Peisistratus on Salamis

Peisistratus on Salamis:Who captured the island? Unai Iriarte The conflict between Athens and Megara for the control of the island of Salamis is one of the main historiographical debates of the sixth century bc, one that has received much attention during the last decades. There are many ancient sources that refer to the war between these two πόλεις, but there is still one issue at stake that has not yet been resolved: who was responsible for the capture of Salamis? Solon, Peisistratus, both, or neither of them?1 In modern historiography there are quite clear divisions between those authors who think that Solon was likely responsible for the recapture of Salamis,2 those who defend the view that Peisistratus would have been in authority when the island returned to Athens3 (some of them also believe in an earlier important role of Solon in the conflict),4 and those who defend the position that Salamis may have been reconquered later than the tyranny of [End Page 238] Peisistratus.5 In order to clarify what happened, the ancient sources will have to re-evaluated; rather than treating all the ancient sources in the same way, as has been the traditional approach to this question, this study analyses the sources chronologically in order to better appreciate the different traditions about the conflict. Some of the late ancient sources agree that Solon would have been the main instigator in the reconquest of the island from the Megarians (Val. Max. 5.3, ext. 2; Plut. Sol. 8.3; Paus. 1.40.5; Diog. Laert. 1.47–48; Just. Epit. 2.7.10–11), but it is well known that the deeds of this legislator, especially in Roman times, contained both historical and mythical elements, so these sources should not be accepted at face value.6 A couple of centuries before these imperial sources, Strabo (9.1.10) had already raised some doubts about the introduction of the verses of the Catalogue of Ships of the Iliad, which placed Ajax' position among the Athenians, and was used to guarantee Athenian domination over the island. According to Strabo (ibid.), Peisistratus was the one who, in the verses, would have placed the ships of Salamis close to those of Athens. However, this statement does not help to elucidate or drive us to any conclusive result about the island's capture: Peisistratus could have indeed been the one to modify the position of Ajax' ships in the Iliad, but this does not necessarily imply he was responsible for the conquest of Salamis.7 In order to determine which of these two Athenians was responsible for the incorporation of Salamis into the state of Athens, the sources prior to the Roman era, especially those belonging to the fifth and fourth centuries bc must be analyzed.8 In the fifth century bc Herodotus (1.59.4) tells us that [End Page 239] Peisistratus was involved in the war against Megara. However, he does not specify the tyrant's relationship with Salamis, instead noting that he made important achievements (μεγάλα ἔργα), and among them the conquest of the Port of Nisaia.9 This information about Peisistratus' role in the Megarian war is also followed, as early as the fourth century, by Aeneas Tacticus (4.5–11), who neither confirms nor denies Peisistratus' participation in the reconquest of the island. So far, it remains open to interpretation, then, whether or not Herodotus' μεγάλα ἔργα included the recovery of Salamis. However, it is also the fourth century bc sources that deal most directly with the problem of the island's recapture: Daimachus of Plataea and Aristotle. While the former (FGrH 65 F 7 = Plut. Comp. Sol. Publ. 4) denies that Solon had any kind of conflict with the Megarians,10 Aristotle (Ath. pol. 17.2) seems to respond to him (or an alternative tradition), rejecting the idea that Peisistratus collaborated with Solon to recover Salamis: ... he was loved by Solon and was a general in the war against Megara for Salamis: the chronology does not allow it, if you reckon up the life of each man and the archonship in which each died (Arist. Ath. pol. 17.2, tr. Rhodes 1984). Aristotle accepts the premise that Solon

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