From Solon to Socrates
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From Solon to Socrates ‘Dr. Ehrenberg’s mastery of ancient sources and modern scholarship is beyond cavil: nothing seems to escape this vigilant eye. Scarcely a page, moreover, fails to provide some illuminating comment on Greek life and letters, the fruit of a lifetime’s study and reflection.’ The Times Literary Supplement Victor Ehrenberg From Solon to Socrates Greek history and civilization during the 6th and 5th centuries b.c. With a new foreword by Paul Millett London and New York First published 1968 by Methuen & Co. First published in Routledge Classics 2011 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 1967, 1973 Victor Ehrenberg Foreword © 2011 Paul Millett All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-84477-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-58487-6 (pbk) ISBN10: 0-203-84477-7 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-58487-6 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-84477-9 (ebk) to the memory of Madge Webster (A. M. Dale) and A. H. M. Jones CONTENTS maps ix abbreviations x preface to the first edition xii preface to the second edition xiv foreword to the 2011 edition xvi by Paul Millett I Introduction 1 1. From Solon to Socrates 1 2. The Early History of the Greeks 2 3. The Eighth Century 7 4. The Great Colonization (c. 750–550) 11 5. The Seventh Century 16 II Early Sparta 22 1. Creation of a State 22 2. Towards Social Reform 30 3. The State of the Ephors 33 III Athens Before and Under Solon 40 1. The Aristocratic State 40 2. The Social Crisis 45 3. Solon: Seisachtheia and Constitution 50 4. Solon’s Legislation 56 IV The Sixth Century 62 1. Tyrannis at Athens 62 viii contents 2. Cleisthenes 73 3. The Wider Greek Scene 83 V The Wars for Freedom 98 1. The Ionian Revolt and the Motherland (500–491 b.c.)98 2. Marathon 107 3. Between the Wars 114 4. The Great War in East and West 122 5. The War Generation 139 VI The Ascendancy of Athens 154 1. Growing Imperialism 154 2. Democracy and Dualism 167 3. The Age of Pericles 186 4. The Western Greeks 203 VII The Peloponnesian War 207 1. Prelude to War 208 2. The Archidamian War 213 3. Between Peace and War 232 4. The Last Act 247 VIII ‘Know Thyself’ 266 1. The Birth of Science 267 2. The Sophists 270 3. Political Events 280 4. The End of Tragedy 286 5. Thucydides 290 6. Socrates 296 conclusion 307 notes 308 index 376 MAPS 1 Greece and the Aegean xxvi 2 Laconia 23 3 Attica and Surroundings 41 4 Cleisthenes’ Division of Attica 76 5 Sicily and South Italy 94 6 Battle of Marathon 109 7 Battle of Salamis 131 8 Athens and her Harbours 174 9 Pylos and Sphacteria 225 10 Syracuse 241 ABBREVIATIONS AP Aristotle, Athenaion Politeia ASAI Ancient Society and Institutions. Studies presented to V. Ehrenberg (Oxford 1966) ATL The Athenian Tribute Lists, ed. B. D. Meritt, H. T. Wade-Gery, M. F. M. Gregor. 4 vols. Cambridge, Mass. 1939–53 BICS Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies CAH Cambridge Ancient History CHJ Cambridge Historical Journal D Anthologia Lyrica, ed. E. Diehl DK H. Diels and W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Berlin 19345, 19526) DSDA H. Bengston, Die Staatsverträge des Altertums, vol. 2 (Munich 1962) FGrH F. Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Berlin 1929. Leiden 1954–57) Gomme A. W. Gomme, Historical Commentary on Thucydides, vols. 1–3 (Oxford 1945–56), vol. 4 (ed. A. Andrewes and K. J. Dover), Oxford 1970 GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies Hdt. Herodotus Hill3 G. F. Hill, Sources for Greek History 478–451, new ed. by R. Meiggs and A. Andrewes (Oxford 1951) HSt Harvard Studies in Classical Philology HZ Historische Zeitschrift ML R. Meiggs and D. Lewis, A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions to the End of the 5th century .. (Oxford 1969) NumChr. Numismatic Chronicle P Poetae Melici Graeci, ed. D. L. Page (Oxford 1962) abbreviations xi PI Victor Ehrenberg, Polis und Imperium (Zurich 1965) RE Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, Real- Encyclopaedie f. d. klass. Altertumswissenschaft SB Sitzungsberichte SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum Tod M. N. Tod, Greek Historical Inscriptions I2, II (Oxford 1946, 1948) PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION In this book I am dealing with a period which has often been covered and is generally regarded as the most important in Greek history. That alone would not justify another attempt. Apart from the fact that there have been new discoveries, archaeological and otherwise, that could not have been dealt with in earlier works, I had two reasons of my own, or rather two aims, in undertaking to write this book. The first was to show the unity of Greek history in every phase, a unity of political, economic, religious, and cultural aspects. Even though in my view political, military, and social history must be the framework, indeed the centre, of any general history, it ought to be shown that this cannot be separated from the world of the mind. In all, however, that I have to say on works of literature, philosophy, science, or art, I beg to point out that I am not writing as an expert on any of these subjects, nor indeed do I attempt to cover the whole ground, but only to show the multifarious picture of Greek life at any given moment. It goes without saying that a severe, and perhaps not always fair, selection is inevitable. I make no apologies for things left out. The other aim was, not simply to give a narrative, but to reveal the uncertainties of modern scholarship on many important questions; it ought to be clear that a mere enumeration of (alleged) facts is misleading. Thus, the book is not a general textbook, though it may still show traces of that earlier plan, and I hope that it will be useful for the younger student of history no less than for the scholar. Writing today on even comparatively well-known periods of ancient his- tory is, in fact, like entering a jungle – a jungle of ancient traditions and modern conjectures, with very few undisputed facts. We have long ago lost the beautiful innocence of those whose love for Greece was combined with an unperturbed belief in the truth of at least the chief traditions of the Greeks preface to the first edition xiii themselves. We may be less critical than our immediate predecessors in our search for absolute historical truth, not least because we no longer believe in the possibility of discovering that truth. We are a generation in between, no longer sure of critical positivism, nor, on the other hand, of the rationalist intuition now so much in vogue. I myself cannot claim that my love for the ancient Greeks has found a safe route through the jungle, much as I have tried. During my lifetime, progress in the study of Greek history has been con- siderable, though progress does not necessarily mean advance in only one direction. Whatever tangled web we weave, we do not practise to deceive. Honest research always pays, and the Greeks still have, and always will have, much to tell us about man’s fate and man’s achievements. Greek history remains an exciting story, and not something to be left to the discussions and quibbles of the so-called experts. If I have succeeded in showing some of the excitement as well as some of the difficulties involved, I shall have done as much as I can. In the necessary selection of modern literature to be mentioned in the notes, I have tried to quote the most important contributions; but for the sake of younger students of history in this country or the United States, I have laid stress, whenever I could, on books and articles in English. Anything pub- lished in 1967 could be only exceptionally included. In the spelling of Greek names, I have followed the publishers’ wish to stick to the Latinized forms, although that involves the usual lack of consistency. The book has kept me busy for a number of years, and while I have been working on it, I have learned much – not only about the Greeks. Now that it is finished, I feel that it is not finished at all, and never will be. My years and my obligation to the publishers induced me to stop. I had the advantage of valuable help. Dr J. P. Barron read and corrected all but the last chapter at an earlier stage; much has been added or altered since, and he cannot be held responsible for any faults in the book. The same holds true for the last chapter, which Professor W.