The Rise of Athens

“The wildest colts” Ibid., 2 5.

portrait of the man in stone An apparently accurate Roman copy of a Greek original portrait Herm was discovered in Ostia in 1939.

“was wrapped up in his own thoughts” Plut Them 3–4.

“make war on the islands” Nep Milt 7.

“make them all rich” Her 6 132.

he should oil his body Plut Them 3 4.

“The announcement of these orders” Her 7 1 1–3.

“This is the stone statue”Cambridge Ancient History 4, p. 263. National Museum of Iran.

“What is right, that is my desire” DNb 8b (11–5).

The small boy crawled The account here of the mines at Laurium is drawn from Green

, Greco, pp. 53–55, and French, p. 78. Tunnels have been excavated by archaeologists. Child labor is deduced from their size.

“since time immemorial” Xen Vect 4 2.

“The fox knows many things” Zenobius 5 68.

the seat of government should be moved Thuc 1 93 7.

“deprived the Athenians of the spear” Plato Laws 4 706. Also Plut Them 4 3.

“fountain of silver” Aesch Pers 238.

two hundred triremes Her 7 144. Plut Them 4 2 and Arist Ath Pol 22 7 say “one hundred,” but the higher figure was reached by the time of the Persian invasion.

The trireme (“triple-rower”) For more on this warship, see Morrison, Coates, and Rankov.

glorified racing eight W. W. Tarn, Hellenistic Military and Naval Developments (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1930), p. 124.

a daily rate of one drachma This seems to have been the going wage at the end of the fifth century.

He made a point of refusing

The two anecdotes in this paragraph can be found in Plut Arist 4 1–2.

Stesilaus of the island of Ceos Ibid., 2 2–3.

the weapon of ostracism Arist Ath Pol 22.

treasure trove of more than eleven thousand ostraca Burn, p. 605.

“ ‘Athens, the mighty city!’ ” Pindar Pyth 7 1–5 and 15.

an illiterate farm worker Plut Arist 7 5–6.

10. INVASION

Herodotus is the primary source, with support from Plutarch’s lives of Themistocles and Aristides; also from Diodorus Siculus.

a magnificent plane tree Her 7 31 and Ael 2 14.

gardening before dinner Xen Oec 4 20–25.

“Europe is a very beautiful place” Her 7 5 3.

generous donor to the Achaemenid cause Ibid., 7 38–39.

The procession of men Ibid., 40–41 and 83.

the Immortals This is the term Herodotus gives. He may have confused the Persian for “companion” with that for “immortal.” There is no reason to disbelieve the recruitment policy given.

absurdly inflated numbers I rely on the discussion at Green, Greco, pp. 58–61, which itself is indebted to Burn, pp. 326–32.

Xerxes assembled 1,700,000 For Herodotus’s calculations, see Her, 7 184–87.

eunuchs, female cooks, concubines Her 7 187 1.

“What body of water” Ibid., 7 21.

So far as the fleet was concerned Ibid., 7 89–99.

unhinged rage Ibid., 7 35.

legendary young Leander

He still lives in Christopher Marlowe’s poem Hero and Leander.

review of his land and sea forces Her 7 44–49.

Xerxes congratulated himself Ibid., 7 45–53 for the conversation between the Great King and his uncle.

“You are doomed. Why sit around?” Ibid., 7 140 1–3.

“Zeus the all-seeing” and “O divine Salamis” Ibid., 7 141 3. It is unclear whether there were two separate trips to Delphi to consult the oracle and if there were whether they took place in 481 or 480. I opt for one trip and 481, and believe that the debate in the ecclesia about evacuating Attica was held in 480. But these are best guesses.

heavier and less maneuverable Ibid., 8 10 and 60a.

“The greatest of all his achievements” Plut Them 6 3.

“They considered the survival of Hellas” Her 8 3 1.

Eurybiades was in charge Ibid., 8 2, Diod 11 12 4.

The sacred snake Her 8 41 2–3.

“The god [Apollo] had spoken” Bury, p. 246.