March 18: Slaves and Helots in Greek Warfare (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.8-6.32 [pp.414-429],7.1-7.18 [pp. 478-488])

Thucydides' account of the Sicilian expedition is the high-point of his narrative. It's long, so we'll be reading portions of it over two assignments and discussing it after Spring Break. The account begins with Thucydides claim that the Athenians knew very little about Sicily and his own explanation of Sicilian history and geography. The reading assignment starts with the debate in the Athenian assembly during which the Athenians decide to send a large force to Sicily. Try to decide whether you would have voted for it or against the expedition.

6.8 Egesta is a small city in Sicily, which was losing a war against Selinus, and asked the Athenians to come to its assistance. Note that Nicias is presented as taking a Thucydidean view of the whole proceeding: the Athenians "on a slight pretext, which looked reasonable, was in fact aiming at conquering the whole of Sicily …" What suspicions does this resemblance between Nicias' and Thucydides' world view raise?
6.10-11 Did Nicias think the Athenians should go to Sicily?
Was he mainly concerned with the expedience or the morality of the expedition?
6.12 As you'll see in the next speech, the young man Nicias criticizes is Alcibiades, an amazing character.
6.13 The contrast between young "hawks" and older "doves" was common in classical Greece.
6.16 end-17 start Athens allied with Argos and several other Peloponnesian cities and fought a battle against the Spartans and their allies at Mantinea, which the Spartans won. Alcibiades claims credit for this campaign, which took place during the "Peace of Nicias."
6.17 How does Alcibiades bolster the Athenians' confidence?
6.18 "This is the way we won out empire . . . " A famous summation of a common imperial tactic: going to the aid of every state who asks for it gives a powerful state a pretext to throw its weight around in more and more places.
What will guarantee the Athenians safety?
6.20-21 What part of the Syracusan forces does Nicias think will cause the most difficulties for the Athenians?

In the sections we skipping the following things have occurred:
1) Alcibiades was recalled to face trial and fled to the Spartans, whom he advised to assist Syracuse and to establish a fort in Attica. They do both.
2) The Athenians have been in Sicily for over a year and have won several battles over the Syracusans.
3) The Athenians are engaged in besieging Syracuse, but have not had much success in attracting other Sicilian cities to their side.

7.1 Gylippus is the Spartan commander of the force sent from the Peloponnese to relieve Syracuse.
7.2 Two close calls for Syracuse. Look at the map at the back of the book for the geography of Syracuse, its environs, siege wall and counter walls.
7.4 Thucydides wants to analyze military decisions rather than just describing them. Here, he gives the reasoning behind Nicias decision to move camp even though this turned out to be a bad idea—he also explains why.
7.10 The Letter of Nicias is a document of extraordinary historical value, the actual report of an Athenian general of 414/413 BC.
7.12 What things do we learn about triremes and their crews from this description of why the Athenian navy at Syracuse was falling apart?
7.18 Why did the Spartans start up the war again?
Why did they feel more justified now than at the start of the war?

Optional Reading: Peter Hunt, "Arming Slaves and Helots in Classical Greece," for Arming Slaves in World History (ed. Philip Morgan and Chris Brown), Yale University Press, in press.

This summarizes some of the main ideas of my book, Slaves, Warfare, and Ideology in the Greek Historians (Cambridge University Press 1998), and expands that book's treatment of slave use in the Athenian navy. You'll probably want to skip the footnotes, which mainly cite sources and provide ideas for further reading.