Greek History #4

Graham T. Allison

professor at Harvard who coined the term “Thucydides trap”

Thucydides Trap

the phenomenon where a rising power causes fear in an established power, leading to conflict.

Corcyra 433

They ask Athens for help to fight the Corinthians and Epidamnus, Corinthians are also in Athen at the time, Athens does send a few triremes to help

Battle of Sybota

in 433 Corcyra v. Corinth, they both claim the victory

Potidaea 432

revolt from Athens and the Delian League because Athens told them to break down their walls and stop listening to the Corinthians, they didn’t like this

Mytilenian Debate

debate between Cleon and Diodotus, Cleon speaks first (second to speak always wins the debate in Thucydides) Cleon wants to kill all of the Mytileneans to scare other allies, Diodotus says they should only kill those who are responsible for the revolt because those who were not responsible turned them in (Cleon is all about morality he thinks they deserve it, Diodotus is only focused on what would be best for Athens)

Cleon

Athenian general who argued to kill all of the Mytilenians and argued that they deserved death, commander at Pylos, convinces Athens to not accept a peace treaty, he died at Amphipolis

Melian Dialogue

Athenians try to convince Melians to surrender and join them, Melians are trying to convince Athens to let them stay neutral

Melos 416

in 416 Athens sieges Melos and they decide to surrender, men are killed and women and children are sold

Pylos

in 425 Athenians ships are forced to seek refuge during a storm at Pylos which is an old ruin, Spartans cut them off from sea and land, 1,000 Athenians were stranded on the beach, Athens captures 120 Spartiates which was a huge victory, Cleon was the commander

Brasidas

Spartan guy who proposes to take a force, march to Thrace, and capture Amphipolis in 424

Amphipolis 424

in 424 helots and paid mercenaries from Sparta capture the city, Thucydides was the Athenian commander and was exiled after this because he lost

Return of Amphipolis

in 422 Athenians besiege Amphipolis and get it back, led by Cleon, big battle between his troops and Brasidas’, both commanders are killed

Peace of Nicias

return of Spartan prisoners, 50 year oath that didn’t last 50 years, return of Amphipolis, not all Peloponnesian allies sign

Alcibiades

got the Athenians into the Sicilian Expedition which was way more than they could handle, Mutilation of the Herms, runs to Sparta when he is exiled

Argive League

Battle of Mantinea

in 418 Sparta v. Argive league, a huge hoplite land battle, Sparta won

Mutilation of the Herms

Alcibiades blamed for messing up the little statue things

Egesta (Segesta)

Athens had an existing alliance with them, West Sicily, always at war with its neighbors, they convinced Athens that they were rich

Epipolae

the region where Syracuse is, rocky, high plateau

Circumvallation

wall building around city, uneven ground, counter walls by Syracusans, many short bloody battles at these walls

Gylippus

from Sparta with Spartan forces to help the Syracusans against Athens, Corinthian colony, ethic connections with Peloponnesians, not a Spartiates but a mothax

Mothax

someone who has a Spartan father but a helot mother

Demosthenes

a general from Athens who brings double troops and steps up their attacks and naval activity, plans to stop wall business with a nighttime assault, it didn’t go well because they couldn’t tell who was who in the dark

Latomia

location of stone quarries where Athenian soldiers were forced to work as slaves

Decelea 413

in 413 Sparta sets up a permanent base in Attica, they keep it manned year-round, farmers can’t come out, less food supply to Athens

Epidamnus

in 435 they asked Corcyra (their metropolis) for help

Archidamian War

431-421, repeated invasions by Sparta, diverse theaters of war, Athens and Sparta in a see-saw of success

Peace of Nicias

421-412 - Peace treaty, everyone gives back winnings from the Archidamian war,

Sicilian Expedition

415-413, Athens gets the notion that it can be the dominant force in Sicily, they end up losing everything

Decelean War

413-404 - Sparta outside walls 24/7, Spartans finally surpass Athens in total naval capacity using Persian money to build ships

Rule of Thirty

404-403 - Sparta establishes 30 men to rule in Athens (30 tyrants)

Long Walls

Athenian system to enclose areas safe for livestock, create a triangle from Athens to the coast

Phaleron

the main harbor of Athens

Piraeus

deme/village with natural harbors

Middle Wall

third wall extending down to Piraeus to prevent enemies from blocking the shore

Syntrierarchy

multiple rich guys paying to the triremes and working together rather than just one man

Probouloi

ten men who run the boule who run the ecclesia, one from each tribe, power to adjust laws, this is the Athenians trying to deal with the horrible outcome of the Sicilian expedition

Four Hundred

in 411, men voted into dictatorial power, comittee selects who gets to vote, a fleet led by Alcibiades comes to take over and democracy is restored by 410

Lysander

Spartan navarch, successful in building up the navy

Navarch

ship magistrate/Spartan guy in charge of the whole navy

Battle of Arginusae

in 406 fought between Athens and Sparta, Athens won the huge naval battle, Spartans lost 40 triremes, there was a storm as the battle was ending so Athens wasn’t able to save their surviving troops in the water, the commanders were tried and executed when they returned home

Battle of Aegospotami

in 405 fought in the hellespont, naval blockade, the final battle, Sparta wins

Harmost

Spartan military governor who gives commands to local authorities/commander of a garrison occupying a defeated city

Decarchy

committee of ten men/magistrates, local Athenian guys

Thrasybulus

gets exiled from Athens but doesn’t really leave, he goes to Phyle and many others who wanted to restore democracy go with him, in 403 they take over Piraeus and Sparta sits back and watches because they too don’t like the thirty (this is the counterrevolution) there’s a hoplite battle that Thrasybulus wins

Phyle (the place)

the place Thrasybulus and other democrats went and built a fort

Amnesty

in 403 democracy is restored in Athens but they issue an amnesty for the 30 tyrants and decide to move one

Hetairia

clubs with rules and names, companionship, group of aristocratic men

Critias

gets called the chief of the 30, just the worst guy, friends with Socrates

Dialectic

in the form of dialogue, also used as a noun to describe Socrates’ method of conversation, back and forth searching for the truth

Elenchus

disproving (insult/demean) system of examining ideas put forward and disproving them as you go, chopping away at ideas to arrive at the truth

Eidos

form - sort of defining ideas of truth (we know how to identify a chair because we have an ‘_____’ of what a chair is) (Socrates asks for the ‘_____’ of piety)

Se nihil scire

Socrates doesn’t actually say this but this is the term Sicero uses describe what Socrates means when he essentially says “As many things as I don’t know, I don’t even think to know”

Eudaimonia

happiness/well being, the state in which a daimon is helping you

Daimonion

‘little god who helps’, Socrates uses this word to describe what has been happening to him since he was little, he would hear a voice telling him what not to do, said they only spoke to him in the negative

Corinthian War

395-386 Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos, Persian king and other Greek city-states all against Sparta

The King’s Peace

386 returned Greeks of Anatolia to their status as Persian subjects like before the Persian wars in return for extra money for trireme building, the Boeotian League was supposed to disband

Battle at Leuctra

371 in Boeotia, Thebans under Epaminondas defeated the Spartans, their cavalry was pushed into their infantry disrupting their phalanx and their commander, Cleombrotus was killed, he used the sacred band

Battle of Mantinea

362 - Sparta and Athens fought against Thebes, Thebes won this battle but eventually lost the war, Epaminondas was killed

Thebes

map site, part of Boeotian League, NW of Attica

Boeotian League

An alliance between Thebes and other, almost a federal government, a stipulation of the King’s Peace was that the league be dissolved but Epaminondas refused to swear by his city-state and instead swore by the Boeotian League

Macedon

**map site - rough mountains and lowland valleys, vulnerable to raids because they lived in small villages, lots of timber and precious metals, people were loyal to the king not necessarily the city-state itself

Phillip II

King of Macedon, settles the 3rd sacred war, develops a reconception of the Phalanx using the Sarissa and Peltasts, he starts taking over Thrace, defeats Athens and Thebes, creates the League of Corinth

Sarissa

a really long spear (cheaper than hoplite shield so they could pay for more soldiers) made popular by Phillip II in the 4th century

Battle of Chaeronea

338 - Macedon led by King Phillip II defeats Athens and Thebes

League of Corinth

created by Phillip II

Peltast

lightly armed soldiers, originally associated with Barbarians, they carry a small shield and small spear (they can run up, throw their spear, and run away before you have time to react)

Sacred Band

300 (150 couples) homosexuals, the idea is that they will want to protect one another and also show off for one another

Hieron

478-467 - Gelon’s brother who takes over in Syracuse when he dies, is responsible for doricization

Doricization

Hieron tries to turn Sicily into a place that is friendly to Dorians as opposed to Ionians, he expelled Ionians and forced them to move

Battle of Cumae

474 - Syracuse defeats Carthaginians and Etruscans, then the Etruscans aren’t able to hold off the powers of Rome

Petalism

inspired by ostracism, their vote is scratched into olive leaves, the person with the most votes is exiled for five years (this is an attempt to avoid more tyranny)

Sicels

people who lived in Sicily? would act out against the Greeks

Ducetius

a hellenized Sicel who started an uprising, they conquered a exterminated a Greek City in Sicily, the Dorians beat them and the movement dies in the 440s

Hermocrates

Syracusan, in 424 he gives a speech at a conference saying that the Sicilians needed to unite against outside threats, suggested a rule to not ask help from outsiders, he talks the people down to 3 strategoi instead of 15, he dies in 406

2nd Battle of Hemera

409 - Carthage wins, Greeks in Sicily are freaking out

Dionysius I

406-367 - Syracusan, one of the 3 strategoi but convinces the people to elect him strategos autokrator, he makes a peace treaty with Carthage, fortifies the city, defeats Carthage, declares himself archon of Sicily in 392, talks about Sicily as if it is one single political unit

Strategos Autokrator

self-power, special job in the democracy for one man to make decisions

Ortygia

the little Island off of Syracuse were Dionysius lives

Dionysius II

367-345 - a dweeb, horrible leader, idiot

Timoleon

Corinthian guys who steps in to put Syracuse back together again, sends Dionysius into exile, defeats Carthage, tries to reverse population displacement, instills democracy again and retires “he was all that and a bag of chips”

Nicias

commander in Athens, did not want to go on the Sicilian expedition but ended up going, argued that Athens wasn’t offering him and his troops enough support and asked for more

Epaminondas

Theban guy who swears by the Boetians league instead of signing the King’s Peace, killed at the Battle of Mantinea