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The so-called ‘Trade-Leagues’ in Early Greek History and the Lelantine War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

A. R. Burn
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Extract

Much has been written, in recent books and articles on early Greek history, of the so-called ‘trade-leagues,’ whose existence is thought to be implied by the statements of ancient writers about the feuds and alliances of the Greek cities before the Persian Wars. This conception is stimulating and in part sound, but over-simplified and ‘diagrammatic’; it is very easy, where the evidence is so incomplete, to make too much of such information as we have. The ‘trade-leagues’ did exist, but they must have been extremely loose-knit. Evidence of formal organisation such as we should naturally associate with the word ‘league’is wholly lacking. Miletus, Chios, Eretria and their allies—Samos, Chalcis, Corinth and their allies—form, each group, an entente cordiale rather than an alliance properly so called; and certain states, notably Naxos and Paros, seem to transfer their allegiance from one side to the other as circumstances dictate.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , 1929 , pp. 14 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1929

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References

1 The following abbreviations are used in the references:

Ar. = Aristotle.

Ath. = Athenaeus.

C. A. H. = Cambridge Ancient History.

D. S. = Diodorus Siculus.

F. H. G. = Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum.

H. = Herodotus.

Hesiod, W. D. = Works and Days.

N. D. = Nicolaus of Damascus.

Paus. = Pausanias.

Plut., M. = Plutarch, Moralia.

S. B. = Stephanus of Byzantium.

Sc. = Scymnus of Chios.

Σ. = Scholiast.

Str. = Strabo.

Thc. = Thucydides.

2 v. 99.

3 i. 15.

4 Müller, F.H.G. ii.; Frag. 107, in Plutarch, , Moralia, p. 760Google Scholar.

5 Thc. i. 13.

6 Clement of Alexandria, Str. i. xvi. 75.

7 H. iii. 47.

8 H. iv. 152.

9 H. i. 18.

10 Steph. Byz. s.v. χαλκις, quoting Hellanicus.

11 The view, popularised apparently by Holm (I. p. 298), that the Italian was named after the Euboie Cyme, and not, as both Strabo and Scymnus assert, after the much more important Aeolic city, is a good example of the unjustifiable rejection of evidence on purely a priori grounds in favour of so-called “probabilities.” The insignificant Euboean village, hardly mentioned in history; has nothing to be said for it except that it is nearer Chalcis; as though the width of the Aegean were likely to impede the diplomatic connexions of the founders of Cumae. The great Aeolic Cyme, on the other hand, was certainly colonising elsewhere at a very early date (see Arrian, , Anab. Alex. i. 26Google Scholar), and, being in alliance with the Midas dynasty of Phrygia (Pollux, ix. 83; Herakleides, Frag. 11, ), is very likely to have been the ‘port of Phrygia’ in those western ventures that are attested by the stories that ‘Midas Phryx’ (Hyginus, 274; Cassiodorus, , Var. iii. 51Google Scholar), or ‘Midacritus’—a Cymaean named after his city's ally?— ‘first imported lead from the Tin Island’ (Pliny, , N. H. vii. 56Google Scholar, §19 7: cf. Cary in J. H. S. xliv).

12 Str. v. 243, Scymnus, ll. 238–9.

13 Str. vi. 258, quoting Antiochus.

14 Dion. Hal. vii. 3.

15 Str. v. 247.

16 Thc. vi. 4; Str. vi. 268; Sc. 1. 286.

17 See Myres, in C. A. H. iii. p. 681Google Scholar.

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24 ib. 1. 634.

25 D. S. iv. 85; Str. i. 23, vii. 300.

26 Theogony. ll. 1013–15.

27 Str. x. 448.

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29 Str. vii. 330.

30 Suidas, s.v. Simonides.

31 Mela, i. 13.

32 Arrian, , Anab. Alex. i. 26Google Scholar; Scylax, 101.

33 H. iii. 26.

34 Plut. Greek Questions, lvii.

35 Syncellus, p. 360.

36 The view that Athens was friendly to Miletus-Eretria (See, e.g., Hall, , Ancient History, p. 531Google Scholar), seems to be based solely on their co-operation in the Ionian revolt (H. v. 98–101). This is outweighed by the evidence cited above; the alliance of the year 498 was unstable and short-lived (cf. small size and early recall of the Athenian fleet). It was merely the result of Miletus' sudden volteface, from alliance with Persia to the patriotic party, which had brought her into line even with Samos;—though the hollowness of that reconciliation was shown at Lade.

37 H. v. 95; Str. xiii. 599–600; cf. Plut. loc. cit. above.

38 H. v. 83; cf. iii. 59.

39 Plut, . Solon. 8Google Scholar, 9; cf. loc. cit. above; H. i. 59.

40 H. i. 165.

43 H. iii. 59.

44 Str. xiii. 588.

45 Paus. ix. 27, 1.

46 The Milesian element at Parium, mentioned by Strabo (loc. cit.), may be presumed (without further evidence, however) to be the result of Milesian seizure of an unfriendly port on the way to her Pontic possessions.

For this division of the honours between two colonising states compare Cumae in Italy, where Chalcis is the official metropolis while Cyme gives the name (Strabo, l.c.); Naxos in Sicily (always officially styled Chalcidian); and Lindioi (S. B., l.c.), commonly called Gêla, where the name is given by the Rhodian Lindians among the colonists, while Thucydides' mention of noticeably ‘Dorian’ customs suggests that the Cretan colonists (Thc. vi. 4), were the official founders.

47 Archilochus, , ap. Str. viii. 370Google Scholar; Plut, . Exile (Mor. p. 604Google Scholar); Aristophanes, , Peace 1298Google Scholar, and Σ ad loc.

48 Ib.; cf. H. vii. 108.

49 Thc. v. 2 (MSS. reading).

50 Thc. v. 6.

51 Thc. iv. 107; D. S. xii. 68.

52 Plut. Greek Questions, xxx.

53 Thc. iv. 103.

54 Ib. 88.

58 Str. vi. 271.

59 Thc. v. 84.

60 Aristotle, , Politics, ii. 1272Google Scholar A.

61 H. iv. 147.

62 The Parian colony at the Illyrian Paros—better known by the name which occurs on its coins, Pharos—is a fourth-century foundation (D. S. xv. 13); like the Syracusan Ancôn, Ancona, in the same region (Str. v. 241).

63 For Erythraean interest in this region, cf. the fact that Thasos struck coins on a standard found at Erythrae but not in the mother-city of Paros.

66 Justin, xx. 2.

67 Timaeus, (ap. Sc. llGoogle Scholar. 209–14).

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71 E.g., by Hall, , Ancient History, p. 535Google Scholar.

72 v. 28.

73 See below, p. 37.

74 Cf. (e.g.) C.A.H. iii. 655.

75 I.G. xii. v. 445, quoting Archilochus.

76 H. v. 28.

77 I.b. 30.

78 I.b. 32–4; vi. 96.

79 H. vi. 133–6.

80 Ib.

81 H. viii. 46.

82 Ib.

83 H. viii. 67.

84 Ib. 112.

85 Simonides fr. 65 (Diehl).

86 An obscure passage of Plutarch, (Brave Deeds of Women, 17Google Scholar (= M. p. 254) quoting Aristotle (Frag. 168 B, Müller)) must here be noticed, which, since we do not know to what period it refers, cannot be fitted into the text; it speaks of a war between Miletus, supported by Erythrae (!) and ‘the other Ionians,’ and Naxos, which broke out owing to a Naxian's having eloped with a Milesian's wife, and ended on the Naxians' terms. Probably it should be referred to the late sixth century, the period of Naxian sea-power and of Milesian friendship with Paros. Little, however, can be made of a story so ‘romantic’ in character.

88 H. v. 99.

89 H. i. 18.

90 H. vi. 21.

91 H. i. 20, iii. 48, v. 92.

92 H. i. 18.

93 Philochorus fr. 128, citing Archilochus.

94 H. i. 141; cf. 169.

95 Ib. 160.

96 Ib. 165.

97 H. vi. 7–20.

98 H. iii. 59.

99 Plut. Greek Questions, lvii.

100 H. v. 95.

101 H. iii. 45.

102 Str. xiii. 599.

103 Str. xiii. 589; cf. Eusebius, ad ann. 675.

104 Velleius, ii. 15; cf. Sc. ll. 761–4.

105 Eustathius, ad Dionys-Perieget. 549, quoting Arrian.

106 Arrian, ib.; cf. Sc. ll. 886–7.

107 Rostovtzeff, , Iranians and Greeks, p. 65Google Scholar.

108 Sc. 1. 707 (reading τηικην).

109 Sc. ll. 699–701.

110 Str. xi. 494; cf. Ure, , in C. A. H. iv. p. 97Google Scholar.

111 loc. cit.; but cf. Ure, op. cit., p. 105.

112 Paus. vi. 19. 9.—and perhaps also H. vi. 19 and 77 (the episode of the ‘double oracle’ to the Argives and Milesians).

113 Sc. ll. 972–5; Paus. v. 26. 6; Justin, xvi. 3.

114 H. vi. 89.

115 Str. viii. 362.

116 H. v. 80; cf. sqq.

117 See, however, Bury, , Gk. Hist., p. 131Google Scholar, for Eretrian contact (friendly or hostile?) with Boeotia in the seventh century (and Wilamowitz, in Hermes, xx. 91–115, on the Boeoto-Eretrian dialect of Oropus). Is the Thessalian invasion of Boeotia, which met with disaster at Ceressus (Paus. ix. 13. 1), an event of the Lelantine War?

119 H. ii. 152; cf. Str. xvii. 801.

120 H. i. 23.

121 See Str. xiii. 590.

122 Timaeus, frag. 60, ap. Ath. xii. p. 519.

123 Cf., e.g., Aelian, , V. H. vii. 15Google Scholar; Str. xiii. p. 599; Sc. 709–10.

124 Str. xiv. 635.

125 Sc. 1. 551.

126 H. vii. 147; cf. also Hill, , Historic Greek Coins, p. 7Google Scholar (distribution of Aeginetan coins), and Ure, , in C. A. H. iv. 105Google Scholar (‘Proto-Corinthian’ pottery in the Black Sea— brought thither via Megara or Aegina?).

127 Sappho, ap. H. ii. 135 and Ath. xiii. 596.

128 H. v. 92.

129 H. i. 23.

130 N. D. frag. 58; cf. H. iii. 48, 52, 53.

131 Ar. Politics, 1315 BGoogle Scholar.

132 Str. vii. 325, x. 452; Sc. ll. 453–5.

133 Ath. xii. 519 = Timaios fr. 60.

134 See Note 8 in Carpenter, , Greeks in Spain (p. 142Google Scholar).

135 See Burn, in J. H. S. xlvii. pp. 165Google Scholar ff.

136 Ar. Rhetoric, i. 15Google Scholar; Diogenes Laertius, i. 94 (Life of Periander). Cf. Str. xiii. 600.

137 Most of the tyrants were too prudent and too insecure at home to embark on any evenly-matched war: even Periander, a great soldier when necessary (Ar. Politics, 1315 B.)Google Scholar, preferred peace. Hence the essentially military writer Thucydides complains (i. 16), that they “did nothing noteworthy.”

138 H. v. 28–29; cf. Ath. xii. 524, quoting Heracleides, and Plut. Greek Questions, xxxii.

139 Plut. op. cit. lvii.

140 Sc. ll. 917–920.

141 Ure, , C. A. H. iv. 108Google Scholar.

142 Ib. 105.

143 See above, pp. 11–12.

144 Plut., loc. cit.

145 H. iii. 45.

148 Ure, op. cit., p. 97.

149 Constitution of Athens, ch. 15.

150 H. v. 63.

151 H. ii. 663–70; cf. v. 647.

152 xiv., 653.

153 D. S. v. 58; Dieuchidas, fr. 7.

154 Il. ii. 676–80.

155 Ap. Str. x. 475.

156 Menecrates of Nysa, Frag. 1.

157 D. S.v. 81.

158 Arrian, , Arab. ii. 5Google Scholar; Str. xiv. 675; H. vii. 91.

159 Str. xiv. 675; Pliny, v. 26.

160 Str. xii. 520.

161 Ath. viii. 346; cf. N.D. Frag. 24.

162 Str. xii. 520.

163 Str. xiv. 667.

164 Mela, i. 13.

165 Str. xiv. 667.

166 Meillet, , ‘Place du Pamphylien dans les Dialectes Grecques,’ in Rev. des Études Greques, xxi. (1908)Google Scholar.

167 Ath. vii. 297; cf. The. vi. 4; Lindus Temple-Chronicle, Entry 24.

168 F. H. G. iv. p. 319.

169 Myres, in J. H. S. xxvi.

170 Myres, , C. A. H. iii. p. 648Google Scholar.

171 Dittenberger, Sylloge 3, in No. 56.

172 Entry 33.

173 Paus. vi. 19. 9.

174 Seymn, 1. 551.

175 Suidas, s.v. Σιμονίδης.

176 Theognis, 1. 672.

177 H. vi. 89.

178 Hill, , Historical Greek Coins, p. 5Google Scholar.

179 Suidas:

180 H. iii. 59.

181 Str. viii. 376; H. loc. cit.

182 H. ii. 178.

183 viii. 376.

184 iv. 180.

185 xiv. 654; cf. Scymn., 1. 203.

186 Ib.

187 E.g. Silius Italicus, iii. 364.

188 Vitruvius, i. 4. 12.

189 Entry 26.

190 See Suidas, s.v.

191 Thc. vi. 4.

192 Entry 25.

193 Entry 27.

194 Entry 28.

195 Entry 30.

196 Hill, loc. cit.

197 D. S. v. 9.

198 Ib.; also Str. vi. 275.

199 Paus. x. ii. 13.

200 iii. 138.

201 1. 428.

202 H. i. 165.

203 H. iv. 164.

204 Temple-Chronicle, Entry 17.

205 H. iv. 161.

206 S. B. (according to Bilabel, Ionische Kolonisation).

207 References to sources already cited will not necessarily be repeated in this section.

208 Ath. i. 31.

209 plut., Greek Questions, xvii.

210 Hicks and Hill, Greek Historical Inscriptions, No. 1.

211 In J. H. S. xxxviii, pp. 88 ff.

212 Thc. i. 15.

213 Tyrtaios, fr. 4, 1. 3 (Diehl).

214 Varro, , On Agriculture, i. 44Google Scholar.

215 Cf. Ar., Politics, iv. p. 1291Google Scholarb.

216 Str. vi., 258.

217 Str. vi. 267.

218 Str. viii. 380.

219 Archilochus, Frag. 145 (Bergk). cf. H. vii. 155.

220 H. iv. 153.

221 Hesiod, , W; D.I. 656Google Scholar, and Σ ad loc.

222 Table-talk; M., p. 153.

223 No. 3 (Diehl.)

224 x. 448.

225 Heraoleides, frag. 11

226 Arch. fr. 32. (Diehl).

227 891–894.

228 N. D. frag. 58.

229 loc. cit.

230 Hermes, xx. pp. 91–115.

231 History of Greece, p. 151.

232 H. v. 28.

233 The. vi. 3; cf. Polyaenus v. 5.

234 Plut. Greek Questione, xi.

235 Plutarch, , Love Stories, M., p. 760Google Scholar.

236 Str. x. 448.

237 Aristotle, ap. Plut. l.c.

238 Dionysius the Poet, ‘Origins’—ap. Plut. l.c.

239 Sc. 1. 441.

240 H. iii. 59.

241 H. i. 18.

242 Str. x. 487. xiii. 589.

243 Paus. ix. 27. 1; Str. xiii. 589.

244 Pliny, , N. H. v. 32Google Scholar.

245 Charon of Lampsacus, fr. 6; ap. Plut, . ‘Brave Women’ (M., p. 255Google Scholar).

246 Str. xiii. 588.

247 Str. xiii. 589.

248 Contrast his remarks on Parium.

249 Dionysius of Byzantium, fr. 30 (Geog. Graec. Min., vol. ii.).

250 Ib.

251 Philochorus fr. 128 (Müller) citing Archilochus.

252 Milet, i. iii. No. 155.

253 For continuation of the history down to the time of Cyrus, see J. H. S. xlvii. pp. 165 sqq.