Download Περίληψη : Χρονολόγηση Γεωγραφικός Εντοπισμός

IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Συγγραφή :
Ζάχος Γεώργιος
Μετάφραση :
Κούτρας Νικόλαος
Για παραπομπή :
Ζάχος Γεώργιος , "Naval Battle of Mycale, 479 BC",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7939>
Περίληψη :
The naval battle of Mycale (479 BC) is the first confrontation of the allied Greeks against the Persians in Asia Minor after the Ionian Revolt. After fifteen years the cities of Asia Minor begin once more to breathe the air of freedom.
Χρονολόγηση
Late August of 479 BC
Γεωγραφικός Εντοπισμός
Coast of Mycale (mountain and cape close to Priene)
1. Historical context
In August of 479 BC, while the infantry of the Greeks was preparing to face the Persians commanded by Mardonius at Plataea of
Boeotia, the last threat for Greece after Xerxes’ defeat at Salamis, the Greek fleet, commanded by the Spartan king Leotychidas was
moored at Delos. Two Samian refugees arrived there, unbeknownst to Theomestor of Androdamas, the Persian puppet-tyrant of
Samos. Lampon, son of Thrasycles, and Athenagoras, son of Archestratides, beseeched the commanders of the fleet to not abandon
the Ionians but to move towards the lands of Ionia, as the Persian fleet was not in a battle-worthy state. Samos itself was ready to rise
in revolt against the Persians, and every Ionian city would do the same seeing a strong Greek fleet approaching.
2. The events
Leotychidas received positively the request of the Samians and, considering that the name of Hegesistratus (=leader of the army), the
person who spoke on their behalf, acted as a positive omen, gave the command for the Greek fleet to sail off;1 late in August it
moored close to the Temple of Hera and prepared for the fight. When the commanders of the Persian fleet, Mardontes, Artayntes
and his nephew Ithamitres, were informed of these developments, deeming their forces no match for the Greeks, they decided to sail
away, and headed for Ionia, except the Phoenician ships which departed.
So the Persian fleet headed for the promontory created by Mt Mycale close to Priene, in the hope of finding protection by the army
that Xerxes had left behind to guard Ionia, commanded by Tigranes, the most handsome and tallest man of Persia, according to
Herodotus. Arriving at the coast of Mycale, and specifically at the Temple of Demeter and Persephone,2 which was situated close to
the River Gaison3 at the location Scolopoentas,4 a place name that can be identified with modern Doğanbey (the old Greek village
Domatia) or Akboğaz, they pulled their ships ashore and surrounded them with a makeshift protective wall of tree-trunks and stones
and a palisade, and prepared to fend off the Greek attack. With the addition of the crews from the ships, the Persian army now
numbered approximately 10,000 men.5
Having been informed that the enemy escaped, the Greeks were wavering between returning or moving towards the Hellespont. They
finally decided to do neither, but move against the Persians. Arriving at Mycale and seeing that the Persians had taken up defensive
position on the shore, Leotychidas had a herald address the Ionians in the Persian army asking them to fight for their freedom. With
these words Leotychidas attempted to achieve what Themistocles had managed during the naval battle at Artemisium (480 BC): if the
Persians failed to understand his message, he would have gained some supporters among the Ionians; if the Persians understood the
message of the herald they would loose their confidence in their Greek allies.
Soon after the Greeks landed on the shore, at the bay of Boynak, next to Priene, and headed west, taking up battle positions
opposite the Persian fortifications. The Persians, seeing the Greeks deploying for battle and inciting the Ionians to defect, decided to
disarm the Samians, fearing that they would be the first to join forces with the enemy, because when 500 Athenian captives of Xerxes
from Attica had earlier arrived at Samos, the Samians released them and sent them back to Athens. They also ordered the Milesians
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IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Συγγραφή :
Ζάχος Γεώργιος
Μετάφραση :
Κούτρας Νικόλαος
Για παραπομπή :
Ζάχος Γεώργιος , "Naval Battle of Mycale, 479 BC",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7939>
to guard the passes of Mt Mycale, claiming that they knew the area better, while in reality they wanted to keep them away from the
battlefield. The Persians exited their fortifications and deployed their forces in a line, creating a wall with their shields.
The Greeks, who must have numbered 5,000 to 6,000 at most, having already made their preparations, started moving against the
enemy. As they were making their way, a rumour, which began from one of the heralds at the shore, started spreading among the
troops that the Greeks were victorious at Plataea.6 Considering it a good omen that they too were fighting on the same day, as well as
that both at Mycale as well as at Plataea there was a temple dedicated to the goddess Demeter, rushed with greater vigour to the
battle – up to then their minds were with the men fighting at Plataea who posed the greatest obstacle to Mardonius’ attempt to
capture Greece.
Due to the narrowness of the beach, the left wing of the Greek camp, where the Athenians under Xanthippus, Pericles’ father, were in
charge together with the Corinthians, Sicyonians and Troezenians, was marching on the shore and on level ground, while the right one,
where among others the Lacedaemonians were deployed, was marching close to a gorge and over hills. So as the latter were making
a roundabout move to cross the gorge, the former had already engaged the Persian forces who were fighting vigorously and were
holding their positions.7
The Samians, seeing the battle was undecided, although unarmed, did their best to aid the Greeks. But more Ionians, following the
example of the Samians, defected and attacked the Persians. The Athenians and those deployed next to them, realizing that the
Spartans had been left behind and that this victory would belong to them completely, rushed with greater fervour in the battle, forcing
their opponents to withdraw behind their wall. At that point, the entire left wing charged the wall and captured it, forcing all of the
defenders, except the Persians, to flee. The Persians gathered in small groups and fought against the Greeks that entered the
fortifications.
When the Lacedaemonians and those following them arrived they neutralized the last nuclei of resistance. Among the slain Persians
were Mardontes and Tigranes, while Artayntes and Ithamitres were saved taking to flight. The Milesians guarding the passes of
Mycale led some of the Persians attempting to escape to the hands of the Greeks, while others they killed themselves. Those who did
manage to escape the Greek army and the wild beasts of Mycale sought refuge at Sardis.
3. Outcome of the naval battle
Among the Greeks, the Athenians distinguished themselves most in the engagement, and among the Athenians Hermolycus was
preeminent, the son of Euthoinus and a pankration athlete.8 The Corinthians, Troezenians and Sicyonians also distinguished
themselves during the fight. The latter suffered the heaviest casualties, including their leader Perileo.
When the battle was over the victors set fire to the Persian ships9 and, after rounding up the loot, which included sums of money,
sailed off to Samos. There they convened to decide what was to be done with the Greeks of Asia Minor, as there were fears of an
imminent retaliatory strike by the Persians. The Greeks of Asia Minor and the islanders of eastern Greece asked to become part of
the Greek alliance against the Persians. The mainland Greeks, however, objected to that, arguing that their forces did not suffice to
defend the cities of the coasts of Asia Minor in the event of a Persian attack, as the proposed alliance would oblige them to. The
Lacedaemonians suggested that they should abandon their cities and settle in mainland Greece, in the areas of those who had joined
forces with the Persians. The Athenians reacted to that, for they did not wish the Greeks of Asia to leave their homelands, also
because they did not like the Lacedaemonians deciding on the fate of cities considered Athenian colonies. Thus the Greeks of Asia
Minor remained in their cities and, according to Diodorus Siculus, became members of the alliance; according to Herodotus,
however, only Chios, Samos and Lesvos were incorporated into it.10
4. Assessment
The Battle of Mycale was the first major blow against the Persian ascendancy over the Greek cities of Asia Minor. If the victory at
Plataea marked the fulfilment of the goals of the Greek alliance, i.e. the expulsion of the Persians from Greece, the victory at Mycale
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IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Συγγραφή :
Ζάχος Γεώργιος
Μετάφραση :
Κούτρας Νικόλαος
Για παραπομπή :
Ζάχος Γεώργιος , "Naval Battle of Mycale, 479 BC",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7939>
marks the beginning of a second round of operations, headed by the Athenians and aimed at freeing and providing protection to the
Greeks of Asia Minor and Thrace, a goal that was achieved with the Peace of Callias (449 BC).
1. Herodotus (8.131) reports 110 ships, while Diodorus Siculus (11.34.1) 250 ships, that is the entire Greek fleet. Modern scholars accepting Herodotus’ estimate as accurate argue that the Athenians did not wish to place their entire fleet under the command of Leotychidas while Mardonius was still very close to Attica.
2. According to tradition, it was built by Philistus, son of Pasicles, when together with Neleus they were on their way to found Miletus.
3. On Gaison and Lake Gaisonitis (Athen. 7. 311E), see Wiegand, Τ. ‑ Schrader, Η., Priene. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen in der Jahren 1895‑1898 (Berlin 1904), pp. 16‑18.
4. It derives from σκόλοπες (=poles), which indicates that it was named after a battle fought in the palisade the Persian camp was surrounded with.
5. Xenophon mentions 60,000 and Diodorus Siculus 100,000, numbers that are rejected by most modern scholars as exaggerated.
6. Those who argue that the Battle of Plataea occurred before that of Mycale interpret the synchrony reported by Herodotus and reiterated by Diodorus either as an invention of the historian or a ploy of Leotychidas – a third view is that the battle of Mycale occurred on the same day as the first skirmishes that too place before the battle at Boeotia. On the contrary, those who accept this synchrony argue that the message was conveyed on the same day via the network of fire‑beacon towers [Cithaeron (a mountain in Boeotia)‑Cyclades‑Samos‑Mycale].
7. Modern scholars argue that this move of the Spartans was a strategic manoeuvre by Leotychidas: seeing only the left wing of the Greek army the Persians would believe the forces set against them were much smaller than in reality and thus exit their fortifications, while he outflanked them with the right wing; this manoeuvre that was never completed due to the impetuous Athenians. Although we cannot exclude this possibility, nothing of the sort is implied in Herodotusʹ text.
8. He died circa 472 BC in a battle between the Athenians and the people of Carystus. It was probably his statue that Pausanias saw on the Acropolis of Athens (Paus. 1.23.10); cf. Παπαχατζής, Ν., Παυσανίου Ελλάδος περιήγησις 5: Αττικά (Athens 1974), p. 330, n. 1.
9. Hignett, C, Xerxesʹ Invasion of Greece (Oxford 1963), p. 259, argues that only the Persian ships were burned down, and that the ships of the Ionian Greeks were left intact, when there is no basis for such a claim. Gianelli, G., ʺChi incedio le navi persiane a Micale?ʺ, in Studi in onore di U.E. Paoli (Florence 1955), pp. 355‑358, supposes that they were burned by the Athenians, specifically by Themistocles, to prevent the Spartans using them and thus receiving a significant boost in their ability to wage naval warfare; McDougall, I., ʺThe Persian Ships at Mycaleʺ, in Craik, E.M. (ed.), Owls to Athens. Essays on Classical Subjects Presented to Sir Kenneth Dover (Oxford 1990), pp. 143‑149, argues that they were destroyed instead of being taken over because the Battle of Mycale was the culmination of a fast raid: the Greeks aimed at striking a quick blow and then return without further ado.
10. Barron, J.P. in CAH2 IV, p. 615, claims that it was at this point that the Persian‑installed tyrant of Miletus, Aristogenes, was ousted by Leotychidas (Plut., Mor. 859D).
Βιβλιογραφία :
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IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Συγγραφή :
Ζάχος Γεώργιος
Μετάφραση :
Κούτρας Νικόλαος
Για παραπομπή :
Ζάχος Γεώργιος , "Naval Battle of Mycale, 479 BC",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7939>
Müller D., Topographischer Bildkommentar zu den Historien Herodots. Kleinasien und angrenzende
Gebiete mit Südostthrakien und Zypern, Tübingen – Berlin 1997
Hignett C., Xerxes’ Invasion of Greece, Oxford 1963
Wiegand Th., Schrader H., Priene. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen 1895-1898, Berlin 1904
Burn A.R., Persia and the Greeks, London 1984
How W.W., Wells J., A Commentary on Herodotus, 2, Oxford 1992
Green P., The Greco-Persian Wars, Berkeley – Los Angeles – London 1996
Grundy G.B., The Great Persian War and its Preliminaries, London 1901
Πελεκίδης, X. (επιμ.), Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους Β': Κλασικός Ελληνισμός, Αθήνα 1971
Kromayer, J., Veith, G. (eds.), Antike Schlachtfelder, 4 Vols., Berlin 1903-1931
Barron J.P., "The Liberation of Greece", Boardman, J. – Hammond, N.G.L. – Lewis, D.M. – Ostwald, M.,
CAH IV: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean, c.525 to 479 BC., Cambridge 1992, 592-622
McDougall I., "The Persian Ships at Mycale", Craik, E.M. (ed.), Owls to Athens. Essays on Classical
Subjects Presented to Sir Kenneth Dover, Oxford 1990, 143-149
Gianelli G., "Chi incediò le navi persiane a Micale?", Studi in onore di U.E. Paoli, Florence 1955, 355-358
Δικτυογραφία :
Mycale
http://www.livius.org/a/turkey/mycale/mycale.html
Nebraska University, Faculty Publications, Department of History: Milesian Decrees of Isopoliteia and the
Refoundation of the city, ca 479 BCE
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=historyfacpub
Γλωσσάριo :
tyrant, the
The initial meaning of the term was the leading archon of a noble origin. Later οn he was the usurper of rightful power and the one who was ruling in
an absolute way, aiming ostensily to the welfare of his people.
Πηγές
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheke 11.34‑37.5. Herodotus, Historiae 9.90‑107. Δημιουργήθηκε στις 4/5/2017
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