|
Κλέων
Cleon (; ''Kleon'' ; died 422 BCE) was an Athenian politician and general (''strategos'') during the Peloponnesian War. The son of Cleaenetus, a wealthy tanner, Cleon was among the first prominent Athenian politicians of the 5th century BCE to obtain power from outside the established elite. As a political leader, Cleon aligned aligned himself with the poor citizens and emerging commercial class of Athens, while also advocating for an aggressive military strategy against Sparta and its allies. He rose to prominence after the death of Perciles and was subsequently one of the most influential figures in Athenian politics, playing a central role in the Battle of Sphacteria, the Mytilenean Debate, and the failed Athenian campaign to retake Amphipolis in 422 BCE, where he was killed. Cleon was a deeply polarizing figure, portrayed harshly by the two principal contemporary sources on his life - the historian Thucydides and the playwright Aristophanes - both of whom had reasons to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphipolis
Amphipolis (; ) was an important ancient Greek polis (city), and later a Roman city, whose large remains can still be seen. It gave its name to the modern municipality of Amphipoli, in the Serres regional unit of northern Greece. Amphipolis was originally a colony of ancient Athenians and was the site of the battle between the Spartans and Athenians in 422 BC. It was later the place where Alexander the Great prepared for campaigns leading to his invasion of Asia in 335 BC. Alexander's three finest admirals, Nearchus, Androsthenes and Laomedon, resided in Amphipolis. After Alexander's death, his wife Roxana and their son Alexander IV were imprisoned and murdered there in 311 BC. Excavations in and around the city have revealed important buildings, ancient walls and tombs. The finds are displayed at the archaeological museum of Amphipolis. At the nearby vast Kasta burial mound, an ancient Macedonian tomb has recently been revealed. The Lion of Amphipolis monument near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plague Of Athens
The Plague of Athens (, ) was an epidemic that devastated the city-state of Athens in ancient Greece during the second year (430 BC) of the Peloponnesian War when an Athenian victory still seemed within reach. The plague killed an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 people, around 25% of the population, and is believed to have entered Athens through Piraeus, the city's port and sole source of food and supplies. Thucydides, an Athenian survivor, wrote that much of the eastern Mediterranean also saw an outbreak of the disease, albeit with less impact.Thucydides, ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' 2.49 The war, along with the plague, had lasting effects on Athenian society. Short-term, there was civil disorder, and violations of usual funerary practices. Thucydides describes a decrease in traditional religious practices and increase in superstitious explanations. He estimates that it took 15 years for the Athenian population to recover. Long-term, the high death toll drastically redistri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of The Peloponnesian War
The ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' () is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which was fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Classical Athens, Athens). The account, apparently unfinished, does not cover the full war, ending mid-sentence in 411. It was written by Thucydides, an Classical Athens, Athenian historian who also served as an Athenian general during the war. His account of the conflict is widely considered to be a classic and regarded as one of the earliest scholarly works of history. The ''History'' is divided into eight books. Analyses of the ''History'' generally occur in one of two camps. On the one hand, some scholars such as J. B. Bury view the work as an objective and scientific piece of history. The judgment of Bury reflects this traditional interpretation of the ''History'' as "severe in its detachment, written from a purely intellectual point of view, unencumbered with platitudes an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peace Of Nicias
The Peace of Nicias was a peace treaty signed between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in March 421 BC that ended the first half of the Peloponnesian War. Background In 425 BC, the Spartans had lost the battles of Pylos and Sphacteria, a severe defeat resulting in the Athenians holding 292 prisoners. At least 120 were Spartiates, who had recovered by 424 BC, when the Spartan general Brasidas captured Amphipolis. In the same year, the Athenians suffered a major defeat in Boeotia at the Battle of Delium, and in 422 BC, they were defeated again at the Battle of Amphipolis in their attempt to take back that city. Both Brasidas, the leading Spartan general, and Cleon, the leading politician in Athens, were killed at Amphipolis. By then, both sides were exhausted and ready for peace. The treaty was signed with the agreement of both Sparta and Athens, considering the disadvantages faced by both polis during the first Peloponnesian War. The Athenians were motivated afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peltast
A ''peltast'' (, ) was a type of light infantry originating in Thracians, Thrace and Paeonia (kingdom), Paeonia and named after the kind of shield he carried.Williams, Mary Frances. "Philopoemen's special forces: Peltasts and a new kind of greek light-armed warfare (Livy 35.27) " ''Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte'' H. 3 (2004): 257-277. Thucydides mentions the Thracian peltasts, while Xenophon in the Anabasis (Xenophon), Anabasis distinguishes the Thracian and Greek peltast troops. The peltast often served as a skirmisher in Hellenistic period, Hellenistic armies. In the Middle Ages, the same term was used for a type of Byzantine Empire, Byzantine infantryman. Description ''Pelte'' shield ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brasidas
Brasidas (, died 422 BC) was the most distinguished Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War. He died during the Second Battle of Amphipolis while winning one of his most spectacular victories. Biography Brasidas was the son of Tellis (Τέλλις) and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by leading the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athenians (431 BC). During the following year he seems to have been eponymous ephor, and in 429 BC he was sent out as one of the three commissioners to advise the admiral Cnemus. As trierarch he distinguished himself in the assault on the Athenian position at the Battle of Pylos, during which he was severely wounded. In 424 BC, while Brasidas mustered a force at Corinth for a campaign in Thrace, he frustrated an Athenian attack on Megara. Immediately afterwards he marched through Thessaly at the head of 1,700 hoplites (700 helots and 1000 Peloponnesian mercenaries) and joined Perdiccas II of Macedon. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demosthenes (general)
Demosthenes (, died 413 BC), son of Alcisthenes, was an Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War. Early military actions The military activities of Demosthenes are first recorded from 426 BC when he led an Athenian invasion of Aetolia. This was a failure. Demosthenes lost about 120 Athenians along with his second-in-command, Procles. Demosthenes' allies also suffered heavy losses. As a result of this loss, Demosthenes did not return to Athens, fearing for his life. However, later that year, Ambracia invaded Acarnania. The Acarnanians sought help from Demosthenes, who was now patrolling the coast of the Ionian Sea with twenty Athenian ships. He landed at Olpae and defeated a Spartan army under Eurylochus, which had come to assist the Ambraciots. Eurylochus was killed in the Battle of Olpae and the Acarnanians and Ambraciots signed a peace treaty. Success in the Peloponnese In 425 BC, while still with his fleet in the Ionian Sea, Demosthenes was ordered by Cleon to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphacteria
Sphacteria ( - ''Sfaktiria'') also known as Sphagia (Σφαγία) is a small island at the entrance to the bay of Pylos in the Peloponnese, Greece. It was the site of three battles: *the 425 BC Battle of Sphacteria in the Peloponnesian war. *the 1825 AD Battle of Sphacteria in the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire *the 1827 AD Battle of Navarino The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October (O.S. 8 October) 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), in Navarino Bay (modern Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied ..., also in the Greek War of Independence The shipwreck of the '' Irenes Serenade'' took place near the island in 1980. References Ionian Islands Landforms of Messenia Pylos Islands of Peloponnese (region) Islands of Greece {{Peloponnese-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Pylos
The naval Battle of Pylos took place in 425 BC during the Peloponnesian War at the peninsula of Pylos, on the present-day Navarino Bay, Bay of Navarino in Messenia, and was an Athens, Athenian victory over Sparta. An Athenian fleet had been driven ashore at Pylos by a storm, and, at the instigation of Demosthenes (general), Demosthenes, the Athenian soldiers fortified the peninsula, and a small force was left there when the fleet departed again. The establishment of an Athenian garrison in Spartan territory frightened the Spartan leadership, and the Spartan army, which had been ravaging Attica under the command of Agis II, Agis, ended their expedition (the expedition only lasted 15 days) and marched home, while the Spartan fleet at Corcyra sailed to Pylos. Demosthenes had five triremes and their complements of soldiers as a garrison, and was reinforced by 40 hoplites from a Messenian ship that happened to stop at Pylos. In total, Demosthenes probably had about 600 men, only 90 o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diodotus (son Of Eucrates)
Diodotus (), son of Eucrates, was an opponent to the proposal of Cleon – leader of the radical, imperialist faction in Athens – in 427 BC to kill all adult Mytilenean males and to enslave their women and children after the defeat of Mytilene (see also Mytilenean revolt). He seems to represent the moderate faction in Athens (in favour of Pericles' policy). Diodotus' proposal won in the assembly, so that in the end only Cleon's next proposal was carried out: to punish by death those Mytileneans who were sent by Paches to Athens (which were a little over a thousand; this was probably about 10% of the adult male population of the rebelling cities on Lesbos). The execution took place without proper trial. Diodotus' one speech in Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mytilene
Mytilene (; ) is the capital city, capital of the Greece, Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of the Aegean. It was founded in the 11th century BC. Mytilene is one of the two municipalities and communities of Greece, municipalities on the island of Lesbos, created in 2019; the other is West Lesbos. Mytilene is built on the southeast edge of the island. It is the seat of a metropolitan bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church. History As an ancient city, lying off the east coast, Mytilene was initially confined to a small island just offshore that later was joined to Lesbos, creating a north and south harbor. The early harbors of Mytilene were linked during ancient times by a channel 700 m long and 30 m wide. The Roman writer Longus speaks of white stone bridges linking the two sides. The Greek word εὔριπος ''eúripos'' is a commonly-used term when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
