The Peace between Athens and Persia

Bibliographic Data

ID3938737
AuthorsG L Cawkwell, George Cawkwell (corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume51
Issue2
Pages115
Publication date1997-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhoenix (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8299 • E-ISSN: 1929-4883
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1088490
OpenAlexW2331359418
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited9

AFTER THE DEATH OF CIMON in Cyprus circa 449 B.c. (Thuc. 1.112.4) there were no hostilities between Athenian forces and Persian until 412 when the satraps of the Aegean seaboard are found supporting Sparta, and if Diodorus (12.4) is be trusted, this cessation of hostilities was due the making of a peace in 449 between Athens and Persia. In recent times, however, it has been claimed that much other evidence is be understood as proving that peace, albeit short-lived, had been made after the battle of Eurymedon or at least that it later came be thought that peace had been made. This interpretation of the evidence has been contested, and my mind, successfully contested, and I do propose cover the same ground here.1 For there is a clear indication that Athens did make peace with Persia immediately after the battle of Eurymedon. In the late 460s there was a general diplomatic realignment in Greece. The Athenians responding Cimon's call not see Greece lame or Athens deprived of her yoke-fellow (Plut. Cim. 16.10) had gone save their ally, Sparta, at the time of the great earthquake (Thuc. 1.102.1), as indeed had other extraPeloponnesian states, Aegina and Plataea being the two known us (Thuc. 2.27.2; 3.54.5; 3.64.3; 4.56.2). Then when the Spartans dismissed the Athenians from the siege of Ithome the Athenians gave up the alliance that had been made with them against the Mede and became allies with the Argives, the Spartans' enemies ... (Thuc. 1.102.4). If Thucydides is be trusted, it is inconceivable that Athens could earlier have made peace with Persia even if it was a very short-lasting peace, without thereby renouncing her alliance against the Mede. The Hellenic League of 481 is a somewhat shadowy affair, but the contention of Brunt2 that it was similar in form the Delian League which was established so shortly afterwards is highly probable. Just as joining that league involved swearing to think the same party friend and enemy (ps.-Arist. Ath. Pol. 23.4), the usual formula of Greek leagues, so too in the Hellenic League the oaths

Ancient history · Political science · Classical Antiquity Studies · History