athens and sparta

athen and sparta

Athens

A year after Marathon, Miltiades, the hero of Marathon, was injured in a minor battle. Taking advantage of his incapacitation, the powerful Alcmaeonid family arranged for him to be prosecuted.^[106] Miltiades was given a massive fine for the crime of 'deceiving the Athenian people', but died weeks later from his wound.^[106]

Bust of Themistocles

The politician Themistocles, with a power base firmly established amongst the poor, filled the vacuum left by Miltiades's death, and in the following decade became the most influential politician in Athens.^[106] During this period, Themistocles continued to support expanding Athenian naval power.^[106] The Athenians were aware throughout this period that the Persian interest in Greece had not ended,^[89] and Themistocles's naval policies may be seen in the light of the potential threat from Persia.^[106] Aristides, Themistocles's great rival, and champion of the zeugites (the upper, 'hoplite-class') vigorously opposed such a policy.^[107]
In 483 BC, a massive new seam of silver was found in the Athenian mines at Laurium.^[108] Themistocles proposed that the silver should be used to build a new fleet of triremes, ostensibly to assist in a long running war with Aegina.^[109] Plutarch suggests that Themistocles deliberately avoided mentioning Persia, believing that it was too distant a threat for the Athenians to act on, but that countering Persia was the fleet's aim.^[108] Fine suggests that many Athenians must have admitted that such a fleet would be needed to resist the Persians, whose preparations for the coming campaign were known about.^[110] Themistocles's motion was passed easily, despite strong opposition from Aristides. Its passage was probably due to the desire of many of the poorer Athenians for paid employment as rowers in the fleet.^[110] It is unclear from the ancient sources whether 100 or 200 ships initially authorised; both Fine and Holland suggest that at first 100 ships were authorised and that a second vote increased this number to the levels seen during the second invasion.^[109][110] Aristides continued to oppose Themistocles's policy, and tension between the two camps built over the winter, so the ostracism of 482 BC became a direct contest between Themistocles and Aristides.^[109] In what Holland characterises as, in essence, the world's first referendum, Aristides was ostracised, and Themistocles's policies were endorsed.^[109] Indeed, becoming aware of the Persian preparations for the coming invasion, the Athenians voted to build more ships than Themistocles had asked for.^[109] In the run up to the Persian invasion, Themistocles had thus become the leading politician in Athens.^[111]

[edit] Sparta

The Spartan king Demaratus had been stripped of his kingship in 491 BC, and replaced with his cousin Leotychides. Sometime after 490 BC, the humiliated Demaratus had chosen to go into exile, and had made his way to Darius's court in Susa.^[87] Demaratus would from then on act as an advisor to Darius, and later Xerxes, on Greek affairs, and accompanied Xerxes during the second Persian invasion.^[112] At the end of Herodotus's book 7, there is an anecdote relating that in the run-up to the second invasion, Demaratus sent an apparently blank wax tablet to Sparta. When the wax was removed, a message was found scratched on the wooden backing, warning the Spartans of Xerxes's plans.^[113] However, many historians believe that this chapter was inserted into the text by a later author, possibly to fill a gap between the end of book 7 and the start of book 8. The veracity of this anecdote is therefore unclear.^[114]

[edit] Hellenic alliance

In 481 BC, Xerxes sent ambassadors around Greece asking for food, land, and water, but deliberately bypassed Athens and Sparta in hopes of not letting them know about their plans.^[115] Support thus began to coalesce around these two states. A congress of states met at Corinth in late autumn of 481 BC, and a confederate alliance of Greek city-states was formed.^[116] This confederation had the power to send envoys asking for assistance and to dispatch troops from the member states to defensive points after joint consultation. Herodotus does not formulate an abstract name for the union but simply calls them "οἱ Ἕλληνες" (the Greeks) and "the Greeks who had sworn alliance" (Godley translation) or "the Greeks who had banded themselves together" (Rawlinson translation).^[117] From now on, they will be referred to as the 'Allies'. Sparta and Athens had a leading role in the congress but the interests of all the states played a part in determining defensive strategy.^[118] Little is known about the internal workings of the congress or the discussions during its meetings. Only 70 of the nearly 700 Greek city-states sent representatives. Nevertheless, this was remarkable for the disjointed Greek world, especially since many of the city-states present were still technically at war with one another.^[119]