Kitap 1
On hearing this, the Lacedaemonians did not openly show any resentment against the Athenians; for they had sent their embassy to Athens, not to stop the work, but to offer, as they professed, a suggestion in the common interest, and besides, they entertained at that time the most friendly feelings for the Athenians on account of their zeal in opposing the Persians; since, however, they liad failed in their purpose, they were secretly vexed. So the envoys on either side returned home without making any formal complaint.
It was in this manner that the Athenians got their wall built in so short a time, and even to-day the structure shows that it was put together in haste.The remains of the walls now seen around the Peiraeus are not those of the Themistoclean walls, which were destroyed at the end of the Peloponnesian War, but of the walls built by Conon in 393. A small part of these remains, on the flat ground north of the Peiraeus toward the mainland, answers exactly to Thucydides' description--being of solid stone and over 25 feet thick--but most of the remains are of two outer faces of stone, the intermediate spaces filled in with rubble and earth. On Munychia there is no trace anywhere of a solid wall of the age of Themistocles.
For the lower courses consist of all sorts of stones, in some cases not even hewn to fit but just as they were when the several workers brought them, and many columns from grave monuments and stones wrought for other purposes were built in. For the circuit-wall of the city was extended in every direction, and on this account they laid hands upon everything alike in their haste.
Themistocles, moreover, persuaded them also to finish the walls of the Peiraeus, a beginning of which had been made during the year in which he was archon of the Athenians; for he considered that the Peiraeus with its three natural harboursThe Peiraeus, here in widest sense, is the peninsula, the heart of which is the steep height of Munychia, from which it stretches into the sea like an indented leaf, forming three natural basins—the Peiraeus, Zea, Munychia. was a fine site to develop and that to have become a nation of seamen would be a great advantage to the Athenians themselves, with a view to their acquisition of power—
indeed it was he who first dared declare that they must apply themselves to the sea—and so he immediately took the first steps in this undertaking.Others render: immediately began to help them to lay the foundation of their empire.
And following his advice they built the wall round the Peiraeus of the thickness that may still be observed; for two wagons carrying the stones could meet and pass each other. Inside, moreover, there was neither rubble nor mortar, but stones of large size hewn square were closely laid together, bound to one another on the outside with iron clamps and lead.
But the wall was completed to only about half of the height he originally intended, for what he wished was to be able to repel the assaults of the enemy by the very height and thickness of the wall, and he thought that a few men, and these the least effective, would suffice to guard it, while all the rest might man the ships.
For Themistocles devoted himself particularly to the navy, because, as it seems to me, he had observed that the approach of the King's forces was easier by sea than by land; and he thought that the Peiraeus would prove more serviceable than the upper city, and often advised the Athenians, if ever they were hard pressed on land, to go down to the Peiraeus, and resist all their opponents with their fleet.
It was in this way, then, that the Athenians got their walls built, and came to be engaged upon their other fortifications, immediately after the withdrawal of the Persians.
Meanwhile Pausanias son of Cleombrotus was sent out from Lacedaemon in command of the Hellenes with twenty ships from Peloponnesus, accompanied by thirty Athenian ships and a multitude of other allies.
They nmade also an expedition against Cyprus, subduing most of it, and afterwards, at the time of Pausanias' leadership, besieged Byzantium, which the Persians then field, and took it.
But, since he had already become headstrong,cf. Thuc. 1.130.2. the rest of the Hellenes became disaffected, especially the Ionians and all who had been recently emancipated from the King. So they waited upon the Athenians and begged them in the name of their kinshipAs the mother city; cf. Thuc. 1.2. (end). to become their leaders, and to resist Pausanias if he should attempt to coerce them.478 B.C.
The Athenians accepted their proposals and gave full attention to the matter with the determination to endure Pausanias' conduct no longer and to settle all other matters as should seem best to themselves.
Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians recalled Pausanias in order to interrogate him about reports they were hearing, for much wrongdoing was charged against him by the Hellenes who came to Sparta, and his behaviour seemed an aping of despotic power rather than the conduct of a general.
And it so happened that he was cited before the court at the very time that the allies in vexation at him had gone over to the side of the Athenians, all except the soldiers from the Peloponnesus.
And although, on his return to Lacedaemon, Pausanias was held to account for any personal wrongs he had committed against individuals, yet on the principal charges he was acquitted of misconduct; for he was accused most of all of treasonable relations with the Persians, and it seemed to be a very clear case.
And they did not again send him out as commander, but Dorcis, together with some others, with an inconsiderable force; but the allies did not entrust these with the chief command.
And they, being now aware of the situation, went back home; and the Lacedaemonians sent out no other commanders thereafter, fearing that any who went out might be corrupted, as they saw had happened in the case of Pausanias; they also wanted to be rid of the Persian war, and thought that the Athenians were competent to take the leadership and were friendly to themselves at the time.
After the Athenians had succeeded in this way to the leadership over the allies, who freely chose them on account of their hatred of Pausanias, they assessed the amount of their contributions, both for the states which were to furnish money for the war against the Barbarians and for those which were to furnish ships, the avowed object being to avenge themselves for what they had suffered by ravaging the King's territory.
And it was then476 B.C. that the Athenians first established the office of Hellenic treasurers, who received the tribute; for so the contribution of money was termed. The amount of the tribute first assessed was four hundred and sixty talents, and the treasury of the allies was Delos, where the meetings were held in the temple.
Exercising then what was at first a leadership over allies who were autonomous and took part in tle deliberations of common assemblies, the Athenians, in the interval between this war and the Persian, undertook, both in war and in the administration of public affairs, the enterprises now to be related, which were directed against the Barbarian, against their own allies when they attempted revolution, and against such of the Peloponnesians as from time to time came into conflict with them in the course of each attempt.
And I have made a digression to write of these matters for the reason that this period has been omitted by all my predecessors, wlo have confined their narratives either to Hellenic affairs before the Persian War or to the Persian War itself; and Hellanicus, the only one of these who has ever touched upon this period, has in his Attic History treated of it briefly, and with inaccuracy as regards his chronology. And at the same time the narrative of these events serves to explain how the empire of Athens was established.
Iirst, then, under the leadership of Cimon son of Miltiades, they took by siege Eion on the Strymon, which the Persians held, and enslaved its inhabitants476 B.C.;
then they enslaved Scyros, the island in the Aegean inhabited by Dolopians, and colonised it themselves.
And a war arose between them and the Carystians, the other Euboeans taking no part in it, and after a time terms of capitulation were agreed upon.
After this they waged war upon the Naxians,466 B.C. who had revolted, and reduced them by siege. And this was the first allied city to be enslaved in violation of the established rule; but afterwards the others also were enslaved as it happened in each case.
Now while there were other causes of revolts, the principal ones were the failures in bringing in the tribute or their quota of ships and, in some cases, refusal of military service; for the Athenians exacted the tribute strictly and gave offence by applying coercive measures to any who were unaccustomed or unwilling to bear the hardships of service.
And in some other respects, too, the Athenians were no longer equally agreeable as leaders; they would not take part in expeditions on terms of equality, and they found it easy to reduce those who revolted.
For all this the allies themselves were responsible; for most of them, on account of their aversion to military service, in order to avoid being away from home got themselves rated in sums of money instead of ships, which they should pay in as their proportionate contribution, and consequently the fleet of the Athenians was increased by the funds which they contributed, while they themselves, whenever they revolted, entered on the war without preparation and without experience.
After this occurred at the river Eurymedon in Pamphylia the land-battle and sea-fight of the AtheniansFor this glorious victory of Cimon's, whose date (466 B.C.?) is not certain, cf. Diod. 11. 60; Plut. Cim. 12 and their allies against the Persians; and the Athenians were victorious in both on the same day under the command of Cimon son of Miltiades, and they took and destroyed triremes of the Phoenicians to the number of two hundred all told.
And some time afterwards it came to pass that the Thasians revolted from them,465 B.C. a quarrel having arisen about the trading posts and the mineThe Thasians had a gold mine at Skapte Hyle on the Thracian coast, from which they drew rich revenues; cf. Hdt. 6.46 f. on the opposite coast of Thrace, of which the Thasians enjoyed the profits. Thereupon the Athenians sailed with their fleet against Thasos, and, after winning a battle at sea, disembarked on the island.
About the same time they sent to the river Strymon ten thousand colonists, consisting of Athenians and their allies, with a view to colonising the place, then called Nine Ways, but now Amphipolis; and though these colonists gained possession of Nine Ways, which was inhabited by Edoni, yet when they advanced into the interior of Thrace they were destroyed at Drabescus in Edonia by the united forces of the Thracians, to whom the settlement of the place was a menace.
As for the Thasians, who had been defeated in battle and were now besieged, they appealed to the Lacedaemonians and urged them to come to their aid by invading Attica.
This, unknown to the Athenians, they promised to do, and intended to keep their promise, but were prevented by the earthquakeCalled "the great earthquake" in Thuc. 1.128.1. which occurred at the time464 B.C. when both their Helots and the Perioeci of Thuria and Aethaea revolted and went to Ithome.The Perioeci were the old inhabitants of the country, chiefly of Achaean stock, reduced to a condition of dependence, i.e. were not citizens, though not state—slaves as the Helots were. Most of the Helots were the descendants of the early Messenians who had been enslaved of old,Referring to the mythical time of the first Messenian war. and hence were all called Messenians.
The Lacedaemonians, then, were involved in war with the rebels on Ithome; and so the Thasians, who were in the third year of the siege, came to terms with the Athenians, pulling down their walls and delivering over their ships, agreeing to pay forthwith whatever sum of money should be required of them and to render tribute in future, and, finally, giving up both the mainland and the mine.
The Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, when their war with the rebels on Ithome proved a long affair, appealed to their allies in general and especially to the Athenians, who came with a considerable force under the command of Cimon.
The principal reason why an appeal was made to them was that they were reputed to be skilful in siege operations, whereas the long continuance of the siege showed their own deficiency in this respect; for otherwise they would have taken the place by assault.
And it was in consequence of this expedition that a lack of harmony in the relations of the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians first became manifest. For the Lacedaemonians, when they failed to take the place by storm, fearing the audacity and the fickleness of the Athenians, whom they regarded, besides, as men of another race, thought that, if they remained, they might be persuaded by the rebels on Ithome to change sides; they therefore dismissed them, alone of the allies, without giving any indication of their suspicion, but merely saying that they had no further need of them.
The Athenians, however, recognized that they were not being sent away on the more creditable ground, but because some suspicion had arisen; so because they felt indignant and considered that they had not deserved such treatment at the hands of the Lacedaemonians, the instant they returned home they gave up the alliance which they had made with the Lacedaemonians against the Persians and became allies of their enemies, the Argives. And an alliance at the same time, on the same terms and confirmed by the same oaths, was concluded by both the Athenians and the Argives with the Thessalians.
In the tenth year455 B.C. the rebels on Ithome found that they could hold out no longer and surrendered to the Lacedaemonians on condition that they should leave the Peloponnesus under a truce and should never set foot in it again;