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"","Agora 3","","Agora 3, s. 264, p. 254","","","PublicationPage","Lion guarding fountain","","","","Agora","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-3-264","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-3-264::/Agora/Publications/Agora/Agora 003/Agora 003 264 (254).png::1449::2048"
"","The Athenian Navy With thousands of kilometers of coastline and hundreds of islands, the Greek world was likely to be dominated only by a naval power. A generation after the establishment of democracy Athens became such a power under the influence of Themistokles. The fleet was made up of triremes, wooden warships that carried 170 rowers manning three banks of oars. The ships were 100-120 feet long and about 20 feet wide. At her peak, Athens had a fleet of 400 ships, a force requiring close to 80,000 men. These rowers, mainly drawn from Athens' poorer citizens, were paid and were seldom slaves. These citizen oarsmen were recognized as early as the 5th century B.C. as a significant force in the maintenance of the democracy. Now, in discussing the Athenian constitution, I cannot commend their present method of running the state, because in choosing it they preferred that the masses should do better than the respectable citizens; this, then, is my reason for not commending it. Since, however, they have made this choice, I will demonstrate how well they preserve their constitution and handle the other affairs for which the rest of the Greeks criticize them. My first point is that it is right that the poor and the ordinary people there should have more power than the noble and the rich, because it is the ordinary people who man the fleet and bring the city her power; they provide the helmsmen, the boatswains, the junior officers, the look-outs and the shipwrights; it is these people who make the city powerful much more than the hoplites and the noble and respectable citizens. This being so, it seems just that all should share in public office by lot and by election, and that any citizen who wishes should be able to speak in the Assembly. (""Xenophon,"" Constitution of the Athenians 1.1-2) Model of a trireme. Model by Aristoteles and George Rallis. The trireme was the warship that brought Athens preeminence in Greek waters in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. The ship was designed for speed, lightness, and ease of maneuver. With the three tiers of rowers that give the trireme its name, the ship acted as an oar-powered battering ram manned by highly trained and disciplined rowers. Oared ships appear on Athenian vases from the 8th to the 5th century B.C., and several of the 372 shipsheds that lined the harbors of the Piraeus have been excavated. These sources, supplemented with ancient descriptions and inscriptions listing naval equipment, allow an accurate reconstruction of one of these ancient warships.","http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_athenian_navy.html","Birth of Democracy: The Athenian Navy","","","Webpage","","","","","Agora","Agora:Webpage:44ac0794238b0852c05c3d3d08734344",""
"","Factional Politics: The Ostracism of Themistokles A group of ostraka found together in a pit on the North Slope of the Acropolis is of special interest. There were 190 ostraka, mostly the round feet of drinking cups, all inscribed with the name of Themistokles son of Neokles, of the deme Phrearrhios, the far-sighted architect of Athenian naval power. The picture of party politics comes into sharper focus when one carefully examines the handwriting, for these 190 ostraka were written by only fourteen people. Three samples from each of four hands are represented in the 12 ostraka here; letter forms and sizes as well as incised lines show the characteristics of individual handwriting. The deposit apparently represents the leftovers of a plot to remove Themistokles; his enemies were equipped in advance with ready-made ostraka for distribution to illiterate or undecided voters. Ostraka of Themistokles. The democratic voters of Classical Athens were as fickle as electorates elsewhere at other times. Though never ostracized, even Perikles was voted out of office after winning fifteen consecutive annual elections. Seen in retrospect, Themistokles was as great a figure in Athenian history. When a great find of silver was made in southern Attica, it was he who convinced the Athenians not to distribute the money among themselves but to spend it building a great fleet of 200 triremes (war ships). These ships proved crucial in the decisive victory of the Greek fleet over the Persians at Salamis in 480 B.C., as did Themistokles' own guile in tricking the Persians into fighting in the narrow straits. But that the salvation which the Hellenes achieved at that time came from the sea, and that it was those very triremes that restored again the fallen city of Athens, Xerxes himself bore witness, not to speak of other proofs. (Plutarch, Life of Themistokles 4A) Despite his extraordinary success in turning Athens into the dominant sea power, which led to her military success throughout the 5th century, Themistokles made numerous personal enemies, and we hear disparaging remarks about his greed and ambition. Finally, he was ostracized in 472 B.C. and died in exile several years later, fulfilling the prophecy of his father as preserved in the following anecdote: There are some who say that his father fondly tried to divert him from public life, pointing out to him old triremes on the seashore, all wrecked and neglected, and intimating that the people treated their leaders in like fashion when these were past service (Plutarch, Life of Themistokles 2.6).","http://agathe.gr/democracy/factional_politics.html","Birth of Democracy: Factional Politics","","","Webpage","","","","","Agora","Agora:Webpage:32d753fa2e729e30a5a2465764766780",""