1.
First Peloponnesian War
–
This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the Second Sacred War. There were several causes for the war including the building of the Athenian long walls, Megaras defection, at first the Athenians had the better of the fighting, winning the naval engagements using their superior fleet. They also had the better of the fighting on land, until 457 BC when the Spartans, the Athenians, however, counterattacked and scored a crushing victory over the Boeotians at the Battle of Oenophyta and followed this victory up by conquering all of Boeotia except for Thebes. Athens further consolidated their position by making Aegina a member of the Delian League, the Athenians were defeated in 454 BC by the Persians in Egypt which caused them to enter into a five years truce with Sparta. However, the war flared up again in 448 BC with the start of the Second Sacred War, in 446 BC, Boeotia revolted and defeated the Athenians at Coronea and regained their independence. The First Peloponnesian War ended in an arrangement between Sparta and Athens, which was ratified by the Thirty Years Peace, according to the provisions of this peace treaty, both sides maintained the main parts of their empires. Athens continued its domination of the sea while Sparta dominated the land, Megara returned to the Peloponnesian League and Aegina became a tribute-paying but autonomous member of the Delian League. The war between the two leagues restarted in 431 BC and in 404 BC, Athens was occupied by Sparta, a mere twenty years before the First Peloponnesian War broke out, Athens and Spartans had fought alongside each other in the Greco-Persian Wars. In that war, Sparta had held the hegemony of what scholars call the Hellenic League. Sparta grew wary of Athens strength after they had fought each other to disperse the Persians from their lands. When Athens started to rebuild its walls and the strength of its power, Sparta. Different policies made it difficult for Athens and Sparta to avoid going to war, since Athens wanted to expand its territory, Athens, meanwhile, had been asserting itself on the international scene, and was eager to take the lead in the Aegean. The Athenians had already rebuilt their walls, against the wishes of Sparta. In the winter of 479–8 BC they accepted the leadership of a new league, the Athenians rebuilt their walls in secret at the urging of Themistocles, who convinced the Athenians that this was the best way to protect themselves. After the completion of the walls Themistocles declared Athens independent of Spartan hegemony stating that Athens knew what was in its best interest and was now enough to defend itself. Modern scholars, although uncertain of the dating and reliability of this story, have cited it as evidence of the existence, even at this early date. For some time, however, friendly relations prevailed between Athens and Sparta, Themistocles, the Athenian of the period most associated with an anti-Spartan policy, was ostracised at some point in the early 470s BC, and was later forced to flee to Persia. In his place in Athens rose Cimon, who advocated a policy of cooperation between the two states, Cimon was Athens proxenos at Sparta, and so fond was he of that city that he named one of his sons Lakedaemonios, meaning Spartan
2.
History of the Peloponnesian War
–
The History of the Peloponnesian War is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League. It was written by Thucydides, an Athenian historian who also happened to serve as an Athenian general during the war and his account of the conflict is widely considered to be a classic and regarded as one of the earliest scholarly works of history. The History is divided into eight books, analyses of the History generally occur in one of two camps. On the one hand, some view the work as an objective. Thucydides is considered to be one of the fathers of Western history. Thucydides also makes use of speeches in order to elaborate on the event in question. While the inclusion of long first-person speeches is somewhat alien to modern historical method and these include addresses given to troops by their generals before battles and numerous political speeches, both by Athenian and Spartan leaders, as well as debates between various parties. Of the speeches, the most famous is the funeral oration of Pericles, Thucydides undoubtedly heard some of these speeches himself while for others he relied on eyewitness accounts. Some of the speeches are probably fabricated according to his expectations of, as he puts it, despite being an Athenian and a participant in the conflict, Thucydides is often regarded as having written a generally unbiased account of the conflict with respect to the sides involved in it. In the introduction to the piece he states, my work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, there are scholars, however, who doubt this. Ernst Badian, for example has argued that Thucydides has a strong pro-Athenian bias, the work does display a clear bias against certain people involved in the conflict, such as Cleon. The gods play no role in Thucydides work. This is very different from Herodotus, who mentions the role of the gods. Instead, Thucydides regards history as being caused by the choices, despite the absence of actions of the gods, religion and piety play critical roles in the actions of the Spartans, and to a lesser degree, the Athenians. However, despite Thucydides lack of trust in information that was not experienced firsthand, such as Homers, he does use the poets epics to infer facts about the Trojan War. In fact, Thucydides claims that Troy could have conquered in half the time had the Greek leaders allocated resources properly. Except for a few short excursuses, the remainder of the History rigidly maintains its focus on the Peloponnesian War to the exclusion of other topics. While the History concentrates on the aspects of the Peloponnesian War
3.
Ancient Greece
–
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
4.
Anatolia
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
5.
Sicily
–
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
6.
Delian League
–
Shortly after its inception, Athens began to use the Leagues navy for its own purposes. This behavior frequently led to conflict between Athens and the powerful members of the League. The Greco-Persian Wars had their roots in the conquest of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the Persians found the Ionians difficult to rule, eventually settling for sponsoring a tyrant in each Ionian city. While Greek states had in the past often been ruled by tyrants, by 500 BC, Ionia appears to have been ripe for rebellion against these Persian clients. The simmering tension finally broke into open revolt due to the actions of the tyrant of Miletus, attempting to save himself after a disastrous Persian-sponsored expedition in 499 BC, Aristagoras chose to declare Miletus a democracy. This triggered similar revolutions across Ionia, extending to Doris and Aeolis, after this, the Ionian revolt carried on for a further five years, until it was finally completely crushed by the Persians. The Ionian revolt had severely threatened the stability of Dariuss empire, Darius thus began to contemplate the complete conquest of Greece, beginning with the destruction of Athens and Eretria. In the next two decades there would be two Persian invasions of Greece, occasioning, thanks to Greek historians, some of the most famous battles in history. During the first invasion, Thrace, Macedon and the Aegean Islands were added to the Persian Empire, however, the invasion ended in 490 BC with the decisive Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon. Between the two invasions, Darius died, and responsibility for the war passed to his son Xerxes I, Xerxes then personally led a second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, taking an enormous army and navy to Greece. Those Greeks who chose to resist were defeated in the simultaneous battles of Thermopylae on land. The following year,479 BC, the Allies assembled the largest Greek army yet seen and defeated the Persian invasion force at the Battle of Plataea, ending the invasion and the threat to Greece. The Allied fleet defeated the remnants of the Persian fleet in the Battle of Mycale near the islands of Salamis—on the same day as Plataea and this action marks the end of the Persian invasion, and the beginning of the next phase in the Greco-Persian wars, the Greek counterattack. After Mycale, the Greek cities of Asia Minor again revolted, the Allied fleet then sailed to the Thracian Chersonese, still held by the Persians, and besieged and captured the town of Sestos. The following year,478 BC, the Allies sent a force to capture the city of Byzantion, the siege was successful, but the behaviour of the Spartan general Pausanias alienated many of the Allies, and resulted in Pausaniass recall. After Byzantion, Sparta was eager to end its involvement in the war, the Spartans were of the view that, with the liberation of mainland Greece, and the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the wars purpose had already been reached. There was also perhaps a feeling that establishing long-term security for the Asian Greeks would prove impossible, in the aftermath of Mycale, the Spartan king Leotychides had proposed transplanting all the Greeks from Asia Minor to Europe as the only method of permanently freeing them from Persian dominion. Xanthippus, the Athenian commander at Mycale, had rejected this, the Ionian cities had been Athenian colonies
7.
Hegemony
–
Hegemony is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others. In ancient Greece, hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states, the dominant state is known as the hegemon. In the 19th century, hegemony came to denote the Social or cultural predominance or ascendancy, later, it could be used to mean a group or regime which exerts undue influence within a society. In contrast to authoritarian rule, cultural hegemony is hegemonic only if those affected by it also consent to and struggle over its common sense. From the post-classical Latin word hegemonia, from 1513 or earlier, or the Greek word ἡγεμονία, meaning authority, rule, political supremacy, likewise, the role of Athens within the short-lived Delian League was that of a hegemon. Ancient historians such as Xenophon and Ephorus were the first who used the term in its modern sense. In Ancient East Asia, Chinese hegemony existed during the Spring and Autumn period and they were appointed by feudal lord conferences, and thus were nominally obliged to uphold the imperium of the Zhou Dynasty over the subordinate states. 1st and 2nd century Europe was dominated by the peace of the Pax Romana. It was instituted by the emperor Augustus, and was accompanied by a series of military campaigns. From the 7th century to the 12th century, the Umayyad Caliphate and later Abbasid Caliphate dominated the vast territories they governed, with other states like the Byzantine Empire paying tribute. In 7th century India, Harsha, ruler of an empire in northern India from 606 to 647 AD. He preferred not to rule as a government, but left conquered kings on their thrones and contenting himself with tribute. From the late 9th to the early 11th century, the empire developed by Charlemagne achieved hegemony in Europe, with dominance over France, Italy and he lists several contenders for historical hegemony. Based on Portugals dominance in navigation, based on Dutch control of credit and money. Based on British textiles and command of the high seas, based on British industrial supremacy and railroads. To this list could be added the hegemony of Habsburg Spain in 16th century Europe, however, after an attempt by Phillip IV to restore it, by the middle of the 17th century Spains pretensions to hegemony had definitely and irremediably failed. This, in turn, made possible the Amsterdam stock market, in France, King Louis XIV and Napoleon I attempted French hegemony via economic, cultural and military domination of most of Continental Europe. However, Jeremy Black writes that, because of Britain, France was unable to enjoy the benefits of this hegemony, Britain also controlled the Indian subcontinent and large portions of Africa
8.
Classical Athens
–
Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, the peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles. The radical politician of aristocratic background, Cleisthenes, then took charge, the reforms of Cleisthenes replaced the traditional four Ionic tribes with ten new ones, named after legendary heroes of Greece and having no class basis, which acted as electorates. Each tribe was in divided into three trittyes, while each trittys had one or more demes —depending on their population—which became the basis of local government. The tribes each selected fifty members by lot for the Boule, the public opinion of voters could be influenced by the political satires written by the comic poets and performed in the city theaters. Most offices were filled by lot, although the ten strategoi were elected, prior to the rise of Athens, Sparta, a city-state with a militaristic culture, considered itself the leader of the Greeks, and enforced a hegemony. In 499 BC Athens sent troops to aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor and this provoked two Persian invasions of Greece, both of which were repelled under the leadership of the soldier-statesmen Miltiades and Themistocles. In 490 the Athenians, led by Miltiades, prevented the first invasion of the Persians, guided by king Darius I, in 480 the Persians returned under a new ruler, Xerxes I. Simultaneously the Athenians led a naval battle off Artemisium. However, this action was not enough to discourage the Persian advance which soon marched through Boeotia, setting up Thebes as their base of operations. This forced the Athenians to evacuate Athens, which was taken by the Persians, subsequently the Athenians and their allies, led by Themistocles, defeated the Persian navy at sea in the Battle of Salamis. It is interesting to note that Xerxes had built himself a throne on the coast in order to see the Greeks defeated, spartas hegemony was passing to Athens, and it was Athens that took the war to Asia Minor. These victories enabled it to bring most of the Aegean and many parts of Greece together in the Delian League. He fostered arts and literature and gave to Athens a splendor which would never return throughout its history and he executed a large number of public works projects and improved the life of the citizens. Hence, he gave his name to the Athenian Golden Age, silver mined in Laurium in southeastern Attica contributed greatly to the prosperity of this Golden Age of Athens. During the time of the ascendancy of Ephialtes as leader of the democratic faction, the conflict marked the end of Athenian command of the sea. The war between Athens and the city-state Sparta ended with an Athenian defeat after Sparta started its own navy, Athenian democracy was briefly overthrown by the coup of 411, brought about because of its poor handling of the war, but it was quickly restored. The war ended with the defeat of Athens in 404
9.
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
10.
Achaemenid Empire
–
The Achaemenid Empire, also called the Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia, founded by Cyrus the Great. The empires successes inspired similar systems in later empires and it is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was built in a Hellenistic style in the empire as well. By the 7th century BC, the Persians had settled in the portion of the Iranian Plateau in the region of Persis. From this region, Cyrus the Great advanced to defeat the Medes, Lydia, Alexander, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered the empire in its entirety by 330 BC. Upon his death, most of the former territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire. The Persian population of the central plateau reclaimed power by the second century BC under the Parthian Empire, the historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social, technological and religious influences as well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange. The impact of Cyruss edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, the empire also set the tone for the politics, heritage and history of modern Iran. Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Due to the duration of their reigns, Smerdis, Xerxes II. The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here, the Pasargadae, Maraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished, they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic Persians. The Achaemenid Empire was not the first Iranian empire, as by 6th century BC another group of ancient Iranian peoples had established the short lived Median Empire. The Iranian peoples had arrived in the region of what is today Iran c.1000 BC and had for a number of centuries fallen under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. However, the Medes and Persians, Cimmerians, Persians and Chaldeans played a role in the overthrow of the Assyrian empire. The term Achaemenid means of the family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes, despite the derivation of the name, Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, and a vassal of Assyria. At some point in 550 BC, Cyrus rose in rebellion against the Medes, eventually conquering the Medes and creating the first Persian empire
11.
Pericles
–
Pericles was a prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age—specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. He was descended, through his mother, from the powerful, Pericles had such a profound influence on Athenian society that Thucydides, a contemporary historian, acclaimed him as the first citizen of Athens. Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire, and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. Pericles promoted the arts and literature, it is principally through his efforts that Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world and he started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis. This project beautified and protected the city, exhibited its glory, Pericles also fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist. Pericles was born c.495 BC, in Athens, Greece and he was the son of the politician Xanthippus, who, though ostracized in 485–484 BC, returned to Athens to command the Athenian contingent in the Greek victory at Mycale just five years later. Agariste was the great-granddaughter of the tyrant of Sicyon, Cleisthenes, according to Herodotus and Plutarch, Agariste dreamed, a few nights before Pericles birth, that she had borne a lion. Interestingly, legends say that Philip II of Macedon had a dream before the birth of his son. Pericles belonged to the tribe of Acamantis and his early years were quiet, the introverted young Pericles avoided public appearances, instead preferring to devote his time to his studies. His familys nobility and wealth allowed him to pursue his inclination toward education. He learned music from the masters of the time and he is considered to have been the first politician to attribute importance to philosophy and he enjoyed the company of the philosophers Protagoras, Zeno of Elea, and Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras, in particular, became a friend and influenced him greatly. Pericles manner of thought and rhetorical charisma may have been in part products of Anaxagoras emphasis on emotional calm in the face of trouble and his proverbial calmness and self-control are also often regarded as products of Anaxagoras influence. In the spring of 472 BC, Pericles presented The Persians of Aeschylus at the Greater Dionysia as a liturgy, Plutarch says that Pericles stood first among the Athenians for forty years. If this was so, Pericles must have taken up a position of leadership by the early 460s BC- in his early or mid-thirties, throughout these years he endeavored to protect his privacy and to present himself as a model for his fellow citizens. For example, he would often avoid banquets, trying to be frugal, in 463 BC, Pericles was the leading prosecutor of Cimon, the leader of the conservative faction who was accused of neglecting Athens vital interests in Macedon. Although Cimon was acquitted, this proved that Pericles major political opponent was vulnerable. The leader of the party and mentor of Pericles, Ephialtes, the Ecclesia adopted Ephialtes proposal without opposition
12.
Nicias
–
Nicias, was an Athenian politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy and had inherited a fortune from his father. Following the death of Pericles in 429 BC, he became the rival of Cleon. He was a moderate in his views and opposed the aggressive imperialism of the democrats. His principal aim was to conclude a peace with Sparta as soon as it could be obtained on terms favourable to Athens and he was regularly elected to serve as strategos for Athens during the Peloponnesian War. He led several expeditions which achieved little, nevertheless, he was largely responsible for the successful negotiations which led to the Peace of Nicias in 421 BC. Following the Peace, he objected to the plans of Alcibiades for advancing Athens interests. Despite this, Nicias was appointed to participate in the Athenian invasion of Sicily, the Athenian siege of Syracuse was nearly successful until the arrival of the Spartan general Gylippus, who turned the situation around so that the Athenians were themselves under siege. Nicias led his forces in a attempt to escape by land. However, they were cut off and he and his Athenian army were overwhelmed and defeated and his army was almost wiped out, but he reminded Gylippus of all the times Nicias had spared him, and was in turn spared. Nicias inherited from his father, Niceratus, a considerable fortune and it is said that Nicias had over 1000 slaves working in the mines. Plutarch states that Nicias was also generous with his wealth, using his money for charitable activities in Athens. Nicias rise to prominence occurred while Pericles was at the head of the Athenian government, after Pericles death in 429 BC, Nicias became an important Athenian politician with the aristocratic party looking to him as their leader. As such, Nicias became the rival of Cleons popular or democratic party, Nicias lacked the eloquence or charm to win popularity among Athenians, according to the later historian Plutarch. Instead, Nicias gained popularity through the use of his wealth and he funded and organized choruses for Athenian dramas, sporting events, public exhibitions, and new or restored statues and temples. Plutarch specifically refers to an example of Nicias generosity - his funding of the festival of Delos, Nicias funded the building of a bridge of boats between Delos and the Rhenean islands. The ships were decorated with garlands, gilding, and rich tapestry, then a richly dressed chorus walked across the boats. Nicias then provided a 10,000 drachma fund to the Delians so they would continue this event into the future, such instructions were engraved onto a pillar
13.
Capital punishment
–
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a government sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The sentence that someone be punished in such a manner is referred to as a death sentence, etymologically, the term capital in this context alluded to execution by beheading. Fifty-six countries retain capital punishment,103 countries have abolished it de jure for all crimes, six have abolished it for ordinary crimes. Capital punishment is a matter of controversy in various countries and states. In the European Union, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits the use of capital punishment, also, the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states, prohibits the use of the death penalty by its members. The United Nations General Assembly has adopted, in 2007,2008,2010,2012 and 2014, non-binding resolutions calling for a moratorium on executions. Although most nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the population live in countries where executions take place, such as China, India. Execution of criminals and political opponents has been used by nearly all societies—both to punish crime, in most countries that practise capital punishment it is reserved for murder, terrorism, war crimes, espionage, treason, defection or as part of military justice. In many countries use the death penalty, drug trafficking is also a capital offence. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are punished by the death penalty, in militaries around the world courts-martial have imposed death sentences for offences such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny. The use of formal execution extends to the beginning of recorded history, most historical records and various primitive tribal practices indicate that the death penalty was a part of their justice system. Communal punishment for wrongdoing generally included compensation by the wrongdoer, corporal punishment, shunning, banishment, usually, compensation and shunning were enough as a form of justice. The response to crime committed by neighbouring tribes or communities included a formal apology, a blood feud or vendetta occurs when arbitration between families or tribes fails or an arbitration system is non-existent. This form of justice was common before the emergence of a system based on state or organized religion. It may result from crime, land disputes or a code of honour, acts of retaliation underscore the ability of the social collective to defend itself and demonstrate to enemies that injury to property, rights, or the person will not go unpunished. However, in practice, it is difficult to distinguish between a war of vendetta and one of conquest. Elaborations of tribal arbitration of feuds included peace settlements often done in a religious context, compensation was based on the principle of substitution which might include material compensation, exchange of brides or grooms, or payment of the blood debt. Settlement rules could allow for animal blood to replace human blood, the person offered for execution did not have to be an original perpetrator of the crime because the system was based on tribes, not individuals
14.
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
15.
Archidamus II
–
Archidamus II was a Eurypontid king of Sparta who reigned from approximately 476 BC to 427 BC. Zeuxidamus married and had a son, Archidamus, however, Zeuxidamus died before his father, Leotychidas. After the death of his son and heir, Leotychidas married Eurydame, while they had no male offspring, they did have a daughter, Lampito, whom Leotychidas gave in marriage to his grandson Archidamus. Archidamus later second marriage was to Eupoleia, to them were born a son, Agesilaus II, and a daughter, Cynisca. Archidamus ascended the Spartan throne after his grandfather, Leotychidas, was banished around 476 BC after being accused of bribery, Archidamus was one of the kings of Sparta in the years preceding the Peloponnesian War. His coolness and presence of mind are said to have saved the Spartan state from destruction on the occasion of the earthquake of 464 BC. In 446 BC he reached agreement with Pericles on the Thirty Years Peace between Athens and Sparta, bringing an end to the First Peloponnesian War, which had been raging since c.460 BC. During the negotiations that preceded the Peloponnesian War, he did his best to prevent, or at least to postpone, the inevitable struggle, but was overruled by the war party. He invaded Attica at the head of the Peloponnesian forces in the summers of 431 BC,430 BC and 428 BC and he died probably in 427 BC, certainly before the summer of 426 BC, and was succeeded on the Spartan throne by his son, Agis II. According to Thucydides in speeches attributed to Archidamus at the famous Debate at Sparta in 432 BC, if we begin the war in haste, well have many delays before we end it, owing to our lack of preparation
16.
Brasidas
–
Brasidas was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War. Brasidas was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, during the following year he seems to have been eponymous ephor, and in 429 he was sent out as one of the three commissioners to advise the admiral Cnemus. As trierarch he distinguished himself in the assault on the Athenian position at the Battle of Pylos, an attack on Eion was foiled by the arrival of Thucydides, the historian, at the head of an Athenian squadron. Brasidas refused to return Scione, and also accepted the revolt of Mende shortly afterwards, an Athenian fleet under Nicias and Nicostratus recovered Mende and blockaded Scione, which fell two years later. Meanwhile, Brasidas joined Perdiccas in a campaign against Arrhabaeus, king of the Lyncesti and this brought to a head the quarrel between Brasidas and Perdiccas. In April 422 the truce with Sparta expired, and in the same summer Cleon was dispatched to Thrace, when Cleon brought part of his army forward to probe the defenses, Brasidas recognized an opportunity to defeat his superior force in detail. Brasidas plan for his victory was typical of his campaigns in Thrace. Brasidas personally led the Spartans in a charge from Amphipolis. His allies sallied from the gate and attacked from the north. Edonian and Chalcidian cavalry and light infantry pursued the fleeing Athenians, killing 600 men, on the Spartan side only seven fatalities are reported, but one of them was Brasidas, who was mortally wounded at the head of his Spartan troops. He was buried at Amphipolis with impressive pomp, and for the future was regarded as the founder of the city and honored with yearly games and sacrifices. At Sparta a cenotaph was erected in his memory near the tombs of Pausanias and Leonidas, ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki in her three decade research at Amphipolis offers evidence of the recovery and identification of Brasidas burial at the ancient Amphipolis agora. Thucydides characterization of Brasidas suggests that Brasidas united in himself the stereotypical Spartan courage with those virtues in which regular Spartans were most signally lacking, Brasidas was apparently quick in forming his plans and carried them out without delay or hesitation. Furthermore, the rhetoric in the speech of Brasidas to the Acanthians is of higher quality than the other Spartan speeches recorded by Thucydides. See in particular Thucydides, what Diodorus xii. adds is mainly oratorical elaboration or pure invention, a fuller account will be found in the histories of Greece and in G. Schimmelpfeng, De Brasidae Spartani rebus gestis atque ingenio. Make no show of cowardice then on your part, seeing the greatness of the issues at stake, history of the Peloponnesian War Brasidas by Jona Lendering
17.
Lysander
–
Lysander was a Spartan admiral who commanded the Spartan fleet in the Hellespont which defeated the Athenians at Aegospotami in 405 BC. The following year, he was able to force the Athenians to capitulate, bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end, little is known of Lysanders early life. Lysanders father was Aristocleitus, who was a member of the Spartan Heracleidae and he grew up in poverty and he showed himself obedient and conformable. According to Plutarch he had a manly spirit, Lysander was appointed Spartan navarch for the Aegean Sea in 407 BC. It was during this period that he gained the friendship and support of Cyrus the Younger, Lysander then undertook the major project of creating a strong Spartan fleet based at Ephesus which could take on the Athenians and their allies. Alcibiades was appointed commander-in-chief with autocratic powers of the Athenian forces and left for Samos to rejoin his fleet and try, the Spartan navarch Lysander refused to be lured out of Ephesus to do battle with Alcibiades. However, while Alcibiades was away seeking supplies, the Athenian squadron was placed under the command of Antiochus, during this time Lysander managed to engage the Athenian fleet and they were routed by the Spartan fleet at the Battle of Notium in 406 BC. This defeat by Lysander gave the enemies of Alcibiades the excuse they needed to strip him of his command and he never returned again to Athens. He sailed north to the land he owned in the Thracian Chersonese, however, Lysander ceased to be the Spartan navarch after this victory and, in accordance with the Spartan law, was replaced by Callicratidas. Callicratidas ability to continue the war at sea was neatly sabotaged when Lysander returned all the funds to Cyrus when he left office. In 406 BC, Callicratidas assembled a fleet and sailed to Methymna, Lesbos and this move threatened the Athenian grain supply. Athens sent their admiral, Conon, to relieve the siege, when Callicratidas attacked him, Conon retreated to Mytilene, where he was blockaded by Callicratidas’ Spartan fleet. To relieve Conon, the Athenians assembled a new fleet composed largely of newly constructed ships manned by inexperienced crews, the blockade of Conon by the Spartans was broken, the Spartan force was soundly defeated and Callicratidas was killed during the battle. After this defeat, Spartas allies sought to have Lysander reappointed as navarch, however, Spartan law did not allow the reappointment of a previous navarch, so Aracus was appointed as navarch with Lysander as his deputy. Nonetheless, Lysander was effectively the commander of the Spartan fleet, Cyrus, being especially pleased, once again started to supply the Spartan fleet with funds, even allowing Lysander to run his satrapy in his absence. Once back in command, Lysander directed the Spartan fleet towards the Hellespont, the Athenian fleet followed him there. In 404 BC, the Athenians gathered their remaining ships at Aegospotami, the Athenian fleet under Admiral Conon was then destroyed by the Spartans under Lysander in the Battle of Aegospotami. Then, Lysanders forces went to the Bosporus and captured both Byzantium and Chalcedon, expelling the Athenians living in those cities, following the victory at Aegospotami, the Spartans were in a position to finally force Athens to capitulate
18.
Battle of Rhium
–
In the battle, the Peloponnesian ships, hampered by the fact that many of them were equipped not as fighting vessels but as transports, circled together in a defensive posture. The Athenians then suddenly attacked, routing the Peloponnesians and capturing 12 ships, the summer of 429 BC was marked by a Peloponnesian offensive in the Greek northwest. The Spartans and their allies hoped to knock several Athenian allies such as Acarnania, Zacynthus, and Cephallenia out of the war, the Spartan Cnemus was placed in command of the campaign. He set out against Acarnania with 1,000 hoplites from Sparta, combining his forces with 2,000 troops sent from allied states, Cnemus moved against the city of Stratus, an Acarnanian ally. The Acarnanians appealed to Phormio for help, but he refused to leave Naupactus undefended, the Peloponnesian fleet, meanwhile, was charged with ferrying troops to the southern coast of Acarnania to prevent the residents of that area from supporting their allies inland. As the Peloponnesians moved westward along the south coast of the Gulf of Corinth and this ruse failed, as the Athenians noticed the move and gave chase, catching the Peloponnesians in the open water of the Gulf of Patras. Although the Peloponnesian fleet was superior to the Athenian, many of its ships were rigged out as transports instead of fighting vessels. Thus, as the Athenian fleet approached them, the Peloponnesian commanders ordered their 47 triremes to draw into a circle, prows outward, for defense. In the center of the circle were gathered the ships and the five fastest triremes. Phormio chose to attack this formation by using a risky and unorthodox tactic and he led his ships, in line, in a tightening circle around the Peloponnesians, darting inwards at times to drive the defending ships closer to each other. This tactic left the Athenians highly vulnerable to a swift attack, no such attack materialized, however, and the Peloponnesians were driven closer and closer together. At this point, Phormio was aided by his experience with the weather patterns. At this moment the Athenians rushed in to attack, the rout was instant and total, the Peloponnesians, in their short flight to the southern shore, saw 12 of their ships, with crews, captured by the pursuing Athenians. On the way back to their base at Corinth, the Peloponnesian fleet met up with Cnemus and this double defeat seriously embarrassed Cnemus, and was in general an embarrassing failure for the Spartans, their first attempt at an amphibious offensive had ended in ignominy. The victory did not, however, put an end to the Peloponnesian offensive in the Gulf, thus, Phormios 20 ships were forced to fight on their own, and only narrowly preserved Athenian dominance in the gulf at the Battle of Naupactus
19.
Battle of Sphacteria
–
The Battle of Sphacteria was a land battle of the Peloponnesian War, fought in 425 BC between Athens and Sparta. Following the Battle of Pylos and subsequent peace negotiations, which failed, an Athenian force under Cleon and Demosthenes attacked and forced them to surrender. In the wake of the peace negotiations, Demosthenes initially attempted to starve out the Spartans on Sphacteria. In Athens there was concern that the approach of winter would necessitate abandoning the blockade, the politician Cleon took out reinforcements from Athens and joined forces with Demosthenes, and the Athenians launched an assault on Pylos. The capture of over 292 hoplites by Athens radically shifted the balance of power in the war, Athens threatened to execute its prisoners if Sparta invaded Attica, and the annual invasions which had occurred since the wars declaration were thus halted. Hostilities resumed immediately, with the Athenians guarding the island night, by offering freedom to Helots and monetary rewards to free men who would volunteer to carry food across to the island, the Spartans were able to bring in a small but critical stream of food. Some of these men reached the island by approaching from the side at night during rough weather. The Athenians, meanwhile, found themselves short on rations. In these adverse circumstances, the Athenians began to doubt that they could resolve the issue by siege before winter forced them to lift their blockade. This negative turn of fortunes was the source of concern at Athens. Noting this turn of popular opinion, Cleon, who had been the principal advocate of rejecting the peace offer, nicias countered this rhetorical thrust by offering to stand aside as a general, and allow Cleon to take command of an expeditionary force to Pylos. Although he had no authority to make this offer, the assembly, caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment, went along with him, the crowd, however, refused to permit this, and Cleon was eventually compelled to accept command. Reassuming the bold attitude he had taken at the start of the debate, Cleon proclaimed that, with the force he had been given, he would either kill or capture the Spartans within twenty days. Naming Demosthenes as his partner in command, he set out from Athens with a composed of Athenian sailors and ships carrying allied peltasts. Demosthenes had already been planning an attack on Sphacteria, as the difficulty of the circumstances his men were in had led him to doubt the viability of a prolonged siege. The Spartan garrison, thinking that the Athenian ships were only mooring in their usual nightly watch posts, was caught off guard and massacred. At dawn, the remainder of the Athenian force streamed ashore, unable to make any headway, the Spartans withdrew in some confusion to the northern end of the island, where they dug in behind their fortifications and hoped to hold out. A stalemate took hold for time, with the Athenians trying unsuccessfully to dislodge the Spartans from their strong positions
20.
Battle of Delium
–
The Battle of Delium took place in 424 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. It was fought between the Athenians and the Boeotians, who were allies of the Spartans, and ended with the siege of Delium in the following weeks, in 424 BC, the Athenian generals Demosthenes and Hippocrates planned to invade Boeotia. Demosthenes mistakenly sailed too early and landed at Siphae, where his plans were betrayed by a Phocian named Nicomachus, as Hippocrates had not yet arrived, Demosthenes could not attack and was forced to withdraw. Hippocrates eventually did arrive in Boeotia with an Athenian army and began to fortify the temple at Delium, after five days, the fortifications were complete, and Hippocrates set up a garrison and sent the rest of his army back to Athens. At the same time, the Boeotians gathered their army to challenge Hippocrates, Pagondas of Thebes, the commander of the Boeotian forces, urged them to attack anyway, because he knew the Athenians would eventually return and use Delium as a base for further invasions. Pagondas moved his army into position near the Athenians, although both armies were hidden from each other by a hill, the Boeotians had 7,000 hoplites,1,000 cavalry,500 peltasts, and 10,000 light troops. They were later joined by the Locrians, when Hippocrates learned of the Boeotian army, he joined the main Athenian force, leaving 300 cavalry behind at Delium. The Athenians had about the numbers of hoplites and cavalry. This unique deployment by the Theban general Pagondas explains the subsequent unfolding, the Boeotians charged unexpectedly while Hippocrates was giving a speech to his men. The centre lines saw the heaviest fighting, as Thucydides reports, the Boeotian left wing was surrounded and close to defeat, and only the Thespian contingent stood its ground. The victorious Athenian line got into confusion as it circled round the Thespian contingent, some of the Athenian hoplites fought and killed one another when they met at the other end, mistaking their countrymen for the enemy. This was historys first documented incident of friendly fire, in any case, Pagondas sent his cavalry to support the Boeotian left wing and the Athenians were defeated in turn. Meanwhile, the Boeotian right wing was also victorious, and the Athenians fighting there fled, about 500 Boeotians and 1,000 Athenians had been killed, including Hippocrates. One of the Athenian hoplites in the battle was the philosopher Socrates, the soldiers were then in rout, and while he and Laches were retreating together, I came upon them by chance. And as soon as I saw them, I at once urged the two of them to heart, and I said I would not leave them behind. I had an even finer opportunity to observe Socrates there than I had had at Potidaea, for I was less in fear because I was on horseback. Consequently, he went away safely, both he and his comrade, for when you behave in war as he did, then they just about do not even touch you, the Boeotians chased the Athenians until nightfall. Most of the Athenians returned to the fort at Delium, where a Boeotian herald announced that they were offending land sacred to the Boeotians and must leave
21.
Battle of Amphipolis
–
The Battle of Amphipolis was fought in 422 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. It was the culmination of events began in 424 BC with the capture of Amphipolis by the Spartans. In the winter of 424–423, around the time as the Battle of Delium, the Spartan general Brasidas besieged Amphipolis. The city was defended by the Athenian general Eucles, who sent for help from Thucydides, in order to capture the city before Thucydides arrived, Brasidas offered to let everyone who wished to stay keep their property, and offered safe passage to those who wanted to leave. Amphipolis surrendered, despite protests from Eucles, Thucydides arrived at the nearby port of Eion on the same day the city surrendered, and defended it with help from those who had left Amphipolis. Meanwhile, Brasidas began to ally with more Thracian towns, as well as Perdiccas II of Macedon, the Athenians were afraid that their other allies would quickly capitulate, as the Amphipolitans had, if Brasidas offered them favourable terms of peace. Thucydides, who recounted the capture of Amphipolis in his History of the Peloponnesian War, is considered to be partially or entirely responsible for the fall of Amphipolis. Some have seen his actions as gross negligence, although he claimed he was unable to arrive in time to save the city and he was recalled to Athens where he was tried and exiled. In response to the fall of the city, Athens and Sparta signed an armistice, according to the terms of the truce, It is proposed that each side should remain in its own territory, holding what it now holds. The armistice is to last for one year. While the negotiations were going on, Brasidas captured Scione and refused to give it back when news of the treaty arrived, the Athenian leader Cleon sent a force to take it back, despite the treaty. When the armistice ended in 422, Cleon arrived in Thrace with a force of 30 ships,1,200 hoplites and he recaptured Torone and Scione, at Scione, the Spartan commander Pasitelidas was killed. He then took up position at Eion, while Brasidas took his position at Cerdylion, in the rout that followed, Brasidas was mortally injured, although the Athenians did not realize it. Cleon was also killed when he was attacked by troops under the Spartan commander Clearidas, the entire Athenian army fled back to Eion, although about 600 of them were killed before they reached the port. Only seven other Spartans were killed, Brasidas lived long enough to learn of his victory, and was honorably buried in the agora area of Amphipolis. The Amphipolitans began to regard him as a hero and the founder of the city, after the battle, neither the Athenians or the Spartans wanted to continue the war, and the Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 BC. This treaty was eventually broken. Thucydides was exiled for his failure to protect Amphipolis, thus ending the period of the war in which he directly participated, ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki in her three decade research at Amphipolis offers evidence of the recovery and identification of Brasidas burial at the ancient Amphipolis agora. London, J. M. Dent, New York, E. P. Dutton
22.
Siege of Melos
–
The Siege of Melos occurred in 416 BC during the Peloponnesian War, a war fought between Athens and Sparta. Melos is an island in the Aegean Sea roughly 110 km east of mainland Greece, at the time it was populated by Dorians. Though the Melians were of the ethnic group as the Spartans. Athens invaded Melos in 416 BC and demanded that the Melians surrender and pay tribute to Athens, the proud Melians refused, and after a siege the Athenians captured their city, slaughtered the men, and enslaved the women and children. This siege is best remembered for the Melian Dialogue, which is a dramatization of the negotiations between the Athenians and the Melians before the former launched the siege. It is taught as a case study in political realism to illustrate that selfish. The Peloponnesian War lasted from 431 to 404 BC, on one side was the Peloponnesian League, an alliance of Greek cities led by Sparta. On the other side was the Delian League, an alliance led by Athens. The people of Melos were Dorians, the ethnic group as the Spartans. In 427 BC the Melians donated at least twenty Aeginetan minae to the Spartan war effort, otherwise, the island remained neutral in the war. In 426 BC, Athens sent an army of 2,000 men led by Nicias to raid the Melian countryside, in 425 or 424 BC, Athens formally demanded of Melos a tribute of fifteen talents of silver. This sum could have paid the wages of a crew for 15 months, or bought 540 metric tons of wheat. Only the islands of Paros and Thasos were assessed for more at 30 and 60 talents respectively and this is evidence that Melos was a prosperous island. Melos had never paid tribute to Athens before, and they refused to pay now, the fleet that transported this army had 38 ships,30 from Athens,6 from Chios, and 2 from Lesbos. This expedition was led by the generals Cleomedes and Tisias, after setting up camp on the island, the Athenians sent emissaries to negotiate with the rulers of Melos. The emissaries demanded that Melos join the Delian League and pay tribute to Athens or face destruction, the Athenians laid siege to the city and withdrew most of their troops from the island to fight elsewhere. The Melians made a number of sorties, at one point capturing part of the Athenians lines, Athens sent reinforcements under the command of Philocrates. The Athenians also had help from traitors within Melos, Melos surrendered in the winter of 416 or 415 BC
23.
Sicilian Expedition
–
The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place during the period from 415 BC to 413 BC. From that point forward, however, as the Athenians ceded the initiative to their newly energized opponents and that last measure, too, failed, and nearly the entire expedition surrendered or was destroyed in the Sicilian interior. The impact of the defeat was immense, two hundred ships and thousands of soldiers, an appreciable portion of the citys total manpower, were lost in a single stroke. Athenss enemies on the mainland and in Persia were encouraged to take action, the defeat proved to be the turning point in the Peloponnesian War, though Athens struggled on for another decade. Although Athens had never involved itself deeply in Sicilian affairs, it had ties there before the onset of the Peloponnesian War, to small Sicilian cities, Athens was a potential counter to the powerful city of Syracuse, which was strong enough to potentially dominate the island. To the Athenians, Sicily was a threat—an unencumbered Syracuse might send grain or other aid to the Peloponnesians—as well as a venue for possible conquests. In 427 BC, Athens had sent twenty ships, under the command of Laches, by the time that fleet reached Sicily in late summer, Athenss Sicilian allies had grown weary of stalemated warfare, and agreed to negotiate with Syracuse and its allies. At the Congress of Gela, the Sicilian cities made peace on the basis of Sicily for the Sicilians, in 415, Athens and Sparta had been formally at peace since 421, when the Peace of Nicias had brought the Archidamian War to a close. The terms of peace, however, had never been fulfilled, Sparta had never surrendered Amphipolis to Athens, as required by the treaty. That attempt, largely orchestrated by the Athenian nobleman Alcibiades, would have destroyed Spartas control over the Peloponnesian League had it succeeded, Alcibiades rebounded politically from this defeat, and was elected as a general in the spring of 417. Control of Athenss foreign policy remained divided between a party led by Nicias, and a war party led by Alcibiades. The peace established in Sicily at the Congress of Gela did not last long, shortly after the Congress, Syracuse intervened in an episode of civil strife between the democratic and oligarchic parties in Leontini, supporting the oligarchs. Before too long, the prospect of foreign domination had united the Leontinians, Athens had sent an emissary to Sicily in 422 to sound out the possibility of renewing the war against Syracuse, but achieved nothing. In 416, however, a second Sicilian conflict provided the invitation Athens had sought in 422, the city of Segesta—an Athenian ally in the 420s—went to war against Selinus and, after losing an initial battle, sent to Athens for help. At Athens, the Segestan ambassadors presented their case for intervention to the assembly, the assembly eventually approved an expedition composed of sixty triremes, without hoplite accompaniment, commanded by Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus. Thucydides reports that Nicias had been appointed against his preference, five days after that first debate, a second assembly was held to arrange the logistics of the expedition. There, Nicias attempted to persuade the assembly to overturn its previous decision regarding whether to send an expedition at all, over the course of several speeches, Nicias raised a series of different arguments against the expedition. Nicias also attacked Alcibiadess credibility, claiming that he and his allies were inexperienced, in response, Alcibiades dismissed the attack on himself by pointing to the good he had done for Athens as a private citizen and public leader
24.
Battle of Cyzicus
–
The naval Battle of Cyzicus took place in 410 BC during the Peloponnesian War. In the battle, an Athenian fleet commanded by Alcibiades, Thrasybulus, the victory allowed Athens to recover control over a number of cities in the Hellespont over the next year. In the wake of their defeat, the Spartans made a peace offer, the Athenians, meanwhile, were unable to follow through on their victory, since the depletion of the Athenian treasury precluded any major operations. Thus, by the spring of 410 BC, Mindarus had built a fleet of eighty ships and this fleet, along with a force of land troops under Chaereas, set out to the Hellespont to challenge Mindarus. The Athenian force entered the Hellespont, and, passing the Spartan base at Abydos by night so as to conceal their numbers, established a base on the island of Proconnesus, the next day, they disembarked Chaereass force near Cyzicus. The Athenian fleet then divided, with 20 ships under Alcibiades advancing towards Cyzicus while two divisions under Thrasybulus and Theramenes lurked behind. Mindarus, seeing an opportunity to attack what appeared to be an inferior force. Alcibiadess force fled, and Mindaruss ships gave chase, when both forces had gotten well out from the harbor, however, Alcibiades turned to face Mindarus, and Thrasybulus and Theramenes appeared with their forces to cut off his retreat. Mindarus, seeing the trap, fled in the one direction, towards a beach south of the city. The Spartan fleet suffered losses in the flight, and reached the shore with the Athenians right behind them, alcibiadess troops, leading the Athenian pursuit, landed and attempted to pull the Spartan ships back out to sea with grappling hooks. The Persian troops under Pharnabazus, however, entered the fighting on the shore and began to drive the Athenians, seeing this, Thrasybulus landed his force as a diversion and ordered Theramenes to combine his troops with those of Chaereas and join the battle. All the Spartan ships were captured save for those of the Syracusan allies, in the wake of this dramatic victory, the Athenians had full control of the waters of the Hellespont. The next day, they took Cyzicus, which surrendered without a fight, an intercepted letter from the Spartan troops stranded near Cyzicus reads “The ships are gone. Demoralized by the devastation of their fleet, the Spartans sent an embassy to Athens seeking to make peace, at Athens, the oligarchic government that had ruled since 411 gave way to a restored democracy within a few months of the battle. An expeditionary force under Thrasyllus was prepared to join the forces in the Hellespont, largely, this was a result of financial inability, even after the victory, the Athenian treasury was hard pressed to support large-scale offensive operations. Meanwhile, the Spartans, with Persian funding, quickly rebuilt their fleet, Athens would win only one more naval battle in the war, at Arginusae, and their defeat at Aegospotami in 405 BC would bring the war to a close. The Peloponnesian War ISBN 0-670-03211-5 Xenophon
25.
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
26.
Attica
–
Attica is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea, the modern administrative region of Attica is more extensive than the historical region and includes the Saronic Islands, Cythera, and the municipality of Troizinia on the Peloponnesian mainland. The history of Attica is tightly linked with that of Athens, Attica is a triangular peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea. It is naturally divided to the north from Boeotia by the 10 mi long Cithaeron mountain range, to the west, it is bordered by the sea and the canal of Corinth. The Saronic Gulf lies to the south, and the island of Euboea lies off the north, mountains separate the peninsula into the plains of Pedias, Mesogaia, and Thriasion. The mountains of Attica are the Hymettus, the portion of the Geraneia, the Parnitha, the Aigaleo. Four mountains—Aigaleo, Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus —delineate the hilly plain on which the Athens-Piraeus metroplex now spreads, Athens water reservoir, Lake Marathon, is an artificial lake created by damming in 1920. Pine and fir forests cover the area around Parnitha, Hymettus, Penteli, Myrrhinous and Laurium are forested with pine trees, whereas the rest are covered by shrubbery. The Kifisos is the longest river of Attica, according to Plato, Atticas ancient boundaries were fixed by the Isthmus, and, toward the continent, they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes. The boundary line came down toward the sea, bounded by the district of Oropus on the right, during antiquity, the Athenians boasted about being autochthonic, which is to say that they were the original inhabitants of the area and had not moved to Attica from another place. The traditions current in the classical period recounted that, during the Greek Dark Ages, Attica had become the refuge of the Ionians, who belonged to a tribe from the northern Peloponnese. Supposedly, the Ionians had been forced out of their homeland by the Achaeans, supposedly, the Ionians integrated with the ancient Atticans, who, afterward, considered themselves part of the Ionian tribe and spoke the Ionian dialect. Many Ionians later left Attica to colonize the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, during the Mycenaean period, the Atticans lived in autonomous agricultural societies. The main places where prehistoric remains were found are Marathon, Rafina, Nea Makri, Brauron, Thorikos, Agios Kosmas, Eleusis, Menidi, Markopoulo, Spata, Aphidnae, all of these settlements flourished during the Mycenaean period. According to tradition, Attica comprised twelve small communities during the reign of Cecrops, strabo assigns these the names of Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Decelea, Eleusis, Aphidna, Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia, and possibly Phaleron. These were said to have been incorporated in an Athenian state during the reign of Theseus. Modern historians consider it likely that the communities were progressively incorporated into an Athenian state during the 8th. Until the 6th century BC, aristocratic families lived independent lives in the suburbs, only after Peisistratoss tyranny and the reforms implemented by Cleisthenes did the local communities lose their independence and succumb to the central government in Athens
_-_Thucydides.jpg)
"Peloponnesian War". Encyclopædia Britannica. 21 (11th ed.). 1911.
"