Greek History November Syllabus

HERODOTUS' HISTORIES

Prooimion or "prologue"
I: History of Lydia (especially the reign of Croesus); Persia (especially the reign of Cyrus); the rise of Persian power
II: Egyptian customs and the reign of Cambyses
III: History of Egypt; Sparta's war with Samos; death of Cambyses & reign of Darius of Persia
IV: Darius' expedition against the Scythians
V: Persia's reduction of Thrace; Ionian revolt
VI: Persian hostilities against the Greeks; Marathon (1st Persian War)
VII: Xerxes succeeds Darius; preparation for the 2nd Persian War; Xerxes' invasion of Greece; Thermopylae; VIII: Battle of Artemisum
VIIII: Battle of Salamis
IX: Battles of Plataea and Mycale; end of the war

TERMINOLOGY FOR THE EAST-WEST CONFLICT, 499-490 BC

Review of Kleisthenes' reforms
Athens and the Peloponnesian League after Kleisthenes

Athens on the verge of international power, economic prosperity and cultural flowering
Sparta still the greatest military power; Athens' navy modest in size (20 ships in the Ionian revolt, 9000 at Marathon)

War between Athens and Boeotia in Lelantine plain ca. 508-506; klerouchy in Boeotia by 506 (klerouchia from kleros or "an allotment")
klerouchy on Salamis ca. 500
Persia ca. 500 BCE

Map of the Aegean Sea
Lydia (Sardis); King Croesus ("as rich as Croesus"); Ephesus, Delphi
Ionia (Miletus, Halicarnassus, Ephesus)
Medes conquer Assyrian Empire 612; peace treaty with Lydia 585; unification of Medes and Persians by Cyrus 550
Cyrus' rule: sharing of responsibility and authority; satrapy, satrap; incorporation and assimilation of conquered peoples but with local cultural autonomy, local variation. Tolerant, efficient, with strong central leadership.
United kingdom conquers Lydia, Greeks, Babylonia, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine. Cyrus dies 530 BC vs. Scythians and Queen Tomyris
Succeeded by Herodotus' "mad" Cambyses. Behistun (Bisistun) trilingual (Elamite, Babylonian, Persian) inscription (better translation here) records Cambyses commits suicide, succeeded by Darius I who puts down rebellion by Gaumata.
Darius I, 521-486: 20 satrapies, tax collection
Royal Road (official business, safe travel, commerce)
Persian king-subject: master-slave, patron-client but not god-mortal. Status, hierarchy, monarchy and subservience (Persia) vs. individual autonomy and fierce independence (Athens, Sparta).
Athenian bungled policy ca. 507 in Sardis
Ionian Revolt, 499-494
Histiaios and Aristagoras of Miletos (D&G 7.2-6)
Athens and Eretria (on Euboia)

Battle of Marathon, 490/89 (D&G 7.7-17)

Aerial View of Marathon Bay and Plain

Philippides (or Phidippides)
Plataia
"Remember Athens"; toothless Hippias
Kallimachos the polemarch (D&G 7.13, his "memorial")
strategoi or "generals"
Miltiades the strategos
Battle account: D&G 7.8: Hdt. 6.111.3-117.1

Marathon Plain
Hoplites at Marathon
Soros (see D&G 7.16, where Thuc. 2.34.5 notes that because the Marathon hoplites were so valorous, they had the unusual distinction to have their tomb "on the spot").

Death toll: 6400 of 20,000 Persians (1/3), 192 of 10,000 Greeks (2%) dead.

Medizers: Thessaly, Aegina, Argos, Boeotia (except Plataia), most of Cyclades
Dedication at Delphi:
Plan of Delphic Sanctuary
Delphi, Athenian Treasury
Limestone base adjoining the front of the south wall of the Athenian Treasury

Inscription
"The Athenians to Apollo from the Medes as first-fruits of the battle of Marathon" (= D&G 7.14)

The Battle as depicted on the Painted Stoa in the Agora (Pausanias 1.15.3)
Aeschylus' epitaph (Pausanias 1.14.5) = D&G 7.10