1 / 26

For Monday: Salamis and Plataea

For Monday: Salamis and Plataea. Everyone : AGW pp. 264-270; D&G 7.31-51 Surnames A-D : read Hdt . book 8 Surnames E-L : read Hdt . book 9 Surnames M-Z : read Plut . Themistocles Questions: A-D : what strategies did Themistokles employ that led to victory at Salamis?

chi
Download Presentation

For Monday: Salamis and Plataea

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. For Monday:Salamis and Plataea Everyone: AGWpp. 264-270; D&G 7.31-51 SurnamesA-D: read Hdt. book 8 SurnamesE-L: read Hdt. book 9 Surnames M-Z: read Plut. Themistocles • Questions: • A-D: what strategies did Themistokles employ that led to victory at Salamis? • E-L: who deserved credit for victory over the Persians? • M-Z: what was the character of Themistokles, and did he earnkleosand timêfor his display of aretê?

  2. Persians Wars: defense of isonomia • Why was Marathon significant? • How did future generations of Athenians view it? • What do you expect the repercussions to be from Persia? • How should the Athenians respond to the recalcitrant Spartans and other poleis in the event of another invasion? Leonidas(?), 480 BCE

  3. Athenian reforms after Marathon • 488/7: Ostracism – “Now that the people were confident, they used for the first time the law about ostracism: this had been enacted through suspicion of men in powerful position …. The first man to be ostracized was … Hipparchus [archon 496/5] …. For three years [they ostracized] friends of the tyrants, but after that … anyone else … too powerful” (Ath. Pol. 22.3-6) • Hipparchos (Peisistratid), 488/7 • Megakles (Alkmaionid), 487/6 • Friend of the tyrants: 486/5 • Xanthippos (Alkmaionid; Pericles’ father), 485/4 • Aristeides son of Lysimachos, 483/2 (year of the silver strike at Laurion) • Archons chosen by lot, strategoielected one per tribe, 487/6

  4. Ostracism and the strategeia (“generalship”) – the deeper significance • What does the evidence for ostracism tell us about the state of political affairs in Athens after Marathon? • What does a shift from a polemarchoschosen by lot to elected strategoimean for democracy? • What do Athens and her strategoi(“generals”) need to do to prepare adequately for war?

  5. 483/2: silver strike at Laureion – for the demos individually or collectively? • “When the mines … were discovered … some proposed that the money should be distributed to the people … but Themistocles prevented this …; he had a hundred triremes built” (Ath. Const. 22.7). • “Three years later [481/0] … in the archonship of Hypsichides, all the ostracized persons were recalled, on account of the advance of the army of Xerxes …” (ibid.) Athenian “owl” tetradrachmas, early 5th c. BCE Trireme Olympias on her maiden voyage in 1987

  6. Striking it rich – at what cost? • Themistokles represented the advocates of war, Aristeides the advocates of an alternative. Was there an alternative to preparing for war? • Was Themistokles’ decision to allocate the silver to the construction of a fleet a prudent political choice? • How might the decision of Themistokles to build a fleet affect the balance of power among poleis if the Greeks survive another Persian onslaught? • What impact would the recall of all political exiles [in 481/0] have on Athenian foreign policy?

  7. Trireme Olympias ca. 1987

  8. Xerxes’ invasion: the array of nations (4200 ships, 5,283,220 allied forces + 1207 warships), mobilized and on the march from Sardis to Thermopylae (Hdt. 7.60-100, 184-7)

  9. Xerxes bridges the Hellespont “Xerxes gave orders that the Hellespont should receive 300 lashes and have a pair of fetters thrown into it” (Hdt. 7.35) 360 314

  10. “Xerxes’ army drank the river Lisus dry” (Hdt. 7.107) Pontoon bridge X Cape Artemisium Thermopylae X Xerxes’ fleet Delphi Xerxes’ army Thebes “Most of the Greeks were unwilling to fight … and ready to accept Persian dominion” (Hdt. 7.138; see 7.132 (incl. Thebes), 149 (Argos), 163 (~Syracuse) for medizers) Athens Sparta

  11. Xerxes’ invasion – “the purpose was the conquest … of the whole of Greece” (Hdt. 7.138) • Xerxes, King of Persia, threw the entire weight of his kingdom against the poleis of Greece. Was this a wise choice? What other options did he have? • Was his allocation of resources overkill or appropriate to the task? • What was the meaning of his uncle Artabanus’ advice (read Hdt. 7.10d-f, pp. 419-20)?

  12. Xerxes’ canal at Mt. Athos, Chalcidike N “… it was mere ostentation that made Xerxes have the canal dug” (Hdt. 7.12)

  13. Herodotus, Xerxes and ἦθος (êthos) or “character” • Considering Xerxes’ behavior at the Hellespont and Mt. Athos, how does Herodotus present the character of Xerxes? Does Herodotus view him as sympathetic, as tragic, or as an arrogant, hubristic monarch? • If you were to construct a Greek play – a tragedy – about Xerxes and the wars that he instigated, would you see him as sympathetic, as tragic, or as an arrogant, hubristic monarch?

  14. Delphi’s prophecies: Hdt. 7.140-143 • Why are there two oracles given to the Athenians on the eve of engagement with the Persians? • What were the two interpretations of the second oracle? (7.143, p. 463) “Though all else shall be taken within the bound of Cecrops … yet Zeus the all-seeing grants to Athena’s prayer that the wooden wall only shall not fall, but help you and your children” (Hdt. 7.141). Athens ca. 480 BCE

  15. Versions of the events at Thermopylae:Good (300, novel – F. Miller & L. Varley; film – Z. Snyder)Better (Gates of Fire, novel – Stephen Pressfield)Best (Histories, historical account – Herodotus) Vale of Tempe

  16. Course of Persian army and fleet:does this strategy make sense?

  17. Sparta decides to take a stand at Thermopylae:a) why?b) is this in keeping with its philosophy and national interests?

  18. Leonidas, King of Sparta and ~7000 hoplites:μολὼν λαβέ(molōnlabe: Plut. Moralia 225c11)“Come and take [them]!”

  19. Aerial view

  20. Rough location of the Phocian wall Coastline ca. 480

  21. Ephialtes’ track(?) above Thermopylae and the last stand: Spartans, Thespians and Thebans

  22. Arrowheads from ThermopylaeHelmet said to be from Thermopylae National Archaeological Museum, Athens Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

  23. After Thermopylae: did the Spartans die in vain? Why were they willing to sacrifice themselves?(see Hdt. 7.102, 104: Demaratus to Xerxes) “Oh stranger, go tell the Spartans that here / we lie, to their orders [or laws]obedient” (Hdt. 7.228). Ὦ ξεῖν’, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτιτᾖδε κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι. Ō ksein', angelleinLakedaimonioishotitēidekeimetha, toiskeinōnrhēmasipeithomenoi Xerxes and Leonidas’ head: “normally the Persians, more than any other nation I know of, honor men who distinguish themselves in war” (Hdt. 7.238)

  24. Next: Salamis, the Isthmus, Diolkos and the Wall Salamis Athens Diolkos Diolkos

  25. Cape Artemisium • Euboea Thermopylae X Plataea  Delphi • Marathon • Athens X Salamis Corinth • Isthmus

  26. For Monday:Salamis and Plataea Everyone: AGWpp. 264-270; D&G 7.31-51 SurnamesA-D: read Hdt. book 8 SurnamesE-L: read Hdt. book 9 Surnames M-Z: read Plut. Themistocles • Questions: • A-D: what strategies did Themistokles employ that led to victory at Salamis? • E-L: who deserved credit for victory over the Persians? • M-Z: what was the character of Themistokles, and did he earnkleosand timêfor his display of aretê?

More Related