The Battle of Eurymedon After Eion, Skyros, and Naxos, the next mission for the Athenian Stratēgós Kimon came in either 469 or 466 BCE. After the siege of Skyros, he put in at the Piraeus. There he arranged for repairs and general supplies, and added more triremes to his fleet. The existing ships were designed by Themistoklēs with a focus on speed and maneuverability; the new design of Kimon had… Read more
Some say that the Phaeacians built ships which moved with the swiftness of a raptor [irēx].[1] Their ships fly over water propelled by well-fitted oars [euēra eretma] that are like wings [ptera] for ships.[2] Some say Odysseus is next in line for breaking speed records with his ships that qualify as fast-sailing [ōkualos nēus].[3] Some say the fastest ships were the Iliadic ships that qualified as “swift” [thoos].[4] These are… Read more
In part 1, we looked at the role of Cleisthenes. Now, in part 2, we look at the re-establishment of democracy by Thrasybulus. Thrasybulus played an instrumental part as a general in Athens’ victories in the “Ionian War” during the years 411–407 BCE as well as the (temporary) return of Alcibiades to Athens. However, after the defeat of Alcibiades’ fleet at Notium in 406 and the departure of that loved… Read more
Imagine a United States in which George Washington was never celebrated as the “Father of his Country” or the “Indispensable Man”! Imagine a Great Britain in which knowledge of the Magna Carta had been relegated to specialists in constitutional history, or a France which did not celebrate Bastille Day! Yet this seems to have been the situation in ancient Athens in regard to the founder of its democracy, Cleisthenes son… Read more
The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours[1] is based on a course that Professor Gregory Nagy has been teaching at Harvard University since the late 1970s. The book discusses selected readings of texts, all translated from the original Greek into English. The texts include the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey; selected Homeric Hymns; the Hesiodic Theogony and Works and Days; selected songs of Sappho and Pindar; selections from the Histories of Herodotus;… Read more