Ancient Athens

Η διδακτική αυτή προσέγγιση αφορά στο σχεδιασμό και την υλοποίηση της διδασκαλίας στο πλαίσιο ενός μαθήματος φιλοσοφίας σχετικά με τις θεωρίες της γνώσης στη Β΄ Γενικού Λυκείου,  με  βάση  το διδακτικό  βιβλίο  Αρχές  Φιλοσοφίας  στο  πλαίσιο  του  αναλυτικού προγράμματος.  Πιο  συγκεκριμένα,  θα  προσπαθήσουμε  να  προτείνουμε  τον  εμπλουτισμό του κεφαλαίου 3: Αναζητώντας τη γνώση, ενότητα τρίτη: Θεωρίες για την πηγή της γνώσης, χρησιμοποιώντας  στοιχεία  θεωρίας  της  γνώσης  και  της  αντίληψης  των  Προσωκρατικών.  Στόχος  μας  είναι  να  εμπλουτίσουμε  το  κεφάλαιο  αυτό  με  στοιχεία  προσωκρατικής  φιλοσοφίας ως παλαιότερης χρονολογικά και προϋπάρχουσας εκείνης της Κλασικής εποχής  και των Νεοτέρων χρόνων.

Historical studies on the appearance of Greek secular buildings, common houses, streets and neighborhoods, are rather limited compared to those for religious or monumental structures, due to the relative lack of archaeological evidence.
This is very much the case for Athens, one of the oldest cities in the world. Utilizing a large number of sources, we review such aspects of the city through the millennia of its history. Based on this, a case is presented, regarding a remarkable continuity of the city’s cultural expression, through the character of its urban environment.

In their pleadings Against Timarchos and On the false embassy, Aeschines and Demosthenes both evoke a statue of Solon erected on the agora of Salamis which would show the legislator with his hand inside his cloak, a gesture indicating his moderation when he spoke in public. The controversy about this representation has already been analysed in order to deepen various questions such as the conflict between the two speakers, our knowledge regarding Solon, the history of the Greek statuary or the reception of the past in Antiquity. The quarrel can be reinterrogated thanks to the heuristic tool of the truth-telling mechanism, used here in the sense of all the procedures, arguments and rhetorical figures that allow litigants to claim the truth. Then, the statue is a privileged means for both Aeschines and Demosthenes to put forward the direct knowledge that the jurors have of the facts. It is a point of tension from which one can examine the articulation between sight and knowledge in Classical Athens.

This paper focuses on the portrait of Miltiades in the sources between 4th cent. B.C. and 1st A.D., thus after Herodotus and before Plutarch and the Second sophistic. After the first paragraph, devoted to an introduction to the issue, the second one considers sources of the 4th century: the orators usually praise Miltiades and therefore they rehabilitate his reputation after he died in disgrace (par. 2.1); then his figure is analysed in authors like Plato, Aristotle (par. 2.2) and Theopompus and Ephorus (par. 2.3). The third paragraph focuses on the sources between 1st cent. B.C. and 1st A.D.: the only Greek-writing author is Diodorus (par. 3.1), but we have a number of Latin sources, like Nepos, Cicero, Seneca the Elder, Valerius Maximus and others (par. 3.2). In the fourth paragraph it is provided a list of rare pieces of information preserved by the sources, concerning the battle of Marathon (par. 4.1), the events after the battle (par. 4.2) and other episodes (par. 4.3): the aim of this section is not to ascertain the reliability of these pieces of news, that is usually very low, but to use them in order to understand which portrait of Miltiades these sources intended to provide. The fifth paragraph offers final remarks and suggests that, notwithstanding Miltiades’ rehabilitation, due both to Cimon’s propaganda and to the new conditions of 4th century Athens, his imagine remains at least partly controversial: criticisms are attested (e.g. by Plato), but also ambivalent judgments, such as that of Nepos, who wrote the only biography of Miltiades.

A description (in Dutch) of the new website Rondompericles.nl ('Around Pericles') opening up the text of Pericles' famous funeral oration in Thucydides book 2, and related text, with annotations, commentary and background, for a general readership as well as undergraduate students. (online in autumn 2018)

The Italian Archaeological School at Athens is pleased to invite you to the 2nd Conference of  the 'G&A-Greeks & Aliens Conference series'.
The new lecture series, organized by SAIA, focuses  on connections through time between the Greek communities and foreigners, expats, migrants, invaders. From the Ocean to Persia, from Black Sea to Egypt. On economy and trade, society and culture, 
colonization and imperialism, following the invention, spread, loss, and conservation of traditions.
A reception will be offered after the lecture.

Syllabus and Reading Schedule for The Rise and Fall of Popular Rule—Athens (Integrated Humanities Program, History Module, Fall 2018, UVM). Course Description: America's founders, when establishing our political institutions, took elements from those of ancient Athens and Rome, which pioneered representative government in various (and changing) forms. It is natural, after nearly two-and-a-half centuries, to think of our democracy as unshakeable and eternal. But independent popular rule in Athens—the focus of this class—lasted for less than two centuries, during which the city, after playing a leading role in the liberation of Greece from foreign control (The Persian Wars, 490–479 BC), grew into an Empire that imposed democracy on its subjects—some willing and others not—as a means of enriching and empowering itself. Athenian expansionism finally forced Sparta to lead a coalition against her rival (The Peloponnesian War, 431–404). Athens was eventually defeated. Though the city endured as an independent democracy until the conquest of Greece in 338 by Philip of Macedon (father of Alexander the Great), its defeat in the Peloponnesian War marked the end of the Athenian Golden Age. Through key ancient texts we shall follow the rise and fall of this political experiment, and examine the social and economic forces that led to the establishment and gradual corruption of Athenian democracy.

The appearance of hybris in the list of hunting dog names given in Xenophon’s Cynegeticus seems, at first glance, surprising. Why would Xenophon recommend such a term for man’s best friend? Often translated to mean violent arrogance, hybris, is socially and politically charged. This chapter explores how naming dogs, particularly in fourth century Athens, speaks to the tensions between the aristocratic hunting set, who, it appears, were Xenophon's intended audience, and the values of the Democracy.

Die Geschichte des Ionischen Aufstandes und der Perserkriege (5. Jh. v. Chr.) ist von dem antiken Geschichtsschreiber Herodot überliefert worden. Eine unreflektierte Übernahme seiner Erzählung ist jedoch nicht möglich. Allerdings läßt sich nicht ignorieren, daß zahlreiche seiner Behauptungen überprüft werden können, so etwa die Angaben zu Schlachtfeldern an der realen Topographie. Den Wahrheitsgehalt der von Herodot überlieferten Erzählung aufzuspüren, haben sich die Autoren dieses Bandes zur Aufgabe gestellt.

This paper aims to investigate the question of the (un)lawfulness of voluntary exile by defendants in relation to eisangelia trials. I argue that the defendant's habit of evading trial by going into exile was never seen as lawful, despite the frequency with which it occurred. First, I examine the issue of alternating between the death penalty and exile in eisangelia trials with the aim of showing that exile was not a penalty linked to the procedure of impeachment. Then, I argue that Athenian law took into consideration the issue of the (un)lawfulness of self-exile, as demonstrated by the existence of an Athenian law concerning the same matter in homicide cases. Lastly, I analyse some ancient passages that allow us to state that defendants in high treason trials who evaded justice were likened to outlaws. Elements such as the practice of setting bounties on those who escaped trial, extradition requests for fugitives, the imposition of additional penalties such as confiscation of property and inscribing the fugitive's name on a bronze stele, can corroborate this assumption. Questo articolo si propone di indagare la questione della (il)legittimità dell'esilio volontario da parte degli imputati nei processi per eisangelia. Si sostiene che l'abitudine dell'imputato di sottrarsi al processo con l'esilio non fu mai considerata legittima, nonostante la frequenza con cui si fece ricorso a tale condotta. In primo luogo, si esamina la questione dell'alternanza tra la pena di morte e l'esilio nei processi per alto tradimento, con l'obiettivo di dimostrare che l'esilio non fu una pena legata alla procedura di eisangelia. In secondo luogo, si sostiene che il diritto attico prese in considerazione la questione della (il)legittimità dell'auto-esilio, come dimostra l'esistenza di una legge ateniese che regolava la stessa materia nei casi di omicidio. Infine, si analizzano alcune testimonianze che permettono di affermare che gli imputati in processi per alto tradimento che si sottraevano alla giustizia furono assimilati a dei fuorilegge. Elementi come la pratica di fissare delle taglie su chi si sottraeva al processo, le richieste di estradizione per i fuggitivi, l'imposizione di ulteriori sanzioni come la confisca dei beni e l'iscrizione del nome del fuggitivo su una stele bronzea, corroborano questa ipotesi.

La proposition consiste à rechercher les catégories indiquées dans le cadre de conditions déterminées d’énonciation. Il s’agit de réfléchir autour de la notion d’agent en considérant deux figures singulières : le héros tragique et le citoyen démocratique, dont les caractères nous conduisent à la situation de l’Athènes du Ve siècle. En conséquence, le problème de la volonté et la constitution d’une notion d’agent responsable seront analysés à partir de l’intersection entre le domaine du discours tragique et le domaine de l’activité politique. Dans la conjonction de ces deux domaines, le problème crucial réside en la décision comme un processus subjectif. Notre idée centrale est que la figure du héros tragique évoque, avec ambiguïté, une antithèse politique mais aussi une métaphore du citoyen démocratique. Le héros tragique est une antithèse du citoyen démocratique parce que celui-ci prend uniquement des décisions comme partie d’une organisation collective, tandis que celui-là se présente en général sous une forme tyrannique. Mais le héros tragique est aussi métaphore du citoyen démocratique dans la mesure dans laquelle le processus subjectif réalisé par le héros opère comme recours de pensée des facteurs impliqués dans la prise de décision des citoyens réunis dans l’assemblée athénienne.

The classical liberal doctrine of free expression asserts the priority of speech as an extension of the freedom of thought. Yet its critics argue that freedom of expression, itself, demands the suppression of the so-called "silencing speech" of racists, sexists, and so on, as a threat to the equal expressive rights of others. This essay argues that the claim to free expression must be distinguished from claims to equal speech. The former asserts an equal right to express one's thoughts without interference; the latter the right to address others, and to receive a hearing and consideration from them, in turn. I explore the theory of equal speech in light of the ancient Athenian practice of isegoria and argue that the equality demanded is not distributive but relational: an equal speaker's voice should be counted as "on a par" with others. This ideal better captures critics' concerns about silencing speech than do their appeals to free expression. Insofar as epistemic and status-harms provide grounds for the suppression and exclusion of some speech and speakers, the ideal of equal speech is more closely connected with the freedom of association than of thought. Noticing this draws attention to the continuing-and potentially problematic-importance of exclusion in constituting effective sites of equal speech today.

This reconstruction of Plato’s biography was researched and written when I was at the London School of Economics Department of Government in 2004-05. As an attempt to reconstruct Plato’s life with more detail than had been done before, I hope it may be of interest.

Although it’s not complete and hasn’t been used for a publication, I intend to use this material at some point in the future. I welcome any comments. Feel free to write me at benjamin.bilski@periclesfoundation.org.

The paper argues that Cleisthenes’ military reforms were not improvised. The
general view of war in Archaic Athens as a series of skirmishes between small
contingents recruited on an almost private basis must be qualified, as there are
indications to suggest a greater and more regulated involvement of the polis of Athens
in the organisation of collective war. This was not entirely effective since it depended
on “private” channels, the aristoi from different districts, who fought each other (stasis).
Despite this, they were “institutionalised” as part of the common political and
institutional framework. The sources seems to indicate that the existence of “Hoplites” in Peisistratid Athens was more widespread than is usually believed.

Esposizione di approfondimento per studenti liceali e di laurea triennale. Atene è l"altro polo nella gamma di possibili forme della polis greca. Il cammino di Atene è per certi versi opposto a quello di Sparta: se a Sparta l"ordine politico e sociale si va cristallizzando, Atene vive una continua evoluzione sociale e sperimenta soluzioni politiche sempre nuove; se Sparta è una polis creata da un gruppo ristretto di invasori che si impone sulla popolazione preesistente, gli Ateniesi si vantavano di essere autoctoni, di essere cioè la popolazione originaria del luogo; se la storia spartana è segnata dal contrasto fra il nucleo degli Spartiati residenti a Sparta e la popolazione asservita della campagna, al contrario quella di Atene è caratterizzata dall"eguaglianza di diritti fra abitanti della città e abitanti dei villaggi, e dalla fusione di centro urbano e campagna in una unica realtà politica; se Sparta risolve il conflitto politico solo imponendo l"uguaglianza totale dei cittadini, Atene invece saprà coniugare eguaglianza di diritti politici e diseguaglianze economiche. Infine, se Sparta finisce per incarnare l"ideale dell"oligarchia (il dominio dei pochi sui molti: da olìgos "poco" e arché, "comando"), ad Atene sarà si imporrà infine quelle che gli stessi Ateniesi definiranno "isonomia", cioè la "parità di diritti" di tutti di fronte alla legge (da isos, "eguale" e nomos "legge") e "democrazia", cioè il regime fondato sul potere del popolo (da demos, "popolo" e kratos, "potere).

Le mythe de l’Atlantide et l’Égypte antique sont étroitement imbriqués si l’on en croit les dires du philosophe Platon. Il est le premier à évoquer le récit d’une île-continent, dont les orgueilleux et puissants habitants furent défaits par les Athéniens et engloutis sous les eaux, en même temps que l’Atlantide, juste après leur cuisant revers militaire. Or si Platon fait abondamment référence à l’Égypte antique, utilisant ses prêtres comme garants de la véracité d’un récit dont il a largement falsifié les faits, il existe bel et bien une source égyptienne, autrement plus ancienne que les textes du philosophe athénien, qui évoque l’histoire d’une île merveilleuse, aux ressources abondantes et riches, propriété d’une divinité, brusquement disparue sous les flots de la Méditerranée. Quelle est la part de véracité dans le récit de Platon et à quel point l’Égypte antique influença-t-elle son récit ?

Amandine Marshall est Docteur en Égyptologie et travaille actuellement à une thèse d’habilitation sur le cheval dans les mythes grecs. C’est en confrontant ses connaissances sur ces deux civilisations ancestrales qu’elle a pu établir l’existence de cette source égyptienne. Son ouvrage remet en perspective l’invention tout aussi mensongère que géniale de Platon, et, à la lueur de ce nouveau document égyptien, pose une autre question : et s’il n’y avait pas eu une mais deux Atlantides ?

The article presents the fragment of a new 'family grave stele' in the Athenian Kerameikos. It was found in 2014 during excavations in the Sacred Street, re-used as the cover of an ancient water channel that runs along the southwestern side of the street. The long history of this channel is briefly summarized, then the stele is discussed. It belongs to a relatively small group with many figures grouped around the seated  deceased woman and a mourning young girl.

Literature review on the Parthenon Frieze.  Term paper for Dr. Hector Williams' CLST 501: Topography and Monuments of Ancient Athens, a graduate seminar held in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies (CNERS) at UBC.

This paper [in Dutch] questions whether it is justified to earmark classical Athens as "The Age of Pericles". It offers a short overview of what the sources have to offer on the life and deeds of the statesman and shows how the ancients may delude modern conceptions of his significance.

En el presente artículo (publicado el 17 de octubre de 2017 en la Revista Éufrates) se analizan las principales ideas reflejadas en el Discurso de Pericles, recogido por Tucídides en el Libro II de la Historia de la Guerra del Peloponeso. Su relevancia reside en ser el primer manifiesto de la teoría democrática.

Im Peloponnesischen Krieg (431 bis 404 v. Chr.) standen sich die Machtblöcke des Ersten Attischen Seebundes unter Führung Athens und des Peloponnesischen Bundes unter seinem Hegemon Sparta gegenüber. Dank Thukydides sind wir über den Verlauf dieses antiken Weltkriegs wie über kaum ein zweites Ereignis des Altertums informiert. Bruno Bleckmann erläutert die Kriegsgründe, die verschiedenen Etappen der Auseinandersetzung, den Ausgang sowie die historische Bedeutung dieses Konflikts.

""En Filipo II y el Arte de la Guerra tendremos la oportunidad de conocer en profundidad a uno de los más grandes reyes de la antigua Macedonia. Gracias a su habilidad como estratega, diplomático, político y soldado, heredó un reino pobre, débil y acosado por innumerables enemigos y lo transformó en el más poderoso de toda Grecia.

A lo largo de sus páginas podremos conocer la historia del reino Macedonio, desde sus orígenes míticos hasta la formación de un imperio, de la mano del que, a la postre, se convertiría en el padre del mítico Alejandro Magno y en el forjador de un nuevo ejército que cambiaria el devenir de la guerra en la Antigüedad. Filipo II fue el creador de la falange macedonia, formación que se demostraría como inigualable en el campo de batalla y que reportaría incontables victorias sobre poderosos enemigos, como los ilirios, los tesalios, los tracios, los beocios o los atenienses. Pero no sólo eso, logró integrar en el campo de batalla a la infantería y a la caballería para emplearlos en nuevas formaciones tácticas: armó a sus soldados con las míticas sarissas y apreció como pocos las posibilidades militares que la maquinaria de guerra podía proporcionarle, siendo el mecenas de numerosos avances en este campo. Soñó con conquistar el Imperio persa, cuando ya había logrado lo que nadie antes fue capaz: el control de Grecia.

Sólo la muerte le arrebató esa hazaña, pero sentó las bases de lo que más tarde conseguiría su propio hijo. Su figura levantó tanto odios como pasiones; se le conocía como mujeriego y bebedor, pero también por su habilidad para la oratoria, por sus astucia, determinación y valor. Siempre luchó en primera línea junto a sus soldados y nunca permitió que éstos le llamaran rey, sino solo "General".

It is well known that several Greek leaders, for various reasons, after falling in disgrace in their homeland, found refuge in Persia: typical examples are the Spartan Demaratus and the Athenians Themistocles and Alcibiades. The opposite case, that of Persian leaders who fled to Greece and lived there as refugees, though attested, is much less known. Jakob Seibert’s important study of political refugees in ancient Greece devotes only a brief reference to this issue. This paper aims at exploring this topic more deeply, by identifying common and different features in the cases examined, focusing on the period between the Persian Wars and the Kingdom of Philip II of Macedonia.

List of cases
- Athens: Rhoesaces, Zopyrus, Amorges;
- Peloponnese: the son of Pharnabazus;
- Macedonia: Artabazus, Amminapes, Sisines.

La desigual distribución de la riqueza bajo las condiciones actuales del capitalismo es, como bien se sabe, el eje sobre el que Piketty ha centrado su atención; asimismo, forma parte de sus reflexiones el posible rol del estado, a través de los sistemas de tributación, como modo de in-tervenir en la distribución y atenuar el impacto de la desigualdad, incluso de propender a cierta igualación. No son sus respuestas concretas sino los interrogantes y los aspectos conceptuales a veces subyacentes en las respuestas mismas, los que aquí abordamos, en la medida en que nos convocan a reflexionar sobre la especificidad de la Atenas del siglo IV a.C. a partir de cuestiones que no dejan de remitir a la situación presente. Como en muchos otros aspectos de la Grecia antigua, las estimaciones acerca de cuán igualitarias o desiguales fueron las póleis según la distribución de la riqueza han conducido a que, sobre la misma base documental, unos las hayan considerado sociedades relativamente igualitarias, mientras que otros las han percibido como sociedades desiguales. En este contexto, la distribución de la riqueza y la eva-luación del grado de igualdad o desigualdad en la Atenas del siglo IV han encontrado un lugar privilegiado entre los intereses de los especialistas, debido a la conjunción de los datos disponibles sobre población y riqueza y a cierto nivel de consenso dentro de la comunidad académica en cuanto a la posibilidad de usar estos números, más de allá de discusiones sobre la interpretación de ciertos datos. Mi objetivo, tras revisar los datos e interpretaciones plan-teadas, es tratar de ensamblar este conjunto para producir un modelo de distribución de la riqueza entre diferentes sectores de la comunidad de ciudadanos atenienses. A partir de esto, se extrae el coeficiente de Gini con la idea de ponderar, dentro de lo que cabe, el grado de desigualdad que implica determinada disposición de los datos, cuando se asumen ciertos puntos de partida. Mi propia percepción a partir de los diferentes argumentos esgrimidos, conforme a los datos ensamblados, me llevará a proponer un modelo de distribución de la riqueza, con el cual voy a configurar un posible cuadro de distribución de la tierra, el elemento más significativo de la riqueza. Finalmente, planteo diversas cuestiones abiertas al debate conforme a los ejes de este evento. Mi perspectiva es que, a pesar de las importantes disparidades, en términos relativos y comparativos no en términos absolutos, claro está, la sociedad ateniense fue relativamente igualitaria.

Marktgewichte gehören zu den kleinformatigen Objekten des alltäglichen Lebens, die beim Handel auf der Agora, in den Läden usw. zum Abwiegen von (trockenen) Waren benötigt wurden. Tausende von ihnen wurden in den griechischen Poleis rund ums Mittelmeer und an der Küste des Schwarzen Meeres gefunden. Obwohl die meisten von ihnen in klassisch-hellenistischer Zeit aus Blei hergestellt wurden, gibt es eine beachtliche Anzahl (mehrere Hundert) von griechischen Marktgewichten aus Bronze. In der Forschung werden die bronzenen Exemplare oftmals als Standard- oder Eichgewichte interpretiert, die den städtischen Magistraten, d. h. meist den Agoranomoi oder Metronomoi, als Kontrollinstrumente für die Marktgewichte dienten.
Diese Interpretation soll im Vortrag überprüft werden. Dazu sollen zunächst die archaischen Gewichtsfunde aus Athen vorgestellt werden. Es handelt sich dabei um ein halbes Dutzend von Gewichten, die aus Bronze gefertigt sind, deren Fundorte (Agora und Akropolis) auf eine öffentliche Nutzung hinweisen und die durch ihre Inschrift (Δεμόσιον Ἀθεναίον) als öffentliches Eigentum der Athener ausgewiesen sind.
Diesen unstrittig als Standardgewichte gedeuteten Exemplaren aus Athen sollen Bronzegewichte aus anderen Städten gegenübergestellt werden. So finden sich hier einige wenige Poleis und Heiligtümer (wie Olbia und Olympia), die ausschließlich Bronzegewichte ausgegeben haben und die damit offenbar lokale Besonderheiten darstellen. Darüber hinaus sind Bronzegewichte aus rund 20 weiteren Poleis überliefert, stets in geringer Stückzahl. Die große Mehrheit an Gewichten dieser Poleis ist aus Blei gefertigt, wobei sich die Einzelstücke aus Bronze ikonographisch und epigraphisch nicht von den bleiernen Pendants unterscheiden, wie sie dies für Athen gezeigt werden kann. Da diese also nicht ohne Weiteres als Standardgewichte gedeutet werden können, ist die Gleichsetzung von Bronzegewicht = Standardgewicht neu zu überdenken. Um diese vereinzelten Bronzegewichte zu erklären, sollen auch die Überlieferungslage und die lokalen Metallressourcen in die Betrachtung einbezogen werden. Ziel des Vortrages ist es, den Begriff „Standardgewicht“ – auch in Abgrenzung zu Normal- oder Eichgewicht – eindeutig zu definieren.

This course presents a broad survey of historical forces at work over the past 6,000 years, examining the manners in which human societies have organized themselves along categories of race, ethnicity, class, and gender to meet the challenges of the increasing human population and its demands on natural resources: thus, it examines continuity and change in societies over time, in different places, and among various peoples.

In this paper classical Athenian discourses about the end of tyranny and the beginning of democracy are analyzed. In particular, taking as a starting point the perspective of some modern specialist about Athenian democracy as a political regime that lacked a theory or systematic thinking as sustenance, aristocratic elements present in democratic discourse are taken into account. Lastly, the discourses about the end of tyranny are situated in the broader context of ideological disputes about the political capability of the masses.

Keywords: Athens – Discourse – Democracy – Aristocracy – Democratic Theory


En el presente artículo se analizan los discursos existentes en la Atenas clásica acerca del fin de la tiranía y el comienzo de la democracia. En particular, partiendo de la perspectiva de diversos autores modernos según la cual la democracia ateniense careció de una teoría o un pensamiento sistemático que le hayan brindado sustento, se estudian las características aristocráticas presentes en el discurso democrático. Por último, se relacionan los discursos sobre el fin de la tiranía con las disputas ideológicas en torno a la capacidad política de las masas.

Palabras Clave: Atenas – Discurso – Democracia – Aristocracia – Teoría Democrática

In my undergraduate thesis I explored the possibility that Ancient Greek fertility cults ritualized certain ethnobotanical practices that might today have been called "abortion," but at the time, would have been thought of in a very different way. A lack of very hard evidence leaves these suggestions speculative at best, however we know from modern comparative anthropological studies that every culture has some method or another of dealing with pregnancies that do not end in a living birth, and the near silence on this matter in the historical record and modern scholarship has left this a question worth asking.

Sparta’s naval victory in the Peloponnesian War depended on ship contributions from Peloponnesian and central Greek allies and funding from the Persian empire.  At the end of the war, Lysander’s acquisition of captured enemy triremes allowed Sparta to break free from its reliance on allied warships, but not without long-term consequences.  In the Persian War of the following decade, although Sparta was now able to launch a fleet without Corinthian or Theban participation, it lacked resources to maintain its aging ships’ seaworthiness, and its loss of Persian financial support doomed its efforts to recruit and pay adequate naval crews.  The logistical and financial consequences of the breakdown of Sparta’s Peloponnesian War alliances brought about the collapse of its short-lived naval dominance.