From Simonides to Isocrates: The Fifth-Century Origins of Fourth-Century Panhellenism

2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Flower
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Common Cause ◽  
Greek Poetry ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
Political Program ◽  
City States ◽  
Political Disputes

This article attempts to gather the evidence for panhellenism in the fifth century B.C. and to trace its development both as a political program and as a popular ideology. Panhellenism is here defined as the idea that the various Greek city-states could solve their political disputes and simultaneously enrich themselves by uniting in common cause and conquering all or part of the Persian empire. An attempt is made to trace the evidence for panhellenism throughout the fifth century by combining different kinds of evidence: that is, both poetic and historical texts, as well as the testimonia for monuments which are no longer extant. Any thought of a panhellenic crusade was impossible before the Persian invasions, but such an expedition, under the dual leadership of Athens and Sparta, was espoused by Cimon. After his death it remained an item of popular talk for the rest of the century and this talk intensified during the second half of the Peloponnesian War. The paper has six parts: the first finds hints of panhellenist ideology in the fragments of Simonides' Plataea elegy and in Aeschylus' Persians. The second part attempts to explain several puzzling passages in Herodotus in terms of his reflecting contemporary panhellenist discourse, especially in his account of Aristagoras of Miletus at Sparta. Part three reconstructs Cimon' s belief in dual hegemony and his plans for a joint Athenian-Spartan expedition against the Persian empire. Part four connects an anecdote about Miltiades with the Cimonian monuments and argues that the artistic program of the Stoa Poikile was intended to support Cimon's panhellenist aspirations. Part five discusses panhellenist sentiments in late fifth-century Greek poetry, and dates the Olympic Oration and Funeral Oration of Gorgias to the period 408-405 B.C., Finally, part six relates the panhellenist writings of Isocrates to earlier developments.

Athens, Sparta, and Persia

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
Matthew Kroenig
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Naval Power ◽  
International Power ◽  
City States ◽  
Open States

This chapter considers the rise of Athens in the ancient world and its competitions against its rivals, Persia and Sparta. It argues that its democratic institutions were a key to its success. Athens was the world’s first democracy, and it rose to become the leader of the Greeks, with an empire that stretched from North Africa to Crimea. It was a major trading and naval power and forged a formidable alliance of Greek city-states to defeat the mighty Persian Empire. It then fought a legendary series of wars against its oligarchic rival for ascendancy in Greece, Sparta. In the end, Athens’s form of direct democracy and decision-making through tyranny of the majority was its undoing. But not before Athens reigned as a liberal leviathan for nearly a century and showcased an enduring model for how other open states could acquire international power and influence.

Exploring Intercommunity Political Activity in Fourth-Century Greece

2018 ◽  
pp. 405-432
Author(s):  
Peter Liddel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
City States ◽  
Cultural Structure ◽  
Inter State

It might seem reasonable to take the view that the study of ancient Greek political behaviour could plausibly focus upon exchanges that went on inside the polis: after all, the word ‘politics’ derives from the Greek politika (‘polis affairs’). However, the concerns of ancient Greek polis-communities were not merely introspective: communities (regardless of size or military clout) were obliged to face the consequences of the decisions and activity of other communities. Human representatives of city-states performed necessary interactions with outsiders: they fought as soldiers, and staked political or ideological claims as ambassadors and politicians. On their return to their home communities, these individuals proclaimed to their audiences the significance of their activity away from home. Furthermore, the overlaps in social and cultural structure of different Greek city-states, as well as the existence of shared modes of decision-making, might lead us to anticipate the value of trans-community forms of political activity. At the heart of this question, therefore, is an overall debate about the degree of ‘unity’ of Greek political institutions and behaviour, a debate explored in this chapter with particular reference to the contested transferability of the decree (psephisma) in Greek inter-state politics of the fourth century.

scholarly journals Playing with Peace: Solomon as the Man of Peace and Rest, and the Temple as the House of Rest

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Louis C. Jonker
Keyword(s):  
International Politics ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Royal Inscriptions ◽  
International Discourse ◽  
City States ◽  
The Temple

It is well-known that the notions of peace, rest and order belonged to the royal Achaemenid ideology, particularly from the time of Darius I onwards. This can be witnessed in Achaemenid architecture, iconography and royal inscriptions. However, although the relations between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states were never completely peaceful, the diplomatic relations between Persia and particularly Sparta emphasised the value and importance of peace for international politics. How did this international discourse influence the literature formation in Yehud at the same time? In addition, can one read the Chronicler’s portrayal of King Solomon of old as playful (and undermining) irony and polemic against the imperial masters? In this article, I revisit an earlier study in which I have started investigating the rhetorical locus of the Chronicler’s portrayal of this king.

Coins

2019 ◽  
pp. 383-400
Author(s):  
John W. Betlyon
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Alexander The Great ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Small Change ◽  
City States ◽  
Gold Coins

The coins of the Phoenician city-states were struck in the fifth and fourth centuries bce. Influenced by coins struck in Greece and eastern Greece, Sidon, Tyre, Byblos, and Aradus struck coins in silver and bronze. These coins functioned as the “small change” for the gold coins struck by the imperial mint of Achaemenid Persia. The production of these coins aided in everyday commerce and in the collection of tariffs and taxes. Early studies of these coins were inevitably connected to the great royal collections of Europe in London and Paris. Major studies of these coins appeared in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. More recent archaeological discoveries in Lebanon have included an inscription which expanded knowledge of the king list of the Phoenician city of Sidon in the fifth and fourth centuries bce. New historical sources such as this inscription published by Maurice Dunand in 1965 have enabled scholars to propose new and more accurate chronologies for the earliest coins of the Phoenicians. Sidon was the largest of the Phoenician mints, with coins struck between the late fifth century and the coming of Alexander the Great in 332 bce. Tyre, Aradus, and Byblos also struck coins, and together with those of Sidon, provided the denominations required to fuel the Phoenician (and therefore Persian) economy of the period. These coins enabled the Phoenician city-states to compete more favorably with their Greek and East Greek neighbors to the west. The coins of Tyre undoubtedly inspired the Tyrian colony of Carthage to strike coins beginning late in the fourth century bce.

Sound, Sense, and Music in Greek Poetry

1981 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. B. Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Silent Reading ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Greek Poetry

Until the fifth century B.C. all Greek poets made their poems for hearing not for seeing, for the ear and not for the eye. Poetry was social rather than private being usually sung, recited, or performed at religious ceremonies, festivals, feasts, or entertainments. Even when the Greeks began to read poetry privately for themselves – Euripides is the first known possessor of a private library – they read it aloud, not silently as we generally do. Silent reading of literature – as distinct from business documents – is not clearly attested until the fourth century A.D.

The Italiote League: South Italian Alliances of the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC

2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-151
Author(s):  
John W. Wonder
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
City States

Polybius and Diodorus each cite a league of Italiote city-states while chronicling events of the fifth and fourth centuries bc respectively. Scholarly opinion holds that the authors describe the same alliance. This article argues that each ancient historian refers to a different alliance with dissimilar goals. Evidence is marshaled to show that Polybius's fifth-century league was not formed to combat an Italic threat, as is commonly stated by modern authors. Three Achaean states established this alliance to counter their aggressive Italiote neighbors, Thurii and Locri, both of whom were supported by major powers. By the first part of the fourth century, however, the situation in southern Italy had changed dramatically, and the growing power of Dionysius I as well as Italic people threatened the Italiotes. Diodorus describes another alliance formed by a larger group of Italiote states to counter a different set of enemies.

Fortuna in Translation, Fortuna as Translation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Miano
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Magna Graecia ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the relationship between Fortuna and Tyche as one of translatability. The first half of the chapter focuses on Tyche, with the aim of determining semantic and structural elements common with Fortuna. The second part of the chapter looks at instances in which Fortuna is translated in Greek. The appearance of bronze strigils bearing the epithet soteira from Praeneste in the fourth century BC seems to presuppose this translation, and also points to the salvific meanings of Fortuna as a base for the process of translation. This process of translation had probably occurred through early contacts between Latium, Sicily, and Magna Graecia, where Tyche seems to be associated with salvation already from the fifth century BC. Other instances of translations of Fortuna and Tyche are studied across the Aegean.

Phoenicia Under the Achaemenid Empire

2019 ◽  
pp. 87-97
Author(s):  
Vadim Jigoulov
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Economic Aspects ◽  
Achaemenid Empire ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
City States

This chapter covers several aspects of Achaemenid Phoenicia, including literary sources, epigraphy, numismatics, and material culture. Achaemenid Phoenicia was characterized by a continuity of material culture from the Neo-Babylonian period. The extant sources—literary, epigraphic, and numismatic—evince a conglomerate of independent city-states characterized by expressions of compliance with the central Achaemenid authorities while pursuing their own economic and political goals, with Sidon as the most preeminent metropolis. The end of the period in the fourth century bce saw the gradual disintegration of the Phoenician loyalties to the Achaemenids and a pivot toward the Aegean in political and economic aspects.

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