The Legacy of Pericles

Ok, so I've posted this TL many times before- at elast twice; and those of you who have already read this will be saying: 'old SF's running low on ideas, so he's passing off his rejects' well- you're half right. The fact is- I've written a lot of this TL and I really want peopel to read it, so I'm posting a little bit of it to see how it goes.
Anyway, for those still on board after that piece of whining: read on. . .



The first Peloponnesian War began in 460 BC and ended in 454.
It was fought between the cities of Sparta and Thebes (with their respective allies and Leagues, the Peloponnesian and Boeotian) against Athens and her Delian League, which was swiftly becoming her own empire in the Aegean. Athens’s vibrant democracy had turned out some of the most gifted inventors, politicians, generals and philosophers of history. The figures of Pericles, Cimon and later, Socrates would tower over the ancient world eclipsing even Leonidas and Themosticles who were consigned to the prologue of Greek history.

Sparta and Thebes had both declared war on Athens for its expansion into Attica, its dominance over the Delian League and its Long Walls, which protected it from assault, making it virtually un-siegeable without naval supremacy. The leaders of Athens, the statesman Pericles and the general Cimon proved a powerful team, and at first Athens fared well, scoring naval victories and also land victories- they occupied Boeotia except for the city of Thebes. In 457, Sparta and Athens came to an independent peace. An Athenian army had entered the Peloponnese and Argos had switched sides. The Spartans had marched against them and, shockingly, had been defeated, the great warriors danced under the whips of their Argive masters who enslaved the captives. The Spartans needed time to re-build their strength. Both sides vowed not to violate each other’s territory and that there would be peace between them for ten years.

With Sparta out of the war, Cimon focused his forces on Thebes. The second Boeotian campaign was brutal and resulted in a pyrrhic Theban victory- Athens was forced to yield control over Boeotia yet Thebes was so bloodied as that she could not press her advantage. In 455 a treaty was signed- Thebes had control over Boeotia and Athens would recognise her rights to that land but Thebes would recognise the League of Delia and Aegina’s incorporation into the League. Both Thebes and Sparta recognised Athens’s Long Walls as legitimate means of defence, although the city of Corinth aligned itself with Thebes, preferring the King of Thebes to Pericles. Sparta had seen its power curtailed and a rough status quo developed: Thebes, Boeotia and Corinth vs. Sparta and the Peloponnese (excluding Argos) vs. Athens, Argos & the Delian League.

The two real victors, however, were Pericles and Cimon. It had been Pericles who had negotiated the peace treaties between Athens and her enemies and Cimon who had led her victorious armies. The two of them, however, had very different political philosophies. Cimon was more conservative, believing that democracy should be restricted while Pericles believed that Athens’s political system should be open to all. At this time Pericles was the more popular- he had introduced free theatre tickets for the poor and had lowered taxes. Cimon, however, earned the people’s grudging respect due to his impressive role as a general. Athens’s political structure meant that these two rarely conducted business together. Cimon preferred the Courts where the more conservative Athenians generally met, those with some wealth and property. Pericles, however, preferred the Popular Assembly, where his grand speeches earned him great ovations from thousands of approving citizens.

In 453 BC Pericles introduced a motion to the Popular Assembly that would allow Archons- the executive branch of the Athenian government- to stand for office for the voting population in general, that is, instead of being picked by lot they would run for election. This was a bold move- up until then all posts had been filled by lot. Pericles’s argument was that elections would allow people to exercise true power instead of relying on chance. The movement as immensely popular and was passed into law. In 452 nine Archons were elected: Basileus Archon (Pericles), Polemarch Archon (Cimon), Eponymous Archon (Lysicrates) and six other citizens. Cimon, as Polemarch held control over the armed forces (the office had previously been rotated between the ten generals, now the post was independent although most Polemarchs were generals, including Cimon). These offices were held for one year only, when the holder would have to run for re-election. No term limits were put in place- Pericles was enormously popular and did not want to cap his own power.


In 452 Cimon announced that from then on the armed forces of the Delian League (Athens’s league of protectorates and effectual empire) would be under the command of the ten Athenian generals, with the Polemarch (i.e. him) exercising the role of commander-in-chief. This produced protests from across the league yet there was little they could do.

Their combined fleet of nearly 800 warships were docked at Athens in the port of Munichea at Piraeus. The League’s nature was fundamentally changed- the treasury was moved from Delia to Athens and all states were made to contribute to the treasury. Thus did Athens cement her rule, creating what was, in effect, an empire. Naxos was the first to rebel. Debate raged in the General Assembly over what to do with the rebellious islanders. The military wing, led by Cimon, were in favour of completely destroying the city- killing the men and enslaving the rest.

The majority, however, were in favour of invading the island and replacing her government with a democracy. Pericles was reluctant to weigh in, yet finally did so in favour of Cimon. This was a great shift of opinion on his part, and was more likely due to political necessity than personal belief. A force of twenty triremes set out, led by Pelaemon, a young general who was looking for promotion. The ships arrived at Naxos and disembarked 1,000 hoplites with no trouble. Pelaemon easily brushed aside the defenders belated counter-attack and besieged the city of Naxos. The city was surrounded by land and sea- when Pelaemon offered terms they were accepted. The general sent word to the Athenians saying that their will had been accomplished- Naxos was subdued. At first opinion was negative- the decision had been to destroy Naxos.

However, certain members of the General Assembly made the case against the Archons saying that the original will of the people had been reintegration of Naxos into the empire, and that Cimon and Pericles had misled them. Slowly public opinion changed so that by the time of Pelaemon’s return (September 451 BC) he was welcomed as a hero. Naxos’s government was overhauled, with a council of ten leading citizens as well as two Athenian delegates who were all-but governors of the island.

Pericles and Cimon had encountered their first political defeat in years. Cimon, already unpopular with the masses was cast in a yet more negative light, that of a scheming, cold-blooded general who would put any number of lives below his own ambition. Pericles was not reluctant to promote this image- he still mistrusted Cimon who was too conservative for his liking. Cimon, politically isolated, turned to his fellow generals. These men were generally more conservative than the rest of the government, for although elected were often considered on competence rather than popularity. In October of 451 BC the election for the ten generals was held. Cimon barely held on to his office, scraping by a handful of votes. Pelaemon, victor over Naxos, was elected and vowed in his first speech to the General Assembly to extend Athens’s power and the rule of the people. Pericles was also re-elected as Archon although Cimon was not. Cimon thus lost his executive power to Lysicaeum, one of the ten generals and some fifteen years younger than he. Lysicaeum and Pericles co-operated and got along well. In February of 450 however, Athens found itself once more at war. Aegina, having been incorporated into the Athenian Empire after the first Peloponnesian War, rebelled against Athens and asked Thebes for aid. The king of Thebes obliged and occupied the city. Pericles, outraged, demanded the King to remove his soldiers. The king refused, and said that any compromise of Aegina’s independence would mean war. Pericles met with Pelaemon, Lysicaeum and Cimon to discuss this in private.

The four of them reached the consensus that there must be war. Together they addressed the General Assembly, with Pericles making the point that the people of Aegina had fallen prey to Theban tyranny just as Corinth had. With the four great statesmen of that time agreeing, the General Assembly was easily swayed. War was declared and it was decided that Cimon should lead the offensive into Boeotia. Three forces set out from Athens- one would head north, around the Kithairon mountains to strike Thebes from the north. The second would go west to Plataea while the third would march on Corinth. This third one was the strongest and was led by Cimon, for although its target was the weakest Pelaemon, as the planner of the offensive, feared Spartan interference and therefore distributed his forces accordingly. The northern column would be led by Lysicaeum and the western one by Thucydides.

The Second Boeotian War proved decisive. Cimon surrounded Corinth and forced it surrender in early March 450 BC. There he received a delegation from Sparta, saying that they would not intervene in the conflict, so long as the sacred sites were not violated. This unusual non-intervention would most likely be caused by the Spartan defeat at Argos, and the Spartans, still reeling, were in no position for another war with Athens. By so doing, they had doomed Thebes. Cimon switched north and met up with Thucydides at Plataea which they besieged with a combined force of 5,000 hoplites.

Plataea capitulated in late April and the combined army marched on. The King of Thebes, alarmed, drew to him some 4,000 hoplites as well as cavalry from Thessaly. This force marched south and met the Athenians north of Plataea. The battle was hard-fought, the Athenian line advancing so that their right flank would engage before their left. By weighting their right, the Athenians rolled the Theban flank and forced them back. Meanwhile the Theban right, with the famous Sacred Band, was defeating the Athenians. As their left collapsed, however, they found themselves surrounded. The Sacred Band held out for nearly six hours before succumbing. Their grave marker can still be seen. With Theban military defeat, capitulation was inevitable. The king, who had escaped the battle, sued for peace. By the terms of the treaty Corinth, Plataea and Aegina were admitted into the Delian League. The Boeotian League was disbanded and replaced with the Delphic League, which excluded Thebes.


With the defeat of Thebes, Athenian hegemony was once more assured. Cimon, as leader of the victorious Athenian army, was well received and the next year was elected Polemarch Archon while Lysicaeum, as the leader of the far less successful northern attack, was demoted. Also praised was Pelaemon, who, as the war’s overall strategist, had appeared at the General Assembly reading out notices of Athenian victories. He was elected Basileus Archon while Pericles was made Eponymous Archon. This trio, although very different, was to rule Athens for the next ten years. Athens, however, had earned many enemies. Persia, ruler of Asia, saw her toeholds in Ionia a grave threat and all the while coveted the Ionian cities that were so wealthy. Sparta, meanwhile, saw her dominance as a threat to stability. Even her own empire, Corinth, Plataea, Aegina and the other cities subdued by force of arms, all of them sought independence. Their government was varied- some had kings, others oligarchies and yet more were democracies. There was no uniformity and it was this that worried the Athenian triumvirate, especially Pelaemon who sought to weld the Athenian empire into a single, strong entity. In November 450 Pericles delivered his famous Funeral Oration, given at the mass funeral of Athens’s war dead. It was unique as it was the only speech of his to be written down as he said it. In it he said that the people of Athens had a duty to preserve freedom and to liberate Greeks from the tyranny of foreign kings and oligarchs.


This message was carried throughout Athenian public policy for years, the idea of revolution inspired by Athens herself. First off, the empire was reformed. The oligarchies and kingdoms were toppled and replaced with democracies. These had the same structure as that of Athens, except there was no military branch of government. Also, three of the nine Archons were elected in Athens. In charge of the city’s military would be a junior Athenian general who would be appointed by the board of ten elected generals. Little could be done to stop this- those in government were all exiled, mostly to Macedon and Thrace although some fled to Persia. This process was ongoing for nearly a year, by 449 however it was complete.

The backlash was enormous. The King of Persia was aghast at the idea of democracies literally on his doorstep. He immediately amassed his armies preparing for an invasion of Ionia. He informed the Athenians that if they did not rescind their decision there would be war. Pericles refused, and so the Third Persian war began.
 
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