Transcript Introduction to Greek and Roman History

Introduction to Greek and Roman History
Lecture 4
The Persian Wars and the myth of Athens
Solon’s Laws: Meant to be read?? Writing & the Display of Laws
Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Coin minted under Hippias
Democratic Athens
Ostraca And Athenian Gratitude
Carving and the voting
Process at Athens
The Persian empire at the time of the wars against Greece
Persian Splendour & Wealth
Treasures from Oxus
Silver Rhyton & Golden ‘Daric’ Coin
Persian Treasures from Oxus,
Now at the British Museum:
Bronze?Persian Rider
Gold Griffin Bracelet
Silver & Gold Drinking Cup
Depiction of a Persian Seige,
Description of the siege in
Cuneiform below from Nineveh
(currently at the British Museum
Agate Seal (found in Thebes)
depicting Darius shooting a
Lion. Cuneiform Text records,
in 3 languages “Darius, the
great king”
Mycale
The failed revolt of
Aristagoras
Hdt. V.37-38
The first thing he did was relinquish
his position as tyrant and convert
Miletus to a theoretical state of
equality before the law., so that the
citizens of Miletus would voluntarily
join in the rebellion. He then
proceeded to do the same throughout
Ionia. He expelled some tyrants from
their states. […]
And so the tyrants were deposed
throughout the states. Once
Aristagoras of Miletus had deposed
the tyrants, he told the people in the
various states to appoint military
commanders, and then he set off as
an envoy in a trireme for Lacedaemon,
because he needed to find some
powerful military support.
The myth of the Marathonomachs
Hdt. VI.112.2-3
The Persians saw them running to attack and prepared to
receive them, thinking the Athenians absolutely crazy, since
they saw how few of them there were and that they ran up
so fast without either cavalry or archers. [3] So the
foreigners imagined, but when the Athenians all together fell
upon the foreigners they fought in a way worthy of record.
These are the first Hellenes whom we know of to use
running against the enemy. They are also the first to endure
looking at Median dress and men wearing it, for up until then
just hearing the name of the Medes caused the Hellenes to
panic.
Modern Monument at Thermopylae with Statue of Leonidas
Hdt. VII.212
It is said that during these assaults in the battle the king, as he watched,
jumped up three times from the throne in fear for his army. This, then, is how
the fighting progressed, and on the next day the barbarians fought no better.
They joined battle supposing that their enemies, being so few, were now
disabled by wounds and could no longer resist. [2] The Hellenes, however,
stood ordered in ranks by nation, and each of them fought in turn, except the
Phocians, who were posted on the mountain to guard the path. When the
Persians found nothing different from what they saw the day before, they
withdrew.
Hdt. 228
There is an inscription written over these men, who were buried where they
fell, and over those who died before the others went away, dismissed by
Leonidas. It reads as follows: “Here four thousand from the Peloponnese once
fought three million.” [2]That inscription is for them all, but the Spartans have
their own: “Foreigner, go tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their
commands.
Simonides’ epitaph for Thermopylae:
Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδεκείμεθα,
τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.
‘Stranger, go and to the Spartans tell, that here obedient to
their laws, we fell’
The Pass at Thermopylae
Numbers & Hyperbole:
Persians: 4 million (?) Simonides (contemporary)
800,000 Ctesias
70,000-300,000 Modern Scholars
Greeks: 3,000-4,300 Herodotous & Diodorus Siculus:
Athens as a naval power
Thuc. I.18.2
Ten years after [the battle of Marathon],
the Barbarian came again with his
great host against Hellas to enslave it.
In the face of the great danger that
threatened, the Lacedaemonians,
because they were the most
powerful, assumed the leadership of
the Hellenes that joined in the war;
and the Athenians, when the Persians
came on, resolved to abandon their
city, and packing up their goods
embarked on their ships and so
became sailors.
The Greek Trireme
Construction, and Reconstructions: Ancient & Modern
The Greek League
Hdt. VII.132.1-2, 145
Among those who paid that tribute were the Thessalians, Dolopes, Enienes, Perrhaebians,
Locrians, Magnesians, Melians, Achaeans of Phthia, Thebans, and all the Boeotians except the
men of Thespiae and Plataea. [Against all of these the Greeks who declared war with the foreigner
entered into a sworn agreement, which was this: that if they should be victorious, they would
dedicate to the god of Delphi the possessions of all Greeks who had of free will surrendered
themselves to the Persians. Such was the agreement sworn by the Greeks.
The Greeks who were concerned about the general welfare of Hellas met in conference and
exchanged guarantees. They resolved in debate to make an end of all their feuds and wars
against each other, whatever the cause from which they arose; among others that were in course
at that time, the greatest was the war between the Athenians and the Aeginetans.
Hdt. VIII.1-2
The Greeks appointed to serve in the fleet were these: the Athenians furnished a hundred and
twenty-seven ships; the Plataeans manned these ships with the Athenians, not that they had any
knowledge of seamanship, but because of mere valor and zeal. The Corinthians furnished forty
ships and the Megarians twenty; [2] the Chalcidians manned twenty, the Athenians furnishing the
ships; the Aeginetans eighteen, the Sicyonians twelve, the Lacedaemonians ten, the Epidaurians
eight, the Eretrians seven, the Troezenians five, the Styrians two, and the Ceans two, and two fiftyoared barks; the Opuntian Locrians brought seven fifty-oared barks to their aid. […]. [2] The
Spartans, however, provided the admiral who had the chief command, Eurybiades, son of
Euryclides, for the allies said that if the Laconian were not their leader, they would rather make an
end of the fleet that was assembling than be led by the Athenians.
The sack of Athens
Hdt. VIII.53.1-2
In time a way out of their difficulties was revealed to the
barbarians, since according to the oracle all the mainland of Attica
had to become subject to the Persians. In front of the acropolis,
and behind the gates and the ascent, was a place where no one
was on guard, since no one thought any man could go up that
way. Here some men climbed up, near the sacred precinct of
Cecrops' daughter Aglaurus, although the place was a sheer cliff.
When the Athenians saw that they had ascended to the acropolis,
some threw themselves off the wall and were killed, and others
fled into the chamber. The Persians who had come up first turned
to the gates, opened them, and murdered the suppliants. When
they had levelled everything, they plundered the sacred precinct
and set fire to the entire acropolis.