Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (01:05):
The allies of Leotini
now sent to Athens, appealing
to their ancient alliance and tothe Ionian origin.
The request of the Athenianswould send them a fleet, since
they were being blockaded by theSyracusans on land and from sea
, Thesedides.
Hello, I'm Arcella and welcomeback to Casting Through Ancient
Greece.
Episode 83, athens Sales West.
(01:27):
Last episode we took a littlebreak from the narrative to go
back and look at developmentsthat were taking place in Sicily
.
Last time we looked in onSicily was back nearly 40
episodes ago, where we broughtthe history of the island up to
the Greco-Persian War period.
So before heading back toSicily in our narrative, I felt
it was helpful to go back andlook at what had been unfolding,
(01:49):
to give some context to what wewill be seeing happen during
Athens' first Sicilianexpedition.
Here we had seen, in the wakeof the defeat of Carthage at
Haimira, which supposedly tookplace the same day as Salamis,
the victorious Greek cities hadtaken up tyrannies.
The pattern that emerged herewas like what took place on the
Greek mainland the differenttyrants would look to try and
(02:11):
gain influence over the cities,which saw various regional
conflicts develop.
However, we also saw, with thesecond and third generation of
tyrants coming to power, thepeople found themselves under
more and more repressive rule.
This seems to be a commonpattern, as much of the reason
the tyrannies were firstintroduced had now passed and
the later generations looked tohold onto their positions for
(02:33):
power's sake.
The democracies on Sicily wouldnow start to replace these
tyrannies.
Over time, the various cities'tyrannies falling one by one,
often with help from other newlydemocratic cities.
With the reshuffling ofgovernments and the different
conflicts that came about,syracuse, now under a democratic
system, had come to a positionwhere it had held most influence
(02:55):
on the island, and this wouldbe the situation we will find
ourselves heading into as wecontinue the narrative for this
episode.
When we left the narrative lasttime, we had seen that the small
polis of Plataea had attemptedto break their siege.
Many were able to escape toAthens, but those that had
remained behind would surrenderthe city once provisions ran out
(03:16):
.
The fate of Plataea was not apleasant one, with all the men
put to death and the women soldinto slavery.
The city of Plataea was thenrazed to the ground, and the
site was then handed over toThebes, who had been trying to
gain control of the polis formany years now.
We also saw that civil warbroke out on the island of
Kossaira, which had been thesite of disputes during the lead
(03:38):
up to the Peloponnesian war.
A group that had been prisonersin Corinth from this period
were released back to the islandbut had been convinced to try
and change Kossaira's policy.
On their return, they wouldattempt to try and get the
island to revert to theirtraditional policy of neutrality
, with the attention to then tryand move towards a
pro-Peloponnesian stance.
Citizens would become involved,as losing the island to the
(04:02):
Peloponnesian side would bestrategically disastrous.
Remembering here, kossaira hadthe third largest navy and if it
were to join the Peloponnesianfleet, it would be a match for
Athens.
On the sea, however, withAthenian help and after some
particularly horrendous acts,the democrats would retain
control on the island.
For now, though, the civil warwhere we left it was not yet
(04:25):
resolved.
Our episode today will beheading into 427, where Athens
would launch its firstexpedition into Sicily.
They would launch a much morewell known one over 10 years
later, in 415 BC, which we'llsee us spending a number of
episodes around.
However, this would be theirfirst foray into the island and
would set policies andexpectations for the future
(04:47):
campaign.
I think what we will do todayis spend all episode on this
first expedition rather thancovering the events that took
place over the year.
So this will see us cover whatwas taking place on Sicily and
the decisions being made inAthens from 427 to 424 BC.
I'll be mentioning otherimportant events in passing as
we cover the Sicilian narrative,but rest assured we will be
(05:11):
covering these areas in moredetail in the episodes that will
follow.
So let's get started and firstlook at the changed political
landscape in Athens that wouldmake this first expedition
possible.
When we looked at the Atheniansinvolvement in the Civil War on
Kassara, there appeared to be achange in policy taking place in
Athens.
This wasn't specifically toldto us by Thysidides, but his
(05:33):
recounting of events gives ussome clues that something was
changing.
When the Athenians firstarrived, they were under the
command of Nicostratus, whoseemed to take measures to try
and bring a peaceful settlementbetween the two sides.
Instead of allowing theDemocrats, who added the
advantage, to continue theirviolence, he would suggest a
compromise with Thysidides,saying he at once endeavoured to
(05:54):
bring about a settlement andpersuaded the two parties to
agree together to bring to trial10 of the Ringleaders who were
no longer in the city, while therest were to live in peace,
making terms with each other andentering into an alliance with
the Athenians.
This appeared to have calmedtensions, but it wouldn't last
long.
The Ringleaders had escaped andfurther developments would see
(06:17):
that the hatred and distrust wasnow boiling to the surface.
With the Peloponnesian fleetarriving to assist the Olegarchs
, nicostratus would once againtake a passive approach to
prevent becoming too committedto the dispute.
Cassara would head out on thewater to oppose the
Peloponnesian ships, but Athens,who had tried to advise caution
and have the Cassareans followtheir lead, were ignored.
(06:38):
This saw Athens forced to comeout on the water and provide a
spoiling action after the fleetof the Democrats was defeated,
to allow them to get back tosafety.
The violence then worsened.
Battles and raids continuedbetween the two sides.
However, a much larger Athenianfleet that had been sent out
from Athens now arrived andwould see that the Peloponnesian
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fleet slip away under the coverof darkness.
With the Athenian fleet'sarrival would also come a new
general Euromedon, sent fromAthens, with it appearing a new
board of generals had been votedin.
With his arrival would come avery different approach from
Athens on the island.
Not that we get direct examples, but many have argued that he
(07:20):
would actively encourage theDemocrats' violence towards the
Olegarchs and all those they sawbeing enemies of the democracy.
This would effectively seeAthens look to stamp out the
Peloponnesian influence inCassara through whatever means.
Now Cleon, who we wereintroduced to a few episodes ago
, appears to have gained someincreased influence in Athens'
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political landscape.
Cleon had been in opposition toPericles' measured approach
during the early years of thePeloponnesian War.
Pericles had made a point ofconvincing the Athenians during
the time of war they needed tofocus on what they controlled
and to strengthen, to hold theirempire, rather than actively
looking to expand the empire.
This, he argued, if theyignored, would see Athens become
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weaker as it would stretch itsresources beyond what it could
handle.
However, with Cleon nowappearing to gain more support
and installing generals who werealigned to him, such as
Eurymedon, it seems this advicewas now being forgotten and
Athens was looking to involvethemselves in regions that were
far away from the main centre ofgravity of the war.
We briefly saw.
(08:25):
It appears Athens had beenbecoming involved in the
regional dispute in Sicily backin the 450s.
However, this was before thePeloponnesian War had broken out
.
This alliance would be formedwith Sugesta on the west coast,
and we know that by the time ofthe Peloponnesian War, athens
still had their alliance withthem.
It would be an appeal fromSugesta that would help initiate
(08:46):
the Sicilian expedition of 415BC.
However, up to this stage, itwould appear, athens' help was
in resources and even perhapsadvisors, though it seems
Athens' interest in Sicily forthe moment was to gain a
foothold for future interests.
Now, in 427, athens would lookto send an expedition of ships
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and men, this being in contrastto the advice Pericles had given
.
While Athens was at war withSparta, they needed to avoid
getting involved in new wars oractivities that looked to expand
the empire.
With Clion now appearing tohold more influence, a more
aggressive policy was now infavour, although Pericles'
leadership had gotten themthrough to the war.
(09:28):
Up until now, many in Athenswere unsatisfied with the
response.
It often felt as though Athenswas passive, allowing Sparta to
do as they pleased.
So when the city of Leotinicame requesting Athens' help in
Sicily, the assembly would voteto send men and ships.
So, given Sicily was far awayfrom the actions of the
Peloponnesian War, why would theAthenians agree to this venture
(09:50):
?
This entities would tell ushimself why he thought the
Athenians would set their sightson Sicily.
So let's look at these pointsand see if what he puts forward
seems reasonable.
So the first explanation thatwe'll look at was the fact that
Athenian help was requested inSicily.
As we had seen, syracuse hadbecome the hegemon in Sicily and
(10:13):
still looked to expand theirinterests into yet more areas of
the island.
The request for help would comewhen Leontini, north of
Syracuse, would become a targetof interest and conflict between
the two would develop.
No reason is given for thestart of hostilities, but
Leontini had access to fertileplains perfect for the growing
of crops.
It is thought that perhapsSyracuse was in a similar
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position that Athens had beenduring its own expansion, and
feeding its growing populationwas becoming an issue.
Another issue to point out isthat Leontini was an Ionian city
sharing the same ethnicheritage as the Athenians.
Just before the start of thePeloponnesian War, athens had
come to Sicily to renew theirties with Leontini, along with
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other Ionian cities in Sicily.
This may have well have causedresentment in Syracuse, who saw
themselves as a hegemon inSicily.
This Athenian interventionseems as a challenge to their
wealth and power on the island.
So the economic potential ofthese lands, along with the
Athenian influence in what wasseen in Syracuse's domain, may
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have led to war between Leontiniand Syracuse breaking out.
What's also important to notehere like on the Greek mainland,
the cities were loyal, for themost part, to their traditional
cultural groups.
As we said, leontini was anIonian, while Syracuse was from
a Dorian tradition.
Much like the Peloponnes,leontini, once war broke out,
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would sail to Athens and wouldappeal for the Athenians'
assistance.
Although there were severalIonian cities in Sicily that
would allied themselves withLeontini, they still saw their
position as a weak one.
When, in Athens, the heraldswould use their common Ionian
connection with the Athenians toput forward a persuasive
argument to send help in theform of a fleet, athens would be
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sympathetic to this commondescent and would vote that a
fleet should be sent to helpLeontini.
However, this doesn't exactlygive us a reason for Athens
deciding to go to Sicily in ofitself.
There must have been more tothe picture.
Decidities would also say that,although Athens would agree on
the basis of a common ancestry,this was not Athens' real motive
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.
What Thucydides suggests willbe the point we turn to.
Next, though, what this requestfor aid would do was provide
Athens an opportunity to make amove physically into Sicily,
this providing a justifiedreason for their intervention.
But let's now turn to our firstpoint that may have been a
motivation for this action, andone that Thucydides believes to
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be Athens' real reason for theexpedition.
The first part of Thucydides'explanation for the Athenian's
involvement would be the aim ofhurting the Peloponnesians, he
would say.
The Athenian sent a fleet,ostensibly because of their
kinship with Leontini, thoughtheir real aims were to prevent
corn being brought into thePeloponnes from the west.
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So here we see that the firstreasoning Thucydides gives was
to affect Sparta and theirallies' ability to keep their
populations fed during the war.
This would see the Athenianslooking to mount a form of
economic war on their enemy.
As we have seen, athens was notin an advantageous position to
mount large direct attacks onSpartans, so they were looking
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for ways to influence theconflict through indirect means.
We had seen this to some extentwith the raids that had been
conducted around thePeloponnesian coast, these being
designed to impact the moraleof the Spartan allies, though
disrupting part of thePeloponnesians' food supply,
would have a far greater effectif it could be achieved, as we
have pointed out beforeregarding Athens and Syracuse.
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Population within the cities ofthe Greek world were becoming
larger.
For these populations to besupported, increased food
production would need to beachieved, though eventually the
few fertile plains would nolonger be able to keep pace with
these growing populations.
Wars would break out over theseplains that we have seen pop up
over time through the series,but even then, with control over
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these areas, the larger regionswould need to start importing
grain and other food staples tomeet demand.
Athens, as we have seen, reliedon the trade routes into the
Black Sea for this, while itappears the Peloponnesians' main
source of imported grain wasfrom Sicily.
If the food supply was disrupted, it would severely affect the
Peloponnesians' ability to wagetheir campaigns year after year.
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Not only this, but it wouldmake their own regional crops
and food production highervalued military targets, as they
would bring a city to its kneesif destroyed.
These were far more accessibleto the Athenians, who had shown
they could reach these on ratingexpeditions, although this
shows that the Athenians werelooking to hurt the Spartans
beyond a direct militaryengagement.
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It also came with its own riskfor the Athenians by landing on
Sicily.
This would not immediatelydisrupt the supply to the
Peloponnes To affect this supply, the Athenians would have to
militarily defeat Syracuse, whowere aligned with Sparta and
held the majority of theinfluence in Sicily.
This would see Athens needing todirect a good proportion of
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their fleet and manpower intothe venture, this seeing them
being far away from any threatsthat would develop on and around
the Greek mainland.
This had taken place before andis what had led Pericles
advising against expanding theAthenian operations outside of
the Empire.
Plus, military operationsseldom go as planned and it
could end up like anothersituation like what took place
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at Potidia, with the Atheniansneeding to commit more resources
to continue their operations,which in turn would weaken them
militarily at home.
Though, as we will now turn to,we will see that, according to
Thucydides, this was only onereason for the expedition, and
perhaps it had been judged thatthe risks involved were worth
the reward, should it besuccessful.
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The second part of Thysiotides'reason for Athens' expedition
was to make a preliminary surveyto see whether it would be
possible for them to gaincontrol of Sicily.
So here we see the idea ofexpanding Athenian influence
well beyond the Greek mainland.
We had brought up this ideawhen looking at earlier Athenian
alliances on the island.
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However, these previously weremore diplomatic in nature.
This time around, athens waslooking to put boots on the
ground or, more fitting for thetime, sandals on the ground.
However, this motivation was aclear cut violation of the
policy Athens had been followingunder Pericles.
This perhaps gives furtherevidence that the political
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landscape in Athens had nowshifted since Pericles' death.
Further reinforcing this idea isthat we hear no great debate
taking place over the matter,suggesting there was little
opposition to the idea.
If this was a true motivationof Athens, it would not only
disrupt the export of food intothe Peloponnese, but it would
also boost the Athenian's ownsource.
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This would provide them withextra food security.
With major trade routes runningnot only east to the Black Sea
but west into Sicily, not tomention the potential markets
further west, it's not hard tosee the allure of this idea, as
it would see Athens grow to aheight yet seen.
However, like we have saidbefore, this was a high risk,
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high reward situation.
If Athens got it wrong, it maybe hard to recover and
potentially see their currentempire in a far weakened state,
while also costing them the war.
How serious of a motivation forthe expedition this was is
debatable.
It seems probable that gaininginfluence in Sicily was a factor
, but how far these ambitionswent is unknown.
(17:49):
But before we move on, I want tocover one other point that is
not brought up by Thyscities.
That could also have been apossible motivation.
This point would tie indirectly to the current conflict
and revolves around theconsiderations we have looked at
previously when discussingAthens' involvement with Osirah.
This would have to do with themilitary potential Sicily could
offer the Peloponnesians.
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Syracuse, over the decades, hadbeen growing in wealth and
influence within Sicily to whereit was now the most powerful of
all the cities on the island.
It had launched many campaignson its fellow Greeks as well as
the native Sicils.
Although Syracuse still had touse its resources and manpower
in deterring rivals andmaintaining its position, it
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would have reached a point whereit would be able to use what it
had built for other enterprises.
If you remember back to ourearlier episodes around Sicily,
you will recall that Syracusehad been established by
colonists from Corinth.
With the emergence of Syracuseas a leading power in Sicily,
they would be in a positionwhere they could potentially
give aid to their mother city,assisting in the conflict
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against Athens.
For Athens, this would havebeen a threat on a similar scale
to what had been encounteredwith Kassara and the dealings
before the breakout of thePeloponnesian War.
Athens was very wary of theirsupremacy at sea being
challenged.
Syracuse could tip that balance, since it was a major power on
the island and also relied onthe sea trade routes.
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So here we have seen someexplanations as to why Athens
would take the decision to headwest to Sicily.
Realistically, the motivationwould not have rested with just
one of these points, but allprobably played some role in
Athens seeing an expedition westas a good idea.
If they were successful inestablishing influence on the
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island, they could severely slowthe food export heading into
the Peloponnes, impacting theirability to continue the war.
This would also see Syracusewould now be focused on
defending their own lands and ifthey were to lose influence in
the face of the Athenianpresence, there would be no
position to be able to send aidto be used against Athens in the
Peloponnesian War.
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Also, the lure of influence inanother fertile region would
have also been attracted to theAthenians.
Not only would they harm thePeloponnesians position, but
they would improve their own andpotentially grow their empire
even further.
However, they needed a pretextto launch this campaign in the
first place.
Sailing off for conquest's sakewould have attracted more
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enemies and made it harder togain allies.
The conflict between Syracuseand that of Leontini of a common
Ironian heritage would providethis justified reason for coming
to Sicily.
This then seeing, it would bemuch easier to establish allies
as they had come in defence ofanother.
So towards the end of summer of427 BC, the Athenians would
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send out their expedition westto assist Leontini.
The departure of the fleet wasalso able to avoid the
reemergence of the plague inAthens.
The citadis tells us that theplague had never really gone
away since first hitting Athensin 430 BC, but after its initial
destruction on the population,its effects were far less severe
.
However, with the cooler monthsnow approaching in 427, it
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would once again cause sufferingon an increased scale.
It would appear a new strain ormutation in the virus had
developed that was able to avoidthe immunity that had been
built up this time around.
The citadis would say that thisoutbreak would last less than a
year, as opposed to the twoyears of the initial infection.
It would also suggest that theplague, rather than any other
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factor during the war so far,had been the most damaging to
Athens' military power.
Overall, it would tell us thatAthens would lose at least 4400
hoplites and 300 cavalry to thedisease, while countless others
would die, so many that no oneever discovered how many deaths
there truly were.
So let's now leave Athens andthe rest of the Greek mainland
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for now, so we can turn to theevents as they unfolded in
Sicily.
The expedition would begin withjust 20 ships sent west to land
on Sicily under the command ofLashes and Chariotes.
The city that they had come inaid of was not a coastal one,
but was located inland.
This would mean that theAthenian fleet would have to
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make port elsewhere.
They would establish a base ofoperations at the southern
Italian city of Regium, justacross the Mycenaean Straits
from Sicily, who were alsofriendly towards Athens.
This was some distance fromLentini, which was located
further to the southeast ofSicily, not far from Syracuse.
The first objective for thecampaign would be to gain
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complete control of theMycenaean Straits.
These straits were a majorroute for trade that flowed into
the region as well as furthereast, while they would also seek
to try and make Mycenae, on thenortheastern tip of the island,
a rallying point for all thoseGreeks in Sicily that opposed
Syracuse.
The taking of Mycenae would beessential if Athens hoped for
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success, as it was on theopposite shore of the Straits
and would provide a footholdwithin Sicily.
Along with this, it was farenough away from Syracuse, so
Athens would have time toarrange themselves with their
Sicilian allies.
Obviously, local support wasessential for success, while
Athens would also need the shipsand troops these allies would
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provide, as they'd only comewith twenty of their own.
Given the traditional tensionswithin Sicily, athens would fire
many Ionian Greeks and localSicils would come to join in the
campaign against Syracuse.
Not long after arriving andestablishing themselves at
Regium, the Athenians would setabout attempting to achieve
these objectives of controllingthe Straits and attracting
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allies to the cause.
The Athenian fleet, joined bysome ships from Regium, were
split into two and would sailinto what appears to have been
reconnaissance missions thatalso had the aim of testing
their sentiments of their localpopulations.
It's worth pointing out herethat Thysiotides does not
specifically mention the aims ofthe Athenians or gives us a
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complete picture of what wastaking place in the early part
of the expedition.
However, from what he does tellus, many have suggested what
the Athenians were likely doingto achieve the objectives needed
for them to establishthemselves in Sicily.
Lashes would take the squadronhe commanded and sail along the
southern coast of Sicily, whileThysiotides would sail along the
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southwestern coast, where itappears he may have been
encountered by a fleet fromSyracuse, since he was sailing
in hostile waters.
Thysiotides doesn'tspecifically detail the
engagement, but he does tell usthat Thysiotides was killed in
the battle with the Syracusans,so it seems likely he would have
engaged them when, on hismission that took him through
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waters controlled by them,thysiotides' death.
Lashes was now in command of theentire fleet and would continue
operations.
This next step saw him lead afleet which had been reinforced
with more ships from Regium anddirect it against the Leparion
Islands north of Sicily.
These islands were friendly toSyracuse and would pose a threat
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to Athens' need to control thewaters flowing between Sicily
and southern Italy.
The fleet would land on theislands and devastate the lands
in attempt to have the Leparionsurrender, though a combination
of their determination to resist, as well as the Athenians not
being able to remain for long onthe island, would see their
initial attempt at subduing theislands' fail, thysiotides tells
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us, as the attack took placeduring the dry season, water was
scarce on the island, thisseeing the invaders not being
able to remain for long.
We would be told that a renewedeffort would take place the
following winter, but we arenever told of the outcome of
this attempt.
After this frustration, athenswould then turn to securing
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their position at Regium.
The city of Locri, just to thenorth, would be the target, as
they were the enemies of Regiumwhere some success was achieved.
Thysiotides does not mentionthis action, but it is within
Diadoras' account.
It is unclear if this actionwas to benefit Regium more so,
rather than to add to Athens'strategic position in Sicily,
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though it would have amounted tosome level of added security,
as it would disrupt anyambitions of the Locrians may
have had on Regium while Athenswas carrying out their campaign.
By the summer of 426, athens wasin a more secure position to
continue with expanding theiroperations into Sicily.
It was now time to gain afoothold on the island for them
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to be able to direct furtheroperations.
Inland Pashas would attack thesmall coastal city of Malay,
which was controlled by Messeniato the east.
Messenians seemed to haveknowledge of the Athenians'
attack and had set an ambush inthe city.
However, it would not preventthe Athenians capturing Malay
and then directing theirattention towards Messenia
(26:42):
itself.
Messenia would end upsurrendering to the Athenians on
their approach, providinghostages, so Athens could ensure
good behaviour from them movingforward.
Although most of the accountsaround this period have to do
with the activities aroundAthens, it would seem that
Sicily itself had broken awayfrom its relatively peaceful
period, with its entities sayingthat various operations were
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also carried out by the variouswarring parties within Sicily.
Athens' arrival seems to havestirred up old rivalries and
given pretext for originalconflicts to break out.
This initial phase of theAthenian expedition had been
quite successful.
Athens now had a secure base insouthern Italy with a reliable
ally.
Although they had not achievedwhat they had set out in the
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islands of the north, it appearsthe effort there had prevented
the harassment of Athenian'scontrol of the waters through
the Mycenaean Straits for now.
They were then able to furthercement control of the waters by
defeating Mycenae on theopposite shore.
This would also see Athens in ameaningful presence on Sicily.
Defections from Syracuse wouldalso be encouraged by this
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victory, while the enemies ofSyracuse would now be able to
flock to the Athenian's position, seeing their military strength
grow.
Athens was now in a position tostart operations on Sicily
itself, where the Sycles, whohad been under the control of
Syracuse, began revolting.
They had been encouraged byAthens' success and were joined
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forces with them as operationson Sicily increased.
Athens took advantage of thisadded assistance and looked to
attack the Sicultown of Aenecia,located inland from the coastal
city of Catana.
Although a Sicultown, syracusehad control of the Acropolis and
the location provided securityto Syracuse's lands in southern
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Sicily.
This target would, if Athenscould take it, provide a
strategic advantage and see ifany names in Sicily advanced.
If it was taken, this wouldhave most likely seen yet more
of the Sicultgroup's revolt andjoin the Athenians, while the
capture of the town would secureAthens' position to the north,
while also seeing Syracuse putunder pressure from both land
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and sea.
However, athens would not beable to take the town and would
be defeated in the attack,forcing them to retreat and, in
the process, taking casualties.
This defeat was a setback inthe Athenian aims.
However, paches was notdeterred and his army was still
able to mount further attacks tocontinue the pressure on
Syracuse.
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During this time, the Atheniansand their allies would also
defeat an army from Locrusthreatening the position at
Regium, while another attackwould see forces focused on
Hymira on the north coast of theisland.
It's at this time that theAthenian spirits were high
around the campaign taking placein Sicily, although there had
been some setbacks, athens hadtaken control of much of the
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northeastern regions of Sicily,while they had complete control
over the waters of the coastline.
The Athenian situation also sawthat Syracuse was being put
under increased pressure.
They were just about completelybarred from any sort of naval
activity and on land theAthenians had made incursions
deeper towards Syracuse.
Syracuse did recognise thedanger they were in and saw that
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control of Messina was key tothe campaign.
It allowed sea-borne controlaround the island and access to
the interior of Sicily.
They also saw that if Athenswas allowed to hold it, they
would be able to supportadditional forces to strengthen
their campaign.
So with the threat they nowfaced, syracuse would turn to
increasing their shipbuildingprogram to attempt to take on
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the Athenians.
During this time, delegates fromthe Sicilian allies had sailed
to Athens to put forward a casefor more ships to be sent to
assist the campaign.
They appeared to be aware ofthe Syracusean's activities.
The Citadis doesn't detail thearguments that were put forward,
but it seems the general sensewas a positive view on how the
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campaign was going.
Athens would decide to send outan additional 40 ships where it
was thought this would end thecampaign in Sicily.
While it would also prove to beuseful in the fact that it
would give some newer crews somemuch needed experience at sea,
it seems Athens had theimpression that some additional
reinforcements would hurry alongthe inevitable victory in
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Sicily.
Elections must have alsorecently taken place in Athens.
As for when the vanguard of thefleet was sent out, it would be
led by the general Pythagoras,who would take over command from
Paches.
However, the majority of thisreinforcing fleet would not make
it to Sicilian time to assistin the campaign.
As we continue with theepisodes, we will cover the
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developments that would see thisfleet used in another capacity.
With the ever-evolvingsituation of the Peloponnesian
War, this would be disastrousfor the campaign on Sicily.
As fortunes would turn there,by the summer of 425, syracuse
were in a position to put afleet to sea and challenge the
Athenians' hold on Messina.
Ten ships from Syracuse and tenfrom Locrus would join together
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and sail north to Messina.
However, they would have someadditional support, as the
inhabitants of Messina were nothappy with the Athenians having
control over their city.
Syracuse seems to have beenable to get a message to the
people that a fleet was on itsway to liberate the city, which
would see the inhabitants revoltagainst the Athenians.
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This would not be the onlyaction in this counterattack on
Athens' hold on Sicily, with itseeming much planning had been
taking place during the previouswinter between Syracuse and
Locrus.
Locrus, who were located insouthern Italy just north of
Regium, had a bitter hatredtowards their southern
neighbours.
We had seen over the previousyears of the campaign there had
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been fighting between the two.
When Athens arrived in Regium,now for the summer of 425,
locrus was poised to launch anall-out attack on Regium.
This attack was designed to bein conjunction with the naval
attack on Messina.
This would see that whileMessina was under assault,
reinforcements would not be ableto be sent from Regium as they
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would be busy dealing with theirown attack that was unfolding.
This strategy would besuccessful, with Locrus
devastating the lands outsideRegium and tying up the
potential help that could besent to Messina.
Once their part of theoperation was complete, they
withdrew back to Locrus butwould continue to man their
ships that were now stationed atMessina.
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This action had now put Athensin a very precarious position.
They had gone from quicklydominating the regions into
Sicily to now their base ofoperations at risk of being
overrun.
However, if the fleet thatAthens had sent out had arrived,
it would have been possible toreverse these defeats and
potentially return to thesituation before the summer.
But unfortunately, news of thereversal on Sicily had not
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reached Athens before the fleethad set sail.
This would see that, giventheir impression of the Athenian
strong standing there currently, there was no haste and as new
developments occurred, theywould assist elsewhere en route
to Sicily.
Through the summer, syracuse andLocrus would continue the war
against Athens and its allies.
News had been received that theAthenian fleet sent to
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reinforce their current one wasnow tied up in other operations.
This gave Syracuse confidencethat they were now in a position
to challenge the small Athenianfleet.
A series of naval engagementswould take place in the Straits
of Messina and nearby.
The objective here was to restaway Athenian control of the sea
and attempt to blockade Regium.
The fighting that took place atsea would not be decisive, with
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multiple engagements takingplace, but Syracuse would see
that Athenian control of Messinawould not be maintained, while
the domination of the Straitshad also been curtailed.
Seeing that the Athenian fleetno longer had a suitable port on
the Sicilian island, theAthenians would try and continue
operations on Sicily, butultimately, without the arrival
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of the reinforcing fleet thathad been sent from Athens, the
expedition in Sicily could notrealistically continue.
Regium would continue to holdout and Athens was still able to
fall back here.
Although fighting between thevarious Sicilian Greek cities
would continue, athens wouldplay no part in the fighting for
the rest of 425.
At the end of the summer, thedelayed Athenian fleet would
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arrive.
However, by this time thedamage had been done.
Much of the advantage thatAthens had gained in the early
parts of the campaign had beenlost, while, it seems, much of
the confidence their allies hadin them had also been lost.
By 424, peace on Sicily wouldend up taking hold with the
first moves made by Gala andCamania.
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However, they had seen, iftheir peace was to last, the
wider conflict in Sicily wouldneed to come to an end.
So a general invitation to theother cities to attend Gala to
discuss peace would be sent.
The rest of the Greek citieswould end up sending
representatives to discuss terms.
The talks would be long, withinitial discussions revolving
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around the variousself-interests of the different
cities.
However, compromise for thesake of peace would end up
coming about.
A sense of unity was alsoinvoked, talking about trying to
look past the Oenian and Doriandifferences.
This, it was argued, would makethe island less vulnerable to
outside powers coming in toexert their influence.
Obviously, syracuse wouldprobably benefit the most from
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these ideas, since they werestill the most powerful city in
Sicily.
This would allow them tocontinue the growth of their
influence without the threat ofoutside powers challenging them,
though the cities of Sicilywere war weary and would end up
agreeing to a general peace withthese ideas in mind.
Once agreed upon, the termswould also be taken to the
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Athenians who were still in theregion to see if they would also
be part of the agreement,depending on the position that
they were.
With no base of operations onSicily and its allies no longer
willing to fight, the Athenianswould also recognise the terms
and would end up sailing back toAthens.
On the arrival back in Athens,the generals of the fleet would
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be put on trial.
Their charge accepting bribesto leave Sicily when they could
have conquered the island.
This was a common occurrencewhen generals returned home
after an unsuccessful campaignor not achieved the success that
was expected.
Unfortunately for the generals,they were convicted of the
charges, with some being exiledand others fined, though there
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is no evidence that the briberysuggested by the Athenian
assembly took place.
If anything, it could have beenargued that the generals had
achieved the proposed aims inSicily.
The city they had come to theaid of had made peace with
Syracuse, no longer needing amilitary ally, while the terms
of the peace made at Gala wouldsee that the Sicilian cities
were more interested in theirown affairs rather than
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assisting outside powers.
This would see the threat ofSyracuse and aid to the
Peloponnesians diminished.
However, if the Athenians werestill willing to convict the
generals, it points to Athens'intentions in Sicily as
potentially being more thantheir stated aims.
Perhaps Athens' expansionismwas still alive and well within
the minds of some of itsgoverning figures.
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This brings a close to thefirst Athenian expedition in
Sicily.
However, we will be findingourselves back here when Athens
would return 10 years later forthe more well known Athenian
Sicilian expedition of 415 BC.
Next episode, we will beheading back to the period where
the first expedition began,where we will be looking at the
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various operations and effortsthat were launched by both
Athens and Sparta on the Greekmainland, while, as we continue,
we will turn to the operationsthat would see the diversion of
the Athenian Re-enforcing fleet.
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series with episode 84 in searchof victory.