We are pleased to share a revised translation of selections from Book 2 of Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War that tracks Key terms. These selections include Pericles' Funeral Oration, the plague in Athens, Pericles' last speech, and Thucydides' assessment of Pericles. Read more
In part 1, we left the forces gathering after the Athenians sent ten ships to assist Corcyra against the assembled Corinthians and their allies. The Corcyraeans positioned their fleet of 110 ships, under the command of Meikiades and two others, near the Sybota Islands, where also the ten Athenian ships were present. The land forces that were posted at Leukimme included a thousand men that came from Zakynthos. Read more
By 433 BCE, the trade network of Athens reached from the Crimea to Egypt and as far west as Marseille. The navy served to protect the trade routes between the colonies and the mētropolis. Corinth was an ally of Sparta. Corcyra (Corfu) was an unwilling colony of Corinth and not part of either the Athenian or the Peloponnesian League. Corcyra operated a fleet of 120 galleys. Read more
After the siege of Skyros, Kimon put in at the Piraeus. There he arranged for repairs and general supplies, and added more triremes to his fleet. The existing ships were designed by Themistoklēs with a focus on speed and maneuverability; the new design of Kimon had a wider beam and he put bridges between the decks. He increased the capacity for carrying hoplites, assuming this would make the ships more… Read more
In 478 BCE, after Pausanias had been recalled from Byzantion, the leadership of the Hellenic League was taken over by the Athenian Kimon II. The remaining members of the Hellenic League, assembled in a council on Delos, decided to form an alliance led by Athens. The objective of this newly formed Delian League was the continuation of the counter-attack against the Persians, clearing the Aegean Sea of pirates, securing Athenian… Read more
