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Battle Of Potidaea
The Battle of Potidaea was fought in 432 BC between Athens and a combined army from Corinth and Potidaea, along with their various allies. Along with the Battle of Sybota, it was one of the catalysts for the Peloponnesian War. Background Potidaea was a colony of Corinth on the Chalcidice peninsula, but was a member of the Delian League and paid tribute to Athens. It was originally settled by Corinthians and still hosted Corinthian magistrates every year. After the Athenian defeat at Sybota, Athens demanded that Potidaea pull down part of its walls, stop accepting Corinthian magistrates and send hostages to Athens. Athens was afraid that Potidaea would revolt due to Corinthian or Macedonian influence, as Perdiccas II of Macedon was encouraging revolts among Athens' other allies in Thrace. Whether Potidaea was indeed launching an uprising, the Athenian demands precipitated the revolt. To ensure that its demands were carried out, Athens sent an expedition led by Archestratus w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peloponnesian War
The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancient Greece, Greek world. The war remained undecided until the later intervention of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet (built with Persian subsidies) finally defeated Athens which began a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. The first phase (431–421 BC) was named the Ten Years War, or the Archidamian War, after the Spartan king Archidamus II, who invaded Attica several times with the full hoplite army of the Peloponnesian League, the alliance network dominated by Sparta (then known as Lacedaemon). The Long Walls of Athens rendered this strategy ineffective, while the superior navy of the Delian League (Athens' all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoplite
Hoplites ( ) ( ) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldiers from acting alone, for this would compromise the formation and minimize its strengths. The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were able to afford a linen or bronze armour suit and weapons (estimated at a third to a half of its able-bodied adult male population). Some states maintained a small elite professional unit, known as the '' epilektoi'' or logades ('the chosen') because they were picked from the regular citizen infantry. These existed at times in Athens, Sparta, Argos, Thebes, and Syracuse, among other places. Hoplite soldiers made up the bulk of ancient Greek armies. In the 8th or 7th century BC, Greek armies adopted the phalanx formation. The formatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 been dubbed the father of "scientific history" by those who accept his claims to have applied strict standards of impartiality and evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the Ancient Greek religion, gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work. Thucydides has been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the political behavior of individuals and the subsequent outcomes of relations between states as ultimately mediated by, and constructed upon, fear and self-interest. His text is still studied at universities and military colleges worldwide. The Melian dialogue is regarded as a seminal text of international relations theory, while his version of Pericles's Funeral O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symposium (Plato)
The ''Symposium'' (, ''Symposion'') is a Socratic dialogue by Plato, dated . It depicts a friendly contest of extemporaneous speeches given by a group of notable Athenian men attending a Symposium, banquet. The men include the philosopher Socrates, the general and statesman Alcibiades, and the comic playwright Aristophanes. The Panegyric, panegyrics are to be given in praise of Eros, the god of love and sex. In the ''Symposium'', Eros is recognized both as erotic lover and as a phenomenon capable of inspiring courage, valor, great deeds and works, and vanquishing man's natural fear of death. It is seen as transcending its earthly origins and attaining spiritual heights. The extraordinary elevation of the concept of love raises a question of whether some of the most extreme extents of meaning might be intended as humor or farce. ''Eros'' is almost always translated as "love," and the English word has its own varieties and ambiguities that provide additional challenges to the effor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apology (Plato)
The ''Apology of Socrates'' (, ''Apología Sokrátous''; ), written by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue of the Testimony#Law, speech of History of the legal profession#Ancient Greece, Rome and Byzantine Empire, legal self-defence which Socrates (469–399 BC) spoke at his Trial of Socrates, trial for impiety and corruption in 399 BC. Specifically, the ''Apology of Socrates'' is a Defense (legal), defence against the charges of "corrupting the youth" and "Asebeia, not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other ''daemon (classical mythology), daimonia'' that are novel" to Classical Athens, Athens (24b). Among the primary sources about the trial and death of the philosopher Socrates, the ''Apology of Socrates'' is the dialogue that depicts the trial, and is one of four Socratic dialogues, along with ''Euthyphro'', ''Phaedo'', and ''Crito'', through which Plato details the final days of the philosopher Socrates. There are debates among scholars as to whether we sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charmides
Charmides (; ), son of Glaucon (who was the grandfather of Plato, and not to be confused with his brother of the same name), born circa 446 BC, was an Athenian statesman. Debra Nails''The People of Plato''(Indianapolis: Hackett, 2002), 90–94. Charmides appears in the Platonic dialogue bearing his name ( ''Charmides''), the ''Protagoras'', and the ''Symposium'', as well as in Xenophon's ''Symposium'', ''Memorabilia'', and ''Hellenica''. In the Charmides dialogue, he is asked the definition of the term "temperance", and when he cannot sufficiently provide one, this sets up the main plot of the dialogue, the search for the meaning of the term. A wealthy orphan raised by his first cousin, Critias, his property was confiscated for his role in profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries in 415 BC. He is commonly listed as one of the Thirty Tyrants who ruled Athens following its defeat in the Peloponnesian War, but evidence points only to his having been one of the ten men appointed by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He influenced all the major areas of theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy, and was the founder of the Platonic Academy, a philosophical school in History of Athens, Athens where Plato taught the doctrines that would later become known as Platonism. Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms, theory of forms (or ideas), which aims to solve what is now known as the problem of universals. He was influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself. Along with his teacher Socrates, and his student Aristotle, Plato is a central figure in the history of Western philosophy. Plato's complete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Walls
Although long walls were built at several locations in ancient Greece, notably Corinth and Megara, the term ''Long Walls'' ( ) generally refers to the walls that connected classical Athens, Athens' main city to its ports at Piraeus and Phalerum, Phaleron. Built in several phases, they provided a secure connection to the sea even during times of siege. The walls were about in length. They were initially constructed in the mid-5th century BC, and destroyed by the Spartans in 403 BC after Athens' defeat in the Peloponnesian War. They were rebuilt with Persian support during the Corinthian War in 395–391 BC. The Long Walls were a key element of Athenian military strategy, since they provided the city with a constant link to the sea and thwarted sieges conducted by land alone. History Background The ancient wall around the Acropolis of Athens, Acropolis was destroyed by the Achaemenid Dynasty, Persians during the occupations of Attica in 480 and 479 BC, part of the Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pericles
Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens".Thucydides, s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 2#2:65, 2.65 Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens as Archon (ruler), roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", but the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars or as late as the following century. Pericles promoted the arts and literature, and it was principally through his efforts that Athens acquired the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious ... [...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] |
Attic Talent
The Attic talent (a talent of the Attic standard), also known as the Athenian talent or Greek talent (, ''talanton''), is an ancient unit of weight equal to about , as well as a unit of value equal to this amount of pure silver.The exact mass of a talent was 25.992kg. Herodotus, Robin Waterfield and Carolyn Dewald, ''The Histories'' (1998), p. 593. A talent was originally intended to be the mass of water required to fill an amphora, about .Talent (Biblical Hebrew), Unit of Measure ''unitconversion.org''. History The earliest known Athenian coins range between the years of 545 BC to 515 BC. However, Athenians had already adopted the |
Phormio
Phormio ( ''Phormion'', ''gen''.: Φορμίωνος), the son of Asopius, was an Athenian general and admiral before and during the Peloponnesian War. A talented naval commander, Phormio commanded at several famous Athenian victories in 428 BC, and was honoured after his death with a statue on the acropolis and a state funeral. He is considered one of Athens' many great admirals, alongside Themistocles and Cimon. Early commands Phormio first appears in the historical record in 440 BC, when he shared with Thucydides, Hagnon, and others the command of the Athenian fleet in the later part of the Samian War. In 432 BC, he commanded a force of 1600 hoplites sent to assist in the siege of Potidaea. Phormio led his men up slowly from the side of the city that the Athenians had not yet surrounded and constructed a counter-wall to complete Potidaea's investment. After Potidaea was firmly besieged, Phormio led his men in a successful campaign against Athens' enemies in the Chalcidice, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
