A Fresh Insight Into Hellenistic Lemnos

Chapter 7 The horologion of Dexippos: A Fresh Insight into Hellenistic Lemnos

Francesca Rocca Università degli Studi di Torino

To my sister Angela ⸪

Upon discovering the liaison amoureuse between Ares and Aphrodite, Hephaistus went to Lemnos, the “well-built citadel,” which, in his eyes, was the dearest of all lands.1 This well-known Homeric vignette vividly emphasizes the importance of Lemnos, often considered to have been a crucial junction in the Aegean Sea. Of course, the Athenians were always fully aware of the island’s importance. Ever since Miltiades arrived on Lemnos at the very beginning of the fifth century BCE, Athens had kept a watchful eye on this fertile territory.2 Later in the same century the Athenians established a firm presence on the island, as our sources well demonstrate. Large groups of Athenians settled on the island, reproducing institutions and customs they were familiar with back home.3 The bond between the motherland and its cleruchy was soon widely recog- nised: even during the last phases of the Peloponnesian war, when Athenian defeat seemed inevitable, Spartan peace offers granted Athens complete control of her possessions, namely Attica and the three cleruchies (Lemnos,

1 Hom. Od. 8, 270–285, esp. 283–284, εἴσατ᾽ ἴμεν ἐς Λῆμνον, ἐυκτίμενον πτολίεθρον,ἥ οἱ γαιάων πολὺ φιλτάτη ἐστὶν ἁπασέων; English translation by A.T. Murray (Loeb Edition, 1995). 2 On the conquest of Miltiades, see mainly Hdt. 6.136–140 (also Hdt. 6.34–41 and 5.26–27). This is what Figueira calls the “patronal colonisation” (see Figueira 2008: 429). On the retreat of Miltiades at the Persians’ arrival, see Hdt. 6.41 and 104. 3 Marchiandi 2002 [2003]: 487–583; 2008 [2010]: 11–38; 2010 [2012]: 221–36; Culasso Gastaldi 2010 [2012]: 347–64; 2011: 113–146. For a different assessment of the available sources, see also Clinton 2014: 327–339.

Imbros, and Skyros).4 Each negotiation, however, was rebuffed, and with her final defeat in 404 BCE, Athens lost Lemnos—but it was only a temporary loss: as soon as the polis could sail the seas again, the island (together with Imbros and Skyros) was reacquired. Already in 392 BCE, Andokides referred to the cleruchies as part of the territory always possessed by the Athenians.5 Andocides’ statement reflected a common perception: Artaxerxes’ edict of 387/6 BCE officially granted Lemnos, Imbros, and Skyros to Athens, “as it was in the past.”6 From that precise moment, Athens set about reorganising the cleruchy, along the lines of the previous settlement. Her possession of the three islands was firm and endured, with few interruptions, throughout the 4th century BCE.7 Athens succeeded in keeping Lemnos, Imbros, and Skyros even after the defeat at Chaeronea and the debacle that occurred in the Lamian war in 322 BCE.8 The island, together with its motherland, was involved in the po- litical struggles between Cassander and the Antigonids, supporting the latter; when the Macedonian dynasty was defeated at the battle of Ipsos, Lemnos fell under the control of Lysimachus.9 The history of the island during the third century BCE is rather blurred. According to Fredrich, Athens lost the three islands from 303/2 until 281 BCE; only at that date did Seleucus I give them back to Athens.10 We do not know what happened afterwards and how long Athens managed to maintain its control over Lemnos, despite the continuous intervention of the Macedonians.11 We can only be sure that the island, together with Delos and arguably Imbros and Skyros, became an Attic settlement again in 167/6 BCE, after the conclu- sion of the third Macedonian war and the defeat of Perseus at Pydna.12 It is gen- erally believed that the Athenians stayed on Lemnos until the first centuries CE, when the Romans imposed their presence, but as we will see, the relevant sources are rather scanty.13 Among these sources, a corpus of 1st century BCE

4 Aeschin. 2.76 (De falsa leg.). 5 Andoc. 3 (De pace), 12. 6 Xen. Hell. 5.1.31. 7 For the fourth century settlement, see Cargill 1995. 8 Dem. 18.285 (De cor.); Diod. Sic. 16.87. See Habicht 2006: 55–84. 9 Diod. Sic. 19.68.3–4. On the events, see Landucci Gattinoni 1992: 187–197; Franco 1993: 156–159. For the main sources on this complex period and related debates, see Culasso Gastaldi 2010 [2012]: 351 n. 22. 10 Fredrich in IG XII 8: 3–4. 11 See Ficuciello 2013: 314–315 for the chronology of these events. 12 Polyb. 30.20–21, where only Lemnos and Delos are mentioned. On the possibility that Imbros and Skyros were also returned to Athens, see Fredrich in IG XII 8:4. See also Vitr. De arch. 7.2. For Delos, see I.Délos 2589, and for Lemnos, IG II² 1224 (= ISE III 133). 13 Ficuciello 2013: 341–42.