JACT Teachers’ Notes AH 3.2 Greece in Conflict, 460-403 BC Teachers’ notes by Peter Liddel 1.1 Books and Resources There are many textbooks which cover this period in varying levels of detail. This list lists them in order of difficulty (easiest first). Note that the more difficult they get, the more closely they engage with the sources and interesting issues: General books on Greek history that cover the period: Buckley, T. (1996), Aspects of Greek History, 750-323 BC – much maligned by many Bury, J. B., & Meiggs, R. (1975), History of Greece (4th edn., MacMillan) – many of its interpretations have been challenged by more recent scholars. Orrieux, C. & Schmitt-Pantel, P. (1999), A History of Ancient Greece. Pomeroy, S.B., et al. (1999), Ancient Greece – now also available in a shorter version Textbooks concentrated on classical period: Todd, S. C. (1996), Athens and Sparta – short (and affordable), thematically arranged (not a narrative history) Davies, J. K. (2nd edn., 1993), Democracy and Classical Greece – especially chapters 5 on the Athenian Empire and 7 on the Peloponnesian War Osborne, R. (ed.) (2000), Classical Greece (Oxford Short History of Europe Series). (Hans van Wees’ chapter 4 ‘The City at War’ covers the warfare theme very well; chapter 7 by Lisa Kallet contains a lively fifth-century narrative) The most detailed narrative accounts (Hornblower’s is the one most referred to in this set of notes, and it should be regarded as essential for the teacher) Rhodes, P. J. (2005), A History of the Classical Greek World, 478-323 BC. London: Blackwells – the most complete narrative Hornblower, S. (4th edn., 2002), The Greek World, 470-323 BC – good chapters on cities other than Athens and Sparta. Cambridge Ancient History – vol. 5 (2nd edn, 1992) covers the fifth century, Other relevant collections: Samons, L. (2007), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Pericles. Note especially chapter 4 on warfare and chapter 11 on the Peloponnesian War Kinzl, K. (2006), A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Expensive but excellent on overviews of sources and themes, but not a huge amount of detailed narrative. Excellent for cultural, social and geographical context. Maps: Maps are vitally important for understanding Greek conflict. Eveday, C. M., (1967) Penguin Ancient History Atlas. Hammond, N. G. L. (1981) Atlas of the Greek and Roman world in antiquity. 1 JACT Teachers’ Notes Levi, P., (1984), Atlas of the Greek World, Oxford. Talbert, R. J. A., (1984) Atlas of classical history The internet can be usefully deployed. It is possible, for instance, to get a better understanding of the location of cities like Megara, Argos and Corinth via Google It is also possible to get a good view of the plain upon which the battle of Mantinea was fought (and one can clearly discern the walls of the polis of Mantinea) simply by searching for ‘Mantinea’ through Google Maps. Warfare: One of the focuses of this unit is conflict, and so it is worth mentioning some texts for those interested in this aspect of the subject. Note that some of the textbooks already mentioned (those of Osborne, Kinzl, Samons) have sections dedicated to warfare: Sage, M., (1996) Warfare in Ancient Greece. A Sourcebook Van Wees, H. (2004), Greek Warfare. Myths and Realities Low, P. (2007), Interstate Relations in Classical Greece – a landmark study of interstate ethics and morality 2 JACT Teachers’ Notes 1.2 Introduction to Sources Thucydides and Xenophon – translations available in Penguin, but note also The Landmark Thucydides, ed. By R. Strassler, with maps, notes, appendices and index. Thucydides’ ‘history of the war fought between the Peloponnesians and Athenians’ (Thuc. 1.1) and Xenophon’s Hellenika (Greek History) are the primary sources for this unit. Thucydides’ work is a history of what is now called the Peloponnesian War (viz. the conflict of 431-04), but book 1 is spent explaining its origins. Thucydides’ explanation of the war (his alethestate prophasis – truest explanation) is that the growth of Athenian power led to Spartan fear (Thuc. 1.23). This means that he has to explain that growth of Athenian power, and what he gives as explanation (commonly known as the Pentekontaetia (‘the fifty-year period’) is roughly an account of the fluctuations in Athenian fortunes in her inter-state relations of the period 479-c. 435 BC). What this provides is a patchy and Athenocentric account of Greek conflicts of this era, but one which is unparalleled in coverage (though, for a list of events that Thucydides omits, see A. W. Gomme, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, volume 1, 365-70). Thucydides’ history ends abruptly shortly after an account of an Athenian victory in 411 BC, and Xenophon’s Hellenika picks up the narrative with an account of the war in the Hellespont. Thucydides can be read usefully with a number of commentaries, but note that the first two of these comment on the Greek text (Hornblower, however, at least translates the passages on which he comments): Gomme, A.W., Dover. K.J. & Andrewes, A. (1945-81), A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, 5 vols. – this contains an introduction in vol. 1 Hornblower, S. (1991-2008), A Commentary on Thucydides, 3 vols. Note that the best general introductions to Thuc. are in vol. 2 Cartwright, D. (1997), A Historical Commentary on Thucydides: a companion to Rex Warner’s Penguin translation. Bristol Classical Press companions to the Penguin translation by T. Wiedemann (books 1-2.65), N. Rutter (books 3-5), and Rutter (books 6-7). There are few commentaries on Xenophon’s Hellenika, but note: Krentz, P. (1989-), Commentary on Xenophon’s Hellenika: 2 vols. so far published, covering books 1.1.1-2.3.10 and 2.3.11-4.3.8. The first of these is relevant to the period to 404 BC As for general introductions to the works of these historians, note the following: Cawkwell, G. (1997), Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War. Dover, K. J. (1973), Thucydides (Greece & Rome, New Surveys in the Classics, no. 7) Hornblower, S. (1987), Thucydides Luce, T. J., (1997), The Greek Historians, chapters 4-5. Cawkwell, G.,(1997), Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War – important for analysis of Thucydides and for unravelling aspects of the Peloponnesian war. 3 JACT Teachers’ Notes Pelling, C., (2000), Literary Texts and the Greek Historian – chapter 4 on the siege of Plataia, chapter 5 on the causes of the war are extremely subtle readings of Thucydides Ste Croix, G. E. M. de (1972), The Origins of the Peloponnesian War Zagorin, P. (2005), Thucydides: an introduction for the common reader. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Anderson, J.K. (1974), Xenophon Plutarch: Plutarch’s Lives are extremely useful for the history of this period (Plutarch’s Great Men were often those who won fame by performing well in conflict) and the most important ones are collected in the Penguin, The Rise and Fall of Athens. This contains the Lives of late-fifth-century figures, such as the Athenians Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades, and the Spartan Lysander. For discussion of his accounts of Nicias and Alcibiades, see chapter 3 of Pelling’s Literary Texts and the Greek Historian Aristophanes: The comic playwright of the fifth (and late-fourth) century BC is very useful for Athenian political life and also the impact of warfare on it: note in particular Acharnians, Knights, Wasps, Birds and Lysistrata. Translations are available in a number of Penguin Classics, but note also the texts available on the Perseus website. Summaries (often highlighting the historical perspectives offered by the plays can be found in D. MacDowell, Aristophanes and Athens. Inscriptional evidence and other sources: Stone (often marble) and bronze inscriptions say to us a huge amount about inter-state relations: they record treaties and (usually with formulaic, sometimes with particular, details of the alliance), commemorate the war dead, and sometimes victories, mark dedications of spoils to the gods, although the decision to go to war with another community was rarely written down on a permanent medium. For their significance for the ancient historian, see Claire Taylor in Omnibus 54. Inscriptions are collected in the sourcebooks (see below; especially Fornara, translating Meiggs and Lewis’ Greek Historical Inscriptions (which will be replaced at some point in the next few years by a new collection of fifth-century inscriptions (with translation and commentary) by Rhodes and Osborne). Inscriptional and other ancient information on the Athenian Empire is collected in LACTOR 1; on Athenian Radical Democracy in LACTOR 5, and on the Culture of Athens in LACTOR 12. A LACTOR on ancient Sparta, edited by Dr Maria Pretzler of Swansea University will appear at some point in the next few years. Sourcebooks: Fornara, C. W. (1983), Archaic Times to the End of the Peloponnesian War – focus on inscriptions and the more obscure texts Crawford, M.H. & Whitehead, D. (1983), Archaic and Classical Greece. Rhodes, P. (2008), The Greek City States (2nd edition) - wide ranging Dillon, M. and Garland, L., (2000) Ancient Greece (2nd edition) 4 JACT Teachers’ Notes 1.2 Background Information A casualty list of the Erechtheid tribe of Athens dating to c. 459 BC reads as follows (LACTOR 14 42=Fornara 79=ML 33): ‘Of Erechtheis these died in the war, in Cyprus, in Egypt, in Phoenicia, at Haleis, on Aegina, at Megara, in the same year’. This document surely was a deliberate statement, set up by a subdivision of the Athenian polis of Athenian polypragmosune (many-sided activity). The Athenians were fighting on at least two fronts at the same time in this period: in the short-term it was a disastrous policy for the Athenians, but this kind of activity meant that to a significant degree, the history of conflict in the Greek world in this period is a history of Athenian conflicts and diplomacy with other states.