Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy & the Birth of Democracy (56 page)

Cimon recovers the bones of Theseus from Skyros: Plutarch,
Life of Theseus
and
Life of Cimon;
also, William Blake Tyrrell and Frieda S. Brown,
Athenian Myths and Institutions.
The artist Mikon paints a scene showing Theseus with the sea goddess Amphitrite on the wall of the new temple of Theseus: Pausanias,
Description of Greece,
1.17.2-3. An Athenian red-figure
kylix,
now in the Louvre, is painted with the same scene: see Thomas H. Carpenter,
Art and Myth in Ancient Greece,
figure 244. The triakontor of Theseus in Athenian lore and ritual: Plutarch,
Life of Theseus;
Plato,
Phaedo.
The identification of the sacred triakontor with the ship
Delias
in an ancient lexicon was suggested by Borimir Jordan in
The Athenian Navy in the Classical Period.

Themistocles flees to Persia and is welcomed by the Great King: Thucydides, 1.135-38; Diodorus Siculus, entry for the year 471-470 B.C.; Nepos,
Life of Themistocles;
Plutarch,
Life of Themistocles.
Praise of Themistocles’ genius: Thucydides, 1.138.3, translation by Rex Warner.

Based on the testimony of Plutarch in his
Life of Cimon,
some modern scholars argue that the Peace of Callias negotiated in 449 B.C. between Athens and Persia was preceded by a similar, short-lived peace also negotiated by Callias immediately following Cimon’s victory at the Eurymedon River in about 466 B.C. For a full review of the evidence see Ernst Badian,
From Plataea to Potidaea: Studies in the History and Historiography of the Pentecontaetia.

Epigraph, page 95: Xenophon the Orator,
Constitution of the Athenians,
1.2.

The radical democratic reforms of Ephialtes in 462-461 B.C. and the ostracism of Cimon: Aristotle,
Constitution of Athens,
25-26; Diodorus Siculus, entry for the year 460-459 B.C. in 11.77 (as is often the case, Diodorus’ chronology is unreliable); Plutarch,
Life of Cimon.
Early career of Pericles, including his sponsorship of Aeschylus’
Persians
in 472 B.C. and his association with Ephialtes: Plutarch,
Life of Pericles.
Quote from Aeschylus,
Persians,
lines 241-42.

The Athenian and allied expedition to Egypt: Thucydides, 1.104 and 1.109-111; Diodorus Siculus, entries for the years 463-462 to 460-459 B.C. in 11.71-11.77. (Diodorus’ chronology is too early, but he provides more details about the Egyptian expedition than Thucydides. The correct dates should be about 460 or 459 to 454 B.C.) Ancient evidence for the short-lived Athenian control of Dor (or Dorus) on the coast of Palestine, south of Phoenicia, is discussed by Russell Meiggs in
The Athenian Empire,
at pages 102, 245, and 420-21.

War in the Saronic Gulf and on the Greek mainland, including the battle of Tanagra and the circumnavigations of the Peloponnese by Tolmides and Pericles (an extended period of conflict also known as the First Peloponnesian War) from about 459 to 446 B.C. : Thucydides, 1.103-8 and 1.111-15; Diodorus Siculus, 11.78- 11.88. Inscription recording Athenian citizens of the Erectheid tribe who fell in a single year in Cyprus, Egypt, Phoenicia, Halieis, Aegina, and Megara: inscription of about 459 B.C. listed as IG II
²
, 929. The Athenians build Long Walls to join Athens to the coast at Phaleron and the Piraeus: David H. Conwell,
Connecting a City to the Sea.

The Peace of Callias that ended the wars between Athens and Persia: Diodorus Siculus, 12.4. Thucydides does not mention this Peace of Callias, and its existence was challenged even in antiquity. Scholars are still divided on its date, nature, and exact terms.

Epigraph, page 110: Strabo,
Geography,
1.1.16.

Everyday life for Athenian mariners: Robert Flacelière,
Daily Life in Greece at the Time of Pericles.
A bone of fin whale found in the Athenian Agora: John K. Papadopoulos and Deborah Ruscillo, “A Ketos in Early Athens: An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in the Greek World,”
American Journal of Archaeology.
Naval life at sea and ashore: M. Amit,
Athens and the Sea: A Study in Athenian Sea-Power.
The trireme
Paralos
and its crew, also the sacred trireme
Ammonias
and its missions to the oracle of Zeus Ammon in North Africa: Borimir Jordan,
The Athenian Navy in the Classical Period.
Hazards and ailments of rowers:
Hippocratic Corpus—
“Epidemics,” 5.32 (the man who fell on the anchor) and “On Fistulas,” 1.102 (cures for fistula of the anus in rowers). “As the Athenian goes into the harbor”: Aristophanes,
Babylonians,
fragment 87.

The Piraeus: Robert Garland,
The Piraeus from the Fifth to the First Centuries B.C.;
an overview of the Piraeus with a focus on inscriptions and religious cults. Hippodamus of Miletus: biography reconstructed by Vanessa B. Gorman in
Miletos: The Ornament of Ionia.
Excavations that revealed Hippodamus’ street grid and the typical Piraeus house: George A. Steinhauer, “Ancient Piraeus: The City of Themistocles and Hippodamus,” in
Piraeus: Centre of Shipping and Culture.
The wit who asked for silence during his haircut was King Archelaus of Macedon. Lines describing cargo of Dionysus: Hermippus,
Porters,
fragment 63. The Phoenician tombstone with the ship-headed god is in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Symposia and metaphorical seafaring: M. I. Davies, “Sailing, Rowing, and Sporting in One’s Cups on the Wine-Dark Sea,” in
Athens Comes of Age: From Solon to Salamis,
ed. William Childs. Seafarers and sex: Jeffrey Henderson,
The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language in Attic Comedy.

 

 

Epigraph for Part Three, page 123: Pericles’ speech to the Athenians in 430 B.C., in Thucydides, 2.64, translation by Rex Warner.

Epigraph, page 125: R. Kassel and C. Austin,
Poetae Comici Graeci,
vol. VIII, fragment 155.

The life and vision of Pericles: Plutarch,
Life of Pericles;
Thucydides, 2.35-46, “Pericles’ Funeral Oration”; also Donald Kagan,
Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy;
Philip A. Stadter,
A Commentary on Plutarch’s Pericles;
and Loren J. Samons, ed.,
The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Pericles.
The building program, including the Parthenon: Plutarch,
Life of Pericles;
Jeffrey M. Hurwit,
The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles.

Pericles’ eloquence compared to the work of bees: Eupolis,
Demes,
fragment 102. Pericles explains the nature of an eclipse to his steersman: Plutarch,
Life of Pericles,
35. Pericles likens Athens to the “School of Greece” and gives his opinion of the citizen who does not participate in public affairs: Thucydides, 2.41 and 2.40. Herodotus on the poor performance of the rebellious Ionian fleets at Lade in 493 B.C.: Herodotus, 6.7-16 and 7.139, translations by Aubrey de Sélincourt. Sophocles on the cowardly commander during a storm at sea: Sophocles,
Ajax,
lines 1142-46, translated by E. F. Watling.

The maritime empire: Russell Meiggs,
The Athenian Empire,
a work that includes maps of each district, lists of subject cities and the tribute that they paid, a chronological overview of the empire, and numerous specialist studies. For the expansion into the Black Sea, see also Marianna Koromila,
The Greeks and the Black Sea.
The Samian War of 440 B.C.: Thucydides, 1.115-17, and Diodorus Siculus, 12.27-28. The Panathenaea festival: Jenifer Neils, et al.,
Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens.

Epigraph, page 138: Aeschylus,
Suppliants,
lines 438-42, adapted from the translation by Philip Vellacott, Penguin Classics, 1961.

Athenian conflicts with Corinth and Megara escalate into a full-blown Peloponnesian War: Thucydides, books 1 and 2 (including all quotations attributed to Pericles); Diodorus Siculus, 12.30-45; Plutarch,
Life of Pericles.
The adventures of Socrates and Alcibiades at the siege of Potidaea: Plato,
Symposium.
Pericles on the difficulties faced by Spartans in trying to learn seamanship: Thucydides, 1.142, translation by Rex Warner. The fear felt by the people on seeing their steersman fail: Sophocles,
Oedipus Rex,
lines 922-23. Many attempts have been made to identify the great plague of Athens, but no known disease fits all the symptoms listed by Thucydides. Overview of the events leading up to the war, and the campaigns of the first two years: Donald Kagan,
The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War.

Epigraph, page 154: Xenophon,
Memorabilia,
3.1.6.

Life and character of Phormio: Eupolis’ comedy
Taxiarchs
(fragments); Pausanias,
Description of Greece,
1.23.12, with information on Phormio’s background linked to mention of his statue on the Acropolis. Pausanias mentions Phormio’s disgrace and the people’s discharging of his debts so that he can accept the command in Acarnania in the winter of 430-429 B.C. For additional details see book 3, fragment 8 of Androtion’s
Atthis,
or local chronicle of Attica, published with translation and commentary in Phillip Harding,
Androtion and the Atthis.
The lines from an Athenian comedy that describe Phormio setting up a lead tripod (instead of three silver ones) are fragment 957 in R. Kassel and C. Austin,
Poetae Comici Graeci,
vol. VIII.

Phormio’s early campaigns: expedition to Acarnania to capture the city of Amphilochian Argos (in the 450s?) leading to an alliance between Acarnanians and Athenians, reported in Thucydides, 2.68. Phormio uses playacting to fool the citizens of Chalcis (probably the Chalcis in Aetolia, west of Naupactus) into opening their gates: Polyaenus,
Stratagems,
3.4.1. With thirty Athenian ships Phormio uses cavalry-style maneuvers to gain a victory over an enemy fleet of fifty: Polyaenus,
Stratagems,
3.4.2. Polyaenus is the only source for this major battle. For a discussion of Phormio’s tactics see John R. Hale, “Phormio Crosses the T.” Phormio and two other Athenian generals bring a relief fleet to join Pericles at Samos during the Samian War of 440 B.C.: Thucydides, 1.117.

The topography and history of Naupactus: Pausanias,
Description of Greece,
10.38.5. Phormio sent with twenty ships to Naupactus in winter 430-429 B.C.: Thucydides, 2.69. The little walled harbor at Naupactus is artificial and just the right size for the twenty triremes that the Athenians habitually stationed there during the Peloponnesian War. Although the harbor fortifications visible today are Venetian (Naupactus is the ancient name for Lepanto, famous for the last great battle of galleys in A.D. 1471), it is possible that the walls rest on ancient Greek foundations laid down by Phormio in the winter of 430-429 B.C.

The battle of Patras in summer 429 B.C.: Thucydides, 2.83-84, and Diodorus Siculus, 12.48. Some scholars have asserted that the “dawn wind” that disrupts the Peloponnesian
kyklos
seems too convenient to be true, but it still blows almost daily in the eastern part of the Gulf of Patras and is mentioned in manuals for pilots in the Mediterranean.

Thucydides calls the cape where Phormio camped Rhium of Molycria. This was also the site of the sanctuary of Poseidon. Its modern name is Antirrio, while modern Cape Rhium or Rhio lies across the channel on the southern shore. Today a spectacular suspension bridge joins the two capes.

Phormio’s speech to the mutinous crews and the battle of Naupactus: Thucydides, 2.88-92 (translation by Rex Warner), and Diodorus Siculus, 12.48 (where Phormio is called “puffed up with pride” for tackling an enemy so much more numerous than his own fleet). Some medieval manuscripts of Thucydides’ text state that Phormio faced seventy-seven enemy ships in the battle at Naupactus; others give the figure as fifty-seven. The higher figure seems more likely in view of the Peloponnesian array in four lines of ships (their line would have been shorter than Phormio’s if the Spartans commanded only fifty-seven ships) and the statement that Timocrates’ flying squadron of twenty triremes was added to the right wing, rather than being itself the right wing.

The racing turn around the anchored freighter is credited to Phormio and the
Paralos
in Polyaenus,
Stratagems,
3.4.3. (Thucydides identifies neither the ship nor its commander.) Victory trophies from the battle set up in the stoa of the Athenians at Delphi, with an inscription also mentioning the dedication to Poseidon and Theseus at Rhium: Pausanias,
Description of Greece,
10.11.5.

Phormio’s tactical genius: Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant,
Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society,
where a comparison is drawn between Phormio’s encircling maneuver against the Peloponnesian
kyklos
at Patras and a traditional Mediterranean tuna hunt or “mattanza.” See also John R. Hale, “General Phormio’s Art of War,” in
Polis and Polemos,
ed. Charles D. Hamilton and Peter Krentz, in which Phormio’s approach to tactics is compared to that of the slightly earlier Chinese military genius Sunzi or Sun-tzu.

Epigraph, page 171: Sophocles,
Antigone,
lines 715-17.

Historical narrative: Thucydides, 2.93-5.25; Diodorus Siculus, 12.49-74; Plutarch,
Life of Nicias.
Modern works on this period include Donald Kagan,
The Archidamian War,
and John B. Wilson,
Pylos 425 B.C. : A Historical and Topographical Study of Thucydides’ Account of the Campaign.
Remarkable archaeological evidence for Cleon’s successful expedition is a crumpled bronze hoplite shield inscribed THE ATHENIANS FROM THE LACEDAEMONIANS ON PYLOS that was discovered in a cistern during the American excavations in the Agora: see John M. Camp,
The Athenian Agora: Excavations in the Heart of Classical Athens.