An Uneasy Truce

This chapter focuses on the Athenians, who were “broken in spirit” in the years after their humiliation at the hands of the Spartans and their allies. It describes how Athens' expanded its influence and domain when opportunity outside the Peloponnesus presented itself. It also discusses how Athenians established independent colonies, cleruchies, and agricultural outposts as soon as they had achieved victory at Cypriot Salamis. The chapter recounts Athenians' expulsion of the Histiaeans and seizure of holdings of Chalcis's wealthy Cavaliers. According to the phóros records, it also suggests that the Athenians's seizures of land occasioned a sharp reduction in the contributions demanded from the communities within the Delian League to which the cleruchies had been conveyed.

An overlooked treatise in Greek political thought: An essay on 2 Maccabees as a Hellenistic politico-theological manifest

This essay does not dwell yet again on traditional issues associated with 2 Maccabees usually discussed through a Jewish lens by dozens of modern scholars. It also does not view the book within its traditional Jewish Hellenistic “Sitz im Leben,” with its self-evident Hellenistic-Jewish reading audience, and its aim is neither to draw a distinction between Greek topoi and biblical motifs nor to discuss its values as an historical text. Rather, the article assumes a pagan reading publicum alongside a Jewish Hellenistic one that, in contradistinction with its Jewish audience, could easily see in 2 Maccabees a standard narrative of a life in a Greek polis under foreign rule, where the “ancestral constitution” plays a significant role, so typical of Greek poleis from the classical period (Delian league) through the Hellenistic era (Macedonian Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires). Reading the book as a Greek would have can give us new insights concerning its socio-political and theological message (independently of its Jewish one). The article reconstructs a politeia as a learned Greek would have done. The book can actually be read as a reflection, or rather a microcosmos of the second century B.C.E. in the Greek sphere during the Hellenistic period. The overall message of the book emerges different than that broadcasted to the Hellenistic Jews, and constitutes a rich mine of theoretical information about the relationship between a subject city and an empire.

Shifting Sands

This chapter discusses the turning point in Athenian–Spartan cooperation. During the early 460s, one dramatic development followed another. First, probably in 469, came Athens' stunning victory at Eurymedon and the news that she was in the process of negotiating an accord with the Persians. At about the same time, there came a grave crisis within the Spartan alliance, followed by a series of unsettling revelations made in quick succession which broke the Hellenic League even further apart. In circumstances such as these, those who took the lead in determining public policy within a polity were bound to pause and reflect. With Persia more or less off stage, the Delian League now seemed more like a threat than a bulwark of defense.

Targeted Advertising for Women in Athenian Vase-Painting of the Fifth Century BCE

This paper analyzes the trends in depictions of women in Athenian vase-painting during the 5th century BCE through an examination of approximately 88,000 vases in the Beazley Archive Pottery Database. It found a 15% increase in depictions of women during the 5th century BCE and a diversification in subject matter in which women appear. By considering these trends within the historical context of the hegemonic position of Athens in the Delian League and its wars, this paper proposes that the changes in representations and subject matter denote an expanded marketability of vases to female viewers. As targeted imagery, the images give perceptible recognition to an increased valuation of women’s work and lives at a time when their roles in Athenian society were essential for the continued success of the city-state. This paper suggests that these changes also point to the fact that a greater share of the market was influenced by women, either directly or indirectly, and successful artists carefully crafted targeted advertisements on their wares to attract that group. This paper provides new insights into the relationships between vases and their intended audiences within the context of the cultural changes occurring in Athens itself.

Cleonyms’ Decree on the Tribute Collection

In the late summer of 426 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian boule and demos passed this decree on the collection of the tribute paid by the cities of the Delian League. The main goal of this document was to ensure that the money paid by each city was successfully collected. The text is actually made of two different decrees, which the assembly approved on two successive days. The first one requires each city to select among its citizens a number of tribute collectors, which will be held responsible for the collection of the sum. Moreover, each year the names of the cities that have already paid and of those still owing money will be recorded, so that the names of the latter can be read in the assembly. A group of five Athenian citizens will visit them in order to claim the money owed. The second decree, voted on the second day, organises the judicial procedure against anyone, Athenian or ally, trying to prevent the regular collection of the tribute.

HEURESIBIOS SON OF SYRISKOS AND THE QUESTION OF TYRANNY IN OLBIA PONTIKE (FIFTH–FOURTH CENTURY BC)

This paper examines the ancient written, numismatic and archaeological sources that pertain to the political history of Olbia Pontike in the fifth and early fourth century bc. Several Olbian inscriptions that mention a certain Heuresibios son of Syriskos have been connected with a possible episode of tyranny that may have taken place in the city of Olbia. Most of the inscriptions are in a poor state of preservation and their interpretation has often been based on uncertain reconstructions of the texts; therefore, a re-examination of these inscriptions is provided alongside an analysis of other evidence that provides a broader historical background to the political situation in Olbia during that time. Olbia's status in the Delian League and the Athenian political and cultural influence on Olbia are examined. It is argued that the introduction of a political cult of Zeus Eleutherios was a reaction to a political change in Olbia that resulted in the establishment of democracy. Lastly, the economic and political relationship of the Achaemenid Empire with the North Pontic region, especially in relation to local coinage, is discussed, which allows for a synthesis of the material gathered.