In 411 BCE, the once-mighty
Athens was in a dire state. Two years prior, Athens had lost tens of thousands
of lives (including a few of its greatest generals) and over a hundred ships in
their ill-fated expedition to Sicily. Now, with Peloponnesian strength growing
and Persian interest in the massive Greek civil war increasing, a group of
Athenian officers launched a remarkably ill-timed coup. In 411, conspirators in
military and political spheres overthrew the Athenian democracy and, through
assassination and intimidation, succeeded in setting up a group of oligarchic
leaders in Athens, calling themselves the Four Hundred. Yet, the oligarchs
underestimated the pro-democracy passion of the Athenian military and also did
not take into account the jealousy that would be felt by the lower ranking
oligarchs who were unsatisfied with the power they were allotted after the coup.
Ultimately, although the Four Hundred did indeed capture Athens, they were
bitterly opposed by the Athenian military (which camped at Samos). At the same
time, disgruntled and disillusioned oligarchs plotted against their superiors.
In was at this time, while
the Athenian military was in rebellion against the oligarchic government, and
while the Athenian people were terrorized by the thoughts of government
informants and assassins, that a reported fleet of forty-eight Peloponnesian
ships sailed past Athens. The enemy fleet continued along the shoreline of
Attica, heading up to the Gulf of Euboea and eventually anchoring in Oropus, on
the southern coast of the gulf. The Athenians rightly feared that the
Peloponnesian fleet would cut off their access to Euboea and could inspire
revolts against Athens in the region. The fear was so powerful that the rival
oligarchic factions worked together to mobilize ships to drive off the
Peloponnesians. Yet, since the proper Athenian military refused to acknowledge
the oligarchs, the city of Athens could only manage to mobilize thirty-eight
ships, manned by inadequately-trained sailors and undistinguished officers, and
sent them off without much in the way of rations.
The Athenian fleet of
thirty-eight ships pursued the Peloponnesians into the Gulf of Euboea. As the
Peloponnesians had anchored on the southern shore, the Athenians instead sailed
to the north and stopped at the Euboean city of Eretria. With no food onboard
their ships and no supply-line set up, the Athenian sailors disembarked and
wandered through Eretria in search of food. According to the historian and
Athenian general, Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE), the Eretrians had all of their
food stockpiled inland, far away from the coast. Yet, the locals began cooking
and serving this food for the Athenians in houses near the inland storehouses.
Although the Eretrian picnic
for the Athenian sailors may have seemed friendly, it was all a calculated
trap. After Athens suffered its catastrophe in Sicily, many cities under
Athenian authority reached out to the Peloponnesians for support in potential
rebellions against Athens. Eretria was evidently one such city that wanted to
be free from Athenian control. Unfortunately for the Athenian sailors, the
Eretrians had been in contact with the Peloponnesian fleet in Oropus and had
coordinated a plan on what to do if the Athenians should drop anchor at
Eretria. With everything going as planned, the Eretrians somehow signaled to
the Peloponnesians, perhaps with smoke from their cooking fires, indicating to
the fleet in Oropus that the Athenians were distracted and away from their
ships. Seeing this signal, the Peloponnesian fleet set sail and crossed over to
the harbor of Eretria before the Athenians ever realized that their foes were
on the move.
When the Athenian commander,
a certain Thymochares, finally saw that the Peloponnesians were just outside
the harbor, he pulled his sailors away from their meals and herded them
frantically back to the ships. The surprised and unprepared Athenian fleet
sailed out to meet the Peloponnesians and were said to have held their ground for
some time. Yet, the Athenian defenses eventually began to give way, and then
shattered completely. The defeated sailors fled in at least three directions:
some toward a nearby Athenian fort in Euboea, others toward Chalcis, and a
third group unfortunately returned to Eretria. By this point, however, the
Eretrians were no longer pretending to be friendly, and they slaughtered the unfortunate
Athenians who fled back to the city.
According to Thucydides, the
Athenian oligarch fleet lost at least twenty-two of their thirty-six ships in
the disastrous sea battle at Eretria. In the aftermath of the battle, nearly
all of the Euboean cities rebelled against Athens. Yet, the disaster did have
one benefit for Athens—it was ammunition that lesser members of the oligarchy
could use against the leading oligarchs. Before the end of 411 BCE, the
so-called Four Hundred was overthrown and was replaced by the more inclusive
Five Thousand, which could be joined by any Athenian man who had the means to
purchase a full set of heavy infantry hoplite gear. The Five Thousand became
more democratic through reform and eventually gained the approval of the
Athenian military, reuniting the city of Athens with its armed forces.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Picture Attribution: (Triremes
depicted in Ship: The New Student's
Reference Work, v. 4, 1914, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).
- History of the Peloponnesian War (Book VIII) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner and introduced by M. I. Finley. New York: Penguin Classics, 1972.
- https://www.britannica.com/event/Peloponnesian-War
- https://www.ancient.eu/Peloponnesian_War/
- https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/peloponnesian-war
- https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/thymochares-e1213040
- https://www.ancient.eu/Alcibiades/
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alcibiades-Athenian-politician-and-general
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