Discussion Section Week 2 (January 22-24)
Sources for the Second Athenian Sea LeagueAssignment: Reader
Diodoros XV, 28-30; Harding nos. 31; 33; 34; 35; 37; 38
Our focus in section will be a coalition of Greek states with Athens at the helm that modern scholars call the Second Athenian Sea League or the Second Athenian Confederacy. We will look at the principal sources for the foundation of the league and at its purpose and organization. These sources include a passage in the first century B.C. historian Diodorus and a group of six inscriptions on stone that come from Athens.
1. Note that in his account of the fourth century history of Greece, Diodorus, who lived durin the first century B.C. relied upon the contemporary fourth century account of the historian Ephorus (see Pomeroy p. 332 ¶2)
2. For Diodors, begin at paragraph 28, skip chapter 29, and read paragraph 30.
3. As you read through the passage from Diodorus see if you can identify stages in the development of the Second Athenian Confederacy. Trace the steps by which Athens assembled a coalition of allies and notice as well the historical events that prompted Athens to act. For example, in ch. 28, the expulsion of the Spartans from the Theban citadel (in Diodorus' words, "following the failure of the Lacedaemonians at Thebes) prompted Athens to enter into alliances with Chios and Byzantium. Also, make a list of all of the cities that joined the Athenian coalition.
4. The six inscriptions in the supplementary readings include: five alliances between Athens (or Athens together with the Second Athenian Confederacy) and individual states (Chios, Thebes, Byzantium, Methymna, and Chalkis); and the text of the charter of the coalition (it is called the Decree of Aristoteles after the man who authored the provisions and proposed that the Athenians enact it).
5. Note the date of each of the documents and arrange them in chronological order if they are not already so arranged.
6. Can you link any of these documents with Diodorus' narrative? For example, Athens' treaty with Chios (Harding no. 31) may be identified as the text of the alliance of Athens and Chios that Diodoros refers to in ch. 28. See if you can do the same thing for the other five documents.
7. Keeping in mind that an important principle of the koine eirene (also called the King's Peace) of 387 B.C. was autonomy and that the intention of the principle was to discourage the creation of Greek coalitions of states (Pomeroy p. 336-337), how, if at all, was this principle recognized in the alliances Athens formed with other Greek states after the King's Peace and in the Decree of Aristoteles?
8. Read Harding no. 35 very carefully and be able to discuss the following questions:
- What was the purpose of the coalition?
- What is the coalition's attitude toward the King of Persia and the koine eirene of 387 B.C.?
- What does Athens promise not to do?
- What does she promise to do?
9. The names of the members of the coalition were inscribed together on the same stone block (called a stele) as the text of the charter. The names begin at line 79 and continue onto the left face of the stele (see the photo in Pomeroy p. 339, Fig. 9.1). Count the total number of names. Our literary sources tell us that there were 70 members in the coalition. If the inscribed names do not total 70, how might you account for this? Take into consideration the fact that at lines 70 ff. of the Decree of Aristoteles the Athenians promised to inscribe the names of all members on the stele. Is this significant?
modified 1/30/03 V. Caldesi-Valeri