The ''Paralus'' or ''Paralos'' ( el, Πάραλος, "sea-side"; named after a mythological son of

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

), was an Athenian sacred ship and a messenger

trireme A trireme( ; derived from Latin: ''trirēmis'' "with three banks of oars"; cf. Greek ''triērēs'', literally "three-rower") was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean S ...

of the

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

navy during the late 5th century BC. Its crew were known for their vehement pro-

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

views. It played a notable role in several episodes of the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...

. The ''Paralus'' appears more often in the literary and

epigraphical Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

sources for the classical period than any other individual ship;Jordan, ''Athenian Navy'', 172 it carried almost all recorded Athenian

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

s in the 5th and 4th centuries, and it appears that on most of these missions the treasurer (''tamias'') of Paralus acted as the chief ambassador. The crew of the ''Paralus'' (the ''Paraloi'') was known for its exceptionally strong pro-democracy views; its remarkable unity on this matter may indicate that it was composed of the members of a single ''

genos In ancient Greece, a ''genos'' ( Greek: γένος, "race, stock, kin", plural γένη ''genē'') was a social group claiming common descent, referred to by a single name (see also Sanskrit " Gana"). Most ''gene'' were composed of noble families& ...

'' of the name ''Paraloi''. This crew was instrumental in preventing an

oligarchic Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

coup at

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...

in 411 BC. On bringing the news of this event to Athens, however, they found that a successful oligarchic coup had taken place there, and were interned; one crew member, escaping, brought the news of this event to the fleet at Samos, beginning the period of open division between the city and the fleet. In 405 BC, the ''Paralus'' was one of ten ships that escaped from the Athenian disaster at

Aegospotami Aegospotami ( grc, Αἰγὸς Ποταμοί, ''Aigos Potamoi'') or AegospotamosMish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. “Aegospotami.” '' Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary''. 9th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1985. , (in ...

with

Conon Conon ( el, Κόνων) (before 443 BC – c. 389 BC) was an Athenian general at the end of the Peloponnesian War, who led the Athenian naval forces when they were defeated by a Peloponnesian fleet in the crucial Battle of Aegospotami; later he c ...

; it was then dispatched to inform Athens of the defeat, its arrival setting off a citywide panic.Xenophon, ''Hellenica'' 2.2.3

References

Other sources

* Kagan, Donald. ''The Peloponnesian War'' (Penguin Books, 2003). *Jordan, Borimir, ''The Athenian Navy in the Classical Period''. (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1975) {{ISBN, 0-520-09482-4 *Xenophon, '' Hellenica'' Peloponnesian War Ships of ancient Greece Navy of ancient Athens

See also

References

Other sources