1.
Sparta
–
Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece, given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious. Spartas defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Spartas prominent role in Greece, however, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC. It then underwent a period of decline, especially in the Middle Ages. Modern Sparta is the capital of the Greek regional unit of Laconia, Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates, mothakes, perioikoi, Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world. Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, as well as in the West following the revival of classical learning and this love or admiration of Sparta is known as Laconism or Laconophilia. At its peak around 500 BC the size of the city would have been some 20,000 –35,000 free residents, plus numerous helots, olliers theory of the Spartan mirage has been widely accepted by scholars. The ancient Greeks used one of three words to refer to the location of the Spartans. The first refers primarily to the cluster of settlements in the valley of the Eurotas River. The second word was Lacedaemon, this was used sometimes as an adjective and is the name commonly used in the works of Homer. Herodotus seems to denote by it the Mycenaean Greek citadel at Therapne and it could be used synonymously with Sparta, but typically it was not. It denoted the terrain on which Sparta was situated, in Homer it is typically combined with epithets of the countryside, wide, lovely, shining and most often hollow and broken. The hollow suggests the Eurotas Valley, Sparta on the other hand is the country of lovely women, a people epithet. The name of the population was used for the state of Lacedaemon
Sparta
–
Territory of ancient Sparta
Sparta
–
Hollow Lacedaemon. Site of the Menelaion, the ancient shrine to Helen and Menelaus constructed in the Bronze Age city that stood on the hill of
Therapne on the left bank of the
Eurotas River overlooking the future site of Dorian Sparta. Across the valley the successive ridges of Mount
Taygetus are in evidence.
Sparta
–
Eurotas River
Sparta
–
The theater of ancient Sparta with
Mt. Taygetus in the background.
2.
Navarch
–
Navarch is a Greek word meaning leader of the ships, which in some states became the title of an office equivalent to that of a modern admiral. Not all states gave their naval commanders such a title, athens, for instance, placed its fleet under the command of generals holding the same title as those who commanded its land forces. At Sparta and many other city-states, the position was held for one year only, admirals of despotic or monarchic states, however, could serve for years at a time. At Sparta, the position, unlike most high-level offices, was available to men from outside the Spartiate class, Lysander, nauarchus, a direct transliteration of the Greek term into Latin, was also used by the Roman Navy for its squadron commanders. The Greek-speaking Byzantines sometimes used the term to designate the captains of ships, in the modern Hellenic Navy, návarchos is the highest rank, equivalent to full admiral. The same ranks are used by the Hellenic Coast Guard. Under the Greek monarchy, the rank of archinávarchos, equivalent to grand admiral or admiral of the fleet, existed. Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth ed, the Oxford Classical Dictionary ISBN 0-19-866172-X
Navarch
–
Rank flag of a návarchos.
3.
Battle of Aegospotami
–
The naval Battle of Aegospotami took place in 405 BC and was the last major battle of the Peloponnesian War. In the battle, a Spartan fleet under Lysander destroyed the Athenian navy and this effectively ended the war, since Athens could not import grain or communicate with its empire without control of the sea. In 405 BC, following the severe Spartan defeat at the Battle of Arginusae, Lysander, one of Lysanders advantages as a commander was his close relationship with the Persian prince Cyrus. Using this connection, he raised the money to begin rebuilding the Spartan fleet. When Cyrus was recalled to Susa by his father Darius, he took the step of appointing Lysander as satrap of Asia Minor. With the resources of this entire wealthy Persian province at his disposal and he then set off on a series of campaigns throughout the Aegean. He seized several Athenian-held cities, and attacked numerous islands and he was unable to move north to the Hellespont, however, because of the threat from the Athenian fleet at Samos. To divert the Athenians, Lysander struck westward, approaching quite near to Athens itself, he attacked Aegina and Salamis, and even landed in Attica. The Athenian fleet set out in pursuit, but Lysander sailed around them, reached the Hellespont, from there, he seized the strategically important town of Lampsacus. From here, the way was open to enter the Bosporus, if the Athenians were to avoid starvation, Lysander had to be contained immediately. The Athenian fleet caught up with Lysander shortly after he had taken Lampsacus, however, perhaps because of the need to keep a close watch on Lysander, they set up camp on a beach much nearer to Lampsacus. The location was less than ideal because of the lack of a harbor and the difficulty of supplying the fleet, every day, the fleet sailed out to Lampsacus in battle formation, and waited outside the harbor, when Lysander refused to emerge, they returned home. At this time, the exiled Athenian leader Alcibiades was living in a castle near the Athenian camp, coming down to the beach where the ships were gathered, he made several suggestions to the generals. First, he proposed relocating the fleet to the secure base at Sestos. Second, he claimed that several Thracian kings had offered to him with an army. If the generals would offer him a share of the command, he claimed, the generals, however, declined this offer and rejected his advice, and Alcibiades returned home. Two accounts of the battle of Aegospotami exist, diodorus Siculus relates that the Athenian general in command on the fifth day at Sestos, Philocles, sailed out with thirty ships, ordering the rest to follow him. In the event, the force was immediately defeated
Battle of Aegospotami
–
A Greek trireme
4.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
5.
Hellespont
–
Together with the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles forms the Turkish Straits. The English name Dardanelles derives from Dardanus, an ancient city on the Asian shore of the strait which in turn takes its name from Dardanus, the ancient Greek name Ἑλλήσποντος means Sea of Helle, and was the ancient name of the narrow strait. It was variously named in classical literature Hellespontium Pelagus, Rectum Hellesponticum and it was so called from Helle, the daughter of Athamas, who was drowned here in the mythology of the Golden Fleece. The Marmara further connects to the Black Sea via the Bosphorus, the strait is located at approximately 40°13′N 26°26′E. The strait is 61 kilometres long, and 1.2 to 6 kilometres wide, water flows in both directions along the strait, from the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean via a surface current, and in the opposite direction via an undercurrent. The Dardanelles is unique in many respects, the very narrow and winding shape of the strait is more akin to that of a river. It is considered one of the most hazardous, crowded, difficult, the currents produced by the tidal action in the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara are such that ships under sail must await at anchorage for the right conditions before entering the Dardanelles. It is a sea access route for numerous countries, including Russia. The ancient city of Troy was located near the entrance of the strait. Troy was able to control the traffic entering this vital waterway. Herodotus tells us that, circa 482 BC, Xerxes I had two bridges built across the width of the Hellespont at Abydos, in order that his huge army could cross from Persia into Greece. This crossing was named by Aeschylus in his tragedy The Persians as the cause of divine intervention against Xerxes, according to Herodotus, both bridges were destroyed by a storm and Xerxes had those responsible for building the bridges beheaded and the strait itself whipped. The Histories of Herodotus vii. 33–37 and vii. 54–58 give details of building and crossing of Xerxes Pontoon Bridges. Xerxes is then said to have thrown fetters into the strait, Herodotus commented that this was a highly presumptuous way to address the Hellespont but in no way atypical of Xerxes. Harpalus the engineer eventually helped the invading armies to cross by lashing the ships together with their bows facing the current and, so it is said, two additional anchors. From the perspective of ancient Greek mythology, it was said that Helle, the Dardanelles were vital to the defence of Constantinople during the Byzantine period. Also, the Dardanelles was an important source of income for the ruler of the region, at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum a marble plate contains a law by the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I, that regulated fees for passage through the customs office of the Dardanelles. Whoever dares to violate these regulations shall no longer be regarded as a friend, besides, the administrator of the Dardanelles must have the right to receive 50 golden Litrons, so that these rules, which we make out of piety, shall never ever be violated
Hellespont
–
An artist's illustration depicting Xerxes' alleged "punishment" of the Hellespont
Hellespont
–
The Dardanelles, a long narrow strait dividing the Balkans (Europe) along the Gallipoli peninsula from
Asia Minor
Hellespont
–
Marble plate with 6th century AD law regulating payment of customs in the Dardanelles
Hellespont
–
Historic map of Dardanelles by
Piri Reis
6.
Ancient Athens
–
Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for at least 5000 years. Following a period of decline under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The name of Athens, connected to the name of its patron goddess Athena, the etiological myth explaining how Athens acquired this name through the legendary contest between Poseidon and Athena was described by Herodotus, Apollodorus, Ovid, Plutarch, Pausanias and others. It even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon, both Athena and Poseidon requested to be patrons of the city and to give their name to it, so they competed with one another for the honour, offering the city one gift each. Poseidon produced a spring by striking the ground with his trident, Athena created the olive tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. The Athenians, under their ruler Cecrops, accepted the olive tree, a sacred olive tree said to be the one created by the goddess was still kept on the Acropolis at the time of Pausanias. It was located by the temple of Pandrosus, next to the Parthenon, according to Herodotus, the tree had been burnt down during the Persian Wars, but a shoot sprung from the stump. The Greeks saw this as a symbol that Athena still had her there on the city. Plato, in his dialogue Cratylus, offers his own etymology of Athenas name connecting it to the phrase ἁ θεονόα or hē theoû nóēsis. The site on which Athens stands was first inhabited in the Neolithic period, perhaps as a settlement on top of the Acropolis. The Acropolis is a defensive position which commands the surrounding plains. The settlement was about 20 km inland from the Saronic Gulf, in the centre of the Cephisian Plain, to the east lies Mount Hymettus, to the north Mount Pentelicus. Ancient Athens, in the first millennium BC, occupied a small area compared to the sprawling metropolis of modern Greece. The Acropolis was situated just south of the centre of this walled area, the Agora, the commercial and social centre of the city, lay about 400 m north of the Acropolis, in what is now the Monastiraki district. The hill of the Pnyx, where the Athenian Assembly met, the Eridanus river flowed through the city. One of the most important religious sites in ancient Athens was the Temple of Athena, known today as the Parthenon, which stood on top of the Acropolis, where its evocative ruins still stand. Two other major sites, the Temple of Hephaestus and the Temple of Olympian Zeus or Olympeion also lay within the city walls. According to Thucydides, the Athenian citizens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War numbered 40,000, making with their families a total of 140,000 people in all
Ancient Athens
–
The
Acropolis of Athens by
Leo von Klenze.
Ancient Athens
–
The contest of
Athena and
Poseidon. West Pediment of the
Parthenon.
Ancient Athens
–
Map of the Environs of Ancient Athens.
Ancient Athens
–
Statue of the Greek goddess
Athena,
National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
7.
Peloponnesian War
–
The Peloponnesian War was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases and this period of the war was concluded in 421 BC, with the signing of the Peace of Nicias. That treaty, however, was undermined by renewed fighting in the Peloponnese. In 415 BC, Athens dispatched an expeditionary force to attack Syracuse in Sicily. This ushered in the phase of the war, generally referred to either as the Decelean War. The destruction of Athens fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war, Corinth and Thebes demanded that Athens should be destroyed and all its citizens should be enslaved, but Sparta refused. The Peloponnesian War reshaped the ancient Greek world, the economic costs of the war were felt all across Greece, poverty became widespread in the Peloponnese, while Athens found itself completely devastated, and never regained its pre-war prosperity. Greek warfare, meanwhile, originally a limited and formalized form of conflict, was transformed into a struggle between city-states, complete with atrocities on a large scale. Indeed, the fifty years of Greek history that preceded the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War had been marked by the development of Athens as a major power in the Mediterranean world. The city proceeded to conquer all of Greece except for Sparta and its allies, by the middle of the century, the Persians had been driven from the Aegean and forced to cede control of a vast range of territories to Athens. This tribute was used to support a fleet and, after the middle of the century, to fund massive public works programs in Athens. According to Thucydides, although the Spartans took no action at this time, conflict between the states flared up again in 465 BC, when a helot revolt broke out in Sparta. The Spartans summoned forces from all of their allies, including Athens, Athens sent out a sizable contingent, but upon its arrival, this force was dismissed by the Spartans, while those of all the other allies were permitted to remain. According to Thucydides, the Spartans acted in this way out of fear that the Athenians would switch sides and support the helots, the offended Athenians repudiated their alliance with Sparta. When the rebellious helots were finally forced to surrender and permitted to evacuate the country, a fifteen-year conflict, commonly known as the First Peloponnesian War, ensued, in which Athens fought intermittently against Sparta, Corinth, Aegina, and a number of other states. The war was ended by the Thirty Years Peace, signed in the winter of 446/5 BC. The Thirty Years Peace was first tested in 440 BC, when Athens powerful ally Samos rebelled from its alliance with Athens, the rebels quickly secured the support of a Persian satrap, and Athens found itself facing the prospect of revolts throughout the empire. The Spartans, whose intervention would have been the trigger for a war to determine the fate of the empire
Peloponnesian War
–
The walls surrounding Athens
Peloponnesian War
–
The Peloponnesian war alliances at 431 BC. Orange: Athenian Empire and Allies; Green: Spartan Confederacy
Peloponnesian War
–
The key actions of each phase
Peloponnesian War
–
Eight bookes of the Peloponnesian Warre written by
Thucydides the sonne of
Olorus. Interpreted with faith and diligence immediately out of the Greeke by
Thomas Hobbes secretary to ye late
Earle of Deuonshire. (
Houghton Library)
8.
Heracleidae
–
Since Karl Otfried Müllers Die Dorier, I. ch. 3, their rise to dominance has been associated with a Dorian invasion, after the death of Heracles, his children, after many wanderings, found refuge from Eurystheus at Athens. Eurystheus, on his demand for their surrender being refused, attacked Athens, Hyllus and his brothers then invaded Peloponnesus, but after a years stay were forced by a pestilence to quit. Desiring to reconquer his paternal inheritance, Hyllus consulted the Delphic oracle, which told him to wait for the third fruit, and then enter Peloponnesus by a narrow passage by sea. Accordingly, after three years, Hyllus marched across the isthmus of Corinth to attack Atreus, the successor of Eurystheus and this second attempt was followed by a third under Cleodaeus and a fourth under Aristomachus, both unsuccessful. At last, Temenus, Cresphontes and Aristodemus, the sons of Aristomachus and they received the answer that by the third fruit the third generation was meant, and that the narrow passage was not the isthmus of Corinth, but the straits of Rhium. They accordingly built a fleet at Naupactus, but before they set sail, Aristodemus was struck by lightning and the fleet destroyed, because one of the Heracleidae had slain an Acarnanian soothsayer. The oracle, being consulted by Temenus, bade him offer an expiatory sacrifice and banish the murderer for ten years. On his way back to Naupactus, Temenus fell in with Oxylus, an Aetolian, according to another account, a mule on which Oxylus rode had lost an eye. The Heracleidae repaired their ships, sailed from Naupactus to Antirrhium, a decisive battle was fought with Tisamenus, son of Orestes, the chief ruler in the peninsula, who was defeated and slain. This conquest was traditionally dated eighty years after the Trojan War, the Heracleidae, who thus became practically masters of Peloponnesus, proceeded to distribute its territory among themselves by lot. Argos fell to Temenus, Lacedaemon to Procles and Eurysthenes, the sons of Aristodemus. The Heracleidae ruled in Lacedaemon until 221 BCE, but disappeared much earlier in the other countries and they represent a joint invasion of Peloponnesus by Aetolians and Dorians, the latter having been driven southward from their original northern home under pressure from the Thessalians. It is noticeable that there is no mention of these Heraclidae or their invasion in Homer or Hesiod, herodotus speaks of poets who had celebrated their deeds, but these were limited to events immediately succeeding the death of Heracles. At Sparta, the Heraclids formed two dynasties ruling jointly, the Agiads and the Eurypontids, at Corinth the Heraclids ruled as the Bacchiadae dynasty before the aristocratic revolution, which brought a Bacchiad aristocracy into power. The Heracleidae are the subject of Euripides play, Heracleidae. As Eurysttheus prepared to attack, an oracle told Demophon that he would win if, macaria volunteered for the sacrifice and a spring was named the Macarian spring in her honor. Bibliotheca ii.8 Diodorus Siculus iv
Heracleidae
–
Hercules with his son
Telephus, one of the Heracleidae
9.
Heracles
–
Heracles, born Alcaeus or Alcides, was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson and half-brother of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of clans who claimed to be Heracleidae. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well. Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him, together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a figure who used games to relax from his labors. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have made the safe for mankind. Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being The Twelve Labours of Heracles and his figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as the lion-fight, was widely known. Heracles was the greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, the core of the story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld. Heracles role as a hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling, was accepted into the Olympian Pantheon during Classical times. Around him cries of the dead rang out like cries of birds scattering left, in Christian circles a Euhemerist reading of the widespread Heracles cult was attributed to a historical figure who had been offered cult status after his death. The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of the Heracleia, which commemorated the death of Heracles, what is believed to be an Egyptian Temple of Heracles in the Bahariya Oasis dates to 21 BCE. A reassessment of Ptolemys descriptions of the island of Malta attempted to link the site at Ras ir-Raħeb with a temple to Heracles, several ancient cities were named Heraclea in his honor. A major factor in the tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that the goddess Hera. A full account of Heracles must render it clear why Heracles was so tormented by Hera, Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon, thus, Heracles very existence proved at least one of Zeus many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus mortal offspring as revenge for her husbands infidelities. His twin mortal brother, son of Amphitryon, was Iphicles, Hera did this knowing that while Heracles was to be born a descendant of Perseus, so too was Eurystheus
Heracles
–
One of the most famous depictions of Heracles, originally by
Lysippos (Marble, Roman copy called Hercules Farnese, 216 CE)
Heracles
–
Greek Mythology
Heracles
–
Heracles capturing the
Cretan bull.
Heracles
–
The Origin of the Milky Way by
Jacopo Tintoretto
10.
Plutarch
–
Plutarch was a Greek biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist, Plutarchs surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers. Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the town of Chaeronea, about 80 km east of Delphi. The name of Plutarchs father has not been preserved, but based on the common Greek custom of repeating a name in alternate generations, the name of Plutarchs grandfather was Lamprias, as he attested in Moralia and in his Life of Antony. His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are mentioned in his essays and dialogues. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarchs wife, Timoxena, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not to grieve too much at the death of their two-year-old daughter, interestingly, he hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation. The exact number of his sons is not certain, although two of them, Autobulus and the second Plutarch, are often mentioned. Plutarchs treatise De animae procreatione in Timaeo is dedicated to them, another person, Soklarus, is spoken of in terms which seem to imply that he was Plutarchs son, but this is nowhere definitely stated. Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy at the Academy of Athens under Ammonius from 66 to 67, at some point, Plutarch took Roman citizenship. He lived most of his life at Chaeronea, and was initiated into the mysteries of the Greek god Apollo. For many years Plutarch served as one of the two priests at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the site of the famous Delphic Oracle, twenty miles from his home. By his writings and lectures Plutarch became a celebrity in the Roman Empire, yet he continued to reside where he was born, at his country estate, guests from all over the empire congregated for serious conversation, presided over by Plutarch in his marble chair. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays, Plutarch held the office of archon in his native municipality, probably only an annual one which he likely served more than once. He busied himself with all the matters of the town. The Suda, a medieval Greek encyclopedia, states that Emperor Trajan made Plutarch procurator of Illyria, however, most historians consider this unlikely, since Illyria was not a procuratorial province, and Plutarch probably did not speak Illyrian. Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his serving as a priest in Delphi. He thus connected part of his work with the sanctuary of Apollo, the processes of oracle-giving
Plutarch
–
Ruins of the Temple of
Apollo at
Delphi, where Plutarch served as one of the priests responsible for interpreting the predictions of the
oracle.
Plutarch
–
Parallel Lives,
Amyot translation, 1565
Plutarch
–
Plutarch's bust at
Chaeronea, his home town.
Plutarch
–
A page from the 1470 Ulrich Han printing of Plutarch's
Parallel Lives.
11.
Aegean Sea
–
The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas, i. e. between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles, the Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea was known as Archipelago, but in English this words meaning has changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally. In ancient times, there were various explanations for the name Aegean, a possible etymology is a derivation from the Greek word αἶγες – aiges = waves, hence wavy sea, cf. also αἰγιαλός, hence meaning sea-shore. The Venetians, who ruled many Greek islands in the High and Late Middle Ages, popularized the name Archipelago, in some South Slavic languages the Aegean is often called White Sea. The Aegean Sea covers about 214,000 square kilometres in area, the seas maximum depth is 3,543 metres, east of Crete. The Aegean Islands are found within its waters, with the following islands delimiting the sea on the south, Kythera, Antikythera, Crete, Kasos, Karpathos, many of the Aegean Islands, or chains of islands, are actually extensions of the mountains on the mainland. One chain extends across the sea to Chios, another extends across Euboea to Samos, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Aegean Sea as follows, On the South. In the Dardanelles. A line joining Kum Kale and Cape Helles, the dense Mediterranean water sinks below the Black Sea inflow to a depth of 23–30 metres, then flows through the Dardanelles Strait and into the Sea of Marmara at velocities of 5–15 cm/s. The Black Sea outflow moves westward along the northern Aegean Sea, Aegean Sea Intermediate Water – Aegean Sea Intermediate Water extends from 40–50 m to 200–300 metres with temperatures ranging from 11–18 °C. Aegean Sea Bottom Water – occurring at depths below 500–1000 m with a uniform temperature. The current coastline dates back to about 4000 BC, before that time, at the peak of the last ice age sea levels everywhere were 130 metres lower, and there were large well-watered coastal plains instead of much of the northern Aegean. When they were first occupied, the islands including Milos with its important obsidian production were probably still connected to the mainland. The present coastal arrangement appeared c.7000 BC, with post-ice age sea levels continuing to rise for another 3,000 years after that, the subsequent Bronze Age civilizations of Greece and the Aegean Sea have given rise to the general term Aegean civilization. In ancient times, the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations – the Minoans of Crete and the Mycenean Civilization of the Peloponnese, later arose the city-states of Athens and Sparta among many others that constituted the Athenian Empire and Hellenic Civilization. Plato described the Greeks living round the Aegean like frogs around a pond, the Aegean Sea was later invaded by the Persians and the Romans, and inhabited by the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, the Venetians, the Genoese, the Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Empire. The Aegean was the site of the democracies, and its seaways were the means of contact among several diverse civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean. Many of the islands in the Aegean have safe harbours and bays, in ancient times, navigation through the sea was easier than travelling across the rough terrain of the Greek mainland
Aegean Sea
–
Map of the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
–
Topographical and
bathymetric map
Aegean Sea
–
Panoramic view of the
Santorini caldera, taken from Oia.
12.
Cyrus the Younger
–
Cyrus the Younger, son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis, was a Persian prince and general. His birth date is unknown, but he died in 401 BC after a battle to oust his brother, Artaxerxes II. The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of the Greeks is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis, another account, probably from Sophaenetus of Stymphalus, was used by Ephorus. Further information is contained in the excerpts from Artaxerxes IIs physician, Ctesias, by Photius, Plutarch’s Lives of Artaxerxes II and Lysander and these are the only early sources of information on Cyrus the Younger. According to Xenophon, Cyrus the Younger was born after the accession of his father in 424 BC and he had an elder brother, Arsicas, and two younger brothers named Ostanes and Oxathres. Nor less in matters of war, in the use of the bow and the javelin, was he held by men in general to be at once the aptest of learners and the most eager practiser. As soon as his age permitted, the same pre-eminence showed itself in his fondness for the chase, in 408 BC, after the victories of Alcibiades, Darius II decided to continue the war against Athens and give strong support to the Spartans. There, Cyrus met the Spartan general Lysander, in him, Cyrus found a man who was willing to help him become king, just as Lysander himself hoped to become absolute ruler of Greece by the aid of the Persian prince. Thus, Cyrus put all his means at the disposal of Lysander in the Peloponnesian War, around that time, Darius fell ill and called his son to his deathbed, Cyrus handed money over to Lysander and went to Susa. For Parysatis had the specious plea in his behalf, which Xerxes on the advice of Demaratus had of old made use of, that she had borne him Arsicas when he was a subject, but Cyrus when a king. According to Plutarch, his resentment for him more eagerly desirous of the kingdom than before. Lysander won the battle of Aegospotami, and Sparta became more influential in the Greek world, in the spring of 401 BC, Cyrus united all his forces into an army now including Xenophons Ten Thousand, and advanced from Sardis without announcing the object of his expedition. The king had only been warned at the last moment by Tissaphernes and gathered an army in haste, in October 401 BC, the battle of Cunaxa ensued. Cyrus had 10,400 Greek hoplites,2,500 peltasts, Cyrus saw that the outcome depended on the fate of the king, he therefore wanted Clearchus, the commander of the Greeks, to take the centre against Artaxerxes. As a result, the wing of the Persians under Tissaphernes was free to engage the rest of Cyrus forces. Tissaphernes claimed to have killed the rebel himself, and Parysatis later took vengeance upon the slayer of her favorite son, the Persian troops, instead of attacking the Greeks via a direct assault, decoyed them into the interior, beyond the Tigris, and then attacked through trickery. It was a solid and clever plan, but after their commanders had taken prisoners. He would tell no lies to any one and he made no secret of his endeavour to outdo his friends and his foes alike in reciprocity of conduct
Cyrus the Younger
–
Route of Cyrus the Younger, Xenophon and the
Ten Thousand mercenaries
13.
Darius II of Persia
–
Darius II, was king of the Persian Empire from 423 BC to 404 or 405 BC. Artaxerxes I, who died on December 25,424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II, after a month and a half Xerxes II was murdered by his brother Secydianus or Sogdianus. Neither the names Xerxes II nor Sogdianus occur in the dates of the numerous Babylonian tablets from Nippur, historians know little about Darius IIs reign. A rebellion by the Medes in 409 BC is mentioned by Xenophon and it does seem that Darius II was quite dependent on his wife Parysatis. In excerpts from Ctesias some harem intrigues are recorded, in which he played a disreputable part, as long as the power of Athens remained intact he did not meddle in Greek affairs. When in 413 BC, Athens supported the rebel Amorges in Caria, Darius II would not have responded had not the Athenian power been broken in the same year at Syracuse. As a result of event, Darius II gave orders to his satraps in Asia Minor, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, to send in the overdue tribute of the Greek towns. To support the war with Athens, the Persian satraps entered into an alliance with Sparta, in 408 BC he sent his son Cyrus to Asia Minor, to carry on the war with greater energy. Darius II died in 404 BC, in the year of his reign. Prior to his accession, Darius II was married to the daughter of Gobryas. With the daughter of Gobryas, Darius II had four sons, through one of his sons became the father of Artabazanes
Darius II of Persia
–
Drachma of Darius II with text in
Aramaic
Darius II of Persia
–
Prospective tomb of Darius II of Persia in
Naqsh-e Rustam
14.
Ephesus
–
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic, during the Classical Greek era it was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The city flourished after it came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC, the city was famed for the nearby Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Among many other buildings are the Library of Celsus. Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation, the Gospel of John may have been written here. The city was the site of several 5th century Christian Councils, the city was destroyed by the Goths in 263, and although rebuilt, the citys importance as a commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. It was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD, the area surrounding Ephesus was already inhabited during the Neolithic Age, as was revealed by excavations at the nearby höyük of Arvalya and Cukurici. Excavations in recent years have unearthed settlements from the early Bronze Age at Ayasuluk Hill, according to Hittite sources, the capital of the Kingdom of Arzawa was Apasa. Some scholars suggest that this is the later Greek Ephesus, in 1954, a burial ground from the Mycenaean era with ceramic pots was discovered close to the ruins of the basilica of St. John. This was the period of the Mycenaean Expansion when the Achaioi settled in Asia Minor during the 14th and 13th centuries BC, Ephesus was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC on the Ayasuluk Hill, three kilometers from the centre of ancient Ephesus. The mythical founder of the city was a prince of Athens named Androklos, according to the legend, he founded Ephesus on the place where the oracle of Delphi became reality. Androklos drove away most of the native Carian and Lelegian inhabitants of the city and he was a successful warrior, and as a king he was able to join the twelve cities of Ionia together into the Ionian League. During his reign the city began to prosper and he died in a battle against the Carians when he came to the aid of Priene, another city of the Ionian League. Androklos and his dog are depicted on the Hadrian temple frieze, later, Greek historians such as Pausanias, Strabo and Herodotos and the poet Kallinos reassigned the citys mythological foundation to Ephos, queen of the Amazons. The Greek goddess Artemis and the great Anatolian goddess Kybele were identified together as Artemis of Ephesus, Pausanias mentions that the temple was built by Ephesus, son of the river god Caystrus, before the arrival of the Ionians. Of this structure, scarcely a trace remains, about 650 BC, Ephesus was attacked by the Cimmerians who razed the city, including the temple of Artemis. After the Cimmerians had been away, the city was ruled by a series of tyrants. Following a revolt by the people, Ephesus was ruled by a council and his signature has been found on the base of one of the columns of the temple
Ephesus
–
The
Library of Celsus in Ephesus
Ephesus
–
Site of the
Temple of Artemis in the town of
Selçuk, near Ephesus.
Ephesus
–
Street scene at the archeological excavations at Ephesus.
Ephesus
–
Electrum coin from Ephesus, 620-600 BC. Obverse: Forepart of stag. Reverse: Square incuse punch.
15.
Alcibiades
–
Alcibiades, son of Cleinias, from the deme of Scambonidae, was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mothers family, the Alcmaeonidae. He played a role in the second half of that conflict as a strategic advisor, military commander. During the course of the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades changed his political allegiance several times, in Sparta, he served as a strategic adviser, proposing or supervising several major campaigns against Athens. In Sparta too, however, Alcibiades soon made powerful enemies, there he served as an adviser to the satrap Tissaphernes until his Athenian political allies brought about his recall. He then served as an Athenian general for years. Once restored to his city, however, he played a crucial role in a string of Athenian victories that eventually brought Sparta to seek a peace with Athens. He favored unconventional tactics, frequently winning cities over by treachery or negotiation rather than by siege and his mother was Deinomache, the daughter of Megacles, and could trace her family back to Eurysaces and the Telamonian Ajax. His maternal grandfather, also named Alcibiades, was a friend of Cleisthenes, after the death of Cleinias at the Battle of Coronea, Pericles and Ariphron became his guardians. According to Plutarch, Alcibiades had several teachers, including Socrates. He was noted, however, for his behavior, which was mentioned by ancient Greek. It was believed that Socrates took Alcibiades as a student because he believed he could change Alcibiades from his vain ways, Xenophon attempted to clear Socrates name at trial by relaying information that Alcibiades was always corrupt and that Socrates merely failed in attempting to teach him morality. Alcibiades took part in the Battle of Potidaea in 432 BC, Alcibiades had a particularly close relationship with Socrates, whom he admired and respected. According to Plutarch, Alcibiades feared and reverenced Socrates alone, Alcibiades was married to Hipparete, the daughter of Hipponicus, a wealthy Athenian. According to Plutarch, Hipparete loved her husband, but she attempted to divorce him because he consorted with courtesans and she lived with him until her death, which came soon after, and gave birth to two children, a daughter and a son, Alcibiades the Younger. Alcibiades first rose to prominence when he began advocating aggressive Athenian action after the signing of the Peace of Nicias, disputes over the interpretation of the treaty led the Spartans to dispatch ambassadors to Athens with full powers to arrange all unsettled matters. He urged them to renounce their diplomatic authority to represent Sparta, the representatives agreed and, impressed with Alcibiades, they alienated themselves from Nicias, who genuinely wanted to reach an agreement with the Spartans. The next day, during the Assembly, Alcibiades asked them what powers Sparta had granted them to negotiate and they replied, as agreed and this ploy increased Alcibiadess standing while embarrassing Nicias, and Alcibiades was subsequently appointed General
Alcibiades
–
Marble bust of Alcibiades, dating from the 4th century BC. The inscription translates "Alcibiades [son] of Cleinias Athenian".
Alcibiades
–
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904): Socrates seeking Alcibiades in the House of Aspasia, 1861.
Alcibiades
–
Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1754–1829):
Socrates dragging Alcibiades from the Embrace of Sensual Pleasure, 1791.
Alcibiades
–
Michele de Napoli (1808–1892): Morte di Alcibiade (Death of Alcibiades) (1839 circa),
Naples National Archaeological Museum.
16.
Samos
–
It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. In ancient times Samos was a rich and powerful city-state, particularly known for its vineyards. It is home to Pythagoreion and the Heraion of Samos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes the Eupalinian aqueduct, Samian wine was well known in antiquity, and is still produced on the island. The island was governed by the semi-autonomous Principality of Samos under Ottoman suzerainty from 1835 until it joined Greece in 1912, the area of the island is 477.395 km2, and it is 43 km long and 13 km wide. It is separated from Anatolia by the approximately 1-mile-wide Mycale Strait, while largely mountainous, Samos has several relatively large and fertile plains. A great portion of the island is covered with vineyards, from which wine is made. The most important plains except the capital, Vathy, in the northeast, are that of Karlovasi, in the northwest, Pythagoreio, in the southeast, the islands population is 33,814, which is the 9th most populous of the Greek islands. The Samian climate is typically Mediterranean, with rainy winters. Samos relief is dominated by two mountains, Ampelos and Kerkis. The Ampelos massif is the larger of the two and occupies the center of the island, rising to 1,095 metres. Mt. Kerkis, though smaller in area is the taller of the two and its summit is the islands highest point, at 1,434 metres, the mountains are a continuation of the Mycale range on the Anatolian mainland. According to Strabo, the name Samos is from Phoenician meaning rise by the shore, Samos is home to many surprising species including the golden jackal, stone marten, wild boar, flamingos and monk seal. Samos is one of the sunniest places in Europe with almost 3300 hours of sunshine annually or 74% of the time and its climate is mild and wet in winter and dry in summer. In classical antiquity the island was a center of Ionian culture and luxury, renowned for its Samian wines and its most famous building was the Ionic order archaic Temple of goddess Hera—the Heraion. Concerning the earliest history of Samos, literary tradition is singularly defective, at the time of the great migrations it received an Ionian population which traced its origin to Epidaurus in Argolis, Samos became one of the twelve members of the Ionian League. By the 7th century BC it had one of the leading commercial centers of Greece. They helped to open up trade with the population lived around the Black Sea as well as with Egypt, Cyrene, Corinth. This caused them to become rivals with Miletus
Samos
–
Vathy, capital of Samos
Samos
–
Psalida Beach. At the distant background Mount Kerketeas.
Samos
–
Kouros of Samos, the largest surviving Kouros in Greece (Archaeological Museum of Samos).
Samos
–
Inside the
Eupalinian aqueduct.
17.
Thracian Chersonese
–
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name Καλλίπολις, meaning Beautiful City, in antiquity, the peninsula was known as the Thracian Chersonese. The peninsula runs in a direction into the Aegean Sea. Near Agora it was protected by a wall running across its full breadth, the isthmus traversed by the wall was only 36 stadia in breadth, but the length of the peninsula from this wall to its southern extremity, Cape Mastusia, was 420 stadia. In ancient times, the Gallipoli Peninsula was known as the Thracian Chersonesus to the Greeks and it was the location of several prominent towns, including Cardia, Pactya, Callipolis, Alopeconnesus, Sestos, Madytos, and Elaeus. The peninsula was renowned for its wheat and it also benefited from its strategic importance on the main route between Europe and Asia, as well as from its control of the shipping route from Crimea. The city of Sestos was the main crossing-point on the Hellespont, according to Herodotus, the Thracian tribe of Dolonci held possession of Chersonesus before the Greek colonization. Then, settlers from Ancient Greece, mainly of Ionian and Aeolian stock, the Athenian statesman Miltiades the Elder founded a major Athenian colony there around 560 BC. He took authority over the peninsula, building up its defences against incursions from the mainland. It eventually passed to his nephew, the more famous Miltiades the Younger, the peninsula was abandoned to the Persians in 493 BC after the outbreak of the Greco-Persian Wars. The Persians were eventually expelled, after which the peninsula was for a time ruled over by Athens, the Athenians established a number of cleruchies on the Thracian Chersonese and sent an additional 1,000 settlers around 448 BC. Sparta gained control after the battle of Aegospotami in 404 BC. In the 4th century BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the focus of a territorial dispute between Athens and Macedon, whose king Philip II sought possession. It was eventually ceded to Philip in 338 BC, after the death of Philips son Alexander the Great in 323 BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the object of contention among Alexanders successors. Lysimachus established his capital Lysimachia here, in 278 BC, Celtic tribes from Galatia in Asia Minor settled in the area. In 196 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus III seized the peninsula and this alarmed the Greeks and prompted them to seek the aid of the Romans, who conquered the Thracian Chersonese, which they gave to their ally Eumenes II of Pergamon in 188 BC. At the extinction of the Attalid dynasty in 133 BC it passed again to the Romans and it was subsequently made a state-owned territory and during the reign of the emperor Augustus it was imperial property. The Thracian Chersonese was part of the Eastern Roman Empire from its foundation in 330 AD, in 443 AD, Attila the Hun invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula during one of the last stages of his grand campaign that year
Thracian Chersonese
–
A view of the
Dardanelles from a ship
Thracian Chersonese
–
Satellite image of the Gallipoli peninsula and surrounding area
Thracian Chersonese
–
Anzac Cove
Thracian Chersonese
–
The Sphinx overlooking Anzac Cove
18.
Nauarchia
–
Navarch is a Greek word meaning leader of the ships, which in some states became the title of an office equivalent to that of a modern admiral. Not all states gave their naval commanders such a title, athens, for instance, placed its fleet under the command of generals holding the same title as those who commanded its land forces. At Sparta and many other city-states, the position was held for one year only, admirals of despotic or monarchic states, however, could serve for years at a time. At Sparta, the position, unlike most high-level offices, was available to men from outside the Spartiate class, Lysander, nauarchus, a direct transliteration of the Greek term into Latin, was also used by the Roman Navy for its squadron commanders. The Greek-speaking Byzantines sometimes used the term to designate the captains of ships, in the modern Hellenic Navy, návarchos is the highest rank, equivalent to full admiral. The same ranks are used by the Hellenic Coast Guard. Under the Greek monarchy, the rank of archinávarchos, equivalent to grand admiral or admiral of the fleet, existed. Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth ed, the Oxford Classical Dictionary ISBN 0-19-866172-X
Nauarchia
–
Rank flag of a návarchos.
19.
Mithymna
–
Mithymna is a town and former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, before 1919, its official name was Μόλυβος - Molyvos, that name dates back to the end of the Byzantine Era, but is still in common use today. The second most important town of the island, it is located NE of Eressos, N of Plomari, the town is on the northern part of the island, just some 6 km north of the popular beach town of Petra. One of the most noticeable features of the town is the old Genoese fortress on the hill in the middle of the town. The municipal unit of Míthymna stretches eastward from the town along the part of the island. Its population was 2,255 at the 2011 census, the next largest towns in the municipal unit are Árgennos and Sykaminéa. As Methymna, the city was once the second city of Lesbos, with a founding myth that identified an eponymous Methymna. Very little is known about Methymna in the Archaic period, however, another local historian, Hellanicus of Lesbos, writing in the mid-5th century BCE, instead simply says Assos was an Aeolian foundation and does not specify a particular city as its founder. This has led historians to doubt Myrsilus, and instead suggest that this is an example of local Methymnaean manipulation of the past. When the Athenians put down the revolt the following year, only Methymna was spared from having its territory turned into a cleruchy. After 427, Methymna and Chios were the members of the Delian League to remain self-governing and exempt from tribute. This was likewise the case in 411, when a group of Methymnaeans who were in exile at Cyme in Aeolis attempted to return to Methymna by force, but were rebuffed by the population. When the Spartan commander Kallikratidas besieged Methymna in 406, the city stayed loyal to its Athenian garrison and our knowledge of the history of Methymna in the 4th century is limited, but its prominence as a polis is firmly attested by the citys silver and bronze coinage. By at least the 340s BCE, the tyrant Kleommis had expelled the citys democrats and we do not know what happened to Kleommis after this, although it is likely that he was expelled when the island fell to Philip IIs generals Parmenion and Attalus in 336. However, it is not clear whether Aristonicus was made tyrant when the Persians recaptured Methymna in 335, or whether Kleommis was re-installed and Aristonicus only made tyrant in 333. Whatever the case, in 332 Alexander gave Aristonicus over to the newly restored Methymnaean democracy to try, in c.295 BCE, Methymna struck silver drachms for King Lysimachus, indicating that the city was part of his kingdom at this time. However, by the 250s BCE at the latest, Methymna had come under the sway of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. During this period, a festival in honour of the Ptolemies, the Ptolemaia, was instituted, worship of Sarapis, an Egyptian cult patronized by the Ptolemies, was probably introduced to Methymna at this period, and remained an important part of the citys life for several centuries
Mithymna
–
Mithymna Μήθυμνα
Mithymna
–
View of the harbour
Mithymna
–
View of the fortress
Mithymna
–
Detail
20.
Lesbos Island
–
Lesbos, sometimes referred to as Mytilini after its capital, is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of 1,632.819 square kilometres with 320 kilometres of coastline and it is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait and in late Palaeolithic/Mesolithic times was joined to the Anatolian mainland before the end of the last glacial period. Lesbos is a regional unit of the North Aegean region. The others are Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, and Samos, the total number of islands governed by the North Aegean are nine, Lesbos, Chios, Psara, Oinousses, Ikaria, Fournoi Korseon, Lemnos, Agios Efstratios and Samos. The capital of the North Aegean Region is Mytilene, the population of Lesbos is approximately 86,000, a third of whom live in its capital, Mytilene, in the southeastern part of the island. The remaining population is distributed in small towns and villages, the largest are Plomari, Kalloni, the Gera Villages, Agiassos, Eresos, and Molyvos. In fact the archaeological and linguistic record may indicate a late Iron Age arrival of Greek settlers although references in Late Bronze Age Hittite archives indicate a likely Greek presence then, the name Mytilene itself seems to be of Hittite origin. According to Homers Iliad, however, Lesbos was part of the kingdom of Priam in what is now Turkey, much work remains to be done to determine just what was happening and when. In the Middle Ages, it was under Byzantine and then Genoese rule, Lesbos was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1462. The Ottomans then ruled the island until the First Balkan War in 1912, according to Classical Greek mythology, Lesbos was the patron god of the island. Macar was reputedly the first king whose many daughters bequeathed their names to some of the present larger towns, in Classical myth his sister, Canace, was killed to have him made king. The place names with female origins are likely to be much earlier settlements named after local goddesses, homer refers to the island as Macaros edos, the seat of Macar. The abundant grey pottery ware found on the island and the worship of Cybele, the island was governed by an oligarchy in archaic times, followed by quasi-democracy in classical times. For a short period it was a member of the Athenian confederacy, its apostasy from which is recounted by Thucydides in the Mytilenian Debate, in Hellenistic times, the island belonged to various Successor kingdoms until 79 BC when it passed into Roman hands. During the Middle Ages it belonged to the Byzantine Empire, in 802, the Byzantine Empress Irene was exiled to Lesbos after her deposition, and died there. The island served as a base for the fleet of the rebel Thomas the Slav in the early 820s. In the 10th century, it was part of the theme of the Aegean Sea, in the 1090s, the island was briefly occupied by the Turkish emir Tzachas, but he was unable to capture Methymna, which resisted throughout. In the 12th century, the became a frequent target for plundering raids by the Republic of Venice
Lesbos Island
–
View of
Mytilene
Lesbos Island
–
Sappho listens as the poet
Alcaeus plays a
kithara. (Painting by
Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1881)
Lesbos Island
–
View of the Roman aqueduct.
Lesbos Island
–
Map of Lesbos by Giacomo Franco (1597).
21.
Conon
–
Conon had been sent out to lead the Athenian forces following the recall of Alcibiades in 406 BC, and in 405 BC pursued the Peloponnesian fleet under Lysander to the Hellespont. Once there, the Peloponnesian took up a defensive position at Lampsacus and as they could not lure them out. It seems that Alcibiades advice was ignored and perhaps ridiculed, on the fifth day of the stand-off, Lysander sent out scouts to spy on the Athenians. They signalled the main army once the Athenian crews had disembarked to take their meals, thus when Lysander attacked almost the entire Athenian navy was caught unprepared and captured without resistance, and all the men taken were put to death. It was generally believed that kind of treachery was involved. His ship was one of nine which escaped the disaster, boldly rushing to Lampsacus where the Spartans had left their fleets sails and so preventing any effective means of pursuit. One of the nine Athenian ships to escape, the Paralus, returned to Athens, while Conon, with the eight ships, fled to Evagoras of Cyprus. As a result of victory, Sparta defeated the Athenians. Her relationship with Persia deteriorated, and she began raiding the satrapies of Pharnabazus, by 397 BC, Pharnabazus had persuaded the Persian king Artaxerxes to prosecute the war by sea, and raised a fleet of 300 Phoenician and Cypriot ships. In sheer numbers they would be overwhelming, but they needed a commander, and so they found Conon at Cyprus. First Conon moved up to Caria with a portion of the fleet. He then proceeded to Rhodes, where the pro-Spartan oligarchy was replaced by a democracy, in response to this, the Spartans decided to send out their navy, but made the mistake of entrusting it to Peisander, who had no experience. The battle took place at Cnidus in 394 BC, and was an easy, the Aegean cities expelled the Spartan garrisons and accepted Persian rule. After this success, Conon felt it was safe for him to return to Athens, Pharnabazus allowed him to retain part of the fleet, and supplied money for the fortification of Piraeus and the reconstruction of the long walls joining it to Athens. The next year the Spartans had opened negotiations with the Persians, when Tiribazus was replaced by Struthas, a bitter enemy of the Spartan king, Conon was allowed to escape, and died soon afterwards at Cyprus. His son Timotheus later became another prominent general, strauss, Barry S. Thrasybulus and Conon, A Rivalry in Athens in the 390s B. C. The American Journal of Philology, Vol.105, No.1, duane A. March, Konon and the Great Kings Fleet, Historia vol
Conon
–
Conon from "
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum "
22.
Mytilene
–
Mytilene is an ancient city founded in the 11th century BC. Mytilene is the capital and port of the island of Lesbos, the seat of governor of the North Aegean Region is Mytilene. Mytilene is also one of 13 municipalities on the island of Lesbos, Mytilene is built on the southeast edge of the island. It is also the seat of a bishop of the Orthodox church. As an ancient city, lying off the east coast, Mytilene was initially confined to an island just offshore that later was joined to Lesbos. According to the writings of Homer, the island of Lesvos has been a city since 1054 B. C. The early harbor of Mytilene was united during ancient times with a channel 700 meters long and 30 meters wide, the Roman writer Longus speaks of white stone bridges linking the two sides. The Greek word Εύριπο or Euripus is a commonly used term referring to a strait. The strait allowed ancient sail boats called Triremes, with 3 tiers of rowers or more, the boats that passed were ca.6 metres wide plus oars and had depth of 2 meters. The areas of the city that were densely populated connected the two bodies of land with marble bridges and they usually followed a curved line. The strait begin at the old market called Apano Skala and it was also close to Metropolis Street and ended at the Southern Harbor. One could argue that the channel transversed what is now called Ermoy Street, over time the strait began to collect silt and earth. There was also human intervention for the protection of the Castle of Mytilene, the strait eventually filled with earth. Mytilene contested successfully with Methymna in the north of the island for the leadership of the island in the 7th century BC and her most famous citizens were the poets Sappho and Alcaeus and the statesman Pittacus. The city was famed for its output of electrum coins struck from the late 6th through mid-4th centuries BC. Mytilene revolted against Athens in 428 BC but was overcome by an Athenian expeditionary force, the Athenian public assembly voted to massacre all the men of the city and to sell the women and children into slavery but changed its mind the next day. A fast trireme sailed the 186 nautical miles in less than a day, Aristotle lived on Mytilene for two years, 337-335 BC, with his friend and successor, Theophrastus, after becoming the tutor to Alexander, son of King Philip II of Macedon. The Romans, among whom was a young Julius Caesar, successfully defeated Mytilene in 80 BC, in AD56, Luke the Evangelist, Paul the Apostle and their companions stopped there briefly on the return trip of Pauls third missionary journey, having sailed from Assos
Mytilene
–
View of Mytilene.
Mytilene
–
View of the port, with the dome of St.Therapon.
Mytilene
–
The church of
St.Therapon at the port
Mytilene
–
A bottle of
ouzo.
23.
Cyprus
–
Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
Cyprus
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A copper mine on Cyprus. In antiquity, Cyprus was a major source of copper.
Cyprus
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Flag
Cyprus
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Archeologic site of Choirokoitia with early remains of human habitation during Aceramic Neolithic period (reconstruction)
Cyprus
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Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates,
Kourion
24.
Bosporus
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The Bosphorus or Bosporus is a narrow, natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in northwestern Turkey. It forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia, and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey. The worlds narrowest strait used for navigation, the Bosphorus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and, by extension via the Dardanelles. Most of the shores of the strait are heavily settled, straddled by the city of Istanbuls metropolitan population of 17 million inhabitants extending inland from both coasts, together with the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus forms the Turkish Straits. This folk etymology was canonized by Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound, where Prometheus prophesies to Io that the strait would be named after her, the site where Io supposedly went ashore was near Chrysopolis, and was named Bous the Cow. The same site was known as Damalis, as it was where the Athenian general Chares had erected a monument to his wife Damalis. Historically, the Bosphorus was also known as the Strait of Constantinople, or the Thracian Bosphorus and these are expressed in Herodotus Histories,4.83, as Bosporus Thracius, Bosporus Thraciae, and Βόσπορος Θρᾴκιος, respectively. Other names by which the strait is referenced by Herodotus include Chalcedonian Bosporus, the term eventually came to be used as common noun βόσπορος, meaning a strait, and was also formerly applied to the Hellespont in Classical Greek by Aeschylus and Sophocles. Presently, the waterway is officially referred to as simply Bosphorus, the Marmara further connects to the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas via the Dardanelles. A common mistake made by those who are unfamiliar with the locale is to assume the Bosphorus is a river, when it is, in fact. The exact scientific cause and date of the formation of the Bosphorus remain the subject of debate among geologists, many geologists, however, claim that the strait is much older, even if relatively young on a geologic timescale. The Symplegades were defeated when the lyrical hero Jason obtained successful passage, whereupon the rocks became fixed, between these limits, the strait is 31 km long, with a width of 3,329 m at the northern entrance and 2,826 m at the southern entrance. Its maximum width is 3,420 m between Umuryeri and Büyükdere Limanı, and minimum width 700 m between Kandilli Point and Aşiyan, the depth of the Bosphorus varies from 13 to 110 m in midstream with an average of 65 m. The deepest location is between Kandilli and Bebek with 110 m, the most shallow locations are off Kadıköy İnciburnu on the northward route with 18 m and off Aşiyan Point on the southward route with 13 m. The study of the water and wind erosion of the straits relates to that of its formation, sections of the shore have been reinforced with concrete or rubble and sections of the strait prone to deposition are periodically dredged. These channels are the main pathway for sediments to the deep sea where they form sedimentary deposits. These deposits ultimately hold not only untapped reserves of gas and oil and our initial findings show that the flow in these channels is quite different to the flow in river channels on land. Specifically, as flow moves around a bend it spirals in the direction in the deep sea compared to the spiral found in river channels on land
Bosporus
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Satellite image of the Bosphorus strait, taken from the
ISS in April 2004.
Bosporus
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Aerial view of the Bosphorus strait from north (bottom) to south (top), with the city center of
Istanbul at the southern end.
Bosporus
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The Bosphorus with the Castles of Europe and Asia. 19th-century engraving by
Thomas Allom. The castles are
Rumelihisarı and
Anadoluhisarı, respectively.
Bosporus
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A view of the Bosphorus strait, with the
Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge seen in the background.
25.
Byzantium
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Byzantium was an ancient Greek colony that later became Constantinople, and later still Istanbul. Byzantium was colonised by the Greeks from Megara in c. 657 BC, the etymology of Byzantion is unknown. It has been suggested that the name is of Thraco-Illyrian origin and it may be derived from a Thracian or Illyrian personal name, Byzas. Ancient Greek legend refers to a king Byzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists, the form Byzantium is a Latinisation of the original name. Much later, the name Byzantium became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire and this usage was introduced only in 1555 by the historian Hieronymus Wolf, a century after the empire had ceased to exist. During the time of the empire, the term Byzantium was restricted to just the city, the European side featured only two fishing settlements, Lygos and Semistra. The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend, the traditional legend has it that Byzas from Megara founded Byzantium in 667 BC when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea. The tradition tells that Byzas, son of King Nisos, planned to found a colony of the Dorian Greek city of Megara, Byzas consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, which instructed Byzas to settle opposite the Land of the Blind. Leading a group of Megarian colonists, Byzas found a location where the Golden Horn and he adjudged the Chalcedonians blind not to have recognized the advantages the land on the European side of the Bosphorus had over the Asiatic side. In 667 BC he founded Byzantium at their location, thus fulfilling the oracles requirement and it was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Seas only entrance. Byzantium later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosporus on the Asiatic side, Byzantium was besieged by Greek forces during the Peloponnesian War. As part of Spartas strategy for cutting off supplies to Athens. The Athenian military later took the city in 408 BC, after siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in 196 AD. Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity and it was bound to Perinthos during the period of Septimius Severus. The location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in 330 AD, after his death the city was called Constantinople. This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinoples role as the nexus between the continents of Europe and Asia and it was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic centre. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29,1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Turks called the city Istanbul, the name derives from eis-tin-polin
Byzantium
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O: Head of
Alexander the Great with
Amun's horns.
Byzantium
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Location of Byzantium
Byzantium
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Byzantine lamellar klivanium (Κλιβάνιον) - a predecessor of ottoman krug
mirror armour
26.
Chalcedon
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Chalcedon was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari, the name Chalcedon is a variant of Calchedon, found on all the coins of the town as well as in manuscripts of Herodotuss Histories, Xenophons Hellenica, Arrians Anabasis, and other works. The site of Chalcedon is located on a peninsula on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara. A stream, called the Chalcis or Chalcedon in antiquity and now known as the Kurbağalıdere, there Greek colonists from Megara in Attica founded the settlement of Chalcedon in 685 BC, some seventeen years before Byzantium. The Greek name of the ancient town is from the Greek name of the ancient Phoenician city of Carthage, the mineral Chalcedony is named for where it came from outside Chalcedon. The mound of Fikirtepe has yielded remains dating to the Chalcolithic period, phoenicians were active traders in this area. Chalcedon originated as a Megarian colony in 685 BCE, nevertheless, trade thrived in Chalcedon, the town flourished and built many temples, including one to Apollo, which had an oracle. Important villages in Chalcedonia included Chrysopolis and Panteicheion, strabo notes that a little above the sea in Chalcedonia lies the fountain Azaritia, which contains small crocodiles. In its early history Chalcedon shared the fortunes of Byzantium, later, the 6th-century BCE Persian satrap Otanes captured it. The city vacillated for a long while between the Lacedaemonian and the Athenian interests, darius the Greats bridge of boats, built in 512 BC for his Scythian campaign, extended from Chalcedonia to Thrace. Chalcedon formed a part of the kingdom of Bithynia, whose king Nicomedes willed Bithynia to the Romans upon his death in 74 BCE, the city was partly destroyed by Mithridates. The governor of Bithynia, Cotta, had fled to Chalcedon for safety along with thousands of other Romans, three thousand of them were killed, sixty ships captured, and four ships destroyed in Mithridates assault on the city. During the Empire, Chalcedon recovered, and was given the status of a free city, Chalcedon suffered somewhat from its proximity to the new imperial capital at Constantinople. First the Byzantines and later the Ottoman Turks used it as a quarry for building materials for Constantinoples monumental structures, Chalcedon also fell repeatedly to armies attacking Constantinople from the east. In 361 AD it was the location of the Chalcedon tribunal, in 451 AD an ecumenical council of Christian leaders convened here. See below for this Council of Chalcedon, the general Belisarius probably spent his years of retirement on his estate of Rufinianae in Chalcedonia. Beginning in 616 and for at least a decade thereafter, Chalcedon furnished an encampment to the Persians under Chosroes II and it later fell for a time to the Arabs under Yazid. Chalcedon was badly damaged during the Fourth Crusade and it came definitively under Ottoman rule under Orhan Gazi a century before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople
Chalcedon
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The small church of
St Euphemia that served as the cathedral of Chalcedon. [
citation needed]
Chalcedon
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Funerary stele from the 1st century BC.
Chalcedon
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Small silver
jug from Chalcedon.
27.
Pausanias of Sparta
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Pausanias was the Agiad King of Sparta from 445 BC to 426 BC and then from 408 BC to 395 BC. He was the son of the Spartan Agiad king Pleistoanax, in 426 BC, Pleistoanax was recalled and restored as Agiad King of Sparta and ruled until his death in 409 BC. Following the Spartan victory over Athens in the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, Pausanias laid siege to Athens while the Spartan admiral Lysanders fleet blockaded the port city of Piraeus. This action effectively closed the route to Athens through the Hellespont. Realising the seriousness of the situation, the Athenian statesman, Theramenes and these negotiations took three months, but in the end Lysander agreed to terms at Piraeus. An agreement was reached for the capitulation of Athens and the cessation of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC, Lysander then put in place a puppet government in Athens with the establishment of the oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants under Critias which included Theramenes as a leading member. Pausanias was able to restore democracy in Athens while bringing the Athenians, temporarily, Pausaniass actions led to a major conflict with the Spartan ephors. Pausanias was prosecuted, but then acquitted, returning to Sparta in 395 BC, Lysander was instrumental in starting a war with Thebes and other Greek cities, which came to be known as the Corinthian War. The Spartans prepared to send out an army against this new alliance of Athens, Thebes, Corinth, the Spartans arranged for two armies, one under Lysander and the other under Pausanias, to rendezvous at and attack the city of Haliartus, Boeotia. Lysander arrived at the city while Pausaniass forces were still several days away, not willing to wait for Pausanias, Lysander advanced to Haliartus with his troops. In the ensuing Battle of Haliartus, Lysander was killed after bringing his forces too near the walls of the city, Pausaniass army arrived after Lysanders defeat but then left the battle scene primarily due to Athenian military opposition. Because of his leadership at Haliartus, Pausanias was condemned to death by the Spartans. However, Pausanias was able to escape execution and fled Sparta to live in exile in Tegea, while living there he wrote a pamphlet. No fragments of the pamphlet have survived and its contents or purposes are not clear, however, it seems that he wrote the pamphlet to criticise his opponents in Sparta accusing them of violating traditional Spartan laws and advocating the abolition of the ephors. The year of Pausaniass death is unknown and he was also the father of Cleombrotus I. Translated by Jones, W. H. S. and Omerod, cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd.1918. Pausanias in the Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World Pausanias in the Oxford Whos Who in the Classical World
Pausanias of Sparta
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Lelegids
28.
Piraeus
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Piraeus is a port city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens urban area,12 kilometres southwest from its city center, the municipality of Piraeus and several other suburban municipalities within the regional unit of Piraeus form the greater Piraeus area, with a total population of 448,997. Piraeus has a recorded history, dating to ancient Greece. During the Golden Age of Athens the Long Walls were constructed to connect Athens with Piraeus, the port of Piraeus is the chief port in Greece, the largest passenger port in Europe and the second largest in the world, servicing about 20 million passengers annually. With a throughput of 1.4 million TEUs, Piraeus is placed among the top ten ports in container traffic in Europe, the city hosted events in both the 1896 and 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The University of Piraeus is one of the largest universities in Greece, Piraeus, which roughly means the place over the passage, has been inhabited since the 26th century BC. Consequently, it was called the Halipedon, meaning the salt field, through the centuries, the area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, and thus by early classical times the land passage was made safe. In the late 6th century BC, the area caught attention due to its advantages, in 511 BC, the hill of Munichia was fortified by Hippias and four years later Piraeus became a deme of Attica by Cleisthenes. The Athenian fleet played a role in the battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BC. From then on Piraeus was permanently used as the navy base, the citys fortification was farther reinforced later by the construction of the Long Walls under Cimon and Pericles, with which Piraeus was connected to Athens. Meanwhile, Piraeus was rebuilt to the grid plan of architect Hippodamus of Miletus, known as the Hippodamian plan. As a result, Piraeus flourished and became a port of high security and great commercial activity, during the Peloponnesian War, Piraeus suffered its first setback. In the second year of the war, the first cases of the Athens plague were recorded in Piraeus, in 404 BC, the Spartan fleet under Lysander blockaded Piraeus and subsequently Athens surrendered to the Spartans, putting an end to the Delian League and the war itself. As a result, the tattered and unfortified port city was not able to compete with prosperous Rhodes, the destruction was completed in 395 AD by the Goths under Alaric I. Piraeus was led to a period of decline which lasted for fifteen centuries. During the Byzantine period the harbour of Piraeus was occasionally used for the Byzantine fleet and it was also called Porto Drako by Greeks, drako meaning not just dragon, but any monster. When Piraeus was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1456, it known as Aslan Liman. The Piraeus Lion itself was looted in 1687 by Francesco Morosini during his expedition against Athens and was carried to the Venetian Arsenal, a copy of the lion statue is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus
Piraeus
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View of Mikrolimano, Piraeus.
Piraeus
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Funerary relief for a girl, flanked by her parents (330/320 BC);
Archaeological Museum of Piraeus.
Piraeus
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The
Long Walls connecting the ancient city of
Athens to its port of Piraeus.
Piraeus
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One of several streets of the Hippodamian grid that was applied to the hill of Munichia and re-used for the modern city of Piraeus.
29.
Theramenes
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Theramenes was an Athenian statesman, prominent in the final decade of the Peloponnesian War. He was particularly active during the two periods of government at Athens, as well as in the trial of the generals who had commanded at Arginusae in 406 BC. A moderate oligarch, he found himself caught between the democrats on the one hand and the extremist oligarchs on the other. Successful in replacing a narrow oligarchy with a one in 411 BC, he failed to achieve the same end in 404 BC. Theramenes was a figure in four major episodes of Athenian history. He served as a general for years after this, but was not reelected to that office in 407 BC. After the Battle of Arginusae, in which he served as a trierarch, he was assigned to rescue Athenian sailors from sinking ships, after the Athenian defeat at Aegospotami in 405 BC, Theramenes arranged the terms by which Athens surrendered to Sparta. He then became a member of the oligarchic government, known as the Thirty Tyrants. Theramenes remained a controversial figure after his death, Lysias vigorously denounced him while prosecuting several of his political allies. Some historians have found in Theramenes a selfish opportunist, others a principled moderate, the details of his actions, his motivations, and his character continue to be debated down to the present day. No ancient biographies of Theramenes are known, but his life and actions are well documented. The Attic orator Lysias deals with him at length in several of his speeches, only the barest outlines of Theramenes life outside the public sphere have been preserved in the historical record. His father, Hagnon had played a significant role in Athenian public life in the decades before Theramenes appearance on the scene. Hagnons career overlapped with his sons when he served as one of the ten commissioners appointed by the government of the 400 to draft a new constitution in 411 BC, Theramenes first appearance in the historical record comes with his involvement in the oligarchic coup of 411 BC. In this context, a number of Athenian aristocrats, led by Peisander and with Theramenes prominent among their ranks and this intrigue was initiated by the exiled nobleman Alcibiades, who was at that time acting as an assistant to the Persian satrap Tissaphernes. Accordingly, a number of trierarchs and other leaders of the Athenian army at Samos began planning the overthrow of the democracy, in Athens, meanwhile, a party of young oligarchic revolutionaries succeeded in gaining de facto control of the government through assassination and intimidation. After making arrangements to their satisfaction at Samos the leaders of the conspiracy set sail for Athens, among them was Theramenes, Thucydides refers to him as one of the leaders of the party that put down the democracy—an able speaker and a man with ideas. At this point, several conflicts began to develop that threatened the future of the new government at Athens, first, the planned coup at Samos was thwarted by the efforts of Samian democrats and a group of Athenians who they entrusted with helping them
Theramenes
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Alcibiades incited the oligarchic coup by promising Persian support to Athens if the democracy was overthrown.
Theramenes
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The
Pnyx with speaker's platform in Athens, upon which Theramenes and other politicians stood while speaking.
Theramenes
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An ancient Greek
trireme. Twenty-five Athenian triremes were disabled or sunk at Arginusae, and Theramenes was detailed to rescue the survivors.
Theramenes
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The historian
Xenophon wrote a scathing account of Theramenes' actions after Arginusae, but portrayed his resistance to the Thirty Tyrants favorably.
30.
Long Walls
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They were a key element of Athenian strategy, since they provided the city with a constant link to the sea and prevented it from being besieged by land alone. The original city walls of Athens had been destroyed by the Persians during the occupations of Attica in 480 and 479 BC, part of the Greco-Persian Wars. After the Battle of Plataea, the Persian forces that had invaded Greece in 480 BC were removed, early in the process of rebuilding, construction was started on new walls around the city proper. This project drew opposition from the Spartans and their Peloponnesian allies, in the early 450s BC, fighting began between Athens and various Peloponnesian allies of Sparta, particularly Corinth and Aegina. In 457 BC, a Spartan army defeated an Athenian army at Tanagra while attempting to prevent the construction and these walls ensured that Athens would never be cut off from supplies as long as she controlled the sea. These Phase 1a walls enclosed a vast area and included Athens two main ports, the building of the Long Walls reflected a larger strategy that Athens had come to follow in the early 5th century. With the founding of the Delian League in 477 BC, Athens became committed to the long term prosecution of a war against the Persians. The long walls were a factor in allowing the Athenian fleet to become the citys paramount strength. With the building of the Long Walls, Athens essentially became an island within the mainland, thus, Athens could rely on her powerful fleet to keep her safe in any conflict with other cities on the Greek mainland. During the 440s, the Athenians supplemented the existing two Long Walls with a third structure and this Middle Wall or Southern Wall was built to mirror the original Athens-Piraeus Wall and was constructed to be another wall connecting the city to Piraeus. There are many possibilities for the purpose of the Middle Wall, such as. This was proven false however due to the construction of the wall and its main access points were built so that it would withstand attacks only from the direction of Phaleron. After the naval challenges of 446 BC, Athens was no longer the dominant power of the sea. Also by the time the Middle Wall was built, in the mid-fifth century, Piraeus had become the principal economic and military harbor, while Phaleron had begun to lapse into obscurity. This development will have caused a re-evaluation of the system which secured Athens connection with its ships. In Athens great conflict with Sparta, the Peloponnesian War of 432 BC to 404 BC, pericles, the leader of Athens from the start of the war until his death in 429 BC in the plague that swept Athens, based his strategy for the conflict around them. Furthermore, a plague ravaged the city in 430 BC and 429 BC, the Athenians continued to use the walls for protection through the first phase of the war until the seizure of Spartan hostages in 425 BC, during the Athenian victory at Pylos. After that battle, the Spartans were forced to cease their yearly invasions until 413 BC, in the second phase of the war, the walls again became central to the strategy of both sides
Long Walls
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Contents
