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

Course of Persian army and fleet: does this strategy make sense?. After Thermopylae: why did the Spartans 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 ).

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

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

  2. After Thermopylae: why did the Spartans 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)

  3. Salamis, the Isthmus, Diolkos and the Wall Salamis Athens Diolkos Diolkos

  4. Cape Artemisium Thermopylae • Euboea • Marathon  Delphi X Plataea • Athens XSalamis Isthmus • Corinth • Aegina • Troezen

  5. Salamis and Plataea Everyone: AGW pp. 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?

  6. Xerxes sacks Athens, 480 BCE(Mardonius sacks Athens, 479 BCE “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 … Turn your back and withdraw from the foe. Truly a day will come when you will meet him face to face. Divine Salamis, you will bring death to women’s sons when the corn is scattered, or the harvest gathered in.” (Hdt. 7.141).

  7. Decree of Themistokles(D&G 7.31): 3rd c. BCE copy (or forgery) of a 480 BCE decree: how can we tell which it is? [Gods]. It was resol[ved] by the boule and the demos: Themis[tokl]es … proposed the motion… [a]l[l] Athenian[s and the metoi]koi should place [their chil]dre[n] and wiv]esi[n] Troizen … and t[he old people and the] moveable possessions on Salamis[; and that the treasurers and the p]riestesses should remain on the Akropoli[s … and that all the other Athe[nians and the met]oikoi … should embark o[n the prepar]ed 200 ships and resi[st] t[he barbarian on behalf of freedom …. And when the ships are manned with 100 of th[e]m they are to assist Artemis[i]on in Euboea, and with the other 100 around Salamis and the rest of Attica they are to lie in wait and guard the country. So that all Athenians may be united in resisting the barbarian, those who have changed their residence for [10] years are to go to Salamis and stay t[here until the peo]ple should decide about them….]

  8. Salamis: Image 1 of 4

  9. Salamis: Image 2 of 4

  10. Salamis: Image 3 of 4 Mt. Aigaleos (Xerxes) Salamis Psyttaleia Phaleron • A-D: what strategies did Themistokles employ that led to victory at Salamis?

  11. Salamis: Image 4 of 4 “Greece’s destiny depended on her ships” (Thuc. 1.74.1 in D&G 7.35)

  12. Why did Xerxes honor Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus with this alabaster jar, inscribed “Xerxes, the Great King”?See Hdt. 8.87 on Artemisia at Salamis Alabaster jar, British Museum, 479-465 BCE Probably a gift from Xerxes to Artemisia, discovered in Halicarnassus at the tomb of her descendant, Queen Artemisia, wife of King Mausolus, who ruled Caria in the mid-4th c. BCE

  13. Athens’ response to Sparta’s concern that the Athenians will ally with Persia “Again, there is the Greek nation – the community of blood and language, temples and ritual, and our common customs; if Athens were to betray all this, it would not be well done …. So long as a single Athenian remains alive we will make no peace with Xerxes” (Hdt. 8.144) • τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ἐὸν ὅμαιμόν τε καὶ ὁμόγλωσσον καὶ θεῶν ἱδρύματά τε κοινὰ καὶ θυσίαι ἤθεά τε ὁμότροπα ... • to Hellênikon eon: “the Greek nation” (lit. “being Greek”)

  14. Plataea: Image 1 of 3 Thebes Plataea Mt. Kithairon Athens

  15. Plataea: Image 2 of 3

  16. Plataea: Image 3 of 3 Mt. Kithairon (left), plain of Plataea “ ‘I shall fight as long as I live, and shall not consider being alive more important than being free, and I shall not desert … nor shall I depart until the hegemones go first, and I will do whatever the generals command, and those of the allied fighters who die I shall bury on the spot and I shall not leave anyone unburied; and after conqu[e]ring the barbarians in battle I shall tithe the city of the Thebans, and I shall not harm Athens or Sparta or Plataea or any of the other cities who joined in battle …. May my city be free from sickness …and … not be sacked … and bear fruit … and may women bear children like their parents ….’ “ (D&G 7.42)

  17. Mycale & Hellespont: Image 1 of 2

  18. Hellespont: Image 2 of 2

  19. Serpent column Temple of Apollo Stoa of the Athenians Treasury of the Athenians[Marathon]

  20. Treasury of the Athenians[Marathon] Serpent-Column Stoa of the Athenians

  21. Dedication of the Athenian stoa, 479 BCE ΑΘΕΝΑΙΟΙ ΑΝΕΘΕΣΑΝ ΤΕΝ ΣΤΟΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΗΟΠΛ[Α Κ]ΑΙΤΑΚΡΟΤΕΡΙΑ ΗΕΛΟΝΤΕΣ ΤΟΝ ΠΟΛΕ[ΜΙΟ]ΝἈθεναῖοι ἀνέθεσαν τὲν στόαν καὶ τὰ ὅπλ[α κ]αίτἀκροτέρια ἑλόντες τῶν πολέ[μιω]νAthenaioianethesantênstoankaitahopl[a k]aitakroteriahelontestôn pole[miô]n“The Athenians dedicated the stoa and the cable[s a]ndthe prows, having seized them from the ene[mie]s”

  22. Serpent-column, snake’s head, Istanbul:dedication 479 BCE; relocation 324 CE; miniature 1582 CEColumn-base, 479 BCE, Delphi

  23. Dedicants named on the Serpent-Column erected at Delphi, 479Honoring all of those polites who fought against the Persians[also: bronze statues of Zeus at Olympia & Poseidon at Isthmia]“These the war fought:[Coil] 12: Lacedaimonians, Athenians, Corinthians11: Tegeans, Sicyonians, Aeginetans10: Megarians, Epidaurians, Orchomenians 9: Phleiasians, Troizenians, Hermionians 8: Tirynthians, Plataeans, Thespians 7: Mycenaeans, Keians, Melians, Tenians 6: Naxians, Eretrians, Chalcidians 5: Styrians, Eleians, Potideaeans 4: Leucadians, Anaktorians, Kythnians, Siphnians 3: Ambraciots, Lepreates”Pausanias (2nd c. CE) 10.13.9 = D&G 7.44 (names in Pausanias coincide with the names on the coils]

  24. E-L: who deserved credit for victory over the Persians? Serpent-column tripod: Spartan king Pausanias’ hubris This is the gift the saviors of far-flung Hellas set up here,Having delivered their states from loathsome slavery's bonds. [inscribed on the missing golden tripod atop the snakes’ heads] • DiodorusSiculus 11.33.2 (1st c. CE) quotes this dedication, attributing it to the poet Simonides, and says that it replaced Pausanias’ hubristic inscription claiming sole credit for victory at Plataea

  25. M-Z: what was the character of Themistokles, and did he earnkleosand timêfor his display of aretê?

  26. For Wednesday: Aeschylus’ Persians, 472 BCEpart of trilogy (other 2 lost), oldest surviving tragedy in the worldproducer (chorêgos): Perikles son of Xanthippos at 23 years of age Aeschylus (525/4-ca. 456) Perikles (495-429) • What are the major points of agreement and disagreement between Herodotus’ account and Aeschylus’ play? • Can tragedy serve as a reliable source for Athenian history? • Does Xerxes make a fitting tragic figure? • How do you think the Athenians responded to the play? Xerxes(522-465)

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