The Origins of the Peloponnesian War, 0801407192, 9780801407192
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English Pages 444 [461]
Preface
I Introduction
II Thucydides’ judgment on the origins of the war
III The immediate background, c. 435-1
IV Spartan foreign policy, and the Peloponnesian League
V Sparta’s relations with Athens
VI Corinth and Athens
VII The Megarian decrees
VIII Conclusion
Appendix I: The terms of the Thirty Tears Peace
Appendix II: 'The Peloponnesian war' and kindred expressions
Appendix III: Modern work on Thucydides
Appendix IV: Moments of decision in Thucydides
Appendix V: 'To have the same friends and enemies', and the nature of the Delian League oaths and synods
Appendix VI: The 'Old Oligarch' (Ps.-Xen., Ath. Pol.)
Appendix VII: The Peace of Callias and its consequences
Appendix VIII
Appendix IX: Datable passages in Thucydides, with special reference to 1 97.2
Appendix X: Pericles and the Athenian 'land empire'
Appendix XI: Perdiccas and Athens
Appendix XII: The chronology of 433-1, and the Spartan embassies to Athens of 432/1
Appendix XIII: Symmachy and epimachy
Appendix XIV: The tribute of Potidaea in the 430 s
Appendix XV: Military expeditions and the accounts of Athena’s Treasurers for 433/2 and 432/1
Appendix XVI
Appendix XVII: Membership of the Peloponnesian League
Appendix XVIII: The 'constitution of the Peloponnesian League': a summary
Appendix XIX: Reception of new members into the Peloponnesian League
Appendix XX: The suppression of‘'revolts' of Peloponnesian League members
Appendix XII: The Boeotians and Corinthians, 404-395
Appendix XXII: Thucydides v 54.1
Appendix XXIII: The name of the Spartan Assembly
Appendix XXIV: 'By shouting and not by vote'
Appendix XXV: Aristotle, Pol. III i, 1275 8-11 etc., on jurisdiction at Sparta
Appendix XXVI: The trial of Spartan kings
Appendix XXVII: Eligibility for the Spartan Gerousia
Appendix XXVII: Spartan victors at Olympia etc.
Appendix XXIX: The political outlook of Aristophanes
Appendix XXX: The 'revolt of Agis III'
Appendix XXXI: Themistocles' 'Western policy', and his connection with the radical democrats
Appendix XXXII: Thucydides I 102.4
Appendix XXXIII
Appendix XXXV: Modern opinions about the Megarian decree
Appendix XXXVI: Aristophanes, Acharnians 515-23
Appendix XXXVII: Anthemocritus and the decree of Charinus
Appendix XXXVIII: Plutarch, Pericles 29.4
Appendix XXXIX: Aristophanes, Achamians 333-4, and Timocreon, fr. 5
Appendix XL: Some late sources which confuse the exclusion decree with the decree of Charinus
Appendix XLI: Consequences of the divergence between warships and merchantmen
Appendix XLII
Appendix XLIII: Exclusion from the Athenian Agora
Appendix XLIV
Appendix XLVI: The provision of agoraiyor foreign expeditionary forces
Appendix XLVII: Deme Assemblies
Select Bibliography (and List of Abbreviations)
General Index
Index of Sources
Recommend Papers
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THE ORIGINS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
G.E.M. de Ste.Croix
The Origins of the Peloponnesian War
Farewell ol
slainiios
Munich)
a warrior,
of c.
430
b.c.
by
the
(Photo:
Klcophon Museum
Painter, on an Attic Anliker
Kleinkunst,
The Origins of the Peloponnesian War G. E. M. de Ste. Croix
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA, NEW YORK
© 1972 by G. E. M. de Ste. Croix All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in .any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information address Cornell University Press, 124 Roberts Place, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 1972 in the United Kingdom by Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. and in the United States by Cornell University Press.
This edition is not for sale in the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth. International Standard Book Number 0-8014-0719-2 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-627 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data (For library cataloging purposes only)
de Ste. Croix, GEM The Origins of the Peloponnesian War. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Greece—History—Peloponnesian War, 431-404 2. Greece—Historiography. I. Title. DF229.2.D46 1972 938’.O5 72-627 ISBN 0-8014-0719-2
b.c.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
To the memory of A. H. M. Jones this book is dedicated with gratitude and affection
Contents Preface
xi
Introduction
I
i ii iii
Introductory Thucydides Athens
i 5 34
Thucydides’ judgment on the origins of the war
II
i ii
432/1 and c. 460 Thucydides 1 23.5-6; 88; 118.2
50 51
The immediate background,
III
i ii iii iv
c. 435-1 The attitudes of the parties in 432-1 64 Epidamnus and the Athenian-Corcyraean alliance 66 Potidaea 79 Phormio in the Ampraciot Gulf, and the Athenian alliance with the Acarnanians 85
IV Spartan foreign policy, and the Pelopon nesian League i ii iii iv
v vi
The Helots 89 ‘Not quick to enter upon wars unless . . (Thue. 1 118.2) 94 Sparta’s ‘natural’ foreign policy, and the Pelopon nesian League 96 The Peloponnesian League 101 a ‘The Spartan alliance’ and ‘the Peloponnesian League’ 102 b The‘constitution of the Peloponnesian League’ 105 c Membership of the Peloponnesian League 123 How Spartan foreign policy was determined 124 The instability of Spartan foreign policy 151
V Sparta’s relations with Athens i ii
Before 478/7 167 The Spartan ‘hawks’, 478/7 and 465/4, and Themistocles 169
viii
The Origins of the Peloponnesian War The outbreak of the ‘First Peloponnesian war’, c. 460 Aeschylus Argos and Megara Sparta in the First Peloponnesian war, and the importance of Athenian control of the Megarid The events of 446/5 The Spartan ‘hawks’ again, 440 and 433/2 Sparta and Athens in 432/1
iii iv v vi
vii viii ix
187 19$ 200 205
Corinth and Athens
VI i ii iii
The attitude of Corinth to Athens The‘commercial rivalry’hypothesis Athens and the West
211 214 220
The Megarian decrees
VII i ii
Introduction The sources Thucydides b Plutarch c Aristophanes d The other sources The ‘reasonable and courteous decree’ and the decree of Charinus The prevailing conception of the main Megarian decree 251 Failure of the prevailing conception of the decree. A new interpretation ‘The Megarians’ ‘The Athenian Agora’ ‘The harbours of the empire’ The offer to repeal the Megarian decree a
iii iv
v
vi vii viii ix
VIII
180 183 186
225 227 228 230 231 244 246
252 261 267 284 289 290
Conclusion APPENDICES I II HI IV V
VI VII VIII
The terms of the Thirty Years Peace 293 ‘The Peloponnesian war’ and kindred expressions 294 Modern work on Thucydides 295 Moments of decision in Thucydides 297 ‘To have the same friends and enemies’, and the nature of the Delian League oaths and synods 298 The ‘Old Oligarch’ (Ps.-Xen., Ath. Pol.) 307 The Peace of Callias and its consequences 310 to xaTayeiv 314
Contents IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV
XVI XVII XVIII XIX
XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV
XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII XXXIX
XL XLI
XLII XLIII
ix
Datable passages in Thucydides, with special reference to i 97.2 314