The Rise of Athens

“The materials to be used” Ibid., 12 6–7.

“To Praxias, resident at Melite” Overbeck, p. 860.

because of the dry atmosphere Pau 5 11 10.

all kinds of trophy Fornara 141.

“eight and a half boxes” IG I³ 343–46, 350–59.

a new monumental entrance The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin copies the central portion of the Propylaea.

tended by a priestess I^G I3 35 9–10.

in honor of Hephaestus

Miscalled for many centuries the Theseum, after Theseus, the mythical founder-king of Athens.

temple of Poseidon Among the names that vandals carved on the temple at Sunium we find that of Lord Byron.

The exact total expenditure The financial estimates in this section derive from Davies, pp. 94–99.

“Mighty indeed are the marks” Thuc 2 41 4.

“Brightly shining” Pind Fragments 76.

17. THE PRISONERS ON THE ISLAND

Thucydides (books 2 to 5) comes into his own in this chapter, and is the main and very reliable source of the first half of the Peloponnesian War. Also Plutarch’s lives of Pericles and Nicias, the comical take on topical events of Aristophanes, and Diodorus Siculus.

“for the violence of his character” Thuc 3 36 6.

“more than anyone else he corrupted”

Arist Con 28 3.

a series of prosecutions The details and indeed the dates of these cases are uncertain, but it does appear that an attempt was made to weaken Pericles.

one of the sculptors working for Pheidias Plut Per 31 2–5 and Paus 5 15 1.

Pheidias’s workshop Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, p. 648.

They attacked Aspasia Plut Per 32 1.

“anyone who did not believe in the gods” Ibid., 32 1.

the scientist Anaxagoras There are different stories. See Plut Per 32 1–2 and Diog Laer 2 3 12–13. I propose a probable version.

“succeeded in placing the empire” Thuc 1 118 2.

“for sundry purposes” Plut Per 23 1.

“If they bide their time”

Thuc 2 65 7.

Epidamnus was a place of no importance See Peter R. Prifti, “Hellenic Colonies in Ancient Albania,” Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America, vol. 39, no. 4 (July/August 1986), pp. 26–31. Later, Epidamnus was the setting for the Roman author Plautus’s comedy Menaechmi, the inspiration for Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors.

the greatest military conflagration Thucydides rather over-egged his cake when he claimed that the war between Athens and Sparta was the greatest disturbance in the history of Greece—“indeed I might almost say or mankind” (1 1 2). It was his history that has made history, rather than the event itself.

the headland of Actium A more famous sea battle was fought at Actium in 31 B.C. when Octavian and Agrippa defeated Antony and Cleopatra.

“Before anything could happen to him” Ar Pe 606–14.

they sent to Delphi Thuc 1 118 3.

“We have done nothing” Ibid., 1 76 2.

“Others may have a lot of money”

Ibid., 1 86 3.

“Most Athenians still lived in the country” Ibid., 2 16 1.

“You will get no glory” Ibid., 3 59 1.

about sixty thousand heavy infantry into Attica Plut Per 33 4.

“a general discussion resulted” Thuc 2 22 1.

On a winter’s day every year This section is indebted to Thuc 2 33–46.

oration in praise of the fallen We do not know how close Thucydides’ version is to what Pericles actually said. But they cannot have been far apart. One of Thucydides’ devices is to give historical personages speeches that raised relevant issues even if these had not in reality been mentioned by the speaker himself. However, Pericles’ Funeral Speech was so important a text and so many people, probably including Thucydides himself, would remember having heard it that the historian must have taken care not to stray far from the statesman’s own words.

“When it is a question” Thuc 2 37 1–2.

“We are lovers of beauty” Ibid., 2 40 1.

“I declare that our city” Ibid., 2 41 12.

“Think of the greatness of Athens” Ibid., 2 43 1.

“Perfectly healthy men” Ibid., 2 49 1–4.