THE GREAT AGE OF THE GREEK REPUBLICS TO 362 B.C. [1]
31. THE PERILS OF HELLAS
ASIATIC GREEKS CONQUERED BY CROESUS
The history of the Greeks for many centuries had been uneventful--a
history of their uninterrupted expansion over barbarian lands. But now the
time was approaching when the independent and isolated Greek communities
must meet the attack of the great despotic empires of Asia. The Greek
cities of Asia Minor were the first part of the Hellenic world to be
involved. Their conquest by the Lydian king, Croesus, about the middle of
the sixth century B.C., showed how grave was the danger to Greek
independence from the ambitious designs of Oriental monarchs.
CONQUESTS OF CYRUS AND CAMBYSES
As we have already learned, Croesus himself soon had to submit to a
foreign overlord, in the person of Cyrus the Great. The subjugation of
Lydia and the Greek seaboard by Cyrus extended the Persian Empire to the
Mediterranean. The conquest of Phoenicia and Cyprus by Cambyses added the
Phoenician navy to the resources of the mighty empire. Persia had now
become a sea power, able to cope with the Greeks on their own element. The
subjection of Egypt by the same king led naturally to the annexation of
the Greek colonies on the north African shore. The entire coast of the
eastern Mediterranean had now come under the control of a new, powerful,
and hostile state.
[Illustration: CROESUS ON THE PYRE
Painting on an Athenian vase of about 490 B.C. According to the legend
Cyrus the Great, having made Croesus prisoner, intended to burn him on a
pyre. But the god Apollo, to whose oracle at Delphi Croesus had sent rich
gifts, put out the blaze by a sudden shower of rain. The vase painting
represents the Lydian king sitting enthroned upon the pyre, with a laurel
wreath on his head and a scepter in one hand. With the other hand he pours
a libation. He seems to be performing a religious rite, not to be
suffering an ignominious death.]
[Illustration: PERSIAN ARCHERS (Louvre, Paris)
A frieze of enameled brick from the royal palace at Susa. It is a
masterpiece of Persian art and shows the influence of both Assyrian and
Greek design. Each archer carries a spear, in addition to the bow over the
left shoulder and the quiver on the back. These soldiers probably served
as palace guards, hence the fine robes worn by them.]
CONQUESTS OF DARIUS
The accession of Darius to the Persian throne only increased the dangers
that overshadowed Hellas. He aimed to complete the work of Cyrus and
Cambyses by extending the empire wherever a natural frontier had not been
reached. Accordingly, about 512 B.C., Darius invaded Europe with a large
army, annexed the Greek colonies on the Hellespont (the modern
Dardanelles), and subdued the wild tribes of Thrace and Macedonia. The
Persian dominions now touched those of the Greeks. [2]
[Illustration: Map, GREECE at opening of the PERSIAN WARS 400 B.C.]
THE IONIAN REVOLT, 499-493 B.C.
Not long after this European expedition of Darius, the Ionian cities of
Asia Minor revolted against the Persians. Unable to face their foes
single-handed, they sought aid from Sparta, then the chief military power
of Greece. The Spartans refused to take part in the war, but the
Athenians, who realized the menace to Greece in the Persian advance, sent
ships and men to fight for the Ionians. Even with this help the Ionian
cities could not hold out against the vast resources of the Persians. One
by one they fell again into the hands of the Great King.
32. EXPEDITIONS OF DARIUS AGAINST GREECE
FIRST EXPEDITION, 492 B.C.
No sooner was quiet restored in Asia Minor than Darius began preparations
to punish Athens for her part in the Ionian Revolt. The first expedition
under the command of Mardonius, the son-in-law of the Persian monarch, was
a failure. Mardonius never reached Greece, because the Persian fleet, on
which his army depended for provisions, was wrecked off the promontory of
Mount Athos.
SECOND EXPEDITION, 490 B.C.
Darius did not abandon his designs, in consequence of the disaster. Two
years later a second fleet, bearing a force of perhaps sixty thousand men,
set out from Ionia for Greece. Datis and Artaphernes, the Persian leaders,
sailed straight across the Aegean and landed on the plain of Marathon,
twenty-six miles from Athens.
[Illustration: GRAVESTONE OF ARISTON (National Museum, Athens)
Found near Marathon in 1838 A.D. Belongs to the late sixth century B.C.
Incorrectly called the "Warrior of Marathon"]
BATTLE OF MARATHON, 490 B.C.
The situation of the Athenians seemed desperate. They had scarcely ten
thousand men with whom to face an army far larger and hitherto invincible.
The Spartans promised support, but delayed sending troops at the critical
moment. Better, perhaps, than a Spartan army was the genius of Miltiades,
one of the Athenian generals. Relying on Greek discipline and Greek valor
to win the day, he decided to take the offensive. His heavy armed soldiers
made a smashing charge on the Persians and drove them in confusion to
their ships. Datis and Artaphernes then sailed back to Asia with their
errand of vengeance unfulfilled.
[Illustration: GREEK SOLDIERS IN ARMS
Painting on a Greek vase]
POLICIES OF ARISTIDES AND THEMISTOCLES
After the battle of Marathon the Athenians began to make preparations to
resist another Persian invasion. One of their leaders, the eminent
Aristides, thought that they should increase their army and meet the enemy
on land. His rival, Themistocles, urged a different policy. He would
sacrifice the army to the navy and make Athens the strongest sea power in
Greece. The safety of Athens, he argued, lay in her ships. In order to
settle the question the opposing statesmen were put to the test of
ostracism. [3] The vote went against Aristides, who was obliged to
withdraw into exile. Themistocles, now master of the situation, persuaded
the citizens to use the revenues from some silver mines in Attica for the
upbuilding of a fleet. When the Persians came, the Athenians were able to
oppose them with nearly two hundred triremes [4]--the largest navy in
Greece.
33. XERXES AND THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR
PREPARATIONS OF PERSIA
"Ten years after Marathon," says a Greek historian, "the 'barbarians'
returned with the vast armament which was to enslave Hellas." [5] Darius
was now dead, but his son Xerxes had determined to complete his task. Vast
quantities of provisions were collected; the Hellespont was bridged with
boats; and the rocky promontory of Mount Athos, where a previous fleet had
suffered shipwreck, was pierced with a canal. An army of several hundred
thousand men was brought together from all parts of the Great King's
domain. He evidently intended to crush the Greeks by sheer weight of
numbers.
[Illustration: A THEMISTOCLES OSTRAKON (British Museum, London)
A fragment of a potsherd found in 1897 A.D., near the Acropolis of Athens.
This ostrakon was used to vote for the ostracism of Themistocles, either
in 483 B.C. when he was victorious against Aristides, or some ten years
later, when Themistocles was himself defeated and forced into exile.]
GREEK PREPARATIONS
Xerxes did not have to attack a united Greece. His mighty preparations
frightened many of the Greek states into yielding, when Persian heralds
came to demand "earth and water," the customary symbols of submission.
Some of the other states, such as Thebes, which was jealous of Athens, and
Argos, equally jealous of Sparta, did nothing to help the loyal Greeks
throughout the struggle. But Athens and Sparta with their allies remained
joined for resistance to the end. Upon the suggestion of Themistocles a
congress of representatives from the patriotic states assembled at the
isthmus of Corinth in 481 B.C. Measures of defense were taken, and Sparta
was put in command of the allied fleet and army.
BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE, 480 B.C.
The campaigns of the Great Persian War have been described, once for all,
in the glowing pages of the Greek historian, Herodotus. [6] Early in the
year 480 B.C. the Persian host moved out of Sardis, crossed the
Hellespont, and advanced to the pass of Thermopylae, commanding the
entrance to central Greece. This position, one of great natural strength,
was held by a few thousand Greeks under the Spartan king, Leonidas. For
two days Xerxes hurled his best soldiers against the defenders of
Thermopylae, only to find that numbers did not count in that narrow
defile. There is no telling how long the handful of Greeks might have kept
back the Persian hordes, had not treachery come to the aid of the enemy. A
traitor Greek revealed to Xerxes the existence of an unfrequented path,
leading over the mountain in the rear of the pass. A Persian detachment
marched over the trail by night and took up a position behind the Greeks.
The latter still had time to escape, but three hundred Spartans and
perhaps two thousand allies refused to desert their post. While Persian
officers provided with whips lashed their unwilling troops to battle,
Leonidas and his men fought till spears and swords were broken, and hands
and teeth alone remained as weapons. Xerxes at length gained the pass--but
only over the bodies of its heroic defenders. Years later a monument to
their memory was raised on the field of battle. It bore the simple
inscription: "Stranger, go tell the Spartans that we lie here in obedience
to their commands." [7]
AFTER THERMOPYLAE
After the disaster at Thermopylae nearly all the states of central Greece
submitted to the Persians. They marched rapidly through Boeotia and Attica
to Athens, but found a deserted city. Upon the advice of Themistocles the
non-combatants had withdrawn to places of safety, and the entire fighting
force of Athens had embarked on the ships. The Athenian fleet took up a
position in the strait separating the island of Salamis from Attica and
awaited the enemy. [8]
BATTLE OF SALAMIS, 480 B.C.
The battle of Salamis affords an interesting example of naval tactics in
antiquity. The trireme was regarded as a missile to be hurled with sudden
violence against the opposing ship, in order to disable or sink it. A sea
fight became a series of maneuvers; and victory depended as much on the
skill of the rowers and steersmen as on the bravery of the soldiers. The
Persians at Salamis had many more ships than the Greeks, but Themistocles
rightly believed that in the narrow strait their numbers would be a real
disadvantage to them. Such proved to be the case. The Persians fought
well, but their vessels, crowded together, could not navigate properly and
even wrecked one another by collision. After an all-day contest what
remained of their fleet withdrew from the strait.
[Illustration: AN ATHENIAN TRIREME (Reconstruction)
A trireme is supposed to have had three tiers or banks of oars, placed one
above the other. Each tier thus required an oar about a yard longer than
the one immediately beneath it. There were about two hundred rowers on a
trireme.]
AFTER SALAMIS
The victory at Salamis had important results. It so crippled the Persians
that henceforth they lost command of the sea. Xerxes found it difficult to
keep his men supplied with provisions and at once withdrew with the larger
part of his force to Asia. The Great King himself had no heart for further
fighting, but he left Mardonius, with a strong body of picked troops, to
subjugate the Greeks on land. So the real crisis of the war was yet to
come.
BATTLES OF PLATAEA AND MYCALE, 479 B.C.
Mardonius passed the winter quietly in Thessaly, preparing for the spring
campaign. The Greeks in their turn made a final effort. A strong Spartan
army, supported by the Athenians and their allies, met the Persians near
the little town of Plataea in Boeotia. Here the heavy-armed Greek
soldiers, with their long spears, huge shields, and powerful swords,
easily overcame the enormous masses of the enemy. The success at Plataea
showed how superior to the Persians were the Greeks in equipment,
leadership, and fighting power. At the same time as this battle the
remainder of the Persian fleet suffered a crushing defeat at Mycale, a
promontory off the Ionian coast. These two battles really ended the war.
Never again was Persia to make a serious effort to secure dominion over
Continental Greece.
VICTORIUS HELLAS
The Great Persian War was much more than a conflict between two rival
states. It was a struggle between East and West; between Oriental
despotism and Occidental individualism. On the one side were all the
populous, centralized countries of Asia; on the other side, the small,
disunited states of Greece. In the East was the boundless wealth, in men
and money, of a world-wide empire. In the West were the feeble resources
of a few petty communities. Nevertheless Greece won. The story of her
victory forms an imperishable record in the annals of human freedom.
34. ATHENS UNDER THEMISTOCLES, ARISTIDES, AND CIMON
THEMISTOCLES AND THE FORTIFICATIONS OF ATHENS
After the battle of Plataea the Athenians, with their wives and children,
returned to Attica and began the restoration of their city, which the
Persians had burned. Their first care was to raise a wall so high and
strong Athens in future would be impregnable to attack. Upon the
suggestion of Themistocles it was decided to include within the
fortifications a wide area where all the country people, in case of
another invasion, could find a refuge. Themistocles also persuaded the
Athenians to build a massive wall on the land side of Piraeus, the port
of Athens. That harbor town now became the center of Athenian industry
and commerce.
ARISTIDES AND THE DELIAN LEAGUE, 477 B.C.
While the Athenians were rebuilding their city, important events were
taking place in the Aegean. After the battle of Mycale the Greek states in
Asia Minor and on the islands once more rose in revolt against the
Persians. Aided by Sparta and Athens, they gained several successes and
removed the immediate danger of another Persian attack. It was clearly
necessary, however, for the Greek cities in Asia Minor and the Aegean to
remain in close alliance with the Continental Greeks, if they were to
preserve their independence. Under the guidance of Aristides, the old
rival of Themistocles, [9] the allies formed a union known as the Delian
League.
[Illustration: "THESEUM"
An Athenian temple formerly supposed to have been constructed by Cimon to
receive the bones of the hero Theseus. It is now believed to have been a
temple of Hephaestus and Athena erected about 440 B.C. The 'Theseum' owes
its almost perfect preservation to the fact that during the Middle Ages it
was used as a church.]
CONSTITUTION OF THE LEAGUE
The larger cities in the league agreed to provide ships and crews for a
fleet, while the smaller cities were to make their contributions in money.
Athens assumed the presidency of the league, and Athenian officials
collected the revenues, which were placed in a treasury on the island of
Delos. As head of this new federation Athens now had a position of
supremacy in the Aegean like that which Sparta enjoyed in the
Peloponnesus. [10]
CIMON AND THE WAR AGAINST PERSIA
The man who succeeded Themistocles and Aristides in leadership of the
Athenians was Cimon, son of Miltiades, the hero of Marathon. While yet a
youth his gallantry at the battle of Salamis gained him a great
reputation, and when Aristides introduced him to public life the citizens
welcomed him gladly. He soon became the head of the aristocratic or
conservative party in the Athenian city. To Cimon the Delian League
entrusted the continuation of the war with Persia. The choice was
fortunate, for Cimon had inherited his father's military genius. No man
did more than he to humble the pride of Persia. As the outcome of Cimon's
successful campaigns the southern coast of Asia Minor was added to the
Delian League, and the Greek cities at the mouth of the Black Sea were
freed from the Persian yoke. Thus, with Cimon as its leader, the
confederacy completed the liberation of the Asiatic Greeks.
THE DELIAN LEAGUE BECOMES SUBJECT TO ATHENS, ABOUT 454 B.C.
While the Greeks were gaining these victories, the character of the Delian
League was being transformed. Many of the cities, instead of furnishing
ships, had taken the easier course of making all their contributions in
money. The change really played into the hands of Athens, for the tribute
enabled the Athenians to build the ships themselves and add them to their
own navy. They soon had a fleet powerful enough to coerce any city that
failed to pay its assessments or tried to withdraw from the league.
Eventually the common treasure was transferred from Delos to Athens. The
date of this event (454 B.C.) may be taken as marking the formal
establishment of the Athenian naval empire.
DECLINE OF CIMON'S INFLUENCE
Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies viewed with growing jealousy the rapid
rise of Athens. As long, however, as Cimon remained at the head of
Athenian affairs, there was little danger of a break with Sparta. He
desired his city to keep on good terms with her powerful neighbor: Athens
should be mistress of the seas, and Sparta should be mistress on the
mainland. A contest between them, Cimon foresaw, would work lasting injury
to all Greece. Cimon's pro-Spartan attitude brought him, however, into
disfavor at Athens, and he was ostracized. New men and new policies
henceforth prevailed in the Athenian state.
35. ATHENS UNDER PERICLES
PERICLES
The ostracism of Cimon deprived the aristocrats of their most prominent
representative. It was possible for the democratic or liberal party to
assume complete control of public affairs. Pericles, their leader and
champion, was a man of studious habits. He never appeared on the streets
except when walking between his house and the popular assembly or the
market place, kept rigidly away from dinners and drinking bouts, and ruled
his household with strict economy that he might escape the suspicion of
enriching himself at the public expense. He did not speak often before the
people, but came forward only on special occasions; and the rarity of his
utterances gave them added weight. Pericles was a thorough democrat, but
he used none of the arts of the demagogue. He scorned to flatter the
populace. His power over the people rested on his majestic eloquence, on
his calm dignity of demeanor, and above all on his unselfish devotion to
the welfare of Athens.
[Illustration: PERICLES (British Museum, London)
The bust is probably a good copy of a portrait statue set up during the
lifetime of Pericles on the Athenian Acropolis. The helmet possibly
indicates the office of General held by Pericles.]
AGE OF PERICLES, 461-429 B.C.
The period, about thirty years in length, between the ostracism of Cimon
and the death of Pericles, forms the most brilliant epoch in Greek
history. Under the guidance of Pericles the Athenian naval empire reached
its widest extent. Through his direction Athens became a complete
democracy. Inspired by him the Athenians came to manifest that love of
knowledge, poetry, art, and all beautiful things which, even more than
their empire or their democracy, has made them famous in the annals of
mankind. The Age of Pericles affords, therefore, a convenient opportunity
to set forth the leading features of Athenian civilization in the days of
its greatest glory.
ATHENIAN IMPERIALISM
Athens under Pericles ruled more than two hundred towns and cities in Asia
Minor and the islands of the Aegean Sea. [11] The subjects of Athens, in
return for the protection that she gave them against Persia, owed many
obligations. They paid an annual tribute and furnished soldiers in time of
war. In all legal cases of importance the citizens had to go to Athens for
trial by Athenian courts. The Delian communities, in some instances, were
forced to endure the presence of Athenian garrisons and officers. To the
Greeks at large all this seemed nothing less than high-handed tyranny.
Athens, men felt, had built up an empire on the ruins of Hellenic liberty.
NATURE OF THE ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
If the Athenians possessed an empire, they themselves were citizens of a
state more democratic than any other that has existed, before or since, in
the history of the world. They had now learned how unjust was the rule of
a tyrant or of a privileged class of nobles. They tried, instead, to
afford every one an opportunity to make the laws, to hold office, and to
administer justice. Hence the Athenian popular assembly and law courts
were open to all respectable citizens. The offices, also, were made very
numerous--fourteen hundred in all--so that they might be distributed as
widely as possible. Most of them were annual, and some could not be held
twice by the same person. Election to office was usually by lot. This
arrangement did away with favoritism and helped to give the poor man a
chance in politics, as well as the man of wealth or noble birth.
THE ASSEMBLY
The center of Athenian democracy was the Assembly. Its membership included
every citizen who had reached twenty years of age. Rarely, however, did
the attendance number more than five thousand, since most of the citizens
lived outside the walls in the country districts of Attica. Forty regular
meetings were held every year. These took place on the slopes of the hill
called the Pnyx. A speaker before the Assembly faced a difficult audience.
It was ready to yell its disapproval of his advice, to mock him if he
mispronounced a word, or to drown his voice with shouts and whistles.
Naturally, the debates became a training school for orators. No one could
make his mark in the Assembly who was not a clear and interesting speaker.
Voting was by show of hands, except in cases affecting individuals, such
as ostracism, when the ballot was used. Whatever the decision of the
Assembly, it was final. This great popular gathering settled questions of
war and peace, sent out military and naval expeditions, voted public
expenditures, and had general control over the affairs of Athens and the
empire.
[Illustration: AN ATHENIAN INSCRIPTION
A decree of the Assembly, dating from about 450 B.C.]
THE TEN GENERALS
The Assembly was assisted in the conduct of public business by many
officers and magistrates, among whom the Ten Generals held the leading
place. It was their duty to guide the deliberations of the Assembly and to
execute the orders of that body.
THE JURY COURTS
There was also a system of popular jury courts composed of citizens
selected by lot from the candidates who presented themselves. The number
of jurors varied; as many as a thousand might serve at an important trial.
A court was both judge and jury, it decided by majority vote; and from its
decision lay no appeal. Before these courts public officers accused of
wrong-doing were tried; disputes between different cities of the empire
and other important cases were settled; and all ordinary legal business
affecting the Athenians themselves was transacted. Thus, even in matters
of law, the Athenian government was completely democratic.
STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
Democracy then, reached its height in ancient Athens. The people ruled,
and they ruled directly. Every citizen had some active part in politics.
Such a system worked well in the management of a small city-state like
Athens. But if the Athenians could govern themselves, they proved unable
to govern an empire with justice and wisdom. There was no such thing as
representation in their constitution. The subject cities had no one to
speak for them in the Assembly or before the jury courts. We shall notice
the same absence of a representative system in republican Rome. [12]
SYSTEM OF STATE PAY
A large number of Athenians were relieved from the necessity of working
for themselves through the system of state pay introduced by Pericles.
Jurors, soldiers, and sailors received money for their services. Later, in
the fourth century, citizens accepted fees for attending the Assembly.
These payments, though small, enabled poor citizens to devote much time to
public duties.
INDUSTRIAL ATHENS
Athens contained many skilled workmen whose daily tasks gave them scant
opportunity to engage in the exciting game of politics. The average rate
of wages was very low. In spite of cheap food and modest requirements for
clothing and shelter, it must have been difficult for the laborer to keep
body and soul together. Outside of Athens, in the country districts of
Attica, lived the peasants whose little farms produced the olives, grapes,
and figs for which Attica was celebrated.
SLAVERY
There were many thousands of slaves in Athens and Attica at this period.
Their number was so great and their labor so cheap that we may think of
them as taking the place of modern machines. It was the slaves who did
most of the work on the large estates owned by wealthy men, who toiled in
the mines and quarries, and who served as oarsmen on the ships. The system
of slavery enabled many an Athenian to live a life of leisure, but it
lowered the dignity of labor and tended to prevent the rise of the poorer
citizens to positions of responsibility. In Greece, as in the Orient, [13]
slavery cast its blight over free industry.
COMMERCIAL ATHENS
The Athenian city was now the chief center of Greek commerce. [14] "The
fruits of the whole earth," said Pericles, "flow in upon us; so that we
enjoy the goods of other Commercial countries as freely as of our own."
[15] Exports of Athens wine and olive oil, pottery, metal wares, and
objects of art were sent out from Piraeus [16] to every region of the
Mediterranean. The imports from the Black Sea region, Thrace, and the
Aegean included such commodities as salt, dried fish, wool, timber, hides,
and, above all, great quantities of wheat. Very much as modern England,
Athens was able to feed all her people only by bringing in food from
abroad. To make sure that in time of war there should be no interruption
of food supplies, the Athenians built the celebrated Long Walls, between
the city and its port of Piraeus. (See the map below) Henceforth they felt
secure from attack, as long as their navy ruled the Aegean.
[Illustration: Map, THE VICINITY OF ATHENS]
ARTISTIC AND INTELLECTUAL ATHENS
In the days of her prosperity Athens began to make herself not only a
strong, but also a beautiful, city. The temples and other structures which
were raised on the Acropolis during the Age of Pericles still excite, even
in their ruins, the envy and wonder of mankind. [17] Athens at this time
was also the center of Greek intellectual life. In no other period of
similar length have so many admirable books been produced. No other epoch
has given birth to so many men of varied and delightful genius. The
greatest poets, historians, and philosophers of Greece were Athenians,
either by birth or training. As Pericles himself said in a noble speech,
Athens was "the school of Hellas." [18]
36. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR, 431-404 B.C.
INEVITABLENESS OF THE WAR
The brilliant Age of Pericles had not come to an end before the two chief
powers in the Hellenic world became involved in a deadly war. It would
seem that Athens and Sparta, the one supreme upon the sea, the other at
the head of the Peloponnesus, might have avoided a struggle which was sure
to be long and costly. But Greek cities were always ready to fight one
another. When Athens and Sparta found themselves rivals for the leadership
of Greece, it was easy for the smouldering fires of distrust and jealousy
to flame forth into open conflict. "And at that time," says Thucydides,
the Athenian historian who described the struggle, "the youth of Sparta
and the youth of Athens were numerous; they had never seen war, and were
therefore very willing to take up arms." [19]
[Illustration: Map, GREECE at Opening of the PELOPONNESIAN WAR 431 B.C.]
[Illustration: THE "MOURNING ATHENA" (Acropolis Museum, Athens)
A tablet of Pentelic marble. Athena, leaning on her spear, is gazing with
downcast head at a grave monument.]
ORIGIN OF THE WAR
The conflict was brought on by Corinth, one of the leading members of the
Peloponnesian League and, next to Athens, the most important commercial
power in Greece. She had already seen her once-profitable trade in the
Aegean monopolized by Athens. That energetic city was now reaching out for
Corinthian commerce in Italian and Sicilian waters. When the Athenians
went so far as to interfere in a quarrel between Corinth and her colony of
Corcyra, even allying themselves with the latter city, the Corinthians
felt justly resentful and appealed to Sparta for aid. The Spartans
listened to their appeal and, with the apparent approval of the Delphic
oracle which assured them "that they would conquer if they fought with all
their might," [20] declared war.
RESOURCES OF THE CONTESTANTS
The two antagonists were fairly matched. The one was strong where the
other was weak. Sparta, mainly a continental power, commanded all the
Peloponnesian states except Argos and Achaea, besides some of the smaller
states of central Greece. Athens, mainly a maritime power, ruled all the
subject cities of the Aegean. The Spartans possessed the most formidable
army then in the world, but lacked money and ships. The Athenians had a
magnificent navy, an overflowing treasury, and a city impregnable to
direct attack. It seemed, in fact, as if neither side could seriously
injure the other.
FIRST STAGE OF THE WAR, 431-421 B.C.
The war began in 431 B.C. Its first stage was indecisive. The Athenians
avoided a conflict in the open field with the stronger Peloponnesian army,
which ravaged Attica. They were crippled almost at the outset of the
struggle by a terrible plague among the refugees from Attica, crowded
behind the Long Walls. The pestilence slew at least one-fourth of the
inhabitants of Athens, including Pericles himself. After ten years of
fighting both sides grew weary of the war and made a treaty of peace to
last for fifty years.
THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION, 4l5-4l3 B.C.
Not long after the conclusion of peace the Athenians were persuaded by a
brilliant and ambitious politician, named Alcibiades, to undertake an
expedition against Syracuse in Sicily. This city was a colony of Corinth,
and hence was a natural ally of the Peloponnesian states. The Athenians,
by conquering it, expected to establish their power in Sicily. But the
siege of Syracuse ended in a complete failure. The Athenians failed to
capture the city, and in a great naval battle they lost their fleet. Then
they tried to retreat by land, but soon had to surrender. Many of the
prisoners were sold as slaves; many were thrown by their inhuman captors
into the stone quarries near Syracuse, where they perished from exposure
and starvation. The Athenians, says Thucydides, "were absolutely
annihilated--both army and fleet--and of the many thousands who went away
only a handful ever saw their homes again." [21]
[Illustration: A SILVER COIN OF SYRACUSE
The profile of the nymph Arethusa has been styled the most exquisite Greek
head known to us.]
LAST STAGE OF THE WAR 413-404 B.C.
Athens never recovered from this terrible blow. The Spartans quickly
renewed the contest, now with the highest hopes of success. The Athenians
had to guard their city against the invader night and day; their slaves
deserted to the enemy; and they themselves could do no farming except
under the walls of the city. For supplies they had to depend entirely on
their ships. For nearly ten years, however, the Athenians kept up the
struggle. At length the Spartans captured an Athenian fleet near
Aegospotami on the Hellespont. Soon afterwards they blockaded Piraeus and
their army encamped before the walls of Athens. Bitter famine compelled
the Athenians to sue for peace. The Spartans imposed harsh terms. The
Athenians were obliged to destroy their Long Walls and the fortifications
of Piraeus, to surrender all but twelve of their warships, and to
acknowledge the supremacy of Sparta.
37. THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES, 404-362 B.C.
SPARTAN DESPOTISM
Sparta was now the undisputed leader of Continental Greece and of the
Aegean. As the representative of the liberty-loving Greeks she had humbled
the pride and power of "tyrant" Athens. A great opportunity lay before her
to reorganize the Hellenic world and to end the struggles for supremacy
between rival cities. But Sparta entered upon no such glorious career. She
had always stood as the champion of aristocracy against democracy, and now
in her hour of triumph she began to overturn every democratic government
that still existed in Greece. The Greek cities soon found they had
exchanged the mild sway of Athens for the brutal despotism of Sparta.
THE FREEING OF THEBES 379 B.C.
But Spartan despotism provoked resistance. It was the Boeotian city of
Thebes which raised the standard of revolt. Some of the liberty-loving
Thebans, headed by Pelopidas, a patriotic noble, formed a conspiracy to
drive the Spartans out of the city. Disguised as huntsmen, Pelopidas and
his followers entered Thebes at nightfall, killed the tyrants whom Sparta
had set over the people, and forced the Spartan garrison to surrender.
BATTLE OF LEUCTRA, 371 B.C.
The Thebans had now recovered their independence. Eight years later they
totally defeated a superior Peloponnesian force at the battle of Leuctra
and brought the supremacy of Sparta to an end. This engagement from a
military standpoint is one of the most interesting in ancient history.
Epaminondas, the skilful Theban commander, massed his best troops in a
solid column, fifty men deep, and hurled it with terrific force against
the Spartan ranks. The enemy, drawn up twelve men deep in the customary
formation, could not withstand the impact of the Theban column; their
lines gave way, and the fight was soon won. The battle destroyed once for
all the legend of Spartan invincibility.
PELOPIDAS AND EPAMINONDAS
The sudden rise of Thebes to the position of the first city in Greece was
the work of two men whose names are always linked together in the annals
of the time. In Pelopidas and Epaminondas, bosom friends and colleagues,
Thebes found the heroes of her struggle for independence. Pelopidas was a
fiery warrior whose bravery and daring won the hearts of his soldiers.
Epaminondas was both an able general and an eminent statesman. No other
Greek, save perhaps Pericles, can be compared with him. Even Pericles
worked for Athens alone and showed no regard for the rest of Greece.
Epaminondas had nobler ideals and sought the general good of the Hellenic
race. He fought less to destroy Sparta than to curb that city's power of
doing harm. He aimed not so much to make Thebes mistress of an empire as
to give her a proper place among Greek cities. The Thebans, indeed,
sometimes complained that Epaminondas loved Hellas more than his native
city.
BATTLE OF MANTINEA, 362 B.C.
By crippling Sparta, Epaminondas raised Thebes to a position of supremacy.
Had he been spared for a longer service, Epaminondas might have realized
his dream of bringing unity and order into the troubled politics of his
time. But circumstances were too strong for him. The Greek states, which
had accepted the leadership of Athens and Sparta, were unwilling to admit
the claims of Thebes to a position of equal power and importance. The
period of Theban rule was filled, therefore, with perpetual conflict. Nine
years after Leuctra Epaminondas himself fell in battle at Mantinea in the
Peloponnesus, and with his death ended the brief glory of Thebes.
38. DECLINE OF THE CITY-STATE
WEAKNESS OF CITY-STATES
The battle of Mantinea proved that no single city--Athens, Sparta, or
Thebes--was strong enough to rule Greece. By the middle of the fourth
century B.C. it had become evident that a great Hellenic power could the
not be created out of the little, independent city-states of Greece.
A RECORD OF ALMOST CEASELESS CONFLICT
The history of Continental Hellas for more than a century after the close
of the Persian War had been a record of almost ceaseless conflict. We have
seen how Greece came to be split up into two great alliances, the one a
naval league ruled by Athens, the other a confederacy of Peloponnesian
cities under the leadership of Sparta. How the Delian League became the
Athenian Empire; how Sparta began a long war with Athens to secure the
independence of the subject states and ended it by reducing them to her
own supremacy; how the rough-handed sway of Sparta led to the revolt of
her allies and dependencies and the sudden rise of Thebes to supremacy;
how Thebes herself established an empire on the ruins of Spartan rule--
this is a story of fruitless and exhausting struggles which sounded the
knell of Greek liberty and the end of the city-state.
THE FUTURE
Far away in the north, remote from the noisy conflicts of Greek political
life, a new power was slowly rising to imperial greatness--no
insignificant city-state, but an extensive territorial state like those of
modern times. Three years after the battle of Mantinea Philip II ascended
the throne of Macedonia. He established Hellenic unity by bringing the
Hellenic people within a widespread empire. Alexander the Great, the son
of this king, carried Macedonian dominion and Greek culture to the ends of
the known world. To this new period of ancient history we now turn.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the principal places mentioned in this
chapter.
2. On an outline map indicate the Athenian allies and dependencies and
those of Sparta at the opening of the Peloponnesian War.
3. What do you understand by a "decisive" battle? Why has Marathon been
considered such a battle?
4. Why did Xerxes take the longer route through Thrace, instead of the
shorter route followed by Datis and Artaphernes?
5. What was the importance of the Phoenician fleet in the Persian
invasions?
6. What reasons can be given for the Greek victory in the struggle against
Persia?
7. Distinguish between a confederacy and an empire.
8. Compare the relations of the Delian subject cities to Athens with those
of British colonies, such as Canada and Australia, to England.
9. What do you understand by representative government?
10. If the Athenian Empire could have rested on a representative basis,
why would it have been more likely to endure?
11. How far can the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for
the people" be applied to the Athenian democracy?
12. Did the popular assembly of Athens have any resemblance to a New
England town meeting?
13. Compare the Athenian jury system with that of England and the United
States.
14. The Athenian democracy of the time of Pericles has been described as a
_pure_ democracy and not, like the American, as a _representative_
democracy. In what lies the difference?
15. Can you suggest any objections to the system of state pay introduced
by Pericles? To what extent do we employ the same system under our
government?
16. What conditions of the time help to explain the contempt of the Greeks
for money-making?
17. Trace on the map, page 107, the Long Walls of Athens.
18. Why has the Peloponnesian War been called an "irrepressible conflict"?
Why has it been called the "suicide of Greece"?
19. What states of the Greek mainland were neutral in the Peloponnesian
War (map facing page 108)?
20. Contrast the resources of the contending parties. Where was each side
weak and where strong?
21. Why was the tyranny of Sparta more oppressive than that of Athens?
22. What were the reasons for the failure of the Athenian, Spartan, and
Theban attempts at empire?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, _Readings in Ancient History_, chapter vii, "Xerxes and the
Persian Invasion of Greece"; chapter viii, "Episodes from the
Peloponnesian War"; chapter ix, "Alcibiades the Athenian"; chapter x, "The
Expedition of the Ten Thousand"; chapter xi, "The Trial and Death of
Socrates."
[2] See the map facing page 38.
[3] See page 87.
[4] See the illustration, page 99.
[5] Thucydides, i, 18.
[6] See page 272.
[7] Herodotus, vii, 228.
[8] See the map on page 107.
[9] See page 96.
[10] See page 83.
[11] See the map facing page 108.
[12] See page 155.
[13] See page 44.
[14] The commercial importance of Athens is indicated by the general
adoption of her monetary standard by the other Greek states. (For
illustrations of Greek coins see the plate facing page 134.)
[15] Thucydides, ii, 38.
[16] See the map, page 107.
[17] For a description of ancient Athens, see pages 288-292.
[18] Thucydides, ii, 41.
[19] Thucydides, ii, 8.
[20] Thucydides, i, 118.
[21] Thucydides, vii, 87.