Thucydides (RESET) Flashcards

Question

What does Thucydides write of the Samos-Miletus war 440BC?

Answer 1

The replaced Samian oligarchs turned to Persian Satrap of Lydia, Pissuthnes, and with his help ejected the Athenian garrison. There followed a naval encounter and two sieges. Nine months later, the Samians surrendered, handed over their fleet and were instead required to pay tribute to Athens from then on (1.115-117)

Answer 2

'... But the real reason for the war, is in my opinion, most likely to be disguised by such an argument [referring to the complaints]. What made the war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.' (1.23) This idea is repeated (1.88, 1.118).

Answer 3

Epidamnus-Corcyra (1.55)

Answer 4

(1.40) The Athenians debated forming an alliance with Corcyra, which was then a neutral state. The Athenians received a delegation from Corinth dissuading them from doing so. The Corinthian argument hinged on the fact that when the Samians revolted in 440BC, the Peloponnesians had considered aiding them. Corinth had sided with the those who said Athens had the right to control their allies as they saw fit.

Answer 5

That the clause in the thirty-year peace concerning neutral states did not apply if the neutral state sought to join one side to simply start hostilities (1.40-41) (referring to the Corcyraean appeal for Athenian aid against Corinth and their argument that conflict between Athens and Sparta was inevitable).

Answer 6

Athens decided to ally with Corcyra, but only in a limited defensive manner. They would engage to stop the Corinthians landing on the island of Corcyra, but that was all. This meant that the Athenians could claim that the Corinthians started hostilities if battle was joined (1.44).

Answer 7

That, although a subject state of Athens, it was a Corinthian colony; still receiving annual magistrates from Corinth (1.56).

Answer 8

By early 432BC, Athens, fearing Potidaea would revolt, ordered them to take down their defenses (1.56-58).

Answer 9

The Potidaeans, initially, sent an embassy to the Spartans, whose ephors agreed to invade Attica if Potidaea was attacked. The ephors must not have been able to persuade the assembly, however, as the agreement was never fulfilled. The Potidaeans revolted and the Corinthians sent an army to support them. Athens in response sent several contingents as the situation deteriorated and besieged the city (1.60-61, 1.66).

Answer 10

'In particular the delegates from Megara, after mentioning a number of other grievances, pointed out that, contrary to the terms of the treaty, they were excluded from all the ports in the Athenian empire and from the markets of Athens itself.' (1.67)

Answer 11

'But the chief point and the one that they [the Spartan embassy] made most clear was that the war could be avoided if Athens would revoke the Megarian decree which excluded the Megarians from all ports in the Athenian empire and from the market in Attica itself.' (1.139)

Answer 12

Thucydides claims that the suggestion of revoking the Megarian decree was vigorously opposed by Pericles (1.140).

Answer 13

He briefly reports that the people of Aegina sided with Corinth when they brought their complaints to Sparta. He writes that the Aeginetans felt they had been denied their independence in contravention of a treaty (1.67).

Answer 14

(2.68) He writes of a local conflict between three communities of the Ambracian gulf: Ambracia, which had Corinthian connections, and Amphilocian Argos together with the Acarnanians. The Amphilocians and the Acarnanians appealed for, and received, Athenian military help.

Answer 15

'When one is deprived of one's liberty one is right in blaming not so much the man who puts the fetters on as the one who had the power to prevent him, but did not use it - especially when one [Sparta] rejoices in the glorious reputation of having been the liberator of Hellas.' (1.69) Here Thucydides recreates a speech given by the Corinthian representatives to the Spartans, urging war against the Athenians.

Answer 16

He claims that the Athenian assembly defended their imperialism by, 1. Maintaining that the empire was not obtained through force, and that their allies came of their own accord - asking Athens to be their leader (1.75), 2. Writing that the development of Athenian power was forced upon them by circumstance. Thucydides writes that the Athenian delegation said that 'fear was our first motive [in developing their empire]; afterwards honour, and then interest stepped in.' (1.75), 3. He writes that the Athenians didn't relax their hold of their allies because of the suspicion and ill-disposition of the Peloponnesian allies. He writes that if the Athenians didn't forcibly hold onto their allies they would have went over to the Spartans (1.75).

Answer 17

1. That the Athenians had to rule imperiously or fall into danger, that, therein, they have done nothing to be wondered at.

Answer 18

1. Persian support - if only financially to pay for the navy, 2. A navy equal to that of Athens, 3. Athenians allies to be in revolt.

Answer 19

Claims that the ephor Sthenelaidas opposed Archidamus II, and that his view won over the assembly (1.86-88).

Answer 20

That Corinth once again re-iterated their complaints and pointed to the ability of Athens to cripple the economic vitality of the other Greek states, as the Megarian decree had done (1.121-122)

Answer 21

He writes that Athens, following Pericles lead, would not 'free the Greeks' by any means. Empire was good for Athens and a war, in Pericles' view, was winnable (1.139).

Answer 22

to liberate the Greeks, for this reason Archidamus II declared war (2.8)

Answer 23

The policy was to avoid hoplite battle with the Spartan army because the Spartans could not be beaten (e.g. 2.65)

Answer 24

Pericles insisted that Athens ought not to increase the size of its empire while it waged war (2.65).

Answer 25

Pericles commanded them to abandon their fields, move inside the city for the duration of the invasion, and resist the temptation to defend their lands (2.13).

Answer 26

The first event of the war involved neither Athens or Sparta. Thebes, a Peloponnesian ally, knowing that war with Athens was coming and looking to expand its influence in Boeotia, attacked Plataea, an Athenian ally. This was in direct contravention of the thirty-year peace, something that Sparta reportedly later admitted (7.18).

Answer 27

Thucydides writes that the plague, 430BC, did more damage than any other factor (1.23). Thucydides further claims that it was impossible to determine how many of the civilian population died. The Athenians lost 4,400 out of the 13,000 hoplites stationed in Athens.

Answer 28

The Cleonymus 426BC and Thoudippus 425BC decrees insisted upon tightening up the tribute collections, placing penalties on officials who failed in their duties to exact the tribute. According to the list appended to the Thoudippus decree, tribute from the allies was increased across the board. This rose from the 460 talents first levied by Aristeides (1.96) and the 600 talents reported at the start of the war (2.13) to 1460 talents at this time.

Answer 29

He writes that the Spartans were so concerned by the isolation of the Spartan hoplites, 425BC, that they arranged an armistice before sending an embassy to Athens to call for peace (4.19-20).

Answer 30

'This event caused much more surprise among the Hellenes than anything else that had happened in the war. The general impression had been that the Spartans would never surrender their arms whether because of hunger or any other form of compulsion; instead they would keep them to the last and die fighting as best they could' (4.40)

Answer 31

'Brasidas... was a man who in Sparta itself had a great reputation for energy in every direction and who on his foreign service had shown himself to be so valuable to his country.' (4.81)

Answer 32

'The Spartans were also glad to have a good excuse for sending some of their helots out of the country, since in the present state of affairs, with Pylos in enemy hands, they feared a revolution.' (4.80)

Answer 33

Thucydides, 424BC, was sent from Thasos in support of the town of Amphipolis. Fearful that with Thucydides' arrival the town would turn against him, Brasidas offered moderate terms to the inhabitants. With little persuasion the inhabitants of Amphipolis let him enter before Thucydides arrived. Thucydides, himself, writes, 'The Athenians also feared that their allies would revolt... declaring wherever he [Brasidas] went that his mission was the liberation of Hellas. The cities subject to Athens, when they heard of the capture of Amphipolis, of the terms being offered, and of the considerate nature of Brasidas himself, eagerly embraced the idea of a change.' (4.108)

Answer 34

Thucydides (4.108) says that this was due to jealousy and a desire to recover the prisoners taken at Sphacteria.

Answer 35

(4.117) He records an armistice agreed between Sparta and Athens.

Answer 36

In the battle of Amphipolis 422BC, according to Thucydides, Cleon died ingloriously: after turning tail he was killed by a javelin in the back.

Answer 37

'Cleon and Brasidas were dead - the two people who on each side had been most opposed to peace, Brasidas because of his success and honour which had come to him through war, Cleon because he thought that in time of peace and quiet people would be more likely to notice his evil doings and less likely to believe his slander of others.' (5.16)

Answer 38

That they had lost their reputation and confidence militarily (5.13-15).

Answer 39

That he hoped for a political success and period of calm upon his return from exile (5.16-17). Thucydides also writes that he led the Spartan side of negotiations.

Answer 40

1. Everyone had the right to go to pan-Hellenic temples, 2. The treaty was to last 50 years, 3. Neither Athens and its allies, not Sparta and its allies, were to attack each other, 4. The Spartans were to give back the cities they had taken in the Thrace-ward region, 5. The Spartans were to relinquish Panactum, a strategically important fort on the border of Attica and Boeotia, 6. The Athenians were to give back Cythera and other islands off the Peloponnese, 7. The Athenians were to give back the prisoners taken at Sphacteria, 8. The allies were to swear to the agreement, 9. The Athenians and the Spartans were entitled to adjust conditions if they agreed. (5.18)

Answer 41

A number of them did not accept the terms: the Boeotians, Corinthians, Eleans, and Megarians (5.17, 5.25). Additionally, the inhabitants of Amphipolis didn't return to the Athenians, and the Spartan commander on the ground was unwilling to compel them to do so.

Answer 42

That he was new chief agitator, that he had taken over as the favourite of the people after the death of Cleon. He also writes that he sought an alliance with Argos (5.43).

Answer 43

The Sicilian expedition. He specifically reports the Sicilian expedition as a mistake when criticising the successors of Pericles and their change of policy to expand the empire (2.65).

Answer 44

That the assembly initially voted to send sixty ships under a tripartite general-ship of Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus (6.8).

Answer 45

He writes that Nicias spoke at great length against the expedition when they had such great difficulties at home (6.12-13)

Answer 46

He writes that Alcibiades pressed the expedition out of desire to cross Nicias, who he had likewise been at odds with in other points of state. That he hoped to be the one to subdue both Sicily and Carthage, and to increase his own personal power and wealth. (6.15)

Answer 47

He mentions that Nicias asked for far greater forces in the hope that the enormity of the undertaking would dissuade the assembly. The assembly undeterred, however, agreed to send many more men (6.24)

Answer 48

(6.89-91) He advises the Spartans to send out their own commander to Sicily. Thucydides writes that Alcibiades also makes an attack on democracy in this same address, 'As for democracy, those of use with any sense at all knew what that meant, and I just as much as any. Indeed, I am well equipped to make an attack on it; but nothing new can be said of a system which is generally recognised as absurd.' (6.89)

Answer 49

He inflamed the Peloponnesians by claiming that the Athenian intention was to capture Siciliy, Italy, and then Carthage, before using the resources of these conquests against the Peloponnese (6.90-91).

Answer 50

He advised the Spartans of the strategy of Episteichismos. He recommended Decelea, which sat on the main road from the port at Oropus, where Euboean produce was landed, to Athens itself (6.91, 7.18).

Answer 51

Thucydides writes that it is one of the chief reasons Athens lost the war (7.27-28). That, rather tjan the annual invasions that deprived the Athenians their field for four to six weeks, they now were deprived of these for the whole year. He further mentions that the Athenians constantly sent cavalry against the Peloponnesians at Decelea, as a result their horses soon became lame or injured.

Answer 52

Encouraged parties amongst Athens' allies to rebel (8.2). Thucydides (8.5) writes of the representatives of Euboea and Lesbos that King Agis receives and that the representatives of Chios went to Sparta itself to request support if they were to revolt. In 8.5 he also writes that Tissaphernes, Satrap of Caria, accompanied the Chians. Additionally, Pharnabazus (8.6) travelled to Sparta to negotiate (8.6).

Answer 53

A persian message to Sparta had been intercepted and read at Athens; the contents implied that the Spartans were asking for Persian support (4.50).

Answer 54

The Spartans decided to act in Chios', and Tissaphernes', interests (8.6). This initially didn't go well, because the people of Chios were unaware of their Oligarchs' embassy to Sparta (8.9). Alcibiades convinces the Spartans to sail quickly, and through some persuasive speech at Chios brought about the revolts first of Chios and then Miletus (8.17).

Answer 55

1. All the territories previously belonging to the king and his ancestors shall be his, 2. All money paid by subjects previously to Athens was to go to the Persian king, 3. The war will be carried on jointly, 4. Any people who revolt from Persia shall be enemies of Sparta, 5. Any who revolt from Sparta shall be enemies of Persia. (8.18) ---- This was most likely a draft, in the final version it was agreed the Persian king was only to have control and the taxes of the Asiatic Greeks.

Answer 56

1. He writes that Tissaphernes was late in his payments to the rowers of the Peloponnesian fleet (8.29). This is most likely due to a want to see the Greeks weakend themselves and because of the influence of Alcibiades who had, now fallen out of favour with the Spartans, become a resident of Tissaphernes' court, 2. Tissaphernes mustered a Phoenician fleet to aid the Peloponnesians, but failed to bring it fully into the Aegean, prolonging the naval war (8.87).