The Rise of Athens

“enlisted the people” Her 5 66 2.

“Let each man come to close quarters” Tyrt poem 11.

ten life-size bronze statues See Camp, pp. 157–59.

Pnyx Ibid., pp. 46–47, 264–65.

“the poor have more power” Arist Pol 13l7b.

Bouleuterion Camp, pp. 44, 127.

Another innovation of Cleisthenes was ostracism It is uncertain whether this was a project of Cleisthenes or a later development, but the former is probable. What is known is that the first ostracism took place in 487.

“humble and cut back” Plut Arist 7 2.

“archaic rationality” Murray, p. 279.

“everyone is governed” Arist Pol 13l7b.

“Now Athens grew more powerful” Her 5 78 1.

“This potsherd says” Murray, p. 286.

8. EASTERN RAIDERS

The main source for the Persian raids on Eretria and Athens is Herodotus. He is cited here passim.

The young man was tired out For the story of Pheidippides, see Her 6 105–6.

It was August 5, 490 There is an argument. Some scholars believe that the month of Marathon was September. I prefer August. See Green, Greco, p. 31.

Mount Parthenium Paus 8 54 7.

a hallucination caused by exhaustion Green, Greco, p. 31.

“Pheidippides, kindly ask” Paus 6 105 2.

Then nine tents, called “sunshades” Ath 4 141.

“Men of Sparta, the Athenians” Her 6 106.

“Sir, remember the Athenians” Ibid., 5 105 1–2.

preventing the sale of Ukrainian grain Green, Greco, p. 25.

“After bridging the fish-rich Bosphorus” Her 4 88.

Cleomenes went to Aegina Ibid., 6 75–84 for the last days of Cleomenes.

“started to mutilate himself” Ibid., 6 75 2–3.

Marathon was a good place See Green, Greco, pp. 30–31, Burn, pp. 242–43, and Wikipedia “Marathon.”

In early August 490 The traditional date is September 12. But the battle may have been fought a month earlier, if, as is possible, the Athenian calendar was one month behind that of the Spartan; also, the timing depends on the exact dates of the Spartan festival.

the people were enslaved Her 6 119 1–4.

an army of some 25,000 men Army and navy numbers in Hellenic wars were usually absurdly exaggerated in the ancient sources. Modern approximations are seldom more than good guesses, but they are all we have to go on. It is sometimes possible to judge maxima, based on logistical needs in relation to the terrain crossed by armies.

During daylight hours The Persians would hardly have made the short crossing from Euboea by night. I assume they landed at Marathon around midday and spent the afternoon disembarking. The fire signal had to await darkness for it to be seen and surely identified.

where there was an abundant spring Today’s Kato Souli.

The most battle-hardened of these commanders was Miltiades For the career of Miltiades, see passim Her 6 between 39 and 136; and Nep Milt.

appointed by lot Her 6 109 2.

his fellow-commanders agreed Ibid., 6 110.

“provide themselves with rations” Arist Rhet 1411a10, Schol to Dem 19 303, and Paus 7 15 7.

The hoplite army entered the plain of Marathon The course of the battle of Marathon is uncertain and different opinions are held. Broadly I follow Burn and Green, Greco.

“bronze men” Her 2 152 3.

As Herodotus points out, the clan Ibid., 6 123–24.

“The cavalry has gone” I follow the reconstruction in Green, Greco, p. 35. Hammond in Cambridge Ancient History 4, p. 511, suggests that the Persian cavalry were for some reason late coming back from pasturage and so not available for the battle. But they could have turned up at any moment. I prefer the proposition that most of the cavalry had been loaded onto the ships and were definitively gone.

“having got the upper hand” Her 6 113 2.

the services of Pheidippides A late source identifies him, and has him collapse and die after running the twenty-five or so miles from Marathon to Athens (Lucian in his True History). We do not need to believe this legend. But it was from this story that today’s marathon race is derived.

the defeat was of little or no strategic consequence A poem by Robert Graves, “The Persian Version,” sums it up neatly. Its opening lines read: “Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon/The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.”

“those who died in the cause” IG 112 1006 line 26.

given them a proper burial Paus 1 32 4.

a German visitor Camp, p. 47.

“to Apollo first fruits” Meiggs and Lewis, 19L.

Miltiades is given pride of place Nep Milt 6.

“are coming to grips with the barbarians” Paus 1 15 4.

“The entrance to this cave” Ibid., 1 32 7.

The cave has been rediscovered in modern times Eran Lupu, “The Sacred Law from the Cave of Pan at Marathon,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 137 (2001), pp. 119–24, Bonn.

“I am goat-footed Pan” Simonides Ep 5 (Planudean Anthology).

9. FOX AS HEDGEHOG

Herodotus tells the famous story of the Persian invasion, with help from Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch’s lives of Themistocles and Aristides.

a walk along the beach Plut Them 2 6. Ancient stories about the early years of famous people seek to please. Plutarch’s accounts of the childhood and youth of Themistocles are not especially flattering and, even if fictional or “written up,” give a sharp and convincing picture of his complicated character.

“man of no particular mark” Ibid., 1 1.

“impetuous, naturally quick-witted” Ibid., 2 1.

“pleasing accomplishments” Ibid., 2 2.

“The wildest colts” Ibid., 2 5.

portrait of the man in stone An apparently accurate Roman copy of a Greek original portrait Herm was discovered in Ostia in 1939.

“was wrapped up in his own thoughts” Plut Them 3–4.

“make war on the islands” Nep Milt 7.

“make them all rich” Her 6 132.

he should oil his body Plut Them 3 4.

“The announcement of these orders” Her 7 1 1–3.

“This is the stone statue” Cambridge Ancient History 4, p. 263. National Museum of Iran.

“What is right, that is my desire” DNb 8b (11–5).

The small boy crawled The account here of the mines at Laurium is drawn from Green, Greco, pp. 53–55, and French, p. 78. Tunnels have been excavated by archaeologists. Child labor is deduced from their size.

“since time immemorial” Xen Vect 4 2.

“The fox knows many things” Zenobius 5 68.

the seat of government should be moved Thuc 1 93 7.

“deprived the Athenians of the spear” Plato Laws 4 706. Also Plut Them 4 3.

“fountain of silver” Aesch Pers 238.

two hundred triremes Her 7 144. Plut Them 4 2 and Arist Ath Pol 22 7 say “one hundred,” but the higher figure was reached by the time of the Persian invasion.

The trireme (“triple-rower”) For more on this warship, see Morrison, Coates, and Rankov.

glorified racing eight W. W. Tarn, Hellenistic Military and Naval Developments (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1930), p. 124.

a daily rate of one drachma This seems to have been the going wage at the end of the fifth century.

He made a point of refusing The two anecdotes in this paragraph can be found in Plut Arist 4 1–2.

Stesilaus of the island of Ceos Ibid., 2 2–3.

the weapon of ostracism Arist Ath Pol 22.

treasure trove of more than eleven thousand ostraca Burn, p. 605.

“ ‘Athens, the mighty city!’ ” Pindar Pyth 7 1–5 and 15.

an illiterate farm worker Plut Arist 7 5–6.

10. INVASION

Herodotus is the primary source, with support from Plutarch’s lives of Themistocles and Aristides; also from Diodorus Siculus.

a magnificent plane tree Her 7 31 and Ael 2 14.

gardening before dinner Xen Oec 4 20–25.

“Europe is a very beautiful place” Her 7 5 3.

generous donor to the Achaemenid cause Ibid., 7 38–39.

The procession of men Ibid., 40–41 and 83.

the Immortals This is the term Herodotus gives. He may have confused the Persian for “companion” with that for “immortal.” There is no reason to disbelieve the recruitment policy given.

absurdly inflated numbers I rely on the discussion at Green, Greco, pp. 58–61, which itself is indebted to Burn, pp. 326–32.

Xerxes assembled 1,700,000 For Herodotus’s calculations, see Her, 7 184–87.

eunuchs, female cooks, concubines Her 7 187 1.

“What body of water” Ibid., 7 21.

So far as the fleet was concerned Ibid., 7 89–99.

unhinged rage Ibid., 7 35.

legendary young Leander He still lives in Christopher Marlowe’s poem Hero and Leander.

review of his land and sea forces Her 7 44–49.

Xerxes congratulated himself Ibid., 7 45–53 for the conversation between the Great King and his uncle.

“You are doomed. Why sit around?” Ibid., 7 140 1–3.

“Zeus the all-seeing” and “O divine Salamis” Ibid., 7 141 3. It is unclear whether there were two separate trips to Delphi to consult the oracle and if there were whether they took place in 481 or 480. I opt for one trip and 481, and believe that the debate in the ecclesia about evacuating Attica was held in 480. But these are best guesses.

heavier and less maneuverable Ibid., 8 10 and 60a.

“The greatest of all his achievements” Plut Them 6 3.

“They considered the survival of Hellas” Her 8 3 1.

Eurybiades was in charge Ibid., 8 2, Diod 11 12 4.

The sacred snake Her 8 41 2–3.

“The god [Apollo] had spoken” Bury, p. 246.

“After their deliberations about the oracle” Her, 7 144 3.

“guarding the possessions of the gods’ ” and “starting tomorrow” Meiggs and Lewis, p. 23. In 1959 an inscription purporting to be the Decree of Themistocles was discovered at Troezen. It was inscribed in the third or possibly late fourth centuries B.C. and some scholars think it is an untrustworthy fake. More probably it is a pulling together of authentic decisions taken in 480 and announced by the ecclesia.

Dogs howled Ael Ar 46 p. 257 DK.

his hound plunged Plut Them 10 6.

“what the city now needed” Plut Cim 5 2–3.

a few obstinate old men Paus 1 18 2.

“So tell me,” Xerxes asked him For this conversation, see Her 7 103–4. If it is fictional, we may suppose that it broadly expresses Persian attitudes.

11. “THE ACTS OF IDIOTS”

Again, the classic stories of the battles of Artemisium and Thermopylae are mainly as told by Herodotus 7 175-8 1–21 and 7 200–233. Diodorus Siculus supports.

strange smell See Green, Greco, p. 114.

hot, sulfurous springs Her 7 176.

“The bluest water” Paus 4 35 9.

“man much concerned with his courage” Diod 11 4 2.

a force of four thousand men I follow Burn, pp. 378–79, in his interpretation of Herodotus’s numbers.

sunken ship The shipwreck may have been Roman—perhaps carrying loot from the sack of Corinth in 146 B.C. The statue dates from about 460 B.C.

lost “at the lowest estimate” Her 7 190.

stripped naked for exercise Ibid., 7 208 2.

“The truth, namely” Ibid., 7 209 1.

“Hand over your weapons!” Plut Sayings Spartans Leonidas 11.

“Have a quick breakfast” Ibid., 8 2, Diod 11 9 4.

“Many of the barbarians fell” Her 7 223 3–224 1.

Eurybiades lost his nerve Ibid., 8 4.

fight on purpose like cowards Her 8 222.

“They learned from their own achievements” Plut Them 8 1–2.

12. “O DIVINE SALAMIS”

Herodotus is the main source; also Plutarch’s lives of Aristides and Themistocles. For the battles of Salamis and Plataea, I rely on Burn and Green, Greco.

oracle at Delphi Her 8 27–39, Diod 11 14.

The news was received Her 8 99 1.

Xerxes paid it a personal visit Ibid., 8 67–69.

“The Greeks will not be able to hold out” Ibid., 8 68 2.

A very similar debate, in reverse For the discussions that follow, ibid., 8 49–50, 56–63.

“If you do not remain here” Ibid., 8 62 1.

A day passed The passage of time is unclear in the sources and some modern scholars argue that as many as three weeks of inactivity followed the Persians’ arrival before the Battle of Salamis was fought.

“I have been sent” Her 8 75 2–3.

The narrows of Salamis describe a semicircle There is scholarly disagreement on where various place-names should be located. The ancient sources are confused about the course of the battle. My reconstruction is indebted to Burn and Green, Greco, but its basic narrative follows N. G. L. Hammond in Cambridge Ancient History, 5 pp. 569–88, although I do not agree with him that Psyttaleia is Saint George island but, rather, today’s Lipsokoutali.

a golden parasol Plut Them 16 2.

“Then from the Hellene ships” Aesch Pers 386–400.

plucky Artemisia Her 8 87–88.

“My men have become women” Ibid., 8 88 3.

“The Hellenes seized” Aesch Pers 424–26.

the Phoenician contingent See Burn, pp. 467–68.

the sacred chariot Her 8 115 4.

oath of fidelity See Burn, p. 512ff. Diod 11 29 1–2, Tod 2 204 lines 21–51. The exact wording may not have come down to us, but the event is authentic. It is known as the Oath of Plataea.

Modern archaeologists For an account of the destruction of Athens, see Camp, pp. 57–58.

“It was worth seeing” Her 9 25 1.

omens stayed resolutely unfavorable Plut Arist 17 6–18 2. Some modern scholars believe that Pausanias manipulated the sacrifices to ensure that the Greeks, or at least the Spartans, attacked at just the right moment. But Greeks took their religion very seriously and barefaced trickery of this kind in public is unlikely.

Hellenic losses amounted to a modest 1,360 According to Plut Arist 19 4. A plausible number.

“spread out through the whole camp” Her 9 80 1–2.

“That is an act” Ibid., 9 79 1–2.

“What a fool Mardonius was” Ibid., 9 82 3.

with his 110 ships One source says that the fleet now numbered 250 ships. If so it could be that the Athenians sent their triremes to join the allies at Delos after the Spartans had begun their march to Plataea.

“to deliver the Ionians from slavery” Ibid., 9 90 2.

“remember freedom first and foremost” Ibid., 9 98 3.

a chain of beacons This after all is how the news of the fall of Troy is conveyed in Aeschylus’s drama Agamemnon, first performed in Athens in 458.

the unarmed Samians and other Ionians Diod 11 36 4–5.

a state of shock Ibid., 11 36 7.

“The Athenian people” Thuc 1 89 3.

“attached the city to the Piraeus” Plut Them 19 3.

“I will not rebuild” Lyc 81. Some modern scholars do not accept this citation as historical, but it is certain that the Athenians did not rebuild the temples and shrines for a generation after the Persian Wars.

13. LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The literary sources dwindle with the creation of the Athenian Empire. Herodotus has finished, Thucydides takes over with his abrupt summary of the next half century, the so-called Pentakontaetia. Plutarch’s life of Cimon helps, as do a growing number of administrative inscriptions. An explosion in the number of these inscriptions throws light on the workings of the Athenian democracy.

“Go tell the Spartans” Her 7 228 2.

the head and torso of a Greek warrior The excavation was conducted in 1920 by the British Archaeological School.

“Did not forget their courage” Dillon and Garland, 11:48 (Simonides Elegy 11).

Serpent Column Meiggs and Lewis 27. The Roman emperor Constantine took the column from Delphi and installed it in the courtyard of the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople. It was later moved to the Hippodrome, now a public square, where, albeit damaged, it survives to the present day.

“If the greatest part of virtue” Sim Ep 8.

a statue of himself A good Roman copy has been found at Ostia.

“can’t stand Themistocles” Plut Them 21 2–3.

Themistocles felt for himself the ingratitude Successful war leaders are often discarded by ungrateful democracies—for example, Lloyd George and Winston Churchill.

various scratched opinions Forsdyke, p. 155.

Pausanias, the victor of Plataea His downfall and death are recounted in Thuc 1 128–34.

killed a Byzantine woman Plut Cim 6 4–5.

Themistocles became entangled The story of his escape to Persia and death are told in greater detail in Plut Them 24–32 and Thuc 1 136–38.

“secret hoards” Thuc 1 137 3.

his father had been assassinated This is my interpretation of the odd account in Arist Pol 1311b36. For a different version, see Diod 11 69.

“For the past you owe me a good turn” Thuc 1 137 4.

“A man who showed the most unmistakable signs of genius” Ibid., 1 138 3.

“there you look down” Plut Them 32 5.

“to stay at home” Plut Cim 11 2.

“the quality which makes a real general” and“suited a money-box” Plut Arist 24 4.

“the Athenian people are thought to act” Xen Con 1 16.

“He earned himself a bad name” Plut Cim 4 3–4.

“Plain and unadorned” Ibid., 4 4.

he transformed…the Academy Ibid., 13 8.

a handsome colonnade For this paragraph see Camp, pp. 68–69. The Stoa and four of its paintings were seen six hundred years later by Pausanias.

“He was not such a scoundrel” Plut Cim 15 3.

the chief reasons for these defections Thuc 1 99 1.

“This was the first time” Ibid., 1 98 4.

“not a single Persian soldier” Plut Cim 12 1.

Cimon sailed out For the battle of the Eurymedon, see Diod 11 60 5–6.

“These men lost the splendour” Sim Ep 46.

Theseus, the national hero of Athens For the story of the discovery of Theseus’s bones, Plut Thes 36 1–4 and Plut Cim 8 3–6.

“no sense of shame” Thuc 1 5 1.

“And now he lies buried” Plut Thes 36 2.

14. THE FALLING-OUT

The main sources are Thucydides and Plutarch’s lives of Pericles and Cimon, with help from Diodorus Siculus and, regarding constitutional reforms, Athenian Constitution. See Barnes for pre-Socratic philosophers discussed below.

a series of tremendous earthquakes We have no firm dates and scholars place the earthquakes at different times during the decade. I follow Cambridge Ancient History 5, p. 108.

Some young men and boys Plut Cim 16 5.

twenty thousand deaths according to one source Diod 11 63 1.

“all the ephebes” Plut Cim 16 4–5.

“when Pericleidas the Spartan came here” Ar Lys 1137–40.

“put Sparta’s interests” Plut Cim 16 8.

persuaded the assembly to send out an expeditionary force It is possible that there were two Athenian expeditions—ibid., 16 8.

four thousand hoplites Ar Lys 1143.

“grew afraid of the enterprise” Thuc 1 102 3.

“I am not, like some Athenians” Plut Cim 14 3.

“On a slight pretext” Ibid., 17 3.

“Let Cimon take his sister” Unpublished: see Oxford Classical Dictionary under Cimon.

the lost leader was soon forgiven Plut Cim 17 5.

he was lucky to have survived The account given here of Pericles’ education is indebted to Garland, pp. 58, 61–63, 102–4, 172.

“played the role of masseur” Plut Per 4 1.

“His was a tongue” Ibid., 4 3. Timon of Phlius was the commentator.

“About the gods” DK80b4.

“man is the measure” DK80b1.

an eclipse of the sun Per 35 1–2.

self-preservation and ambition Ibid., 7 3.

“Elpinice, you are too old” Ibid., 10 5.

Ephialtes was kidnapped one night and murdered Diod 11 77 6.

a certain Aristodicus Plut Per 10 7.

“poisonous accusation” Ibid., 10 6.

a citizenship law Arist Con 26 3.

two obols a day Some say it was one obol a day.

up to twenty thousand citizens…were in receipt Hammond, p. 301. Arist Con 24 3.

“The poor, the men of the people” Xen Con 1 4. This document was probably written in the 420s and so too early for Xenophon. Its author has received the modern nickname of the Old Oligarch.

“everywhere on earth” Ibid., 1 5.

A broken inscription survives Fornara, p. 78.

many Athenians escaped For the Egyptian expedition, Thuc 1 104, 109–10.

“From the time when the sea” Sim Ep 45 1–4.

Peace of Callias Some dispute that the peace was ever agreed, but see Isoc Pan 117–18 and Plut Cim 13 4–5.

a Panhellenic congress Plut Per 17.

15. THE KINDLY ONES

Aeschylus’s Oresteia is the main source (I am indebted to Philip Vellacott’s translation, Penguin Classics, London, 1959). Also Connolly and Dodge’s The Ancient City and Garland’s Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks. See Hall as well as Goldhill for a full account of Greek tragedy.

A watchman stands on the roof This opening section derives from Aesch Ag 1–39.

“tragedy, then, is an action” Arist Poet 3 4–8, 3 13 21–25, 28–30.

performed only once In the fourth century the quality of new tragedies declined in step with a loss of political energy in the Athenian polity. Revivals of the classics became popular.

Athens spent more on theater Plut Pre 349a.

as many as 1,500 persons were involved Garland, p. 182.

“Lysicrates, son of Lysitheides” Camp, p. 147.

“slices from the great banquet” Ath 8 347e.

“ships and ropes rotted” Aesch Ag 194–95.

“harness of necessity” Ibid., 218.

he that’s coming must be provided for Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, 1 5 71–72.

“As our guest, call this your home” Aesch Cho 707.

“Oh misery!” Ibid., 691.

“How shall I escape my father’s curse” Ibid., 925.

“The old is trampled by the new!” Aesch Eum 778–79.

“Share my home with me” Ibid., 833.

“provoke bloodshed” Ibid., 856–63.

During the opening ceremony See Goldhill, pp. 101–2.

the names of men Ibid., p. 104.

“Since this is how matters have turned out” Aesch Eum, 481–88.

“Never let civil war, which eats men” Ibid., 979–84.

“ancient children” Ibid., 1034.

16. “CROWNED WITH VIOLETS”

Plutarch’s life of Pericles, Diodorus Siculus, and Thucydides are the main sources. Also Garland, Camp, and the findings of archaeologists.

“On one street” Plut Per 7 4.

“harmonised with his way of life” Plut Per 8 1.

“that eyesore” and “war rushing down” Ibid., 8 5.

nicknamed the Olympian Ibid., 8 2–3.

“the Athenians were under no obligation” Ibid., 12 3.

A decree was passed in 448 Some scholars believe the bill was passed into law in the 430s or 426/5, but I follow mainstream opinion.

“In this way he relieved” Plut Per, 11 5.

“the size of the Athenian forces” Ibid., 20 1.

the guilty polis was the island of Samos The Samian revolt is described in Thuc 1 115 1–117 3 and Plut Per 24 1–28 6.

the building of an aqueduct The aqueduct can still be seen and is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Pythagoreion.

Plutarch mentions a report Plut Per 281–83.

within an inch of depriving Athens Thuc 8 76 4.

“as if the spring had been taken” Arist Rhet 1365a 34.

A sentry runs to the ruler This section describes the plot of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone. I am indebted to the translation by E. F. Watling, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth, 1947.

“Wonders are many on the earth” Soph Ant 332ff.

“And yet you dared to contravene it?” Ibid., 449–55.

the beautiful Aspasia The section on Aspasia is indebted to Bicknell, who argues that Axiochus, the father of Aspasia, was the same man as the father-in-law of the elder Alcibiades, and so grandfather of Axiochus, son of the elder Alcibiades.

“From her comes all the race” Hes Theo 590–95. The translation is by Dorothea Wender, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth, 1972.

met her lover at a funeral Lys 1 8.

“your duty is to stay indoors” Xen Oec 7 36.

“Perhaps I should say a few words” Thuc 2 45 2.

“We have hetairae” Dem Neaira 122.

Plato has Socrates hint Plato Alc 1 118d-e.

“To find our Zeus a Hera” Plut Per 24 6. I am grateful to the late Ian Scott-Kilvert for his translation of this verse.

madam of a brothel Ibid., 24 3.

procured free-born Athenian women Ibid., 32 1.

“great art and power” Ibid., 24 1.

“Yesterday I heard Aspasia” Plato Men 236b.

“regarding his beauty” Plut Alc 1 3.

Once as a small boy Ibid., 2 2–3. Childhood tales about the famous are rightly distrusted. But this incident of the knucklebones has the ring of truth and casts anticipatory and accurate light on the character of the adult Alcibiades.

“Leave the flute to the Thebans” Ibid., 2 5.

“Alcibiades, you bite like a woman” Ibid., 2 2.

“If he’s dead” Ibid., 2 3.

“I’m trying to work out” Diod 12 38 3 and Plut Alc 7 2.

Socrates took Alcibiades under his wing For Socrates’ relations with Alcibiades, see Plut Alc 6.

the time of the Great Panathenaea For this festival, see Burkert, pp. 232–33, Connolly and Dodge, pp. 80–87.

not to rebuild Diod 11 29 3.

Athena Promachus The statue had a long life. After one thousand years on the Acropolis, it was removed to Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. It was eventually destroyed IN A.d. 1203 by a superstitious and frightened mob that believed the goddess was beckoning to an army of crusaders who were threatening the city.

“The Greeks must be outraged” Plut Per 12 2.

“entertaining the people” Ibid., 11 4.

Pheidias was placed in overall charge Ibid., 13 4.

“The materials to be used” Ibid., 12 6–7.

“To Praxias, resident at Melite” Overbeck, p. 860.

because of the dry atmosphere Pau 5 11 10.

all kinds of trophy Fornara 141.

“eight and a half boxes” IG I³ 343–46, 350–59.

a new monumental entrance The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin copies the central portion of the Propylaea.

tended by a priestess I^G I3 35 9–10.

in honor of Hephaestus Miscalled for many centuries the Theseum, after Theseus, the mythical founder-king of Athens.

temple of Poseidon Among the names that vandals carved on the temple at Sunium we find that of Lord Byron.

The exact total expenditure The financial estimates in this section derive from Davies, pp. 94–99.

“Mighty indeed are the marks” Thuc 2 41 4.

“Brightly shining” Pind Fragments 76.

17. THE PRISONERS ON THE ISLAND

Thucydides (books 2 to 5) comes into his own in this chapter, and is the main and very reliable source of the first half of the Peloponnesian War. Also Plutarch’s lives of Pericles and Nicias, the comical take on topical events of Aristophanes, and Diodorus Siculus.

“for the violence of his character” Thuc 3 36 6.

“more than anyone else he corrupted” Arist Con 28 3.

a series of prosecutions The details and indeed the dates of these cases are uncertain, but it does appear that an attempt was made to weaken Pericles.

one of the sculptors working for Pheidias Plut Per 31 2–5 and Paus 5 15 1.

Pheidias’s workshop Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, p. 648.

They attacked Aspasia Plut Per 32 1.

“anyone who did not believe in the gods” Ibid., 32 1.

the scientist Anaxagoras There are different stories. See Plut Per 32 1–2 and Diog Laer 2 3 12–13. I propose a probable version.

“succeeded in placing the empire” Thuc 1 118 2.

“for sundry purposes” Plut Per 23 1.

“If they bide their time” Thuc 2 65 7.

Epidamnus was a place of no importance See Peter R. Prifti, “Hellenic Colonies in Ancient Albania,” Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America, vol. 39, no. 4 (July/August 1986), pp. 26–31. Later, Epidamnus was the setting for the Roman author Plautus’s comedy Menaechmi, the inspiration for Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors.

the greatest military conflagration Thucydides rather over-egged his cake when he claimed that the war between Athens and Sparta was the greatest disturbance in the history of Greece—“indeed I might almost say or mankind” (1 1 2). It was his history that has made history, rather than the event itself.

the headland of Actium A more famous sea battle was fought at Actium in 31 B.C. when Octavian and Agrippa defeated Antony and Cleopatra.

“Before anything could happen to him” Ar Pe 606–14.

they sent to Delphi Thuc 1 118 3.

“We have done nothing” Ibid., 1 76 2.

“Others may have a lot of money” Ibid., 1 86 3.

“Most Athenians still lived in the country” Ibid., 2 16 1.

“You will get no glory” Ibid., 3 59 1.

about sixty thousand heavy infantry into Attica Plut Per 33 4.

“a general discussion resulted” Thuc 2 22 1.

On a winter’s day every year This section is indebted to Thuc 2 33–46.

oration in praise of the fallen We do not know how close Thucydides’ version is to what Pericles actually said. But they cannot have been far apart. One of Thucydides’ devices is to give historical personages speeches that raised relevant issues even if these had not in reality been mentioned by the speaker himself. However, Pericles’ Funeral Speech was so important a text and so many people, probably including Thucydides himself, would remember having heard it that the historian must have taken care not to stray far from the statesman’s own words.

“When it is a question” Thuc 2 37 1–2.

“We are lovers of beauty” Ibid., 2 40 1.

“I declare that our city” Ibid., 2 41 12.

“Think of the greatness of Athens” Ibid., 2 43 1.

“Perfectly healthy men” Ibid., 2 49 1–4.

suddenly began to have burning feelings Ibid., 2 49 2–3.

“Nothing did the Athenians so much harm” Ibid., 3 87 2.

“It was the one thing I didn’t predict” Ibid., 2 64 1.

Aristotle wrote in his study Arist Po 16 29ff.

“Beyond all telling” Soph Oed 179ff.

“War with the Dorians” Thuc 2 54 2.

He became depressed Plut Per 37 1.

“as is the way with crowds” Ibid., 2 65 4.

“Your empire” Thuc 2 63 2.

“Being powerful because of his rank” Ibid., 2 65 8–11.

“War is a stern master” Ibid., 3 82 2.

“persuaded about fifty of them” Ibid., 3 81 2–3.

“kill themselves by thrusting into their throats” Ibid., 4 48 3.

“In theory the crime was” Ibid., 3 81 4–5.

“Reckless aggression was now regarded” Ibid., 3 82 4–5.

“right to act as it saw fit” Ibid., 3 28 1.

“the most violent of its citizens” Ibid., 3 36 6.

“By giving way to your feelings” Ibid., 3 37 2.

“The right way to deal with free people” Ibid., 3 46 6.

“Mytilene had had a narrow escape” Ibid., 3 49 4.

all the adult males of Scione Ibid., 5 32 1.

Perhaps to remind the world I am obliged to Kagan, Peloponnesian, p. 203, for the suggestion.

“A starving wolf” Perry Index 346.

“a living piece of property” Arist Pol 1253b23.

anonymous author Modern scholars have named him the Old Oligarch.

“allowed to take the greatest liberties” Xen Con 1 10.

“get a house, a bought woman” Hes Works 405f.

An auction sale list IG 1³ 421, col. 1.

“it is contrary to nature” Arist Pol 1253bl4.

a magnificent natural harbor Today’s Navarino Bay.

“make what use he liked” Thuc 4 2 4.

“I’ll shout down” Ar Kni 358.

“He’s the best of citizens” Plut Nic 4 6.

“If only our generals were real men” Thuc 4 27 1.

Some captured shields were sent back ASCSA Agora Object B 62.

They were still on show in the second century Pau 1 15 4.

“Nothing that had happened” Thuc 4 40 1.

“For everyone that’s here” Ari Kni—Sommerstein, p. 73.

two thousand able and troublesome helots Thuc 4 80 3–4.

“He quietly observed the movements” Plat Symp 221b. This quotation is taken from Plato’s Symposium, which makes no claim to historical accuracy, but rather to imaginative verisimilitude. The anecdote, well known in the retelling and easily checked by contemporaries, is surely true.

rode alongside Socrates Plut Alc 7 4.

18. THE MAN WHO KNEW NOTHING

Plato’s Symposium, cited passim, is a main source (usually, but not always in the translation of Walter Hamilton, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, England, 1951), and secondarily Xenophon’s Symposium and Memorabilia.

“Kissing Agathon” Gr Anth 5 78.

“As you sip your wine” Cited in Garland, p. 94. I am indebted to Professor Garland for information about food and drink in ancient Greece.

“Let us entertain ourselves today” Plato Symp 177D.

“used all their eight limbs” Ibid., 190A.

“They will walk upright” Ibid., 190D.

“love is simply the name” Ibid., 192E.

“I am walking on air” Ar Clo 225.

“The Clouds are the only goddesses” Ibid., 365–67.

“Both Homer and Hesiod” Xenophanes, DK 22 B 12.

“permanent entity was water” Arist Met 1 983b.

“applied themselves to mathematics” Ibid., 1 985b.

“You cannot step” Fragment DK 22 B 12, quoted in Arius Didymus apud Eusebius, Preparatio Evangelica 15:20:2.

“The barley drink” DK 22 B 125, quoted in Theophrastus On Vertigo 9.

“The bit I understand is excellent” Diog Laer 2 5 22.

“is generated from fire” Ibid., 9 1 8.

Socrates, as he really was It is hard to know what Socrates was like and what he believed. Plato and Xenophon, our two sources, give inconsistent accounts, which probably reflect how their very different personalities interacted with Socrates, rather than factual disagreements. Plato’s early dialogues probably throw the brightest light on their “cool, distant, reticent and ironic” (Oxford Classical Dictionary, p. 1419) subject.

“The unexamined life is not worth living” Plato Apol 38a.

One day Socrates came across him Diog Laer 2 6 48.

“Socrates was always in the public eye” Xen Mem 1 1 10.

a shoemaker called Simon Sellars, pp. 207ff.

Unlike Gorgias, who claimed to know everything Plat Gorg 447d.

“is the perpetual possession” Plato Symp 206A.

“bringing forth such notions” Ibid., 210c.

“By gazing upon the vast ocean” Ibid., 210d.

“a beauty whose nature is marvelous” Ibid., 211a–b.

Men have been kept as captives Plato Rep 514a–520a for the allegory of the cave.

wore his hair long Ath 12 534C.

“Good evening gentlemen” Plato Symp 212e–213b.

“If I compliment anyone but him” Ibid., 214d.

“mass of imperfections” Ibid., 216a.

19. DOWNFALL

Thucydides (books 6 and 7) remains the main source for the war, supplemented by Diodorus Siculus. Towards the end he hands over the baton to Xenophon’s much less adequate Hellenica. Plutarch also continues the life stories of Alcibiades and Nicias.

At dawn on a fine June day The description of the fleet’s departure is taken from Thuc 6 30–32 and Diod 13 3.

“This expedition…was by far and away” Thuc 6 31 2.

“Now we can wank and sing” Ar Pe 289–90.

“The Spartans have not kept their oaths” Sommerstein, p. 230.

a celebratory ode Plut Alc 11 2.

“The Hellenes expected to see our city” Thuc 6 16 2 and 3.

He married well The story of Alcibiades’ marriage and alleged plan to kill Callias is told in Ando Alc 4 13–15 and Plut Alc. Some argue that the Andocides speech is a forgery, but see Raubitschek. Even if it is spurious it contains truths. Such accounts, which place Alcibiades in a poor light, are not improbable and are consistent with what we know of his public career.

A third-century poet wittily remarked Bion, c. 325–c. 250. See Diog Laer 4 49.

Divorce seems to have been uncommon See Cohn-Haft.

Venus de Milo The statue is to be found today in the Louvre museum in Paris.

a debate between spokesmen Thuc 5 84–116.

“It is a necessary law of nature” Ibid., 5 105 2.

“Dear, lifeless lips” Eur Troj 1180–85. I use Philip Vellacott’s translation, Euripides, The Bacchae and Other Plays, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth, 1954.

an execrable poet Ar Frogs 86ff.

“to conquer the whole of the island” Thuc 6 6 1.

“Cleon in hyperbole” Bury, p. 459.

“no great expectation” Plut Alc 17 4. See also Plut Nic 13 6.

Scattered throughout Athens stood Herms Rubel, pp. 74–99.

“exaggerated the whole thing” Thuc 6 28 2.

A contemporary who later admitted to having played a part Ando Alc 16. The man was Andocides. His testimony must be treated with caution, for he was defending himself years later in a courtroom speech. But there is little doubt that he is voicing here widespread fears. The real perpetrators of the defacement of the Herms and the mock Mysteries were never identified beyond doubt.

Lamachus, an elderly man Plut Alc 18 1.

“Thessalus, the son of Cimon” Ibid., 22 3.

“six perfume bottles” IG I³ 421h.

“I’ll show them that I am still alive” Plut Alc 22 2.

“I will render you services” Ibid., 23 1.

“when they saw him” Ibid., 23 3.

resold into servitude at rock-bottom prices Hell Ox 17 4.

“Every single thing the city needed” Thuc 7 28 1–2.

“kept on sitting around” Plut Nic 14 4.

“The Syracusans no longer thought” Thuc 6 103 3.

“We thought we were the besiegers” Ibid., 7 11 4.

“The flash of armor” Plut Nic 21 1–2.

“After once being thrown” Thuc 7 44 8.

two and a half thousand Athenian infantry Diod 13 11 3–5.

“It is better for Athens” Thuc 7 47 4.

Herodotus reports that Thales Her 1 74 2.

“rather over-inclined to divination” Thuc 7 50 4.

“three times nine days” Ibid., 7 50 4.

“was not unfavourable” Plut Nic 23 5.

“To conquer the Athenians by land and by sea” Thuc 7 56 2.

“The two armies on the shore” Ibid., 7 71 1 and 4.

“forced to do everything” Ibid., 7 87 2.

people did not believe Ibid., 8 1 1.

“This was the greatest achievement” Ibid., 7 87 5–6.

20. THE END OF DEMOCRACY?

Thucydides’ history came to an abrupt end in 411 (presumably on his death). In his Hellenica Xenophon picks up where he leaves off and narrates events until 362. Diodorus is a not entirely reliable backup. The Athenian Constitution helps with constitutional developments. Plutarch’s life of Alcibiades runs its course and is superseded by his life of Lysander.

“Ships gone, Mindarus dead” Xen Hell 1 1 23.

“ ‘Men of Athens’ ” Diod 13 52 3ff. Xenophon does not mention this peace initiative, but there is no reason to doubt Diodorus.

first reaction of the Athenians Thuc 8 1–2.

“As is the way with democracies” Ibid., 8 1 4.

“new policy of justness” Hel Oxy Florence Fragments V2.

always had a bad conscience Thuc 7 18 3.

“the overthrow of the Athenians” Ibid., 8 2 4.

“enjoy great wealth” Diod 11 50 3.

drenched in alcohol Waters, p. 168.

Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes These are Hellenized versions of the satraps’ Persian names, Farnavaz and Cithrafarna.

An early draft has survived Thucydides writes of three treaties in rapid succession (8 18, 8 37, and 8 58); it is much more likely that the first two were interim drafts. Persia’s wish to take control of the Ionian poleis was explicit in the first text, but less obvious in the later ones.

“All the territories and cities” Thuc 8 18.

“said, in his mocking way” Plut Alc 23 7–8. Stories about Alcibiades’ sex life were legion and it is hard now to distinguish between fact and entertaining fiction. But even if a given anecdote is unhistorical, the general direction of travel about his character is undeniable.

“surrendered so completely” Ibid., 24 5.

he was homesick Ibid., 32 1.

The Lioness on a Cheese-Grater Ar Lys 231–32. The meaning is obscure; perhaps the woman is crouching like a lioness over the man and by pelvic movement to and fro imitating the motion of a grater. See “The Lioness and the Cheesegrater,” Cashman Kerr Prince. Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica, 4th series, 7:2 (2009): 149–75.

“the splendour running in the blood” Pind Nemea 3 40.

“enacted by the bouleˉ and the demos” Ando Myst 96. The first recorded use of the phrase after the institution of the Five Thousand.

“during the first period” Thuc 8 97 2.

“I will use a dagger” Aes 2 76.

“on the grounds that he was” Xen Hell 1 4 20.

to look for money and rations So Plut Alc 35 3–4. But Diod 13 71 1 has Alcibiades sail to Clazomenae and Xen Hell 1 5 11 to help Thrasybulus at a siege of Phocaea. Money was the Athenians’ greatest need and Alcibiades had gone off on such expeditions before, so I follow Plutarch.

an unthinking lowlife Plut Alc 35 4.

the Athenians lost twenty-two ships Hell Oxy 4 3.

“who had won his confidence” Plut Alc 36 1–2.

Alcibiades paid for some mercenaries Ibid., 36 3.

“longs for him, but hates him” Ar Frogs 1425.

“It is a sad day for the Greeks” Xen Hell 1 6 7.

a marble relief was commissioned of Hera The relief can be seen at the Acropolis Museum, Athens.

“the greatest naval battle in history” Diod 13 98 5.

Socrates happened to be sitting Plato Apol 32b–c.

discharge the vows to the gods Diod 13 102 2.

“the masses…from making peace” Arist Con 34 1. There is some doubt whether this episode should be attributed to Sparta’s earlier peace offer after the Battle of Cyzicus.

A horseman trotted My account of Aegospotami draws on Xen Hell 2 1 22–29, Plut Alc 36 4–37 1–4, Nep Alc 8–9, and Diod 13 105–6.

“they would incur the blame for any defeat” Diod 13 105 4.

“We are the admirals now” Xen Hell 2 1 26.

thirty Athenian triremes set out I follow Diod 13 106, whose account is more plausible than that of Xen 2 1 27–28.

“Lysander first asked him” Xen Hell 2 1 32.

“A sound of wailing” Ibid., 2 2 3.

“root and branch” Paus 3 8 6.

“They could not be sure of the loyalty” Isoc 16 40.

Critias had once boasted in a poem Plut Alc, 33 1.

“Unless you cut off Alcibiades” Nep Alc 10.

Plutarch reports that a hetaira Plutarch reports the death of Alcibiades at Plut Alc 39. According to Ath 13 34, a monument was erected at the scene of his death and the emperor Hadrian had a statue of him placed on it. He also ordered yearly sacrifices in his honor.

21. SPARTA’S TURN

Xenophon’s Hellenica is this chapter’s main source, together with Plutarch’s lives of Lysander and Agesilaus. The trial and death of Socrates are covered by Xenophon’s and Plato’s Apologies, also Plato’s Crito and Phaedo.

The city’s economy had collapsed The Greeks paid little attention to recording their economic history and modern scholars have to derive tentative generalizations from scrappy evidence. For the impact of the Peloponnesian War on Athens I am mainly indebted to Strauss, pp. 42–54. Many of the numbers I give in this section are at the right level of magnitude, but are necessarily estimates.

the value of whose estate Lys 19 45.

“When I heard reports about Athens” Isoc 17 4.

One afternoon in 404 Lysias For the persecution of Lysias and Polemarchus, as described here, see Lysias’s own account given in a court speech towards the end of 403 against a member of the Thirty, Lys 12 3–17.

“To Polemarchus, the Thirty” Ibid., 12 17.

a democracy, of all things, in Thessaly Xen Hell 2 3 36.

“Some shrewd man first” Sex Emp 9 54 12–15.

Socrates was ordered Plato Apol 32c–d.

a respectable former military officer I follow W. James McCoy, “The Identity of Leon,” American Journal of Philology, Summer 1975, pp. 187–99.

“If it’s not crude of me” Plato Apol 32c–32d.

“Here’s to the lovely Critias!” Xen Hell 2 3 56.

“he had destroyed the power” Delphes 3 1 50.

an admiral at Aegospotami For the account of Conon, the brief life by Cornelius Nepos is untrustworthy but helpful.

Great King was content to allow the Ionians Modern scholars suppose an agreement to this effect in 407, the Treaty of Boiotios.

the queen mother had other ideas The palace intrigues are reported in Plut Art 2–4 and Xen Ana 1 1 1–6.

“And now it was midday” Xen Ana 1 8 8–9.

“Get out of the way!…Artaxerxes was wounded and unhorsed” Plut Art 11 2–3.

imitate the nightingale’s song Plut Age 21 4.

“the person of the Great King” Ibid., 15 1.

“The Spartans…lost their supremacy” Isoc 9 56.

“I don’t know what effect my accusers” Plato Apol 17a. This section on the trial and death of Socrates is indebted to Robin Waterfield’s introductory material to his and Hugh Tredinnick’s translations in Xenophon, Conversations of Socrates, Penguin Classics, London, 1990.

“This indictment and affidavit” Diog Laer 2 5 40.

“a hooked nose” Plato Euth 2b.

whom Aristophanes attacked Ar fragments 117, 156 Kassel-Austin

in a rather offhand manner Xen Apol 1.

“Men of Athens, I respect you” Plato Apol 29d.

When his wife complained Diog Laer 2 5 35.

concoction of poison hemlock See Bloch, who argues that Plato’s description of the effects of poisoning by poison hemlock is accurate.

“ ‘Really, my friends, what kind of behavior’ ” Plato Phaedo 117d–118a.

a repentant demos Diog Laer 2 5 43, Themist 20 239C.

“King Artaxerxes believes it to be just” Xen Hell 5 1 31.

“in the most shameful and lawless way” Plut Age 23 1.

“was not considered to be a man” Xen Hell 5 2 28.

Gorgias, a one-man traveling university See Plato Gorg.

Plato has Socrates foretell Plato Phaed 278e–279a.

“Who would desire a state of affairs” Isoc 4 115–17.

“And so far has our city distanced” Ibid., 4 50.

“compel the Spartans” IG 2² 43.

membership rose to about seventy Diod 15 30 2.

It was the winter of 379 The conspiracy is described in detail in Xen Hell 5 4 2–12, Plut Pel 8–12, and Plut Moral De genio Socratis 25–34.

a Spartan called Sphodrias Sphodrias may have been bribed by the Thebans, a neat device for winning Athens over to their cause.

He asked Epaminondas Plut Age 28 1–2.

an allied army of ten thousand hoplites Plut Pel 20 1.

of about six thousand men Bury, p. 593.

“It is now possible to take vengeance” Xen Hell 6 4 19–20.

“they ordered the women not to cry out” Ibid., 6 4 16.

“Where are the Spartans now?” Plut Sayings Spartans 23.

a well-fortified capital city, Messene Paus 4 27 5–9.

The bones of Aristomenes Ibid., 4 32 3.

22. CHAERONEA—“FATAL TO LIBERTY”

Plutarch’s lives of Demosthenes and Alexander the Great, speeches of Demosthenes and Aeschines, Diodorus Siculus, book 16, and Justin are the main sources.

Chaeronea—“Fatal to Liberty” John Milton, “To the Lady Margaret Ley,” Sonnet 10, line 7.

“I turned to Athens” Isoc 5 129.

“is so intelligent a general” Xen Hell 6 1 15.

“foremost of our race” Isoc Letters 1 7.

“Men of good counsel” Ibid., 9 14.

“I have chosen to challenge you” Isoc 5 128.

“gardens of Midas” Herod 8 138 2.

He would rather not accept favors Arist Rhet 2 23 8.

the usurper sent some distinguished hostages Diod 16 2 2–3.

the roving eye of Pelopidas Dio Chrys 49 5.

Sacred Band, whose self-discipline Plut Amat 761b.

helpless chicks in a nest Xen Hell 7 5 10.

“In that case” Plut Mor 194c.

“the people, discouraged by their experiences” Aes 3 251.

major new building works Camp, pp. 144–60.

a young admirer had himself locked up Luc 15.

“a complete end to war” Xen Por 5 9.

One of its best admirals was killed Chabrias. He spent most of his career in the 380s and 370s before Leuctra fighting the Spartans.

the city had spent 1,000 talents Isoc 7 9.

“the noble cause” Plut Age 36 2.

“Everyone crowded round to catch a glimpse” Ibid., 36 4–5.

“If I have accomplished any glorious act” Plut Sayings Spartan Agesilaus.

“sound judgment in his personal life” Plato Prot 318e–319a.

“it soon showed the preceding government” Plato Ep 7 324b–d.

opened a school of philosophy The Academy remained in being until its destruction in war in the first century B.C. It was revived as a center for Neoplatonism in the fifth century A.D. and was finally closed down by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in A.D. 529.

who paid him memorial honors FGrH 115 F 294.

“The safest general characterization” Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: The Free Press, 1978), p. 39.

“Aristotle kicked against me” Diog Laer 5 1 2.

Hermeias conspired with Philip Dem 10 32.

“I have done nothing unworthy of philosophy” FGrH 124 F2.

an ode in Hermeias’s memory Ath 15 51g.

The schools of Athens These achievements in higher education cemented the cultural dominance of Athens and more widely of Greece during the long centuries of the Roman Empire.

he guessed at the dizzying prospect Diod 16 1 5.

Archon or commander-in-chief for life I follow Green, Alex, p. 47; others place the appointment later in 344 or thereabouts.

lied to and tricked Just 8 3.

“made war by marriage” Athen 13 557b–e.

a good-looking boy Just 7 6.

No city was impregnable Green, Alex, p. 33.

shot an arrow that struck his right eye Just 7 6. In 1977 a richly furnished tomb was excavated at Vergina. The cremated remains of a bearded adult male were found, which were identified as those of Philip on the grounds that the right eye was seriously disfigured. More recently, this judgment has been contested.

Other injuries Dem 18 67.

“an impenetrable hedge of spears” Homer Il 13 131ff.

Philip established an engineering corps Worthington, Spear, p. 37.

taking a hot bath in camp Poly 4 2 1.

“Some of them used to shave” Ath 6 206e–f.

Philip admired the Theban Sacred Band Plut Pel 18 5.

nicknamed him Battalus Plutarch also suggests that in Attica the word was a slang term that signified “asshole.” See Plut Dem 4.

underwent a strict training regime For Demosthenes’ training, see Plut Ten Or 844d–f and Plut Dem 5.

a quotation from the Iliad Hom Il 2 517–19.

what the Greeks came to call a Sacred War A “sacred war” was one connected in some way with the oracle at Delphi. There were three of them, this one being the third. The first two are not mentioned in this book.

They even dug beneath the floor of the temple Diod 16 56 7.

the treasury of the long-ago king of Lydia Ibid., 16 56 6.

“I am retreating like the ram” Pol 2 38 2.

Onomarchus was carried out to sea Eus 8 14 33. There are different versions of Onomarchus’s death. I prefer this one.

Demosthenes succumbed to stage fright Aes 2 34–35.

A treaty was agreed It was called the Peace of Philocrates, after the Athenian lead negotiator.

“When we recently made our way to Delphi” Dem 19 65.

“You wage war on Philip” Ibid., 4 40.

“to go to war for the shadow at Delphi” Dem Peace 5 25.

He delivered a speech The Third Philippic. Philippic was the generic name given to a series of anti-Macedonian speeches made by Demosthenes.

“overwhelmed by Persian gold” Plut Dem 14 2.

the marble column Phil Atthis FGrH 328 54.

“From the spoils of Persians and Thebans” Aes 3 116.

“Nobody dared to mount” Plut Dem 18 1.

“Who wishes to speak?” Dem Steph 18 170.

on August 4, 338, battle commenced Plut Cam 19 5 states that the battle took place on 7 Metageitnion, for which August 4 is the most likely equivalent.

The two armies were more or less equal Information on the Battle of Chaeronea is scarce and vague (see Diodorus, Polyaenus, and Plutarch). I follow Hammond’s reconstruction, pp. 567–70. It is not at all clear what part if any the Greek cavalry played in the battle despite its numerical superiority.

“Let’s drive them back to Macedon!” Pol 4 2 2.

“in the most shameful fashion” Plut Dem 20 2.

“Take me alive” Plut Mor 845f. Perhaps this story, if not invented by his enemies, has grown in the telling.

“Demosthenes, son of Demosthenes” Plut Dem 20 3.

“Fortune has cast you as Agamemnon” Diod 16 87 2.

“Perish any man who suspects” Plut Pel 18 5.

“Philip to enter the Peloponnese” Polyb 18 14 6–7.

“The bull has been garlanded” Diod 16 91 2.

Philip repudiated Olympias Justin 11 11 2.

“You scum, are you saying I am a bastard” Plut Alex 9 4–11 for this complete episode.

he suspected his son and Olympias In this account of the obscure dissensions at Philip’s court I follow Green, Alex, p. 90ff.

kingdom without a successor There was another son, Philip Arridhaeus, but he had learning difficulties.

lavish celebrations to mark the dynastic marriage Green, Alex, pp. 102–10, for a detailed account of Philip’s assassination.

“suitable for a god” Diod 16 92 5.

Olympias’s behavior after the event Justin 9 7 1. This may be a distortion or, even, an invention.

a crown for Pausanias Plut Dem 22 1–2.

“a terrible warning” Arr 1 9 10.

“If Alexander has really died” Plut Phoc 22 5.

“but with greater honor” Plut Dem 27 5.

Wherever he went Demosthenes knew For the death of Demosthenes, see ibid., 29–30, and Plut Ten Or 846d–e 847a–b.

“I was never convinced by your acting” Plut Dem 29 2.

a contentious and divisive figure Polyb 18 14 1.

“No, you were not wrong, men of Athens” Dem 18 208.

23. AFTERWORD—“A GOD-FORSAKEN HOLE”

The main sources are Plutarch’s life of Alexander and Waterfield’s Athens.

Xerxes had seen his invasion Herod 7 42 2–43 2.

Almost the first thing Alexander did For the visit to Troy, the main account can be found at Arr 1 11 7–12 1. Also Plut Alex 15 4.

Alexander tied him to his chariot Curt 4 6 26–29.

just as Achilles had done Hom Il 22 395–404.

“What advantage shall I have over other men” Plut Alex 7 4.

“Through a wise and salutary neglect” Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America 1775.

Athens was reduced These impressionistic paragraphs describing the city’s decline are indebted to Waterfield, pp. 279–314.

“How often will the glory of your ancestors” App 2 13 88.

“You cannot look upon Athens” Waterfield, p. 314. Michael of Chonae, Letters 8.

“We are all Greeks” Waterfield, p. 340.

SOURCES

“a possession for all time” Thuc 1 22.

BY ANTHONY EVERITT

Augustus

Cicero

Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome

The Rise of Rome

The Rise of Athens

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ANTHONY EVERITT, formerly a visiting professor in the visual and performing arts at Nottingham Trent University, has written extensively on European culture and is the author of

Cicero, Augustus, Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome,

and

The Rise of Rome.

He has served as secretary general of the Arts Council of Great Britain. Everitt lives near Colchester, England’s first recorded town, founded by the Romans.

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