History

History

The Battle of Sybota | part 2: Aid and succour for the Corcyraeans

In part 1: The siege of Epidamnus, and embassies to Athens, we left the forces gathering after the Athenians sent ten ships to assist Corcyra against the assembled Corinthians and their allies. The Corcyraeans positioned their fleet of 110 ships, under the command of Meikiades and two others, near the Sybota Islands, where also the ten Athenian ships were present. The land forces that were posted at Leukimme included a… Read more

History

The Battle of Sybota | part 1: The siege of Epidamnus, and embassies to Athens

By 433 BCE, the trade network of Athens reached from the Crimea to Egypt and as far west as Marseille. The navy served to protect the trade routes between the colonies and the mētropolis. Corinth was an ally of Sparta. Corcyra (Corfu) was an unwilling colony of Corinth and not part of either the Athenian or the Peloponnesian League. Corcyra operated a fleet of 120 galleys.[1] Figure 1: Gorgon at… Read more

History

What words say matters! Plato’s Apology of Socrates

The Apology is one of the so-called Early Dialogues of Plato.[1] In it, Socrates makes his own defense of the accusations he had received for corrupting the youths and introducing new gods in the city of Athens. To start with, it is interesting to note that this dialogue does not take a proper noun (the name of one of the characters in the dialogue concerned) as a title but chooses… Read more

History

Charitimides in Egypt

In 460 BCE the Athenians were underway to carry out a mission—a raid on Cyprus to collect some more of the treasures of that island—when they was ordered by Perikles, after a voting process in Athens, to divert his fleet to Egypt.[1] The objective was to give naval support to the Libyan ruler Inaros II, who was leading a revolt against the Persian presence in that area. Charitimides led the… Read more

History,  Travel

Rhodes: the Isle of Helios

Head of Helios In this post, following the one on Thera, I offer you a safe and virtual journey through time to another Greek island of the Aegean Sea. Rhodes is well known for its famous statue of the Kolossos of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but the Kolossos (the god Helios) was destroyed during an earthquake in c226BCE, and it was not rebuilt according… Read more