The Rise of Athens

“The Syracusans no longer thought” Thuc 6 103 3.

“We thought we were the besiegers” Ibid., 7 11 4.

“The flash of armor” Plut Nic 21 1–2.

“After once being thrown” Thuc 7 44 8.

two and a half thousand Athenian infantry Diod 13 11 3–5.

“It is better for Athens” Thuc 7 47 4.

Herodotus reports that Thales Her 1 74 2.

“rather over-inclined to divination” Thuc 7 50 4.

“three times nine days” Ibid., 7 50 4.

“was not unfavourable” Plut Nic 23 5.

“To conquer the Athenians by land and by sea” Thuc 7 56 2.

“The two armies on the shore” Ibid., 7 71 1 and 4.

“forced to do everything” Ibid., 7 87 2.

people did not believe Ibid., 8 1 1.

“This was the greatest achievement” Ibid., 7 87 5–6.

20. THE END OF DEMOCRACY?

Thucydides’ history came to an abrupt end in 411 (presumably on his death). In his Hellenica Xenophon picks up where he leaves off and narrates events until 362. Diodorus is a not entirely reliable backup. The Athenian Constitution helps with constitutional developments. Plutarch’s life of Alcibiades runs its course and is superseded by his life of Lysander.

“Ships gone, Mindarus dead”

Xen Hell 1 1 23.

“ ‘Men of Athens’ ” Diod 13 52 3ff. Xenophon does not mention this peace initiative, but there is no reason to doubt Diodorus.

first reaction of the Athenians Thuc 8 1–2.

“As is the way with democracies” Ibid., 8 1 4.

“new policy of justness” Hel Oxy Florence Fragments V2.

always had a bad conscience Thuc 7 18 3.

“the overthrow of the Athenians” Ibid., 8 2 4.

“enjoy great wealth” Diod 11 50 3.

drenched in alcohol Waters, p. 168.

Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes These are Hellenized versions of the satraps’ Persian names, Farnavaz and Cithrafarna.

An early draft has survived Thucydides writes of three treaties in rapid succession (8 18, 8 37, and 8 58); it is much more likely that the first two were interim drafts. Persia’s wish to take control of the Ionian

poleis was explicit in the first text, but less obvious in the later ones.

“All the territories and cities” Thuc 8 18.

“said, in his mocking way” Plut Alc 23 7–8. Stories about Alcibiades’ sex life were legion and it is hard now to distinguish between fact and entertaining fiction. But even if a given anecdote is unhistorical, the general direction of travel about his character is undeniable.

“surrendered so completely” Ibid., 24 5.

he was homesick Ibid., 32 1.

The Lioness on a Cheese-Grater Ar Lys 231–32. The meaning is obscure; perhaps the woman is crouching like a lioness over the man and by pelvic movement to and fro imitating the motion of a grater. See “The Lioness and the Cheesegrater,” Cashman Kerr Prince. Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica, 4th series, 7:2 (2009): 149–75.

“the splendour running in the blood” Pind Nemea 3 40.

“enacted by the bouleˉ and the demos”

Ando Myst 96. The first recorded use of the phrase after the institution of the Five Thousand.

“during the first period” Thuc 8 97 2.

“I will use a dagger” Aes 2 76.

“on the grounds that he was” Xen Hell 1 4 20.

to look for money and rations So Plut Alc 35 3–4. But Diod 13 71 1 has Alcibiades sail to Clazomenae and Xen Hell 1 5 11 to help Thrasybulus at a siege of Phocaea. Money was the Athenians’ greatest need and Alcibiades had gone off on such expeditions before, so I follow Plutarch.

an unthinking lowlife Plut Alc 35 4.

the Athenians lost twenty-two ships Hell Oxy 4 3.

“who had won his confidence” Plut Alc 36 1–2.

Alcibiades paid for some mercenaries Ibid., 36 3.

“longs for him, but hates him” Ar Frogs 1425.

“It is a sad day for the Greeks” Xen Hell 1 6 7.

a marble relief was commissioned of Hera The relief can be seen at the Acropolis Museum, Athens.

“the greatest naval battle in history” Diod 13 98 5.