spartan troops on Sphacteria
Battle of Sphacteria: The Battle of Sphacteria was a land battle ofFollowing the Battle of Pylos and subsequent peace negotiations, which failed, a number of Spartans were stranded on the island of Sphacteria. An Athenian force under Cleon and Demosthenes attacked and forced them to surrender.
- Spartans and Spartiates can surrended? Who’da thunkit
- Makes Athens more gung ho
- use hostages as leverage. “if you invade attica we’ll kill hostages”
g. Civil war in Corcyra
427
i. Corcyra disappears from narrative
ii. Athens’ reason for fighting is removed
iii. Athens had started conflict in first place to get their ships lolol
iv. Corcyra civil war serves as example of civil war in other cities.
1. example shows that they are all oligarchs vs democratic internal struggle
2. lots of death and sneaky shit
v. hundreds of city states tearing themselves apart
vi. “even words themselves change their meaning” during civil war
1. greeks become like animals
2. what is justice? for example
Athens actions after peace of Nicias and
2.) Battle of Mantinea
Athens spends a two year break between 421-419 trying to reinforce its alliance system in Greece.
Argos, Mantinea and Elis join the Athenian, putting pressure on Spartans in the Peloponnese.
2.)
Leads to the Battle of Mantinea in 418. Spartan Victory and the loss of Argos from the Alliance
o. Second Sicilian Expedition
i. 416: instead of going West with small force, they go for huge scale invasion
ii. large navy, large # of soldiers
iii. problems really quickly
iv. logistics in warfare in ancient greece really tricky
v. how to resupply?
vi. Athenians do have allies in area
1. made during 1st Sicilian expedition
vii. but they don’t realize the scale of Sicily
1. more greeks in Sicily and Italy than Greece lol
viii. They think Sicily is smaller than it is
ix. Big ass defeat
x. Should have left Athens with nothing
xi. But alliance system holds, so it continues to survive
xii. Athenians wanted Sicily permanently
1. grain and trade
2. Back then Sicily was good for grain,. isn’t anymore
xiii. “Athenian Idiocy”
1. They really want Syracuse!
2. they probably could have taken everything EXCEPT Syracuse
3. but Syracuse too big
4. Athenians relying on Allies with Segesta
5. totally bizarre that Athenians have alliance with them
a. they are basically phoenicians not Greeks
b. Alliance was either ad hoc or well planned depending on name of Archon on alliance inscription
6. The disaster:
a. they besiege Syracuse
b. then people surround them as they are besieged
c. try to break out
d. chaos
e. army divides
f. 2-3 months: army gradually destroyed
g. fleet destroyed
h. Athenians who don’t die are enslaved and worked to death in stone mines
i. Sicilian expedition ends with 40-50k dead Athenians and 200-300 lost ships
j. should have destroyed Athens
i. but they were hoarding cash
ii. immediately begin hiring soldiers and building new ships
Peloponnesian war PII
Decelean or Ionian war
general overview
q. 413-404
i. Spartans take Decelea, 14 miles away from Athens
ii. Spartans never lose it
iii. dramatically reduces Athenian ability to act
iv. Persians also haven’t forgotten Ionian Greeks
1. Persians at first play both sides. Why not have them both kill each other?
v. 407: Persians settle on peloponnesians and that ends the war basically
r. Thucydides quits writing in 411
i. book ends mid sentence literally … lol
ii. go back to book two and don’t waste your time after Pericles dies
iii. Even though he lived through end of war
iv. probably major naval battles with Persia, but he doesn’t tell us about them (411-408)
v. Oligarchic factionalism and civil war in Athens as well. Very difficult and frought period
vi. Thucydides probably just doesn’t want to write about death of his own society
1. sad for him
Lysander
Spartan Admiral Comes to power in 407/406 Brilliant Commander Defeats Athens twice Battle of Notium in 406 Battle of Aegospotami in 405 Ends the war
Battle of Notium in
Battle of Aegospotami in
FINAL MAJOR CONFLICTS OF Decelean or Ionian war /peloponnesian pII
2 victories at sea
Battle of Notium in 406
Battle of Aegospotami in 405
3. At sestos, Athens doesn’t think battle is imminent
4. Athens doesn’t even really fight. They are partying around beached boats so Spartans take them
5. No more money in treasury
6. Delian league not sufficient anymore
Alcibiades
Most important Athenian from 416-404.
Independently wealthy.
Exiled
Appears in the symposium
-404: Alcibiades
i. most important late Athenian
ii. less concerned with country of birth than power
iii. beginning 413 Decelean war, Convinces perisians to jump in on Athenian side sometimes
iv. exiled for this and does it for Spartans too
v. exiled from Sparta nd Persia and Athen again. Must have been huge pain in the ass lol
1. appears in Symposium (playboy drunk who likes socrates)
a. badass general who rarely loses. Although sort of loses at Notium and then gets exiled
b. it is apparently him to tries to win at Aegospotomi
End of war in 404
aftermath/effects
The loss of the fleet in 404 meant the loss of access to Grain.
Athens realized it would starve and thus sued for peace
The Spartans occupied Athens and installed the 30 Tyrants to replace the democracy.
End of Athenian Empire
Athens is only allowed to keep those possessions it had acquired directly (Imbros, Scyros, Lemnos)…Black sea grain route.
-though that’s pretty generous. Sparta remembers Persian wars
Sources 411-404. Author? works?
characteristics of the author
Xenophon, the Hellenica, anabasis
i. prof loves xenophon
ii. he is mercenary, excellent author and wealthy businessman
iii. he is exceedingly clear to understand unlike Thucydides
1. 5 words period 5 words period haha
Anabasis
b.) Cyrus the younger
Xenophon,
After the Peloponnesian war, many young Greeks had no profession and no experience in life other than military conflict.
For Persians, this represented a reservoir of highly trained manpower.
Mercenary armies were regularly hired from Greece by Persian leaders in order to support their own ambitions.
B.) Cyrus the Younger
Attempted to overthrow his brother Artaxerxes II, who had taken the Persian throne. 401 BCE
After the Peloponnesian war, he hires 10000 Greek mercenaries and marches from Asia Minor towards the Persian capital.
dies in battle of cunaxa 401
Peloponnesian war and Macedonia & THebes/Boeotians
d. SHIP TIMBER IS FROM MACEDONIA
i. athenians repeatedly going into ancient Macedonia (northern greece)
ii. so state formation takes off there
iii. Chiefdom grows very quickly grows into Kingdom
1. which kicks out Philip and Alexander and then course ends lol
e. As well as Boeotians and Thebans
i. they kill Sparta
Battle of Cunaxa 401
CYRUS THE YOUNGER
Xenophon’s anabasis
1. he gets killed in Manomachy lol
2. Greeks don’t know where they are and can’t go back through royal road. So they turn north and wander upriver
