Greek Civilization/History Exam #3 Primary Source Passages

Solon responds to the King of Lydia’s question regarding who is happiest

First, Tellus of Athens: he has upstanding sons, lived to see his grandchildren, he had a good income when he died, died in a battle between Athens and neighboring Eleusis, played a key role in forcing the enemy to flee, awarded a public funeral on the spot where he died, he was greatly honored.

Herodotus explains the growth of Athenian power after the expulsion of Hippias.

Athens had been an important state before, but once it had rid itself of tyrants, it began to grow in stature.

Herodotus describes the relationship between Cleisthenes’ democratic reforms and political influence.

So when he had won over to his side the ordinary people of Athens, who had previously been discounted, he changed the names of the tribes and increased their number. He created ten tribal leaders, then, where there had formerly been four, and divided the whole population between these ten tribes.A nd once he had won the ordinary people over, he was far more powerful than his political opponents (Herodotus 5.69)

Herodotus explains the significance of Aristagoras’ visits to Sparta and Athens.

It seems to be easier to fool a crowd than a single person, since Aristagoras could not persuade Cleomenes of Lacedaemon, who was all alone, but he succeeded with thirty thousand Athenians (Herodotus 5.97)

Darius responds to the news at Sardis

It is said, however, that his first reaction to the news was to discount the Ionians, because he was confident of punishing them for their rebellion, and to ask who the Athenians were. On hearing the answer, he is said to have asked for his bow; he took hold of it, notched an arrow, and shot it up towards the sky. And as he fired it into the air, he said, ‘Lord Zeus, make it possible for me to punish the Athenians,’ Then he ordered one of his attendants to repeat to him three times, every time a meal was being served, ‘Master, remember the Athenians’ (Herodotus 5.105)

Dionysius encourages the Ionians to rebel against the Persians

“Men of Ionia, our affairs are balanced on a razor’s edge. We can remain free or we can become slaves - an runaway slaves at that. If you are prepared to accept hardship, then in the short term there’ll be work for you to do, but you will defeat the enemy and be free; if, on the other hand, you choose softness and lack of discipline, I am quite sure that you’ll be punished for rebelling against the king” (Herodotus 6.11).

Miltiades’ speech to the polemarch before Marathon

“The Future of Athens lies in your hands now, Callimachus. You can either cast us down into slavery or win us our freedom - and thereby ensure that you will be remembered as long as there are people alive on this earth, with a higher reputation even than Harmodius and Aristogiton. Athens’ position is more precarious now than it ever has been before, throughout its history. There are two alternatives: submission to the Persians - and we have seen what will happen if we fall into Hippias’ hands - or victory, in which case we might well become the leading city in Greece” (Herodotus 6.109)

Herodotus describes the battle of Marathon

They left the Persians they had routed to flee from the battlefield and concentrated on those who had broken through the centre. The two wings combined into a single fighting unit - and the Athenians won. They harried the retreating Persians and cut them down, until they reached the coast, where they called up fire and began to take over the ships (Herodotus 6.113)

Xerxes reacts to the destruction of his pontoon bridge

He ordered his men to give the Hellespont three hundred lashes and to sink a pair of shackles into the sea. I once heard that he also dispatched men to brand the Hellespont as well. Be that as it may, he did tell the men he had thrashing the sea to revile it in terms you would never hear from a Greek. “Bitter water,” they said, “this is your punishment for wronging your master when he did no wrong to you. King Xerxes will cross you, with or without your consent. People are right not to sacrifice to a muddy, brackish stream like you!" So the sea was punished at his orders, and he had the supervisors of the bridging the Hellespont beheaded (Herodotus 7.35)

Xerxes surveys his army at the Hellespont

“I was reflecting on things and it occurred to me how short the sun total of human life is, which made me feel compassion. Look at all these people - but not one of them will still be alive in a hundred year’s time” (Herodotus 7.46)

Demaratus answers Xerxes’ question about whether the Greeks will oppose him

“There has never been a time when poverty was not a factor in the rearing of the Greeks, but their courage has been acquired as a result of intelligence and the force of law. Greece has relied on this courage to keep poverty and despotism at bay…If there are in fact only a thousand men to march against you (though it may be fewer or it may be more), then a thousand men will fight you” (Herodotus 7.102)

Herodotus explains the goal of the Hellenic League

The idea was to try to find a way to unite the whole of the Greek world - to get everyone to think and act in concert - on the grounds that all Greeks were equally threatened by imminent danger (Herodotus 7.145)

Themistocles offers an alternative interpretation of the oracle the Athenians received

He claimed that the conclusion the interpreters had come to was not quite right. His argument was that if the oracle had really been directed against Athens it would have been phrased in harsher terms; rather than ‘Blessed Salamis,’ it would have said ‘Cruel Salamis’ if the inhabitants were doomed to die there (Herodotus 7.143)

Artemisia advises Xerxes

“Do not commit the fleet to a battle, because your men will be as far inferior to the Greeks as women are to men. In any case, why should you have to run the risk of a sea battle? Have you not captured Athens, which was the point of the campaign?” (Herodotus 8.68)

Herodotus discusses Aristides

In my considered opinion, from all I hear about his character, he was the best and the most honorable man in Athens…Now he was no friend of Themistocles - in fact, they were bitter enemies - but the scale of the trouble facing Athens at the time made him overlook this (Herodotus 8.79)

Xerxes’ response to Artemisia’s trick

In response to what his courtiers were telling him, the story goes on, Xerxes said, ‘My men have turned into women and my women into men!’ That is what Xerxes is supposed to have said.

Aristagoras’ speech to Cleomenes, king of Sparta, persuading him to help the Ionians in their rebellion

“This is the situation: the sons of the Ionians are slaves, when they should be free. But it isn’t only we Ionians who should feel the terrible ignominy and pain; more than anyone else, you should feel it too, because you are the champions of Greece. I beg you, then, by the gods of the Greeks, to liberate your kinsmen in Ionia from slavery. Success in this matter will come easily to you, because these non-Greeks aren’t formidable fighters and you have attained the highest achievement of all in military prowess. They fight with bows and short spears; they wear trousers and kurbasias into battle. This is how easy they are to beat” (Herodotus 5.49)

Herodotus explains the origins of the curse of the Alcmaeonids

An Athenian called Cylon, an Olympic victor, saw himself as the tyrant of Athens. He made himself the leader of a band of young men his own age and tried to seize the Acropolis. When this attempt failed, he and his men took refuge as suppliants at the base of the statue of Athena. The presidents of the naucraries, who constituted the governing body of Athens in those days, persuaded them to leave with assurances that, whatever punishment they faced, they would not be put to death. The Alcmaeonidae were accused of murdering them, however. All this happened before the time of Pisistratus (Herodotus 5.71)

Otanes’ speech in debate regarding which constitution the Persians should adopt after the death of the Pseudo-Smerdis

“A monarch subverts a country’s ancestral customs, takes women against their will, and kills men without trial. What majority rule, on the other hand? In the first place, it has the best of all names to describe it - equality before the law. In the second place, it is entirely free of the vices of monarchy. It is government by lot, it is accountable government, and it refers all decisions to the common people” (Herodotus 3.80)

Megabyzus’ speech in debate regarding which constitution the Persians should adopt after the death of the Pseudo-Smerdis

“A mob is ineffective, and there is nothing more stupid or more given to brutality…Let us leave democracy to Persia’s enemies, while we choose a number of the best men and put power in their hands” (Herodotus 3.81)

Darius’ speech in debate regarding which constitution the Persians should adopt after the death of the Pseudo-Smerdis

“My view, then, is that since we gained our freedom thanks to a single individual, we should keep to this way of doing things. And I would add that we should not abolish our ancestral customs, which serve us well” (Herodotus 3.82)