DOCSLIB.ORG

Thucydides. with an English Translation by Charles Forster Smith

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Thucydides. with an English Translation by Charles Forster Smith THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOtTNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D. EDITED BY |T. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D. CAPPS, ph.d., ll.d. tW. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d. POST, m.a. E. H. WARMINGTON, m.a., f.r.hist.soc. THUCYDIDES I PORTRAIT OF PERIKLES. BRITISH MUSEUM. THUCYDIDES WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY CHARLES FORSTER SMITH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN IN FOUR VOLUMES I HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR BOOKS I and II LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS MCMLVI First printed 1919 Revised and Reprinted 1928 Reprinted 1935, 1951, 1956 6523feb Prinied in Great Britain CONTENTS PAOJt PORTRAIT OF PERICLES Frontispiece INTRODUCTION vii BIBLIOGRAPHY Xxi BOOK I 1 BOOK II 257 MAPS CORCYRA AND NORTH-WESTERN HELLAS . to face 43 CHALCIDICE , 95 PIRAEUS 157 INTRODUCTION Three ancient biographies 1 of Thucydides have come down to us, but they are of little value. They are derived from ancient commentaries, and the bio- graphical details which they contain, wherever they do not rest upon inference from the text of the history itself, are often confused and contradictory. These are supplemented by scattered statements of several ancient writers— Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote two treatises on Thucydides (Z)<» Thucy- didis historia indicium and the Second Letter to Am- maeus), Plutarch (Cimon iv), and Pausanias (i. xxxii.). The-only authentic facts about the life of Thucy- dides are gathered from casual mention in the History. He was the son of Olorus (iv. civ. 4) ; commenced the compilation of materials for writing the History at the outset of the Peloponnesian War (i. i. 1); and lived through the whole war, ripe in years and 1 One of these, compiled in three distinct portions u from the commentaries," passed under the name of Marcellinm, who is probably to be identified with the author of Scholia on Hermogenes wep\ araotwr, who seems to have lived in the fifth century A.D. ; another was by an anonymous gram- marian ; and the third is a short notice in* Suidas, a.v. A 2 vii INTRODUCTION judgment, following it with close attention, that he might acquire accurate information (v. xxvi. 5). He suffered from the plague of 429 b.c. (ii. xlviii. 3), of which he wrote his famous account (ii. xlvii-liv). Elected one of the ten generals in 424 b.c, he was sent to the coast of Thrace (where he enjoyed the right of working certain gold mines) to operate against Brasidas. Failing to relieve Amphipolis, he was exiled in 424 b.c, and remained in banishment for twenty years, and thus was able to become ac- quainted with affairs on both sides (v. xxvi. 5). For other facts we are dependent largely upon inference ; some are reasonably certain, others less so. The name of his father was identical with that of the Thracian prince Olorus, whose daughter He- gesipyle was married to Miltiades, and his tomb, having the inscription ©ovkvSiS^s 'OAopov 'AkifxovaLos, was in the suburb of Athens known as K01A.17 MeAe- TtScs, adjoining those of Cimon and Miltiades (Plut. Cim. iv). We may therefore assume that Olorus, the father of Thucydides, was a near kinsman of the Thracian prince Olorus. If, as Marcellinus says (§ 2), Thucydides' mother was named Hegesipyle, like Cimon's mother, that would be confirmation of the this. relationship ; but Plutarch makes no mention of It seems likely, then, that Thucydides was of near kin to Cimon, younger perhaps by one generation. His father Olorus was probably a full citizen of Athens, as is indicated by the fact that, mentioning viil INTRODUCTION himself as o-rpaTrjyos (iv. civ. 4), he writes ®ovKv&fir)v citizen rbv 'OAdpov ; for only as an Athenian could his father be mentioned in this official style. As to the date of Thucydides' birth, the only ancient statement that seems worthy of credence was made by Pamphila, a woman writer who in the time of Nero made a great compilation of the results of learning. Aulus Gellius (N.A. xv. 23) quotes from Pamphila that, at the beginning of the Pelo- ponnesian War, Hellanicus was sixty-five years of age, Herodotus fifty-three, Thucydides forty. Pam- phila's dates were probably taken from the chrono- logical handbook of Apollodorus (second century B.C.), which was generally accepted among the Greeks and Romans. The term forty years used by Pamphila doubtless meant the d/c/x^ or prime of Thucydides, and may have been fixed on the basis of his own assertion that he began to collect material at the opening of the war (i. i. 1) and was then in full maturity of mind (v. xxvi. 5). At any rate his own statement, taken with Pamphila's date, has led to the general assumption that the historian was born somewhere about 472 b.c It is indicated by Marcellinus (§ 46), and is prob- able in itself, that the decree for Thucydides' ban- ishment was adopted on the motion of Cleon, who was then at the height of his power ; and it is probable that the charge brought against him was treachery (Ttpo&ocria), as stated by Marcellinus (§ 55) ix r INTRODUCTION and the anonymous biographer (§ 2), and apparently implied by Aristophanes (Vesp. 288). His own words, £wefir) fjLOL favyeiv, admit of this interpretation ; and the statement of Pausanias (i. xxiii. 9) that he was later recalled from exile on the motion of Oenobius is best understood on this basis. If he had been banished by a simple decree of the people, the general amnesty that followed the capture of Athens by Lysander would have been sufficient for him as for other exiles ; if the sentence was more severe, a special decree would be necessary. But it is possible, of course, that the motion of Oenobius antedated the amnesty of Lysander's peace by a few months. ^ As to Thucydides' death, there was a persistent tradition thatjie was assassinated, and the fact that the History breaks off suddenly in the midst of ex- citing events of the Decelean War seems to support the tradition. Plutarch (Cim. iv. 3) says that it was commonly reported that he died a violent death at Scapte Hyle ; Pausanias (i. xxiii. 9), that he was murdered on his journey home from exile ; Marcel- linus (§ 10), that after his return from exile he died and was buried in Athens. But whether he died in 1 The name, which is a rare one in the fifth century, is found as that of a general commanding in the neighbourhood of Thasos in 410-9 b.o. and we hear somewhat later of one Eucles, son of Oenobius ; hence it has been conjectured that the father of Oenobius was Eucles, who was Thucydidea' colleague in Thrace in 424 b.o. (lv. civ). : INTRODUCTION Thrace or in Athens, it seems clear from his own words that he outlived the term of his banishment (v. xxvi. 5, £vvitirj fxot <f>evyeiv rrjv ifxavrov errj €iko<ti) and that he returned to Athens, since his description of the wall of Themistocles, whose remains "may " still be seen at the Peiraeus (i. xciii. 5), shows that he was there after the destruction of the walls by Lysander. If he had lived to see the restoration of the walls by Conon in 395 B.C., it seems he would certainly have mentioned it. There is another reason, too, for supposing that he did not live to this year in in. cxvi. 2 he says that the eruption of Aetna, which occurred in the spring of 425 b.c, was the third on record ; hence the one mentioned by Dio- dorus (xiv. lix. 3) for 396 b.c. could not have been known to him. It seems reasonable, then, to assume that he was not alive in 396 I3.c. There is a pretty and oft-repeated story J that Thucydides, as a boy, heard Herodotus recite a portion of his History at Olympia and was moved thereby to tears, whereupon Herodotus said, " Olo- rus, your son's spirit is aflame with a passion for learning." But Lucian, when telling of the powerful effect of Herodotus' recitation at Olympia, 2 would surely have mentioned this circumstance had he known of it ; besides, chronology is in the way, if 1 s.v. Suidas opyav and ©ou«i/5/5rjj ; Photius, Bibl. 60; Marcellinua, § 54. " Htrod. i. INTRODUCTION we hold to Pamphila's testimony. But if he did not as a boy hear Herodotus recite at Olympia, he must have known him later as a man at Athens. The period of his youth and early manhood fell in the time when Athens was most prolific in great men. It is clear that he had heard and admired Pe- ricles, and he must have seen Aeschylus and known Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Anaxagoras, So- crates, Gorgias, Antiphon, Pheidias, Polygnotus, Mnesicles, Ictinus, Callicrates, and Hippocrates. Association with such men and the atmosphere of Athens at such a time best explain the development of his genius ; but the limits of his subject, as he conceived it, precluded any mention of any of these except Pericles, so that for any personal influence ot theirs upon him we are left to inference. The first seven years of the war, before his banishment, were doubtless spent in large part at Athens, where he must have heard the speeches of Pericles, the dis- cussions about Mytilene and about Pylos, as well as about other matters of which we have accounts in this History. But the twenty years of his exile he probably passed largely on his properties in Thrace, 1 engaged in the task of compiling materials for his work about the war, as indeed we are told that he 1 It was his family connection with Thrace which led to his acquiring the right of working gold mines in that region (iv.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Who Freed Athens? J
    Ancient Greek Democracy: Readings and Sources Edited by Eric W. Robinson Copyright © 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd The Beginnings of the Athenian Democracv: Who Freed Athens? J Introduction Though the very earliest democracies lildy took shape elsewhere in Greece, Athens embraced it relatively early and would ultimately become the most famous and powerful democracy the ancient world ever hew. Democracy is usually thought to have taken hold among the Athenians with the constitutional reforms of Cleisthenes, ca. 508/7 BC. The tyrant Peisistratus and later his sons had ruled Athens for decades before they were overthrown; Cleisthenes, rallying the people to his cause, made sweeping changes. These included the creation of a representative council (bode)chosen from among the citizens, new public organizations that more closely tied citizens throughout Attica to the Athenian state, and the populist ostracism law that enabled citizens to exile danger- ous or undesirable politicians by vote. Beginning with these measures, and for the next two centuries or so with only the briefest of interruptions, democracy held sway at Athens. Such is the most common interpretation. But there is, in fact, much room for disagree- ment about when and how democracy came to Athens. Ancient authors sometimes refer to Solon, a lawgiver and mediator of the early sixth century, as the founder of the Athenian constitution. It was also a popular belief among the Athenians that two famous “tyrant-slayers,” Harmodius and Aristogeiton, inaugurated Athenian freedom by assas- sinating one of the sons of Peisistratus a few years before Cleisthenes’ reforms - though ancient writers take pains to point out that only the military intervention of Sparta truly ended the tyranny.
    [Show full text]
  • Herodotus, Xerxes and the Persian Wars IAN PLANT, DEPARTMENT of ANCIENT HISTORY
    Herodotus, Xerxes and the Persian Wars IAN PLANT, DEPARTMENT OF ANCIENT HISTORY Xerxes: Xerxes’ tomb at Naqsh-i-Rustam Herodotus: 2nd century AD: found in Egypt. A Roman copy of a Greek original from the first half of the 4th century BC. Met. Museum New York 91.8 History looking at the evidence • Our understanding of the past filtered through our present • What happened? • Why did it happen? • How can we know? • Key focus is on information • Critical collection of information (what is relevant?) • Critical evaluation of information (what is reliable?) • Critical questioning of information (what questions need to be asked?) • These are essential transferable skills in the Information Age • Let’s look at some examples from Herodotus’ history of the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC • Is the evidence from: ― Primary sources: original sources; close to origin of information. ― Secondary sources: sources which cite, comment on or build upon primary sources. ― Tertiary source: cites only secondary sources; does not look at primary sources. • Is it the evidence : ― Reliable; relevant ― Have I analysed it critically? Herodotus: the problem… Succession of Xerxes 7.3 While Darius delayed making his decision [about his successor], it chanced that at this time Demaratus son of Ariston had come up to Susa, in voluntary exile from Lacedaemonia after he had lost the kingship of Sparta. [2] Learning of the contention between the sons of Darius, this man, as the story goes, came and advised Xerxes to add this to what he said: that he had been born when Darius was already king and ruler of Persia, but Artobazanes when Darius was yet a subject; [3] therefore it was neither reasonable nor just that anyone should have the royal privilege before him.
    [Show full text]
  • Marathon 2,500 Years Edited by Christopher Carey & Michael Edwards
    MARATHON 2,500 YEARS EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER CAREY & MICHAEL EDWARDS INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON MARATHON – 2,500 YEARS BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SUPPLEMENT 124 DIRECTOR & GENERAL EDITOR: JOHN NORTH DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS: RICHARD SIMPSON MARATHON – 2,500 YEARS PROCEEDINGS OF THE MARATHON CONFERENCE 2010 EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER CAREY & MICHAEL EDWARDS INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 2013 The cover image shows Persian warriors at Ishtar Gate, from before the fourth century BC. Pergamon Museum/Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. Photo Mohammed Shamma (2003). Used under CC‐BY terms. All rights reserved. This PDF edition published in 2019 First published in print in 2013 This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. More information regarding CC licenses is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Available to download free at http://www.humanities-digital-library.org ISBN: 978-1-905670-81-9 (2019 PDF edition) DOI: 10.14296/1019.9781905670819 ISBN: 978-1-905670-52-9 (2013 paperback edition) ©2013 Institute of Classical Studies, University of London The right of contributors to be identified as the authors of the work published here has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Designed and typeset at the Institute of Classical Studies TABLE OF CONTENTS Introductory note 1 P. J. Rhodes The battle of Marathon and modern scholarship 3 Christopher Pelling Herodotus’ Marathon 23 Peter Krentz Marathon and the development of the exclusive hoplite phalanx 35 Andrej Petrovic The battle of Marathon in pre-Herodotean sources: on Marathon verse-inscriptions (IG I3 503/504; Seg Lvi 430) 45 V.
    [Show full text]
  • Excavating Classical Amphipolis & on the Lacedaemonian General
    Adelphi University Adelphi Digital Commons Anthropology Faculty Publications Anthropology 12-1-2002 Excavating Classical Amphipolis & On the Lacedaemonian General Brasidas Chaido Koukouli-Chrysanthaki Anagnostis P. Agelarakis Adelphi University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.adelphi.edu/ant_pubs Part of the Anthropology Commons Repository Citation Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Chaido and Agelarakis, Anagnostis P., "Excavating Classical Amphipolis & On the Lacedaemonian General Brasidas" (2002). Anthropology Faculty Publications. 12. https://digitalcommons.adelphi.edu/ant_pubs/12 This Journal Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology at Adelphi Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Adelphi Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 3 Excavating Classical Amphipolis Chaido Koukouli -Chrysanthaki The excavations carried out by D. Lazaridis between discovered and excavated;5 there is strong evidence 1956 and 1984 uncovered part of the ancient city of that the city's theatre was located next to it. 6 Amphipolis and its cemeteries, 1 [fig. 1] namely the external walls, the acropolis and, within the walls, In the northern part of the city were discovered: the remains of public and private buildings. On the sanctuary of Klio/ founded during the earliest years acropolis, the Early Christian basilicas destroyed the of the colony; further to the west, a small sanctuary city's important sanctuaries - those of Artemis of Attis dating to the Hellenistic and Early Roman Tauropolos,2 Athena3 and Asclepios4 - which literary periods;8 and, outside the north wall, a small sanctu­ sources and fragmentary votive inscriptions locate ary of a nymph.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato Apology of Socrates and Crito
    COLLEGE SERIES OF GREEK AUTHORS EDITED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE, LEWIS R. PACKARD, a n d THOMAS D. SEYMOUR. PLATO A p o l o g y o f S o c r a t e s AND C r i t o EDITED ON THE BASIS OF CRON’S EDITION BY LOUIS DYER A s s i s t a n t ·Ρι;Οχ'ε&^ο^ ι ν ^University. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY. 1902. I P ■ C o p · 3 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by J o h n W il l ia m s W h i t e a n d T h o m a s D. S e y m o u r , In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. J . S. C u s h in g & Co., P r i n t e r s , B o s t o n . PREFACE. T his edition of the Apology of Socrates and the Crito is based upon Dr. Christian Cron’s eighth edition, Leipzig, 1882. The Notes and Introduction here given have in the main been con­ fined within the limits intelligently drawn by Dr. Cron, whose commentaries upon various dialogues of Plato have done and still do so much in Germany to make the study of our author more profitable as well as pleasanter. No scruple has been felt, how­ ever, in making changes. I trust there are few if any of these which Dr. Cron might not himself make if he were preparing his work for an English-thinking and English-speaking public.
    [Show full text]
  • The Odyssey Homer Translated Lv Robert Fitzç’Erald
    I The Odyssey Homer Translated lv Robert Fitzç’erald PART 1 FAR FROM HOME “I Am Odysseus” Odysseus is in the banquet hail of Alcinous (l-sin’o-s, King of Phaeacia (fë-a’sha), who helps him on his way after all his comrades have been killed and his last vessel de stroyed. Odysseus tells the story of his adventures thus far. ‘I am Laertes’ son, Odysseus. [aertes Ia Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim. My home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca 4 Ithaca ith’. k) ,in island oft under Mount Neion’s wind-blown robe of leaves, the west e ast it C reece. in sight of other islands—Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus—Ithaca being most lofty in that coastal sea, and northwest, while the rest lie east and south. A rocky isle, but good for a boy’s training; I (I 488 An Epic Poem I shall not see on earth a place more dear, though I have been detained long by Calypso,’ 12. Calypso k1ip’sö). loveliest among goddesses, who held me in her smooth caves, to be her heart’s delight, as Circe of Aeaea, the enchantress, 15 15. Circe (sür’së) of Aeaea e’e-). desired me, and detained me in her hail. But in my heart I never gave consent. Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass his OWfl home and his parents? In far lands he shall not, though he find a house of gold.
    [Show full text]
  • Politics and Policy in Corinth 421-336 B.C. Dissertation
    POLITICS AND POLICY IN CORINTH 421-336 B.C. DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by DONALD KAGAN, B.A., A.M. The Ohio State University 1958 Approved by: Adviser Department of History TABLE OF CONTENTS Page FOREWORD ................................................. 1 CHAPTER I THE LEGACY OF ARCHAIC C O R I N T H ....................7 II CORINTHIAN DIPLOMACY AFTER THE PEACE OF NICIAS . 31 III THE DECLINE OF CORINTHIAN P O W E R .................58 IV REVOLUTION AND UNION WITH ARGOS , ................ 78 V ARISTOCRACY, TYRANNY AND THE END OF CORINTHIAN INDEPENDENCE ............... 100 APPENDIXES .............................................. 135 INDEX OF PERSONAL N A M E S ................................. 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................... 145 AUTOBIOGRAPHY ........................................... 149 11 FOREWORD When one considers the important role played by Corinth in Greek affairs from the earliest times to the end of Greek freedom it is remarkable to note the paucity of monographic literature on this key city. This is particular­ ly true for the classical period wnere the sources are few and scattered. For the archaic period the situation has been somewhat better. One of the first attempts toward the study of Corinthian 1 history was made in 1876 by Ernst Curtius. This brief art­ icle had no pretensions to a thorough investigation of the subject, merely suggesting lines of inquiry and stressing the importance of numisihatic evidence. A contribution of 2 similar score was undertaken by Erich Wilisch in a brief discussion suggesting some of the problems and possible solutions. This was followed by a second brief discussion 3 by the same author.
    [Show full text]
  • Determining the Significance of Alliance Athologiesp in Bipolar Systems: a Case of the Peloponnesian War from 431-421 BCE
    Wright State University CORE Scholar Browse all Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2016 Determining the Significance of Alliance athologiesP in Bipolar Systems: A Case of the Peloponnesian War from 431-421 BCE Anthony Lee Meyer Wright State University Follow this and additional works at: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/etd_all Part of the International Relations Commons Repository Citation Meyer, Anthony Lee, "Determining the Significance of Alliance Pathologies in Bipolar Systems: A Case of the Peloponnesian War from 431-421 BCE" (2016). Browse all Theses and Dissertations. 1509. https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/etd_all/1509 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at CORE Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Browse all Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of CORE Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DETERMINING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ALLIANCE PATHOLOGIES IN BIPOLAR SYSTEMS: A CASE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR FROM 431-421 BCE A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts By ANTHONY LEE ISAAC MEYER Dual B.A., Russian Language & Literature, International Studies, Ohio State University, 2007 2016 Wright State University WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES ___April 29, 2016_________ I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY Anthony Meyer ENTITLED Determining the Significance of Alliance Pathologies in Bipolar Systems: A Case of the Peloponnesian War from 431-421 BCE BE ACCEPTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts. ____________________________ Liam Anderson, Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Thucydides on the Outbreak of War
    THUCYDIDES ON THE OUTBREAK OF WAR by Seth N. Jaffe A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Seth Nathan Jaffe (2012) Abstract Thucydides on the Outbreak of War By Seth N. Jaffe A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto (2012) This project illuminates Thucydides’ political thought through a novel interpretation of the first book of the History of the Peloponnesian War. It explores how Thucydides reveals the human causes of war through the outbreak of a particular war, the Peloponnesian war. The primary claim is that Thucydides intends the breakdown of the Thirty Years’ Peace between Athens and the Peloponnesians, which inaugurates the great Peloponnesian war, to be understood by grasping how the characters of the Athenian and Spartan regimes contribute to the outbreak of the war and, crucially, how Athens and Sparta differently express human nature. In broad outline, the History’s first book reveals how the regime characters of Athens and Sparta inform their respective foreign policies, but also how the interaction between the two cities—informed by the distinctive necessities pressing upon them— causes the Hellenic status quo to tremble and fall. Throughout the first book, while never obscuring the specific events triggering war, Thucydides progressively develops and expands his original statement that it was Spartan fear of Athenian power that compelled the fighting. The study argues that necessity (or compulsion) is the bright thread that Thucydides uses to guide his reader through the episodes of the first book, from the immediate causes of the Peloponnesian war to the human causes of war, from the particular events to the History’s universal themes.
    [Show full text]
  • Athens' Domain
    Athens’ Domain: The Loss of Naval Supremacy and an Empire Keegan Laycock Acknowledgements This paper has a lot to owe to the support of Dr. John Walsh. Without his encouragement, guid- ance, and urging to come on a theoretically educational trip to Greece, this paper would be vastly diminished in quality, and perhaps even in existence. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to present it and the insight I have gained from the process. Special thanks to the editors and or- ganizers of Canta/ἄειδε for their own patience and persistence. %1 For the Athenians, the sea has been a key component of culture, economics, and especial- ly warfare. The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) displayed how control of the waves was vital for victory. This was not wholly apparent at the start of the conflict. The Peloponnesian League was militarily led by Sparta who was the greatest land power in Greece; to them naval warfare was excessive. Athens, as the head of the Delian League, was the greatest sea power in Greece whose strengths lay in their navy. However, through a combination of factors, Athens lost control of the sea and lost the war despite being the superior naval power at the war’s outset. Ultimately, Athens lost because they were unable to maintain strong naval authority. The geographic position of Athens and many of its key resources ensured land-based threats made them vulnerable de- spite their naval advantage. Athens also failed to exploit their naval supremacy as they focused on land-based wars in Sicily while the Peloponnesian League built up a rivaling navy of its own.
    [Show full text]
  • Landscape Archaeology in the Territory of Nikopolis
    Landscape Archaeology in the Territory of Nikopolis ]mnes Wiseman Introduction* study seasons in Epirus in 1995 and 1996; research and analyses of the primary data The Nikopolis Project is an interdisci­ have continued since that time, along with plinary archaeological investigation which the writing of reports. The survey zone has as its broad, general aim the explana­ (Figs. 1, 2) extends from the straits of Ac­ tion of the changing relationships between tium at the entrance to the Ambracian humans and the landscape they inhabited Gulf north to Parga, and from the Louros and exploited in southern Epirus, fi.·om river gorge to the Ionian seacoast, includ­ Palaeolithic to Mediaeval times. 1 Specifi­ ing the entire nomos (administrative dis­ cally, the Project has employed intensive trict) of Preveza, a modern town on the archaeological survey2 and geological in­ Nikopolis peninsula. On the east the sur­ vestigations3 to determine patterns of hu­ vey zone extended along the northern man activity, and to reconstruct what the coast of the Ambracian Gulf into the landscape was like in which those activi­ nornos of Arta, so that the deltaic, lagoonal ties took place. This undertaking in land­ area of the Louros river was included, but scape archaeology has led to new insights not the city of Arta (the ancient Ambra­ into the factors that underlie changes in cia). Since the survey zone is about 1,200 human-land relationships, in son1.e in­ square kilometers, far too large an area for stances over a short time-span, but partic­ a complete intensive survey, we chose to ularly over the long term.
    [Show full text]
  • Thucydides on Early Greece and the Trojan
    1.1-23: Preface Motivation for this history (1) (1.1.1) Thucydides of Athens composed the war the Peloponnesians and Athenians fought against each other. He started as soon as it broke out, since he foresaw it would be important and more noteworthy than all before it, a deduction based on the highest level of every aspect of preparedness reached by both sides, and the observation that the remaining Greek peoples were joining one side or the other from its outbreak or planning to later. (1.1.2) And this was in fact the largest mobilization by Greeks as well as a considerable number of non-Greeks,1 extending over virtually the entire population. (1.1.3) Preceding ones, including those of the more distant past, although impossible to determine clearly after so much time, were probably not important either as wars or anything else. Determining the past by means of deductions (1.3-21) This belief is based on my study as far back as possible, and the deductions2 I thought were plausible. Earliest Greece: displacement, violence and insecurity (except for Athens) (1.2.1) Long ago, what is now called Greece probably did not have a stable population. In the earliest stage there was migrations, since any one group was quick to abandon its own land when attacked by any 1 Barbaroi, used by T. both in the neutral sense of “non-Greek” and in the pejorative sense of “backwards” (in the latter case translated as “barbarian”). 2 The following 20 chapters survey Greek pre-history (much of it mythical) to demonstrate the shortcomings of previous mobilizations.
    [Show full text]