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THORIKOS (Ancient city) ATTICA, EAST
Thorikos: Eth, Thorikios: Theriko. A town of Attica on the SE. coast,
and about 7 or 8 miles N. of the promontory of Sunium, was originally one of the
twelve cities into which Attica is said to have been divided before the time of
Theseus, and was afterwards a demus belonging to the tribe Acamantis. (Strab.
ix. p. 397.) It continued to be a place of importance during the flourishing period
of Athenian history, as its existing remains prove, and was hence fortified by
the Athenians in the 24th year of the Peloponnesian War. (Xen. Hell. i. 2. 1)
It was distant 60 stadia from Anaphlystus upon the western coast. (Xen. de Vect.
4 § 43.) Thoricus is celebrated in mythology as the residence of Cephalus, whom
Eos or Aurora carried off to dwell with the gods. (Apollod. ii. 4. § 7; Eurip.
Hippol. 455.) It has been conjectured by Wordsworth, with much probability, that
the idea of Thoricus was associated in the Athenian mind with such a translation
to the gods, and that the Thlorician stone (Thorikios petros) mentioned by Sophocles
(Oed. Col. 1595), respecting which there has been so much doubt, probably has
reference to such a miglration, as the poet is describing a similar translation
of Oedipus.
The fortifications of Thoricus surrounded a small plain, which terminates
in the harbour of the city, now called Porto Mandri. The ruins of the walls may
be traced following the crest of the hills on the northern and southern sides
of the plain, and crossing it on the west. The acropolis seems to have stood upon
a height rising above the sheltered creek of Frasngo Limiona, which is separated
only by a cape from Porto Mandri. Below this height, on the northern side, are
the ruins of a theatre, of a singular form, being an irregular curve, with one
of the sides longer than the other. In the plain, to the westward, are the remains
of a quadrangular colonnade, with Doric columns.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Situated on the E coast about 10 km N of Sounion, it was one of
the 12 independent cities of this area said to have been unified by Theseus
under Athenian hegemony (Strab. 9.1.20). In the later years of the Peloponnesian
War it was fortified (Xen. Hell. 1.2.1) in order to protect the sea route to
Athens and to help protect the silver mines at Laurion. Under the Romans it
fell into decay, but its earliest habitation remains, dating from the Neolithic
period, and numerous tomb groups indicate that it had a long and continuous
history up to this time.
The site consists of three areas: the plain of Thorikos where the
Society of the Dilettanti in 1812 uncovered part of an ancient building, now
no longer visible, the hill of Velatouri where the majority of ancient remains
have been found, and the peninsula of Haghios Nikalaos, now the site of a modern
chemical plant.
The ancient theater, located on the S slope of Velatouri and excavated
in 1886, is notable for the irregular shape of its orchestra. It was originally
thought that the roughly rectangular orchestra reflected the early date of the
theater. Further study, however, suggests that the theater was primarily constructed
in the 5th c. B.C., and that its irregular orchestra reflects the gradual enlargement
of the theater's seating capacity. It would appear that the original stone seats,
made of local bluish stone, consisted of 19 straight rows. These were later
expanded by the addition of curved sections to E and W, and still later in the
4th c. a curved section of 12 new rows was added to the N. Scanty remains of
a temple can be seen to the W of the orchestra; an altar lies to the E. Along
the S side lies a terrace wall built to support the orchestra; this wall appears
to be the oldest surviving architectural feature of the theater.
On the hill above the theater, excavations have uncovered remains
of the city's industrial quarter. Here traces of houses, stairs, and roads can
be seen. A series of basins connected by channels formed part of a metal-working
establishment. Nearby a Mycenaean tholos tomb, graves from various periods,
and parts of a prehistoric settlement, including a Mycenaean metal-working establishment,
have been uncovered.
Fortifications consisting of over 600 m of walls can be traced
on the peninsula; at least six towers, four stairways, and seven gateways were
included in this fortification system.
I. M. Shear, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Sep 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 33 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
MARATHON (Ancient demos) ATTICA, EAST
The Persian was going about
his own business, for his servant was constantly reminding him to remember the
Athenians (1) and the Pisistratidae were at his elbow maligning
the Athenians; moreover, Darius desired to take this pretext for subduing all
the men of Hellas who had
not given him earth and water. He dismissed from command Mardonius, who had fared
so badly on his expedition, and appointed other generals to lead his armies against
Athens and Eretria,
Datis, a Mede by birth, and his own nephew Artaphrenes son of Artaphrenes; the
order he gave them at their departure was to enslave Athens and Eretria and bring
the slaves into his presence.(2)
When these appointed generals on their way from the king
reached the Aleian plain in Cilicia,
bringing with them a great and well-furnished army, they camped there and were
overtaken by all the fleet that was assigned to each; there also arrived the transports
for horses, which in the previous year Darius had bidden his tributary subjects
to make ready. Having loaded the horses into these, and embarked the land army
in the ships, they sailed to Ionia with six hundred triremes. From there they
held their course not by the mainland and straight towards the Hellespont
and Thrace, but setting forth
from Samos they sailed by
the Icarian sea and from
island to island; this, to my thinking, was because they feared above all the
voyage around Athos, seeing that in the previous year they had come to great disaster
by holding their course that way; moreover, Naxos
was still unconquered and constrained them.
When they approached Naxos from the Icarian sea and came to land
(for it was Naxos which the Persians intended to attack first), the Naxians,
remembering what had happened before,(3) fled away to the mountains
instead of waiting for them. The Persians enslaved all of them that they caught,
and burnt their temples and their city. After doing this, they set sail for
the other islands.
While they did this, the Delians also left Delos
and fled away to Tenos. As
his expedition was sailing landwards, Datis went on ahead and bade his fleet anchor
not off Delos, but across the water off Rhenaea.
Learning where the Delians were, he sent a herald to them with this proclamation:
"Holy men, why have you fled away, and so misjudged my intent? It is my own
desire, and the king's command to me, to do no harm to the land where the two
gods1 were born, neither to the land itself nor to its inhabitants. So return
now to your homes and dwell on your island." He made this proclamation to
the Delians, and then piled up three hundred talents of frankincense on the altar
and burnt it.
After doing this, Datis sailed with his army against Eretria first,
taking with him Ionians and Aeolians; and after he had put out from there, Delos
was shaken by an earthquake, the first and last, as the Delians say, before
my time. This portent was sent by heaven, as I suppose, to be an omen of the
ills that were coming on the world. For in three generations, that is, in the
time of Darius son of Hystaspes and Xerxes son of Darius and Artaxerxes son
of Xerxes, more ills happened to Hellas than in twenty generations before Darius;
some coming from the Persians, some from the wars for preeminence among the
chief of the nations themselves. Thus it was no marvel that there should be
an earthquake in Delos when there had been none before. Also there was an oracle
concerning Delos, where it was written:
"I will shake Delos, though unshaken before."
In the Greek language these names have the following meanings: Darius is the
Doer, Xerxes the Warrior, Artaxerxes the Great Warrior. The Greeks would rightly
call the kings thus in their language.
Launching out to sea from Delos, the foreigners put in at the islands
and gathered an army from there, taking the sons of the islanders for hostages.
When in their voyage about the islands they put in at Carystos,
the Carystians gave them no hostages and refused to join them against neighboring
cities, meaning Eretria and Athens; the Persians besieged them and laid waste
their land, until the Carystians too came over to their side.(4)
When the Eretrians learned that the Persian expedition was
sailing to attack them, they asked for help from the Athenians. The Athenians
did not refuse the aid, but gave them for defenders the four thousand tenant farmers
who held the land of the Chalcidian horse-breeders.(5) But it
seems that all the plans of the Eretrians were unsound; they sent to the Athenians
for aid, but their counsels were divided. Some of them planned to leave the city
and make for the heights of Euboea;
others plotted treason in hope of winning advantages from the Persians. When Aeschines
son of Nothon, a leading man in Eretria, learned of both designs, he told the
Athenians who had come how matters stood, and asked them to depart to their own
country so they would not perish like the rest. The Athenians followed Aeschines'
advice.(6)
So they saved themselves by crossing over to Oropus;
the Persians sailed holding their course for Temenos and Choereae
and Aegilea, all in Eretrian territory. Landing at these places, they immediately
unloaded their horses and made preparation to attack their enemies. The Eretrians
had no intention of coming out and fighting; all their care was to guard their
walls if they could, since it was the prevailing counsel not to leave the city.
The walls were strongly attacked, and for six days many fell on both sides; but
on the seventh two Eretrians of repute, Euphorbus son of Alcimachus and Philagrus
son of Cineas, betrayed the city to the Persians. They entered the city and plundered
and burnt the temples, in revenge for the temples that were burnt at Sardis;
moreover, they enslaved the townspeople, according to Darius' command.
After subduing Eretria, the Persians waited a few days and
then sailed away to the land of Attica,
pressing ahead in expectation of doing to the Athenians exactly what they had
done to the Eretrians. Marathon was the place in Attica most suitable for riding
horses and closest to Eretria, so Hippias son of Pisistratus led them there.
When the Athenians learned this, they too marched out to Marathon,
with ten generals leading them. The tenth(7) was Miltiades,
and it had befallen his father Cimon son of Stesagoras to be banished from Athens
by Pisistratus son of Hippocrates. While in exile he happened to take the Olympic
prize in the four-horse chariot, and by taking this victory he won the same
prize as his half-brother Miltiades. At the next Olympic games he won with the
same horses but permitted Pisistratus to be proclaimed victor, and by resigning
the victory to him he came back from exile to his own property under truce.
After taking yet another Olympic prize with the same horses, he happened to
be murdered by Pisistratus' sons, since Pisistratus was no longer living. They
murdered him by placing men in ambush at night near the town-hall. Cimon was
buried in front of the city, across the road called "Through the Hollow",
and buried opposite him are the mares who won the three Olympic prizes. The
mares of Evagoras the Laconian did the same as these, but none others. Stesagoras,
the elder of Cimon's sons, was then being brought up with his uncle Miltiades
in the Chersonese. The younger was with Cimon at Athens, and he took the name
Miltiades from Miltiades the founder of the Chersonese.
It was this Miltiades who was now the Athenian general, after coming
from the Chersonese
and escaping a two-fold death. The Phoenicians pursued him as far as Imbros,
considering it of great importance to catch him and bring him to the king. He
escaped from them, but when he reached his own country and thought he was safe,
then his enemies(8) met him. They brought him to court and prosecuted
him for tyranny in the Chersonese, but he was acquitted and appointed Athenian
general, chosen by the people(9).
While still in the city, the generals first sent to Sparta(10)
the herald Philippides, an Athenian and a long-distance runner who made
that his calling. As Philippides himself said when he brought the message to the
Athenians, when he was in the Parthenian
mountain above Tegea
he encountered Pan. Pan called out Philippides' name and bade him ask the Athenians
why they paid him no attention, though he was of goodwill to the Athenians, had
often been of service to them, and would be in the future. The Athenians believed
that these things were true, and when they became prosperous they established
a sacred precinct of Pan beneath the Acropolis.
Ever since that message they propitiate him with annual sacrifices and a torch-race(11).(see
Spartathlon)
This Philippides was in Sparta on the day after leaving the city
of Athens(12), that time when he was sent by the generals and
said that Pan had appeared to him. He came to the magistrates and said, "Lacedaemonians,
the Athenians ask you to come to their aid and not allow the most ancient city
among the Hellenes to fall into slavery at the hands of the foreigners. Even
now Eretria has been enslaved, and Hellas has become weaker by an important
city." He told them what he had been ordered to say, and they resolved
to send help to the Athenians, but they could not do this immediately, for they
were unwilling to break the law. It was the ninth day of the rising month, and
they said that on the ninth they could not go out to war until the moon's circle
was full.(13)
So they waited for the full moon(14), while the foreigners
were guided to Marathon by Hippias son of Pisistratus. The previous night Hippias
had a dream in which he slept with his mother. He supposed from the dream that
he would return from exile to Athens, recover his rule, and end his days an old
man in his own country. Thus he reckoned from the dream. Then as guide he unloaded
the slaves from Eretria onto the island of the Styrians
called Aegilia, and brought to anchor the ships that had put ashore at Marathon,
then marshalled the foreigners who had disembarked onto land. As he was tending
to this, he happened to sneeze and cough more violently than usual. Since he was
an elderly man, most of his teeth were loose, and he lost one of them by the force
of his cough. It fell into the sand and he expended much effort in looking for
it, but the tooth could not be found. He groaned aloud and said to those standing
by him: "This land is not ours and we will not be able to subdue it. My tooth
holds whatever share of it was mine."
Hippias supposed that the dream had in this way come true. As the
Athenians were marshalled in the precinct of Heracles, the Plataeans
came to help them in full force. The Plataeans had put themselves under the protection
of the Athenians, and the Athenians had undergone many labors on their behalf.
This is how they did it: when the Plataeans were pressed by the Thebans,
they first tried to put themselves under the protection of Cleomenes son of Anaxandrides
and the Lacedaemonians, who happened to be there. But they did not accept them,
saying, "We live too far away, and our help would be cold comfort to you.
You could be enslaved many times over before any of us heard about it. We advise
you to put yourselves under the protection of the Athenians, since they are your
neighbors and not bad men at giving help." The Lacedaemonians gave this advice
not so much out of goodwill toward the Plataeans as wishing to cause trouble for
the Athenians with the Boeotians.
So the Lacedaemonians gave this advice to the Plataeans, who did not disobey it.
When the Athenians were making sacrifices to the twelve gods, they sat at the
altar(15) as suppliants and put themselves under protection.
When the Thebans heard this, they marched against the Plataeans, but the Athenians
came to their aid. As they were about to join battle, the Corinthians,
who happened to be there, prevented them and brought about a reconciliation. Since
both sides desired them to arbitrate, they fixed the boundaries of the country
on condition that the Thebans leave alone those Boeotians who were unwilling to
be enrolled as Boeotian. After rendering this decision, the Corinthians departed.
The Boeotians attacked the Athenians as they were leaving but were defeated in
battle. The Athenians went beyond the boundaries the Corinthians had made for
the Plataeans, fixing the Asopus
river as the boundary for the Thebans in the direction of Plataea
and Hysiae. So the Plataeans
had put themselves under the protection of the Athenians in the aforesaid manner,
and now came to help at Marathon.
The Athenian generals were of divided opinion, some advocating not
fighting because they were too few to attack the army of the Medes; others,
including Miltiades, advocating fighting. Thus they were at odds, and the inferior
plan prevailed. An eleventh man had a vote, chosen by lot to be polemarch of
Athens, and by ancient custom the Athenians had made his vote of equal weight
with the generals. Callimachus of Aphidnae was polemarch at this time. Miltiades
approached him and said, "Callimachus, it is now in your hands to enslave
Athens or make her free, and thereby leave behind for all posterity a memorial
such as not even Harmodius and Aristogeiton left. Now the Athenians have come
to their greatest danger since they first came into being, and, if we surrender,
it is clear what we will suffer when handed over to Hippias. But if the city
prevails, it will take first place among Hellenic cities. I will tell you how
this can happen, and how the deciding voice on these matters has devolved upon
you. The ten generals are of divided opinion, some urging to attack, others
urging not to. If we do not attack now, I expect that great strife will fall
upon and shake the spirit of the Athenians, leading them to medize. But if we
attack now, before anything unsound corrupts the Athenians, we can win the battle,
if the gods are fair. All this concerns and depends on you in this way: if you
vote with me, your country will be free and your city the first in Hellas. But
if you side with those eager to avoid battle, you will have the opposite to
all the good things I enumerated."
By saying this Miltiades won over Callimachus. The polemarch's vote
was counted in, and the decision to attack was resolved upon. Thereafter the
generals who had voted to fight turned the presidency over to Miltiades as each
one's day came in turn. He accepted the office but did not make an attack until
it was his own day to preside.
When the presidency came round to him, he arrayed the Athenians
for battle, with the polemarch Callimachus commanding the right wing, since
it was then the Athenian custom for the polemarch to hold the right wing(16).
He led, and the other tribes were numbered out in succession next to each other.(17)
The Plataeans were marshalled last, holding the left wing. Ever since
that battle, when the Athenians are conducting sacrifices at the festivals every
fourth year (18), the Athenian herald prays for good things
for the Athenians and Plataeans together. As the Athenians were marshalled at
Marathon, it happened that their line of battle was as long as the line of the
Medes. The center, where the line was weakest, was only a few ranks deep, but
each wing was strong in numbers.(19)
When they had been set in order and the sacrifices were favorable,
the Athenians were sent forth and charged the foreigners at a run. The space
between the armies was no less than eight stadia. The Persians saw them running
to attack and prepared to receive them, thinking the Athenians absolutely crazy,
since they saw how few of them there were and that they ran up so fast without
either cavalry or archers.(20) So the foreigners imagined,
but when the Athenians all together fell upon the foreigners they fought in
a way worthy of record. These are the first Hellenes whom we know of to use
running against the enemy(21). They are also the first to endure
looking at Median dress and men wearing it, for up until then just hearing the
name of the Medes caused the Hellenes to panic.(22)
They fought a long time at Marathon. In the center of the line the
foreigners prevailed, where the Persians and Sacae (see Scythia)
were arrayed.(23) The foreigners prevailed there and broke through
in pursuit inland, but on each wing the Athenians and Plataeans prevailed. In
victory they let the routed foreigners flee, and brought the wings together to
fight those who had broken through the center. The Athenians prevailed, then followed
the fleeing Persians and struck them down. When they reached the sea they demanded
fire and laid hold of the Persian ships.
In this labor Callimachus the polemarch was slain, a brave man,
and of the generals Stesilaus son of Thrasylaus died. Cynegirus son of Euphorion
fell there, his hand cut off with an ax as he grabbed a ship's figurehead. Many
other famous Athenians also fell there.(24)
In this way the Athenians overpowered seven ships. The foreigners
pushed off with the rest, picked up the Eretrian slaves from the island where
they had left them, and sailed around Sunium
hoping to reach the city before the Athenians. There was an accusation at Athens
that they devised this by a plan of the Alcmaeonidae, who were said to have arranged
to hold up a shield as a signal once the Persians were in their ships.
They sailed around Sunium, but the Athenians marched back to defend
the city as fast as their feet could carry them and got there ahead of the foreigners.
Coming from the sacred precinct of Heracles in Marathon, they pitched camp in
the sacred precinct of Heracles in Cynosarges.
The foreigners lay at anchor off Phalerum,
the Athenian naval port at that time(25). After riding anchor
there, they sailed their ships back to Asia.(26)
In the battle at Marathon about six thousand four hundred men of
the foreigners were killed, and one hundred and ninety-two Athenians; that many
fell on each side. The following marvel happened there: an Athenian, Epizelus
son of Couphagoras, was fighting as a brave man in the battle when he was deprived
of his sight, though struck or hit nowhere on his body, and from that time on
he spent the rest of his life in blindness. I have heard that he tells this
story about his misfortune: he saw opposing him a tall armed man, whose beard
overshadowed his shield, but the phantom passed him by and killed the man next
to him.(27) I learned by inquiry that this is the story Epizelus
tells.(28)
Datis journeyed with his army to Asia, and when he arrived at Myconos
he saw a vision in his sleep. What that vision was is not told, but as soon as
day broke Datis made a search of his ships. He found in a Phoenician
ship a gilded image of Apollo, and asked where this plunder had been taken. Learning
from what temple it had come, he sailed in his own ship to Delos. The Delians
had now returned to their island, and Datis set the image in the temple, instructing
the Delians to carry it away to Theban Delium,
on the coast opposite Chalcis.
Datis gave this order and sailed away, but the Delians never carried that statue
away; twenty years later the Thebans brought it to Delium by command of an oracle.
When Datis and Artaphrenes reached Asia in their voyage, they carried
the enslaved Eretrians inland to Susa.
Before the Eretrians were taken captive, king Darius had been terribly angry with
them for doing him unprovoked wrong; but when he saw them brought before him and
subject to him, he did them no harm, but settled them in a domain of his own called
Ardericca(29)
in the Cissian land; this place is two hundred and ten stadia distant from Susa,
and forty from the well that is of three kinds. Asphalt and salt and oil are drawn
from it in the following way: a windlass is used in the drawing, with half a skin
tied to it in place of a bucket; this is dipped into the well and then poured
into a tank; then what is drawn is poured into another tank and goes three ways:
the asphalt and the salt congeal immediately; the oil, which the Persians call
rhadinace, is dark and evil-smelling. There king Darius settled the Eretrians,
and they dwelt in that place until my time, keeping their ancient language. Such
was the fate of the Eretrians.(30)
After the full moon two thousand Lacedaemonians came to Athens,
making such great haste to reach it that they were in Attica on the third day
after leaving Sparta. Although they came too late for the battle, they desired
to see the Medes, so they went to Marathon and saw them. Then they departed
again, praising the Athenians and their achievement.(31)
Commentary
1. When it was reported to Darius that Sardis had been taken
and burnt by the Athenians and Ionians and that Aristagoras the Milesian had
been leader of the conspiracy for the making of this plan, he at first, it is
said, took no account of the Ionians since he was sure that they would not go
unpunished for their rebellion. Darius did, however, ask who the Athenians were,
and after receiving the answer, he called for his bow. This he took and, placing
an arrow on it, and shot it into the sky, praying as he sent it aloft, "O
Zeus, grant me vengeance on the Athenians" Then he ordered one of his servants
to say to him three times whenever dinner was set before him, "Master,
remember the Athenians." (Hdt.
5.105)
2. Medes
were occasionally employed in high commands, Mazares and Harpagus by Cyrus, the
sons of Datis by Xerxes, and by Darius earlier in his reign, Tachamaspates, and
Intaphres. Here Datis is evidently in command; Artaphrenes, who was probably still
young, seems to hold an honorary position. He is son of Artaphrenes, brother of
Darius, once satrap of Sardis.
3. This probably refers to the Persian treatment of rebels,
described in Hdt. 6.31
and 32. Though the resistance of the Naxians was successful in 500 B. C., the
hardships of the four months' siege may have been severe. Further, the failure
of the Ionic revolt had no doubt dispirited the Greeks of the islands. Plutarch
(de Mal. Her. 36, Mor. 869 B) follows the Naxian chroniclers (horographoi) in
declaring that Datis, after laying waste the town and part of the island, was
repulsed by the Naxians. But the subjugation of Naxos is proved by viii. 46.
3, and could only be doubted by a blind patriotism.
4. Carystus, famous for its green and white marble (cipollino),
lay in a deep bay on the south coast of Euboea. The Carystians, being Dryopians
(Thuc. vii. 57), were not kinsmen of Ionians. Their unwillingness to attack
their neighbours may have been prompted by trade connexions (iv. 33 n.). They
suffered later for yielding now and for joining Xerxes in 480 B. C. (viii. 66.
112). Indeed, their subjugation by Athens (ix. 105; Thuc. i. 98) was doubtless
justified by the charge of Medism.
5. See Hdt
5.77
6. Clearly H. is anxious to justify the Athenian people for
not sending succour from Attica, and the Athenian cleruchs for leaving Eretria
to its fate, by emphasizing the divided counsels and positive treachery of the
Eretrians. After Marathon it may well have been thought that a bold stand might
have been made at Eretria. At the time so heroic a counsel could only be justified
if the Eretrians, like the Athenians, were willing to meet the Persians in the
open field. It is likely enough that in Eretria, which had favoured Pisistratus
(i. 62), the Medizing party was strong, but H. implies that there was but one
true man, Aeschines, in a rotten State. Curiously enough Xenophon (Hell. iii.
1. 6) says there was but one Eretrian who Medized, Gongylus; and his treachery
seems to have been of later date, as he is lieutenant and agent of Pausanias
in Byzantium B. C. 478-477 (Thuc. i. 128).
7. Stein holds that the order of the Strategi followed the annual
order of the tribes which they commanded, and to which they belonged, and that
in this year the Oeneid tribe to which Miltiades of Laciadae
belonged must have been tenth and last: but the phrase suggests rather dekatos
autos (Thuc. i. 116, ii. 13), which implies superiority over colleagues.
8. These enemies were probably the same who prosecuted him
later with more success (ch. 136), Xanthippus and his Alcmaeonid friends. They
might easily excite the people against a tyrant whose dominion over the Chersonese
had the support of the Pisistratidae, although his father had been murdered
by them. For internal politics at Athens cf. v. 103 n., vi. 21 n.; App. XVIII,
§ 6.
9. If this means election by the Ecclesia, and not by a single
tribe, it is an anachronism (Ath. Pol. 22, cit. sup.), but probably H. is only
contrasting the people as an electoral body with the judicial dicastery.
10. It is most improbable that Athens had no understanding
with Sparta before the mission of Philippides. Indeed, his hasty dispatch by
the generals seems an appeal to an existing ally to fulfil her obligations.
But if, as Busolt (ii. 580) suggests, Sparta had concluded only an epimachia
with Athens, the casus foederis would only arise when the Persians directly
attacked Attica (Thuc. i. 44; v. 47, 48, &c.). Nor could the Athenians reasonably
demand aid until they had resolved to risk a battle in the field (Hauvette,
250).
11. Browning in his Pheidippides (ii. 582, ed. 1896) accepts
Lucian's addition to the story that Pheidippides ran back to fight at Marathon,
and died after bringing the news of the victory to Athens, a feat commemorated
by the Marathon races of to-day.
12. The distance traversed is 240 klm.
13. This statement probably applies only to the month Carneius
(Attic Metageitnion), when the Carneia was celebrated at Sparta in honor of
Apollo, from the 7th to the 15th of the month. (see Diomeia)
14. ... that a full moon should fall on the ninth of the month
would imply a grossly disordered calendar, and the answer must be taken to mean
that the Spartans could not go out on the 9th or any day till the 15th (full moon).
The ancient authorities (Paus. i. 28. 4; Plut. infr.; Schol. Arist. Ach. 84, &c.)
speak as if this rule was valid for all months, but H. may only mean it to apply
to the month Carneius (Attic Metageitnion),
when the Carneia,
in honour of Apollo Carneius, were celebrated 7th-15th, i. e. up to the full moon
(Eur. Alc. 449-51), and all Dorians abstained from warfare (H. vii. 206; Thuc.
v. 54. 75). It is, however, to be noticed that in other like cases (vii. 206,
ix. 7) he specifies the festival which hindered action. Plutarch's criticism of
H. (de Malign. 26) ou gar monon allas murias exodous kai machas pepoientai menos
histamenou me perimeinantes ten panselenon, alla kai tautes tes maches heptei
Boedromionos histamenou genomenes oligon apeleiphthesan is in the first part vague
and inaccurate, and in the second rests on a confusion between the actual day
of the battle and that of the yearly festival at which, in fulfilment of a vow
of the Polemarch, five hundred goats were sacrificed to Artemis Agrotera (cf.
Boeckh, Kl. Schr. iv. 85 f., vi. 329 f.). The most probable date is Metageitnion
17 = Sept. 12, i. e. the full moon of the month Metageitnion which preceded the
festival. The speed of the Spartan march seems to show that their desire to help
Athens was genuine, and that the battle took place on the first day it was lawful
for them to march.
15. This altar, like that in the Pythium (cf. Hicks, 10), was
set up by Pisistratus, son of Hippias, as archon in the Agora, and was afterwards
enlarged (Thuc. vi. 54). It was the 'miliarium aureum' of Athens, whence roads
in all directions started and distances were measured (ii. 7. 1; Arist. Av.
1005; C. I. A. ii. 1078). It was specially honoured with offerings and processions
(Xen. Hipp. iii. 2; Pind. fr. 45). For its use as an asylum for suppliants cf.
Diod. xii. 39; Plut. Per. 31. The twelve gods (ii. 4. 2) at Athens were Zeus,
Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Athene, Ares, Aphrodite,
Hermes, Hestia.
16. The right wing was the post of honour and of danger in
Greek armies (ix. 28. 46; Thuc. v. 71), and was naturally led by the king (Eur.
Supp. 657) and by his successor in command (Ath. Pol. 3. 2), the Polemarch;
cf. App. XVIII, § 4.
17. The fixed official order instituted by Cleisthenes (v. 66.
2) --Erechtheis, Aegeis,
Pandionis, Leontis,
Acamantis, Oeneis,
Cecropis, Hippothoontis,
Aeantis, Antiochis--is
followed on inscriptions of the time of the Peloponnesian war (C. I. A. i. 443,
446, 447). As arrangement by tribes is expressly attested by Pausanias (i. 32.
3) for the monument at Marathon, and is confirmed by the stele of the tribe Erechtheis
(459-458 B. C., Hicks 26), this would seem to be the natural meaning here. It
is, however, inconsistent with the traditions in Plutarch (Aristid. 5) that the
tribes Antiochis and Leontis stood together in the centre, and (Mor. 628 D) that
the Aeantis stood on the right of the line. The latter point is confirmed by a
reference to an elegy of Aeschylus, and might be explained by the fact that the
Polemarch belonged to the tribe Aeantis, only in that case H. would naturally
have written hai allai phulai. Plutarch implies (Mor. 628 D) that the Aeantis
was prutaneuousa phule at the time of Marathon. It is likely enough that the order
of the tribes in battle was determined by lot, as was that of the Prytanies (Ath.
Pol. 43. 2), but improbable that the two were identical. Stein's argument (ch.
103 n.) for placing the Oeneis under Miltiades on the left is not convincing.
18. Five such quadrennial festivals--Delia,
Brauronia,
Heracleia,
Eleusinia,
and Panathenaea--are
enumerated (Ath. Pol. 54. 7; cf. ch. 87 n.). Of these the Panathenaea was far
the most important.
19. It is most unlikely that this arrangement was accidental
(Stein) or that this weakening of the centre is a fiction designed to explain
its defeat. No doubt it was intended to prevent outflanking, but it would seem
probable that the centre was obstructed by plantations of olives and vines (cf.
Corn. Nep. 5), and that Miltiades therefore decided to concentrate a decisive
force on either wing where the country was open, and suitable for a charge of
hoplites.
20. The existence at Athens of a class of hippeis, and the
alleged furnishing of two horsemen by each naucrary, might seem to prove that
Athens possessed cavalry. But Helbig has shown (Les Hippeis Atheniens, p. 191
f.) from vases, &c., that these knights were, at least till 478 B. C., equipped
not as true cavalry but as mounted infantry. Hence Athens depended on Thessalian
horse in 510 B. C. (v. 63), and in 490 B. C. had certainly no cavalry fit to
meet the Persian (cf. also ix. 40, 68, 69). At Salamis (Plut. Them. 14; Aesch.
Pers. 460) the Athenians had archers, and at Plataea (ix. 22. 1, 60. 3) a regular
corps of bowmen. The barbarians' astonishment at the absence of these forces
may fairly be held to imply the presence of archers on their side otherwise
unmentioned. For the cavalry cf. App. XVIII, § 8.
21. The thrice-repeated statement that the Athenians charged
at the double (§§ 2, 3) is not to be explained away as an inference from the
festival of the Boedromia (A. Mommsen, Feste Athen. 176) or by making dromoi
the opposite of baden (ix. 57. 1), 'quick' and 'slow' march. On the other hand,
an orderly and effective charge after a mile's run in full armour would be beyond
the power of any large body of soldiers, however well trained. The 'mile', however,
is probably an inference from the distance between the Athenian position near
Vrana and the place where they charged the Persians near the Soros. No doubt
the advance was rapid, but only for the last 200 yards, when within bowshot,
would the Attic hoplites charge at full speed. I have shown (C.Q. xiii (1919),
pp. 40-2) that in accounts of battles baden means 'at foot's pace', and dromoi
'at the double'.
22. The statement, taken literally, is an exaggeration, disproved
by the conduct of the Greeks in resisting the conquest of Ionia (i. 169) and
in the Ionic revolt (v. 2, 102, 110, 113; vi. 28). Yet the fear of the Mede
is proved by Theognis 764 pinomen charienta met' alleloisi legontes i meden
ton Medon deidiotes polemon (cf. 775), and the first occasion on which the Greeks
won [p. 113] a clear victory in the open field might well be described by an
Athenian as the first occasion on which Greeks dared to face the Mede (cf. Introd.
§ 32 (2)). The Persians had borrowed the Medic dress (cf. i. 135; vii. 62).
23. The centre appears to have been the regular post of the
best troops in Persian as in Turkish armies (cf. Arrian, Anab. ii. 8. 11; Xen.
Anab. i. 8. 21-3), though not at Plataea (ix. 31). The Sacae or Amyrgian Scyths
(iii. 93. 3; vii. 64. 2 nn.) were among the troops selected by Mardonius (viii.
113. 2).
24. In the picture of Marathon in the Stoa Poikile there were
figures of Miltiades cheering on his men with extended hand (Aeschin. c. Ctes.
iii. 186; Corn. Nep. Milt. 6), of Callimachus (Paus. i. 15. 3, with Frazer),
of Cynegirus (Plin. N. H. xxxv, § 57), and apparently of his brother Aeschylus
(Paus. i. 21. 2), who is said to have caused the fact to be recorded on his
tomb as his greatest distinction. There were also figures of Datis and Artaphrenes
(Plin. l. c.) and of Epizelus (117 n.).
25. until Themistocles made the triple harbour of Piraeus the
[p. 114] port and arsenal of Athens. Even if he began this work in 493 B. C.
(vii. 143. 1 n.; Thuc. i. 93), it would not be finished in 490.
26. The distance from Marathon to Athens (twenty-five miles
by the modern road, twenty-two by Kephisia and the hills) is more than an army
could march after a pitched battle, nor could the Athenians leave Marathon before
they were certain of the intentions of the enemy. But the voyage round Sunium
(seventy miles) would take longer. Hence both march and voyage, placed by Plutarch
(Arist. 5) on the same day as the battle, should probably be assigned to the
following day. If the Athenians really by a heroic effort marched back on the
actual day of battle, it must have been to meet a detachment carried by a flying
squadron which set sail before the battle (J. H. S. xxxi. 104, and App. XVIII,
§§ 8, 9).
27. The number of the slain (as of captured ships, ch. 115)
is probably trustworthy. The names of the Athenians would be recorded on the
stelae which once adorned the great mound (Soros) over the tomb of the fallen
heroes (Paus. i. 32. 3). That the Soros is the grave of the victors has been
proved by recent excavations (Frazer, ii. 433-4). The barbarian dead may well
have been counted on the field. The moderation of the estimate contrasts most
favourably with later exaggerations--the 200,000 of the inscription in the Stoa
Poikile (Suidas), 300,000 of Pausanias (iv. 25. 5), or the innumerable multitude
of Xenophon (Anab. iii. 2. 12) and Plutarch (de Malign. 26; 862 B). It is noticeable
that H. gives no figures for the total number engaged on either side. Both Justin
(ii. 9) and Nepos (Milt. 5) give 1,000 Plataeans, a good round exaggeration
(ix. 28. 6 n.); but the former puts the Athenians at 10,000, the latter at 9,000
(cf. Paus. iv. 25. 5; x. 20. 2). These numbers are probably derived from Ephorus,
and rest on a calculation of 1,000 men to a tribe. Yet they may well be near
the truth, allowing for the total omission of light-armed troops. On the other
hand, even the lowest ancient estimate of the Persians--200,000 foot (of whom
only 100,000 fought in the battle) and 10,000 horse (Nep. Milt. 4, 5)--is greatly
exaggerated, not to speak of the 500,000 of Plato (Menex. 240 A) and Lysias
(Epitaph. 21), or the 600,000 of Justin (ii. 9). Modern estimates rest on conjecture
or on the number of the Persian ships (vi. 95 n.), an insecure foundation. Duncker's
60,000 is an outside estimate; perhaps 40,000 would be nearer the mark.
28. Epizelus was depicted in the Stoa Poikile (Aelian, N. H.
vii. 38). Blindness following on a vision is not in itself incredible (Acts
ix. 1-9). But the vision is recorded with some doubt by H. It is strange that
he, unlike Pausanias (i. 15), puts the supernatural aid on the side of the Persians,
not of the Greeks. Cf. also App. XVIII, §§ 1 and 3.
29. Ardericca in Cissia (cf. iii. 91. 4), not the village on
the Euphrates (i. 185. 2), may be at Kir-Ab, thirty-five miles from Susa, where
there are remains of an ancient road and town, and where bitumen is still collected
in the way described by H. His description suggests a visit, though the phrase
mechri emeo (§ 4) does not affirm it (cf. Introd. § 16 (4)). Strabo (747) places
Eretrians in Gordyene on the upper Tigris, but H. is supported by the epigram
of Plato, Anth. Pal. vii. 259.
30. Diodorus (xvii. 119) says that some Boeotians, settled
by Xerxes beyond the Tigris, still spoke their mother-tongue when Alexander
came there.
31. According to Plato (Laws 698 E; cf. Menex. 240 C) the Spartans
came the day after the battle, and H. implies that they arrived before the burial
of the Persian dead. Isocrates (Paneg. 87) allows three days and nights for
the march of 1,200 stades, but even so the feat is wonderful (cf. 106).
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
The Battle of Marathon: Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Homer to Alexander
DEKELIA (Ancient demos) ACHARNES
The aftermath of the defeat in Sicily
Alcibiades' desertion turned out to cause Athens more trouble after the catastrophic end of the Sicilian expedition in 413. While at Sparta he advised the Spartan commanders to establish a permanent base of operations in the Attic countryside. In 413 they acted on his advice. Taking advantage of Athenian weakness in the aftermath of the enormous losses in men and equipment sustained in Sicily, they installed a garrison at Decelea in northeastern Attica, in sight of the walls of Athens itself only a few miles distant. Spartan forces could now raid the Athenian countryside year around instead of only for a limited time, as in the earlier years of the war when the annual invasions dispatched from Sparta could never linger longer than forty days in Athenian territory. The presence of the garrison made agricultural work in the fields of Attica too dangerous and forced Athens to rely on food imported by sea even more heavily than in the past. The damage to Athenian fortunes increased when twenty thousand slaves owned by the state and who worked in Athens' silver mines ran away to seek refuge in the Spartan camp. The loss of these slave miners put a stop to the flow of revenue from the veins of silver ore. So immense was the distress caused by the crisis that an extraordinary change was made in Athenian government: a board of ten officials was appointed to manage the affairs of the city, virtually supplanting the council of five hundred
War and the finances of Athens
The financial health of the city-state of Athens suffered during the Peloponnesian War from the many interruptions to agriculture and from the catastrophic loss of income from the state's silver mines that occurred after the Spartan army took up a permanent presence in 413 B.C. Work could thereafter no longer continue at the mines, especially after the desertion of thousands of slave mine workers to the Spartan fort at Decelea. Some public building projects in the city itself were kept going, like the Erectheum temple to Athena on the acropolis, to demonstrate the Athenian will to carry on and also as a device for infusing some money into the crippled economy. But the demands of the war depleted the funds available for many non-military activities. The scale of the great annual dramatic festivals, for example, had to be cut back. The financial situation had become so desperate by the end of the war that Athenians were required to turn in their silver coins and exchange them for an emergency currency of bronze thinly plated with silver. The regular silver coins, along with gold coins that were minted from golden objects borrowed from Athens' temples, were then used to pay war expenses.
This text is from: Thomas Martin's An Overview of Classical Greek History from Homer to Alexander, Yale University Press. Cited July 2005 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
VOULIAGMENI (Suburb of Athens) ATTIKI
The legend
At the beaches of Saronicos
bay, 24 km south of the city of Athens and from the preclassical years till
today, the ancient Demos of Aexonidon Alon - the today's Vouliagmeni keeps thriving
and developing.
The legend binds with an unbroken historical link the beautiful city
of Vouliagmeni to the Kyklades Islands, the sacred Delos
and the birth of the Olympian Gods.
According to the historian Pausanias, the young Titan Leto, pregnant
with the children of Zeus, father of Gods, and hunted by the jealous Hera was
desperately searching for a place where she could give birth to them. During the
pursuit and uncomfortable from the pains, Leto throws her belt over the sandy
and full of pine trees thin strip of land with the beautiful beaches on both its
sides, the region known today as Lemos
of Vouliagmeni.
The area will be named "Zostir" (Belt) after Leto's garment,
with a second explanation offered again by Pausanias and referring to the weapons
that Apollo put in his belt in order to protect his mother.
A brief history of Vouliagmeni
The exquisite beaches of the city had long attracted human activity
since the early historical years. The 'Makra Akra' (Long Edge), as the peninsula
of Lemos was characteristically known, was one of the areas of Attica where the
archaeological excavations brought into the light many remains of human settlements
during the end of the Neolithic Period (3.000 bC.)
Human presence becomes even more prominent during the next centuries,
as the archeological findings at Mikro Kavouri reveal several Proto-Hellenic settlements
and some quantities of obsidian, a hard volcanic stone that can be found only
in the islands of Milos
and Nissyros. These
findings reveal a maritime communication with these islands, at least 4.500 years
ago.
Archeological excavations
During the pre-classical years and around the second half of the 8th
century, a temple is built in Vouliagmeni, with three altars that are dedicated
to Leto, goddess of the night and patron of the women who are going to give birth,
and to her twins, Artemis and Apollo.
During the later years new additions were built to the temple, one
in the 6th century and a second during the last half of the 4th century. History
shows that the temple was active till the end of the 2nd century AD. There is
another temple in the area which is dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom,
whose exact location has not yet been found.
In 1938, another archaeological excavation at Lemos of Vouliagmeni
revealed a small settlement which was believed to belong to priests, dated somewhere
between the end of 5th and the beginning of the 6th century. At the time of the
excavation, its central building was regarded as a unique example of an ancient
house of this period. Also, during the same years the excavations revealed a fortification
tower built by the Athenians around 429 bC, according to the ancient historian
Thucydides.
Many of these findings are exhibited at the Archaeological
Museum of Athens.
This text is cited June 2005 from the Municipality of Vouliagmeni URL below
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