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Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS​

CHAPTER 2:EIMI! or VARTAIYAIY!​

There was then a great number of those Hellenes in the newly occupied portions of Hellas, including those from poleis damaged by fire or stasis, who were thus opposed to a state of affairs in which their fatherlands were ruled by Xerxes, but they had found themselves unable to liberate it. Unable to remain by discontent or fear in for their lives, they accordingly departed for those Hellenic communities that were not yet under the control of the Persians. These were Athenians, and Korinthioi, and escaped Spartiates, and men from Phokis, and Plataieis, and Thespieis, and multitudes more besides. Many of the Hellenes went to the colonies founded by their own kin- the Phokaians joined their kin from the city of Phokaia, journeying to Emporion and Massalia; the Spartiates and other Lakedaimonians went to Taras and Sikelian Herakleia; the Korinthioi went to Syrakousai and Arkarnania and Epeiros; the Akhaians to Metapontion and Pandosia and Zakynthos and Kroton and Kaulonia, and some to the scattered peoples of Sybaris; the Megareis to Megara Hyblaia and Selinous; the Lokrioi to Medma and Epizephyrian Lokroi and Hipponion; the Rhodiotes to Gela, eventually to be joined by Kretans; the Euboians to Zankle and Metauros and Sikelian Naxos and Kyme and Rhegion; the Aitolians to Temesa; the Aiginetai to Adria. Neither did those exiles all strictly arrive in those places inhabited by their close cousins- anywhere where Hellenes were accepted did Hellenes of all ethnoi gratefully rest from their weary travels.

But not all Hellenes went to poleis that already existed. Some were determined to strike out into places of their own conquest or construction. Chief among them were the Athenians, along with the Plataieis, and the Thespieis, and a number of the non-Athenians who had been resident in their city. Led by Xanthippos son of Ariphron, they soon hatched plans with both the Sybaritai exiles and the Akhaians who had joined them to retake control over the city of Sybaris from Kroton. Such are matters among the Hellenes- it was not more than a few days before plots and schemes emerged to overcome rivals and acquire new power. In order to rally everyone to this goal, Xanthippos said the following things:

“Athens, our homeland, has been neutered and conquered by the Mede, the fertile lands of Attika now produce their bread for Persian mouths, the silver mines produce their billons for Mede governors, and the walls of Athens are now no longer keeping out foreigners but us. I am not resolved that you, Athenians and friends, shall now live out your days as huddled refugees reliant upon the benefaction of Italiotes whilst being used as manpower for their conflicts. If we are divorced from our home, then we will make ourselves a new one, in memory of Athens but in strength unreliant upon that which is now denied to us. ‘Should we found a new Athens in the west’ asked I of the Pythia, and she responded; ‘You should do so.’ This then is the task before us- we must make a new Athens of the west, and it is beyond doubt that we must make ourselves a dwelling place, a polis, that dwarfs our homeland in both grandeur and might. We all together will join in an equal share of this new enterprise, Athenians, Keioi, Akhaioi, Sybaritai, Plataieis, Thespieis alike. What it is that I propose is that Sybaris, currently occupied by Kroton, with its splended streets and buildings, be made into this new Athens, that we rescue its citizenry from their bondage and at once bring them into our new combined citizen body. We possess the finest crop of Athens’ martial strength, and far more besides capable of arming themselves as hoplitai, this enterprise is not simply attractive but eminently achievable.”

With this, the treaty of sympoliteia was created between this collection of exiles, with Athenians making up the largest part. At first, only the cities of Laos, Poseidonia and Pyxous were directly territorially linked. But as he had said, the aim of Xanthippos son of Ariphron was to recapture Sybaris with its splendid streets, and that this would form the heart of a new, free polis in Italia. This plan was soon executed- Sybaritai exiles snuck into the city, established the nature of affairs within the city, enlisted the help of their countrymen within, and prepared to open the gates to the assembled allies. This was almost interrupted by a Krotoniatas sentry, but a Sybaritas exile named Philodamos fell upon him; having no weapons, he threw both of them from the city wall. This is the famous tale of Philodamos, who is considered emblematic among the current citizens of the city. At any rate, the city was made open, and the allies thus took possession of the city without a huge struggle. Those Krotoniatai who were within the city were ransomed to their kin, and afterwards there was a treaty drawn up in which the new community was recognised. In gratitude at their deliverance, and wishing to take part in the new community, the Sybaritai assented to the renaming of Sybaris to Dikaia, in honour of the restitution of the Sybaritai, but also in hope of the liberation of Hellas. It is often called Sybaritan Dikaia, but even more often is now referred to as Megathenai, and those united by the treaty of sympoliteia as Megatheniai.


Whilst the Hellenes remained sundered into West and East, among the Western Hellenes the Kymaian Games were thus the sole panhellenic games available to them(1). Regardless of their circumstances of foundation, of which there has been no endless amounts of speculation and storytelling, whether or not it was Zeus Olympios that appeared and bade the Sibylla to rouse herself and begin the games, or whether or not it was a Priest of Apollo who came and persuaded the Kymaiotes that those Greeks outside of Persia required a new panhellenic festival(2), or whether or not there was some such person named ‘Hairy’ or ‘Fatso’ or ‘Dimwit’ who was being chased across a field which drew a crowd(3), it matters in the end not at all, though I do not doubt that some who are reading this work will nonetheless ignore this sincere pronouncement on the subject, what matters is that the Kymaian Games flourished. As with the Olympic Games, the Kymaian games had to judge who was a Hellene in order to be allowed to compete(4). In such time as these, when the Hellenes were sundered and in flux, this was not always easy. One tale, if we are permitted a brief indulgence(5), that illustrates this most clearly is that of Polykrates of the Keltic Akhaioi.

As is well known, not all Hellenes that migrated away from Hellas migrated to Hellenic communities. Some, being freed (as they saw it) of political obligations, saw an opportunity in every sufficiently unguarded town between Neapolis and the wide and encircling Okeanos(6). But as they left their political ties by the wayside, it was soon impossible to tell exactly who had ended up where. More than a few chieftains among the Keltoi, Tyrsenoi, Ligues, Iberes over the years would claim to be a Hellene or the son of a Hellene, most especially claiming Lakedaimonian ancestry(7). If all of these tales were to be believed, all lands that give on to the sea would be the lands of Hellenes, which is patently false. But with Polykrates, matters were different. He arrived at Kyme in full panoply, bearing the arms of Sicyon. This immediately led credence to his claims of being a Hellene, as many barbarians tried to assert themselves as related to those Hellenic ethnoi of particular renown among the barbarians. Sicyon, whilst by no means obscure, was not one of these. In addition, he produced a detailed familial history which he personally recounted, and indeed produced a written letter from Sicyon stating that he was who he said he was(8). If, somehow, he had been forging all of these things, the process of doing so was so elaborate that none was realistically prepared to consider that it was a forgery. Polykrates then won the race-in-armour, which probably convinced any remaining doubters as to his quality. And so Kyme was, among the Western Hellenes, the first to recognise Keltic Akhaioi, and among the first to recognise Hellenes living among the barbarian ethnoi in the west(9).

Notes

1- This is not strictly true, other antique sources and preserved records of victors at the traditional four Panhellenic games show that participants outside of the Akhaimenid domains were actually allowed to compete. It seems instead as though the western Hellenes of this period maintained something akin to an embargo on principle, which would eventually be ended- cf the shift in tone of historians in the very late 5th and early 4th centuries BCE.

2- These are direct references to Herodotos, and the two stories he provides of the founding of the Kymaian games.

3- In this we see more than a little frustration erupt from Aristonikos, in what this author considers to be one of his most endearing, for though Aristonikos attempts to maintain a very distanced tone compared to that of many of his peers he nonetheless had moments where his personality could not help but express itself.

4- The process of determining this is rather opaque to those of us looking back at antique periods, all that is known is that for a time the Kymaian panel had equal ability to pronounce an ethnos, polis, or eleutheros a ‘Hellene’ as the Olympian panel did.

5- Here we find Aristonikos, the most ardent protester against Herodotian-style anecdotes and travelogues, going into an anecdote. Were he alive now, he would protest most ardently at his example of the importance of Kyme being classified as an anecdote, but that is precisely what it is.

6- More information as to many of these adventures can be found in Herodotos, who delights in enumerating the many and splendid adventures of many individual Hellenes across the known world as pirates, bandits, merchants, lovers, kings, mercenaries, and explorers.

7- This phenomenon is briefly referred to in Herodotos, but was evidently not as major a concern as it became to Aristonikos’ contemporaries, for his historical work is not the only such to refer to the preponderance of those claiming Lakedaimonian ancestry. This only increased across history, as the author and any reading this work will be well aware of, and so thus we are at the root of so many mythical ancestries among myriad peoples and dynasties.

8- It is interesting that, despite the hostility between western and eastern Hellenes still evidenced in Aristonikos bearing towards his erstwhile compatriots, the word of the metropolis is still considered eminently trustworthy among the western Hellenes in certain matters.

9- At first sight it is unusual that Aristonikos does not use this opportunity to discuss the related situation whereby certain barbarians would come to be considered Hellenes, or at least to share equally in citizenship with them as at Emporion. But what he describes here is a tacit admission, perhaps, of how certain Hellenes essentially barbarized and became merely altered versions of various non-Hellenic peoples, and what he describes is the middle ground by which the Hellenes in question did not forget their roots but did not entirely belong to the world of Hellenes as Aristonikos had been brought up to understand it.