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A NEW
HISTORY OF THE
PELOPONNESIAN
WAR
L
AWRENCE
A. T RITLE
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
Praise for A New History of the Peloponnesian War
‘An insightful, highly readable history of the first all-out war in western
history. Tritle knows Greek history and he knows what war does to
soldiers and civilians alike.’
Tom Palaima, University of Texas at Austin
‘Not another paraphrase of Thucydides, Tritle’s sensitive new history of
the great war between Athens and Sparta marshals the literary and
material evidence to explore the human and societal experience, showing
once again that military history extends far beyond the battlefield.’
Waldemar Heckel, University of Calgary
‘Swift narrative, mastery of modern scholarship, and unusual integration
of classical literature. Like his great source Thucydides, the author was a
soldier, and the terrible brutality of war is immanent.’
Mortimer Chambers, UCLA
‘By helping us understand broadly and deeply the human and social
dimension of this war, Tritle’s book brilliantly justifies its ambitious title
of a “new history” of an often-treated old war.’
Kurt A. Raaflaub, Brown University
A NEW
HISTORY OF THE
PELOPONNESIAN
WAR
L
AWRENCE
A. T RITLE
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
This edition first published 2010
© 2010 Lawrence A. Tritle
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tritle, Lawrence A., 1946A new history of the Peloponnesian War / Lawrence A. Tritle.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-2250-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4051-2251-1 (pbk. : alk.
paper) 1. Greece–History–Peloponnesian War, 431-404 B.C. 2. Greece–History–
Peloponnesian War, 431-404 B.C.–Influence. 3. Greece–History–Peloponnesian War, 431-404
B.C.–Historiography. 4. Athens (Greece)–Intellectual life. I. Title.
DF229.T74 2010
938′.05–dc22
2009020186
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in 10.5/13 pt Minion by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong
Printed in Malaysia
I
2010
For
my Mom, Dorothy B. Tritle
and
Najwa habibti
and
those who have seen the elephant
and brought it home
CONTENTS
List of illustrations
List of maps
List of abbreviations
Chronology
Acknowledgments
Preface
viii
x
xi
xiii
xix
xxi
Prelude – a band of brothers
1
‘From this the Corinthians developed their bitter hatred
for the Athenians’
2
‘Give the Greeks their freedom’
3
‘Our city is an education to Greece’
4
‘War is a violent teacher’
5
‘Spindles would be worth a lot’
6
‘Weeping for joy’
7
‘The strong do what they have the power to do’
8
‘What of us then who for our children must weep?’
9
‘The whole of Greece against Athens’
10
‘Ships gone . . . don’t know what to do’
11
‘Athens is taken’
12
‘Here’s to the noble Critias!’
Epilogue
4
25
44
67
85
111
132
144
165
186
205
223
241
Appendix A: A note on sources
Appendix B: Who’s who in the Peloponnesian War
Appendix C: A Peloponnesian War glossary
Bibliography
Index
243
248
258
263
275
vii
1
ILLUSTRATIONS
1.1
3.1
3.2
3.3
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
6.1
Athenian casualty list, c. 450. Photo: American School
of Classical Studies at Athens: Agora Excavations.
16
Soldier at his tomb. Attic white-ground lekythos
from a grave in Eretria, late fifth century.
Reed Painter. National Archaeological Museum,
Athens. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
50
Attic relief, a dedication to the Thracian goddess
Bendis, c. 400. British Museum, London.
Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
51
Warrior taking leave of his wife. Attic white-ground
lekythos from Eretria, c. 440. Achilles Painter.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
55
The island of Sphacteria in the bay of Pylos in southern
Greece. Photo: L. Tritle.
87
Bronze shield taken from the Spartans at Pylos, with
drawing and decipherment of the dedication.
Photo: American School of Classical Studies at Athens:
Agora Excavations.
90
Attic grave relief depicting battle, late fifth century.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fletcher
Fund (40.11.23). Photo: L. Tritle.
101
Gamma 16, Theban soldier killed at Chaeronea,
338/7. National Archaeological Museum, Athens
(Photo Archive). Photo: J. Ma.
102
Ionic frieze from the temple of Apollo Epikourios,
Bassai, c. 420–400. British Museum, London. Photo:
The Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource, NY. 117
viii
I L L U S TRATI O N S
6.2
6.3
8.1
10.1
10.2
10.3
12.1
Nike of Paeonius, c. 420. Archaeological Museum,
Olympia, Greece. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.
Niobide, from the Sallustian Gardens, Rome.
Greco-Roman after Greek original, c. 460–30. Museo
Nazionale delle Terme, Rome. Photo: Scala/Ministero
per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, NY.
The Great Harbor at Syracuse, Sicily. Photo: L. Tritle.
Funerary stele of Chairedemos and Lykeas, from
Salamis, c. 400. Archaeological Museum, Piraeus,
Greece. Photo: Nimatallah/Art Resource, NY.
Nike adjusting her sandal. Detail of the balustrade
relief from the temple of Athena Nike, Athens, c. 410.
Acropolis Museum, Athens. Photo: Nimatallah/Art
Resource, NY.
Aphrodite attributed to Callimachus, late fifth century
(imperial Roman copy, first–second century AD).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (32.11.3).
Photo: L. Tritle.
Funerary stele of Philoxenos and Philoumene, c. 400.
J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu. Photo: J. Paul Getty
Museum.
ix
118
119
155
190
197
197
230
MAPS
Boeotia-Attica
Macedonia-Chalcidice
Sicily
Ionia
The Hellespont
24
96
145
166
182
x
ABBREVIATIONS
Titles of periodical literature are generally abbreviated in accordance with
those listed in L’ Année philologique. Names of ancient authors and titles
of works are mostly abbreviated as listed in the Oxford Classical Dictionary
(see below) or LSJ = H.G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon,
9th ed., rev. by H.S. Jones and R. McKenzie (Oxford, 1940).
The following should also be noted:
APF
ATL
Beloch
CAH
FGrHist
Fornara
J.K. Davies, Athenian Propertied Families.
Oxford, 1971.
B.D. Meritt, H.T. Wade-Gery, and M.F.
McGregor, eds. The Athenian Tribute
Lists, 4 vols. Cambridge and Princeton
for American School of Classical Studies,
Athens, 1939–53.
K.J. Beloch, Griechische Geschichte. 2nd ed.
4 vols. Strassburg, Berlin, Leipzig,
1912–27.
Cambridge Ancient History, ed. by J.B.
Bury et al., 1st ed., 12 vols. Cambridge,
1923–39; with a new edition (e.g., second
and third), 1970–2001.
Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker.
F. Jacoby, ed. Vol. 1–2, Berlin, 1923–26.
Vol. 3, Leiden, 1940–58.
C.W. Fornara, ed. and trans., Translated
Documents of Greece and Rome. Vol. 1.
Archaic Times to the End of the Peloponnesian War. 2nd ed. Cambridge, 1983.
xi
ABBRE V I A T I O N S
Gomme
Gomme-Andrewes-Dover
Hornblower
IG
ML
PA
P-B
RE
OCD3
Pritchett
A.W. Gomme. A Historical Commentary
on Thucydides. Vols. 1–3. Oxford,
1945–56.
A.W. Gomme, A. Andrewes, and K.J.
Dover. A Historical Commentary on
Thucydides. Vols. 4–5. Oxford, 1970–81.
S. Hornblower. A Commentary on Thucydides. 3 vols. Oxford, 1991–2008.
Inscriptiones Graecae. Berlin, 1873–.
R. Meiggs and D.M. Lewis, eds., Greek
Historical Inscriptions to the End of the
Fifth Century B.C. Rev. ed. Oxford, 1988.
J. Kirchner, Prosopographia Attica. 2 vols.
Berlin, 1901.
P. Poralla, A Prosopography of Lacedaemonians from the Earliest Times to the Death
of Alexander the Great. 2nd ed., by A.S.
Bradford. Chicago, 1985.
Realencyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft. Ed. by Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll.
Stuttgart, 1894–1980.
Oxford Classical Dictionary. S. Hornblower
and A. Spawforth, eds. 3rd ed., rev.
Oxford, 2003.
W.K. Pritchett. The Greek State at War. 5
vols. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971–91.
xii
CHRONOLOGY
Please note: all three-digit dates are BC/BCE; fifth century and fourth
century, when referred to as such, should be understood as BC/BCE.
‘Common era’ dates, when used, will be identified as AD/CE; nineteenth
and twentieth (centuries) and all four-digit dates should be taken as
modern.
Political-Military Events
490–78
Era of the Persian Wars: Athens
burned by invading Persians
490
Battle of Marathon: Athens defeats
invading Persian army
480
Battles of Thermopylae/
Artemisium and Salamis
479
Battles of Plataea/Mycale: Persian
defeat complete
478/7
Establishment of Delian League
under Athenian leadership
Aeschylus, Persians1
472
c.469/8–6
Social-Cultural Events
Battle of Eurymedon
468
Sophocles premiers
466/5
Revolt and suppression of Naxos
by Athens
464 (?)
Earthquake in Sparta
1
Readers should note that few dates for the performance of Attic drama are secure. Their
discussion below is placed where it seems most likely. This applies as well to the dates
assigned to works of art.
xiii