Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy & the Birth of Democracy

by John R. Hale

  Sophocles (ca. 496-406 B.C.), Athenian playwright. Sophocles also served his city as a naval commander during the Samian War in 440 B.C., as a treasurer of tribute money from the Athenian alliance, and as a proboulos or advisory councilor after the Sicilian disaster. His tragedies, including Antigone and Oedipus Rex, are permeated with nautical images and metaphors. Sophocles’ evocations of the sea reach their climax in the romancelike rescue drama Philoctetes, which is set on the island of Lemnos.

  Theophrastus (ca. 371-287 B.C.), natural scientist from Lesbos and follower of Aristotle. His monumental work Enquiry into Plants describes the species of trees used by shipbuilders for various parts of ships as well as for oars, masts, and other gear. Theophrastus’ writings also preserve woodsmen’s lore on the best seasons and locations for cutting trees and on methods for producing pitch. In a different vein, his comic sketches in the Characters depict contemporary Athenians from the period of Macedonian domination, many of whom are portrayed in maritime settings.

  Thucydides (ca. 455-400 B.C.), Athenian historian of the Peloponnesian War. A naval commander himself, Thucydides was exiled from Athens following his failure to save Amphipolis from the Spartans in 424 B.C. During his years of banishment he devoted himself to writing a detailed history of the Peloponnesian War. His work in eight books reaches its overpowering climax in the account of the Sicilian expedition. Unlike Herodotus he avoids anecdotal and romantic elements, as well as variant versions of events from different sources. As an introduction to his history, Thucydides wrote a lengthy analysis of sea power in the Greek world, from the heroic age of the Trojan War down to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. His work is studded with public orations by such figures as Pericles as well as battle speeches delivered by generals. Some documents are quoted verbatim. Thucydides lived to see the end of the twenty-seven-year war in 404 B.C., but his year-by-year chronicle of events breaks off in 411 B.C. According to his ancient biographer Mar cellus, Thucydides was murdered when he returned to Athens following the end of the war.

  Timotheus (ca. 450-360 B.C.), poet of Miletus famous for his musical innovations. He wrote a long poem on the battle of Salamis that included a vivid scene involving a Greek and a captive Persian on the shore. The work survives only in fragments on papyrus.

  Xenophon (ca. 428-354 B.C.), Athenian commander, historian, and essayist. His Memorabilia provide firsthand accounts of his teacher Socrates discoursing on generalship and other practical matters. In addition to “Revenues,” in which he addresses some maritime matters, and extended naval descriptions and metaphors in the Oeconomicus, Xenophon provided vivid descriptions of voyaging in the Black Sea at the end of his Anabasis. His continuation of Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War, called Hellenica, ultimately took Greek history down to 362 B.C.

  Xenophon the Orator, also known as Pseudo-Xenophon or the “Old Oligarch” (fifth century B.C.), Athenian writer whose important essay Atheniaon Politeia (“Constitution of the Athenians”) purports to be an open letter written by an Athenian oligarch to correspondents outside Athens. In it he explains why good men like himself must put up with democracy in Athens. The writer was apparently an Athenian general or trierarch: at one point he refers to “my warships.” The date of his composition is hotly debated, but seems to me to belong to the first year of the Peloponnesian War in 431-430 B.C., after the first Peloponnesian invasion or invasions of Attica but before the outbreak of the plague. His views on the navy and sea power echo or prefigure those of Thucydides, while his appreciation of the commercial benefits of maritime empire recall lines by the playwright Hermippus. There was a wealthy Athenian citizen named Xenophon the son of Euripides, of the deme of Melite, who served as hipparch (or cavalry commander, a quintessentially aristocratic post) in the mid-fifth century. This Xenophon (not known to be related to the more famous historian of the same name) was elected regularly to the generalship from the time of the Samian War in 440 until his death in battle in 429. Xenophon the Orator (or the “Old Oligarch,” as he has been nicknamed) spelled out the link between the Athenian navy and the political power of the thetes more clearly than any other surviving ancient writer.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MODERN SOURCES

  THE ATHENIAN NAVY

  Amit, M. Athens and the Sea: A Study in Athenian Sea-Power. Brussels, 1965.

  Cargill, Jack. The Second Athenian League: Empire or Free Alliance? Berkeley, Calif., 1981.

  Gabrielsen, Vincent. Financing the Athenian Fleet. Baltimore, 1994.

  Jordan, Borimir. The Athenian Navy in the Classical Period. Berkeley, Calif., 1975.

  Morrison, John, John Coates, and Boris Rankov. The Athenian Trireme. New York, 2000.

  Welsh, Frank. Building the Trireme. London, 1988.

  ANCIENT SHIPS, SEAFARING, AND NAVIES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

  Casson, Lionel. Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Princeton, 1971.

  Davies, M. I. “Sailing, Rowing, and Sporting in One’s Cups on the Wine-Dark Sea.” In Athens Comes of Age: From Solon to Salamis, edited by William Childs. Princeton, 1978.

  Hale, John R. “The Value of Sea Trials in Experimental Archaeology.” In Naval History: The Seventh Symposium of the U.S. Naval Academy, edited by William B. Cogar. Wilmington, Del., 1988.

  ———. “The Lost Technology of Ancient Greek Rowing.” Scientific American 274, no. 5 (1996).

  Lehmann, L. T. The Polyeric Quest: Renaissance and Baroque Theories About Ancient Men-of-War. Amsterdam, 1995.

  Morrison, John S., and R. T. Williams. Greek Oared Ships, 900-322 B.C. Cambridge, U.K., 1968.

  Morrison, John, ed. The Age of the Galley: Mediterranean Oared Vessels Since Pre-Classical Times. London, 1995.

  Morrison, John, and John Coates. Greek and Roman Oared Warships, 399-30 B.C. Oxford, U.K., 1996.

  Oron, Asaf. “The Athlit Ram Bronze Casting Reconsidered.” Journal of Archaeological Science 33, no. 1 (2006).

  Panvini, Rosalba. The Archaic Greek Ship at Gela. Regione Siciliana, Italy, 2001.

  Polzer, M. E. “An Archaic Laced Hull in the Aegean: The 2003 Excavation and Study of the Pabuç Burnu Ship Remains.” Institute of Nautical Archaeology Quarterly 31, no. 3 (2004).

  Rodgers, William Ledyard. Greek and Roman Naval Warfare. Annapolis, Md., 1937.

  Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Voyages in Classical Mythology. Santa Barbara, Calif., 1994.

  Spathari, Elsi. Sailing Through Time: The Ship in Greek Art. Athens, 1995.

  Wachsmann, Shelley. Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant. College Station, Tex., 1998.

  ATHENIAN WARS AND COMMANDERS

  Adcock, F. E. The Greek and Macedonian Art of War. Berkeley, Calif., 1957.

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  Develin, Robert. Athenian Officials, 684-381 B.C. Cambridge, U.K., 1989.

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  Frost, Frank J. Plutarch’s Themistocles: A Historical Commentary. Chicago, 1998.

  Green, Peter. Armada from Athens. New York, 1970.

  Hale, John R. “Phormio Crosses the T.” Military History Quarterly 8, no. 4 (1996).

  ———. “General Phormio’s Art of War.” In Polis and Polemos, edited by Charles D. Hamilton and Peter Krentz. Claremont, Calif., 1997.

  Hamel, Debra. Athenian Generals: Military Authority in the Classical Period. Leiden, 1998.

  Hanson, Victor Davis. The Wars of the Ancient Greeks. London, 1999.

  ———. Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power. New York, 2001.

  Hignett, C. Xerxes’ Invasion of Greece. Oxford, U.K., 1963.

  Hunt, Peter. Slaves, Warfare, and Ideol
ogy in the Greek Historians. Cambridge, U.K., 1998.

  Kagan, Donald. The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. Ithaca, N.Y., 1969.

  ———. The Archidamian War. Ithaca, N.Y., 1974.

  ———. The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition. Ithaca, N.Y., 1981.

  ———. The Fall of the Athenian Empire. Ithaca, N.Y., 1987.

  ———. Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy. New York, 1991.

  ———. The Peloponnesian War. New York, 2003.

  Kallet-Marx, Lisa. Money, Expense, and Naval Power in Thucydides’ History. Berkeley, Calif., 1993.

  Lenardon, Robert J. The Saga of Themistocles. London, 1978.

  Littman, Robert. “Dor and the Athenian Empire.” American Journal of Ancient History 15, no. 2 (1990).

  Pritchett, W. Kendrick. Ancient Greek Battle Speeches. Amsterdam, 2002.

  Quinn, T. J. Athens and Samos, Lesbos and Chios, 478-404. Manchester, U.K., 1981.

  Schreiner, Johan. Hellanikos, Thukydides and the Era of Kimon. Aarhus, Denmark, 1997.

  Sheppard, Ruth, ed. Alexander the Great at War. Oxford, U.K., 2008.

  Stadter, Philip A. A Commentary on Plutarch’s Pericles. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1989.

  Strauss, Barry. The Battle of Salamis. New York, 2004.

  Tritle, Lawrence. Phocion the Good. New York, 1988.

  Wallinga, H. T. Xerxes’ Great Adventure: The Naval Perspective. Leiden, 2005.

  Ward, Anne, et al. The Quest for Theseus. New York, 1970.

  Wilson, John B. Pylos 425 B.C.: A Historical and Topographic Study of Thucydides’ Account of the Campaign. Warminster, U.K., 1979.

  THE PIRAEUS AND THE LONG WALLS

  Cohen, Edward. Ancient Athenian Maritime Courts. Princeton, 1973.

  Conwell, David H. Connecting a City to the Sea. Leiden, 2008.

  Garland, Robert. The Piraeus from the Fifth to the First Centuries B.C. London, 2001.

  Lorenzen, Elvind. The Arsenal at Piraeus. Copenhagen, 1964.

  Lovén, Bjørn, et al. “The Zea Harbour Project.” In Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens. Athens, 2007.

  Nielsen, Mads M. “Three Pieces of the Piraean Puzzle.” In Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens. Athens, 2007.

  Schaldemose, Mette K. “The Zea Shipsheds.” In Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens. Athens, 2007.

  Steinhauer, George A. “Ancient Piraeus: The City of Themistocles and Hippodamus.” In Steinhauer et al., Piraeus: Centre of Shipping and Culture. Athens, 2000.

  ANCIENT ATHENS: HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY, AND CULTURE

  Barnes, J., ed. The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. Princeton, 1984.

  Boedecker, Deborah, and Kurt Raaflaub, eds. Democracy, Empire and the Arts in Fifth Century Athens. Cambridge, Mass., 1998.

  Camp, John M. The Athenian Agora: Excavations in the Heart of Classical Athens. London, 1986.

  ———. The Archaeology of Athens. New Haven, Conn., 2001.

  Davies, John K. Athenian Propertied Families, 600-300 B.C. Oxford, U.K., 1971.

  Flacelière, Robert. Daily Life in Greece at the Time of Pericles. New York, 1965.

  Forsén, Björn, and Greg Stanton, eds. The Pnyx in the History of Athens. Helsinki, 1996.

  Fredal, James. Rhetorical Action in Ancient Athens: Persuasive Artistry from Solon to Demosthenes. Carbondale, Ill., 2006.

  Goette, Hans. Athens, Attica and the Megarid: An Archaeological Guide. London, 1993.

  Gomme, A. W. The Population of Athens in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C. Oxford, U.K., 1933.

  Harding, Phillip. Androtion and the Atthis. Oxford, U.K., 1994.

  Henderson, Jeffrey. The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language in Attic Comedy. New York, 1991.

  Hignett, C. A History of the Athenian Constitution to the End of the Fifth Century B.C. Oxford, U.K., 1952.

  Hurwit, Jeffrey M. The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles. Cambridge, U.K., 2004.

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  Loomis, William T. Wages, Welfare Costs and Inflation in Classical Athens. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1998.

  McLeish, Kenneth. The Theatre of Aristophanes. London, 1980.

  Meiggs, Russell. The Athenian Empire. Oxford, U.K., 1972.

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  Papadopoulous, John K., and Deborah Ruscillo. “A Ketos in Early Athens: An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in the Greek World.” American Journal of Archaeology 106, no. 2 (2002).

  Parke, H. W. Festivals of the Athenians. London, 1977.

  Roberts, Jennifer Tolbert. Accountability in Athenian Government. Madison, Wis., 1982.

  Samons, Loren J., ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Pericles. New York, 2007.

  Seltman, C. Athens, Its History and Coinage Before the Persian Invasion. Cambridge, U.K., 1924.

  Stockton, David. The Classical Athenian Democracy. Oxford, U.K., 1990.

  Storey, Ian. Eupolis: Poet of Old Comedy. Oxford, U.K., 2003.

  Tyrrell, William Blake, and Frieda S. Brown. Athenian Myths and Institutions. Oxford, U.K., 1991.

  Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. The Atlantis Story: A Short History of Plato’s Myth. Exeter, U.K., 2007.

  THE WORLD OF ANCIENT GREECE

  Badian, Ernst. From Plataea to Potidaea: Studies in the History and Historiography of the Pentecontaetia. Baltimore, 1993.

  Broad, William J. The Oracle: Ancient Delphi and the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets. New York, 2006.

  Camp, John M., and Elizabeth Fisher. The World of the Ancient Greeks. London, 2002.

  Carpenter, Thomas H. Art and Myth in Ancient Greece. London, 1991.

  Cartledge, Paul, ed. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece. Cambridge, U.K., 1998.

  Detienne, Marcel, and Jean-Pierre Vernant. Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society. Chicago, 1991.

  Gorman, Vanessa B. Miletos: The Ornament of Ionia. Ann Arbor, Mich., 2001.

  Kagan, Donald. Problems in Ancient History: The Ancient Near East and Greece. London, 1966.

  Koromila, Marianna. The Greeks and the Black Sea. Athens, 2002.

  Lewis, D. M., ed. The Cambridge Ancient History Volume VI: The Fourth Century B.C. Cambridge, U.K., 1994.

  Meiggs, Russell. Trees and Timber in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Oxford, U.K., 1982.

  Rhodes, P. J., and Robin Osborne. Greek Historical Inscriptions 404-323 B.C. Oxford, U.K., 2003.

  Roberts, John. The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World. Oxford, U.K., 2005.

  Varoufakis, George. Ancient Greek Standards. Athens, 1999.

  Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. The Black Hunter. Baltimore, 1986.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  MANY BACKS WERE BENT AND ARMS STRAINED TO PROPEL Lords of the Sea across the finish line. Most of the heavy work was done by the crew from Team Viking, intrepid argonauts who launch their racing shells at the foot of Houston Street in Manhattan. For this particular effort the rowing cadence was set by the mighty stroke oar of Bruce Giffords, senior production editor, with copy editor Janet Biehl right behind him in the number 7 seat. Artists powered the boat’s engine room: designer Carla Bolte at 6; cover designer Christopher Sergio at 5; mapmaker Jeff Ward at 4; while the most experienced oarsman, Sam Manning at 3, brought all his knowledge of Maine’s wooden craft to the task of rendering the Athenian trireme in pen and ink. Publicists Meghan Fallon and Ben Petrone made a flashy bow pair, and the cries of coxswain and marketing director Nancy Sheppard drew the attention of crowds along the bank. In the coaches’ launch, the editorial team of Liz Parker and Hilary Redmon gripped their stopwatches while Carolyn Coleburn recorded the session. Beside them, megaphone in hand, stood editor Wendy Wolf, the head coach, who had set all this activity in motion: a commanding yet encouraging figure with the steady gray eyes of Athena, the enigmatic smile of an archaic kore from the Acropolis, and an occasional rasp in the voice during moments of crisis. They have
passed out of sight now down the broad and shining reaches of the Hudson, to tackle other books and other authors. It was my good fortune to row, for a little time, in their company.

  Even before my friends at Viking set to work on the book’s final version, a number of readers had worked their way through the manuscript and given helpful advice. Among them were Neville Blakemore, Eli Brown, Molly Bundy, Helen Darmara, Dan Davis, Sharon Heckel, Åsa and Håkan Ringbom, Camille Thomasson, Joan Vandertoll, and Tom Weil. I am particularly grateful to Matt Bahr of Pittsburgh, NFL placekicker supreme, who brought his keen eye for timing and strategy to bear on this story of the Athenian navy.

  Many chapters began as lectures, and I thank the University of Louisville, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the Teaching Company (through a course titled “The Greek and Persian Wars”) for sponsoring both lecture series and individual presentations. In 2003 the Louisville Collegiate School provided a hall where I talked my way through the entire history of the Athenian navy over thirteen hot July evenings. Research assistant Bess Reed coordinated the lectures, Elijah Pritchett taped them, Mary “Corky” Sachs transcribed the tapes, and Stephanie Smith wrestled the hours of discursive talk into edited and readable form. Generous funding from Daniel and Joanna Rose helped support the process and the research that accompanied it. To help me present the evidence in favor of a new site for the battle of Aegospotami, Captain Christopher Windisch of the United States Army Reserves superimposed ancient naval maneuvers onto modern satellite images of the Hellespont and the Gallipoli peninsula.