Persian Interventions: The Achaemenid Empire, Athens, and Sparta, 450–386 BCE

272 Pages·2017·8.17 MB·English

by  John O. Hyland

Persian Interventions
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Persian Interventions
The Achaemenid Empire, Athens, and Sparta, 450–386 BCE
JOHN O. HYLAND
Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2018 Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2018
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Hyland, John O., 1977– author.
Title: Persian interventions : the Achaemenid Empire, Athens, and Sparta,
450-386 BCE / John O. Hyland.
Other titles: Achaemenid Empire, Athens, and Sparta, 450-386 BCE
Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2017] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017007353 | ISBN 9781421423708 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781421423715 (electronic) | ISBN 1421423707 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 1421423715 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Achaemenid dynasty, 559 B.C.–330 B.C. | Imperialism— Case
studies. | Sparta (Extinct city)— Foreign relations. | Athens (Greece)—
Foreign relations. | Greece— History— To 146 B.C.
Classification: LCC DS281 .H95 2017 | DDC 935/.05— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn. loc. gov /2 017007353
A cata log rec ord for this book is available from the British Library.
Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more information,
please contact Special Sales at 410-5 16-6 936 or specialsales@press .j hu . edu .
Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials,
including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 p ercent post- consumer
waste, whenever pos si ble.
Contents
List of Tables and Maps vii
Acknowl edgments ix
Translations, Spelling, and Units of Mea sure x i
Chapter 1. Achaemenid Persia and the Greeks across the Sea 1
The Traditional Model: Balancing Athens and Sparta 5 / The Image of Persian World
Supremacy 7 / A New Approach: Ambition and Restraint in Persia’s
Greek Relations 10
Chapter 2. Artaxerxes I and the Athenian Peace 15
The Peace of Kallias: In Search of a Persian Perspective 16 / The Costs of Peace: Ionia’s
Loss and Pos si ble Countermea sures 18 / The Savings of Peace: Naval Reduction and
Economic Gains 23 / The Profits of Peace: Persia’s Athenian Trade 28 / The Ideology
of Peace: Persian Victory and the Athenian Client State 30 / Adherence to Peace:
The Cold War Model and the Samian Revolt 34
Chapter 3. The Peloponnesian War and the Road to Intervention 37
Artaxerxes I and the Peloponnesian War 38 / Darius II and Athens:
From Philia to Enmity 42 / S icily, Tribute, and Darius’s Intervention 45 / Agents of
Intervention: Darius’s New Satraps 47 / N egotiating Intervention: The Satraps, Ionia,
and Sparta 50
Chapter 4. Tissaphernes’s War and the Treaty of 411 53
The Ionian War and Athenian Resilience 54 / Victory over Amorges 57 /
Revising the Terms of Alliance 60 / Quarrel with Sparta and Contacts
with Athens 66 / The Treaty of 411 71
Chapter 5. The King’s Navy and the Failure of Satrapal Intervention 76
Darius’s Ships and Tissaphernes’s Wages 77 / The Ionian Garrison
Expulsions 81 / The Royal Fleet’s Recall 86 / T he Satraps at the Hellespont 91 /
Pharnabazos’s Timbers 96
Chapter 6. Cyrus the Younger and Spartan Victory 98
The Satraps on the Defensive 99 / D arius and the Embassy of Boiotios 104 / Cyrus
Takes Command 107 / Cyrus and Spartan Disaster 111 / Cyrus’s and Lysander’s Road
to Victory 114 / Persia’s Victory: Costs and Benefits 118
vi Contents
Chapter 7. Artaxerxes II and War with Sparta 122
Cyrus and the Second Loss of Ionia 123 / T issaphernes and Spartan
Invasion 127 / Naval Escalation and Tissaphernes’s Downfall 133 / Tithraustes’s Truce
and Pharnabazos’s Defense of the North 139 / Artaxerxes’s Fleet and Victory
at Knidos 143
Chapter 8. Persia, the Corinthian War, and the King’s Peace 148
Timokrates’s Mission to Greece 149 / Pharnabazos’s Revenge 151 / Konon and Persian
Aid to Athens 154 / Tiribazos’s Folly and the Peace Talks of 392 156 / Strouthas and
the Failure of Outreach to Athens 161 / T he King’s Peace 164
Conclusion 169
Notes 173
Bibliography 221
Index 247
tables and maps
t ables
2.1. Athenian Tribute Payers on the Anatolian Mainland
(450/49–440/39) 21
2.2. Maximum Athenian Tribute Totals on the Anatolian Mainland
(450/49–440/39) 21
4.1. Tissaphernes’s Travels, Summer 412– Spring 411 7 3
5.1. Tissaphernes’s Subsidies to the Peloponnesian Fleet, 412-11 8 0
5.2. Pharnabazos’s Subsidies to the Peloponnesian Fleet, 411-10 93
5.3. Tissaphernes’s Travels, Summer– Fall 411 94
6.1. Darius’s Grant and Cyrus’s Subsidies to the Peloponnesian Fleet,
407-6 110
6.2. Cyrus’s Subsidies to the Peloponnesian Fleet, 405-4 1 17
6.3. Total Persian Subsidies to Peloponnesian Fleets, 412-4 119
maps
1. Achaemenid Persia and the Greeks across the Sea 2
2. Achaemenid Anatolia and the Athenian Archē 19
3. Persia’s Intervention in the Peloponnesian War, 412-4 82
4. The Persian Fleet in the Aegean, 396-93 1 52
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acknowle dgments
This book has benefited from a long gestation, g oing back two de cades to an
undergraduate paper on Tissaphernes and its expansion in my BA honors
thesis. I wish to express my profound thanks to all the individuals who have
shared their time and guidance through the proj ect’s many iterations. My
Cornell advisor, Barry Strauss, sparked my early interest in Tissaphernes’s
role in the Peloponnesian War and encouraged my pursuit of Greek and
Persian history at the gradu ate level. Charles Peterson and Hunter Rawlings
III offered valuable input as thesis readers. My Chicago dissertation com-
mittee, Jonathan Hall, Matthew Stolper, and Theo van den Hout, imparted
lessons on Greek historiographical rigor and nudged me toward deeper
consideration of the Achaemenid and Anatolian contexts. Paul Cartledge
and John Dillery provided thoughtful feedback on my completed disserta-
tion, influencing its metamorphosis into the book proj ect.
I profited from the opportunity to pres ent related papers at the Arshama
Archive conference at Oxford University, or ga nized by John Ma and Christo-
pher Tuplin, and the Borderlands workshop series at UC Santa Barbara, at the
invitation of John Lee; I am indebted to the organizers and participants for
lively discussion on both occasions. Jeff Rop, Eduard Rung, Brian Rutishauser,
and Christopher Tuplin kindly shared papers in advance of publication. I am
grateful to Barry Strauss, Matt Waters, and William Bubelis for reading and
commenting on draft materials, helping me to refine old arguments and con-
sider new a ngles.
I have been exceptionally fortunate in three friends without whom the
book might not have seen completion. Jonathan Hall has been an incompa-
rable teacher and mentor, offering the perfect balance of honest critique, wise
counsel, and warm support. Cam Hawkins, my steadfast comrade since day
one of grad school, has deepened my understanding of ancient empires,
economies, and warfare; he kept up my spirits at the proj ect’s most challeng-
ing moments and offered crucial advice on the restructuring and expansion
of early drafts. John Lee has given tireless encouragement since he took the
time as a grad student to read and comment on my undergraduate thesis; his
generous feedback on multiple drafts has widened my bibliographic horizons
and improved the manuscript on innumerable points of detail and style.
I must also thank many other grad school philoi whose camaraderie and
moral support saw me through triumphs and tribulations and whose bril-
liance continues to inspire me, especially Ari Bryen, Vanessa Davies, Fanny