Greek Period Study Sources

Relations between Greek States and between Greek and non-Greek States, 492-404 BC

Herodotus

* Writing in the $3rd quarter of the 5th century$
* From Halicarnassus in Asia Minor
* Lived in Athens for part of his life
* Potentially biased towards Athens e.g. overly hostile towards Corinth and Thebes, Athens' enemies
* For example during the Battle of Salamis, Herodotus records that the Athenians claim that the Corinthians retreated, but all other Greeks say the Corinthians fought bravely
* It is good that Herodotus acknowledges both accounts though
* 'My business is to record what people say, but I am no means bound to believe it - and that may be taken to apply to this book as a whole'

Thucydides

* Only gives a brief description of the period between 479-431, known as the ==Pentecontaetia==
* He was seeking to explain how Athenian power grew after 479 to a point where Sparta felt threatened enough to go to war
* He was writing retrospectively, so had the benefit of hindsight
* but also could have changed his account based on what he knew e.g. Archidamus warning the Spartans that they can only win the war if 3 conditions are met - then is 100% correct about this
* He is seen as less biased and more accurate than Herodotus
* He claimed that the events he recorded he had either witnessed first hand, or spoken to someone who had witnessed
* He tried to record exactly what had been said, but struggled so gave a similar account
* Biased towards Pericles and always wished to present him in a positive light
* ‘power was really in the hands of the first citizen’

Give an account of Thucydides’ personal life

* Born around 460 BC
* Athenian, but tried to stay relatively unbiased
* Liked Pericles, but did not believe in democracy
* In 424 he was exiled due to mistakes at Amphipolis, which meant that he was able to see both the Athenian and Peloponnesian perspective as he was out of Athens
* $Writing in the late 5th century$
* Died in 404 BC

Diodorus

* $Wrote his Universal History between 60 and 30 BC$
* Follows the works of Ephorus
* Sometimes merges the events of multiple years into one
* When he adds plausible information to an earlier source without contradicting it, he is generally believed

Plutarch

* Lived 46 -119 AD
* Writing in the early second century AD
* Came from a wealthy background, well educated
* Most famous for Parallel Lives, which sought to compare famous Greeks with Romans
* Biographer rather than historian, more interested in detailed character analysis than events
* Like Diodorus he is best used in conjunction with earlier sources
* Did good research into the topics he wrote on
* Doesn’t favour Pericles as much as he includes negative aspects of his life e.g. the Megarian Decree

Xenophon

* Writing in the first quarter of the fourth century BC
* Writing later than Thucydides so potentially less reliable
* Born in Athens
* Continued the account of the Greek wars after Thucydides breaks off in 411
* Fairly reliable

The Chalkis Decree

Date: 446

* A decree passed by the Athenian Assembly which illustrates that the Athenians now required its allies to OBEY its commands - 'I shall obey the Athenian People'
* Athens could intervene when Chalkidians were accused of serious crimes, which meant that they could skew the result in favour of, or against the accused, depending on their obedience.

The First Stele

Date: 454

* First Tribute Quota list recorded in Athens
* 1/60 of the tribute offered by each city to be dedicated to the treasury.
* Proves Diodorus’ statement that the treasury was moved away from Delos after the loss in Egypt
* Shows that Delian League members did pay according to their size e.g. smaller, less wealthy states paid less than richer states
* All pretence of the Delian League being an alliance of equals was cast off

The Serpent Column

Date: 479

* Lists 31 Greek states who fought in the Battle of Plataea
* Erected at Delphi, a sacred area for the Greeks

Thoudippos Decree

Date: 425

* An inscription delegating responsibilities for assessing the size of the allies' tribute onto particular courts and officials at Athens
* Increases tribute from 600 to 1460 talents
* 400 states listed

Aristophanes

Date: 425
- Play titled Acharnians
- Highlights tension in Athens between those who wanted to militarily oppose the annual invasion of Attica by the Spartans, and those that wanted to make peace with Sparta.
- Potential evidence for increasing connection with Persia as we see an Athenian embassy returning from Persia
- Links Pericles with the Megarian Decree, and makes fun of his relationship with Aspasia who was linked with prostitutes

- Date: 421
- Play titled Peace
- Reflects a desire for peace in some quarters at Athens.
- Critical of Cleon for continuing the war despite the cost to the allies

Andocides

Date: 392

* A speech which details the peace made by Andocides' uncle Epilycus between the Athenians and the Persians

Darius’ inscriptions

DNa and DNb at Naqs-e-Rustam

* Inscriptions set up by Darius in the late 490s - around 490 BC which presents his political and moral ideology
* ==DNa==: list of all states in the Persian empire, including: ‘sun-hat wearing Greeks’ - Macedonians, as well as ‘the Greeks’
* ==DNb==: a portrait of a perfect king is created - ‘I am a good horseman’ etc