Epilycus' Negotiations with Persia

A NDOCIDES 3.29 refers to a treaty and a pact of everlasting friendship negotiated with an unnamed Persian king by an Athenian embassy headed by his uncle, Epilycus, at a date prior to the revolt of Amorges. These negotiations have frequently been discussed,' but almost exclusively in the context of the controversy about the Peace of Callias, and with comparatively little regard to the historical situation obtaining in the opening years of the reign of Darius II, the period to which the negotiations almost certainly belong. It must be admitted that Andocides is never a reliable historical witness,2 and that the agreements to which he refers made no impact upon the ancient tradition. Thucydides, despite his coverage of negotiations and proposed negotiations with Persia by both protagonists in the Archidamian War, notoriously does not mention any such treaty or pact.3 Theopompus, as cited by Theon, does refer to an Athenian claim to have negotiated a treaty with Darius, but it remains extremely doubtful whether Theon actually found the proper name Dareios in the text of Theopompus,4 and equally doubtful whether the name can be legitimately treated as an intruding gloss based on historical comment, whether wellinformed or ill-informed.5 Nevertheless the fact of a treaty with Persia in the period to which Andocides refers now seems confirmed beyond

Ancient history · Negotiation · Political science · Ancient Near East History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Law

• Persian Refugees in Ancient Greece

  Open Access•Paolo Andrea Tuci•Pallas•2020

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