I.End as of 2/20/95
a) Agesilaius ends up a mercenary himself in Egypt, 361-60.
II.Athens vs. Thebes, Thebes and Athens vs. Macedon
A. The Strategic situation in Greece after Mantinea
1. Thebes immensely strong but lacking leadership and direction, facing threats from
a) Phocis, former ally of Sparta vs. Thebes
(1) Thebes tries to use Amphictyonic League against them
(2) Philomelus seizes Delphi in 356
(3) Battles in 354, 352 (Onomarchus defeats Macedonia)
(4) Phocis a threat until crushed by Philip in 346
b) plundering of Delphi to hire Mercenaries beg
c) Thessaly--
(1) Jason of Pherae, Tagon of Thessalian League, ally against Sparta but forced Epaminondas to let Spartans retreat after Leuctra.
(2) Began building fleet potentially useful against Thebes or Athens
(3) Ambitions of his own for a war against Persia, but assassinated in 370
(4) Alexander of Pherae kills Pelopidas at Cynoscephale in 364, power of Thessaly broken
d) Athens, rebuilding empire
(1) 2nd Athenian Confederation founded in 377
(2) Tribute not tribute,(phoros vs. syntaxeis) but still tribute
(3) Safeguards exist, allies and Athens have equal collective vote, but still
(4) Social War of 364-2, partly provoked by Persian/Carian interference and Epaminondas' navy
e) Matters were tense, but resources were running out
B. Demosthenes: Growing up in the ashes
1. Domestic situation
a) Son of a weapons manufacturer who had left him in charge of unscrupulous guardians who allowed his property to decay (what they left him of it), 2.389
b) Sick and powerless to defend himself
c) "The Asp"--vindictive, spiteful (2.390)
d) Born in 384--Athens recovering from P.W. and occupation by foreign troops, when recovery seemed possible, but difficult
2. Interesting argument for Childhood influences determining adult program
a) Anecdote about going into court (2.390),
b) Education by Isaeus, political orator vs.,
(1) Isocrates the Sophist, explain term and rivalry with the philosophers (Plato's Gorgias)
(2) Brilliant writer of political analyses and educational treatises
(3) Political visionary--disenchanted with polis system and Greek disunity, problems, urged a succession of power figures to unite the Greeks against the Persians
c) Early lawsuits against his guardians and their assortment of dirty tricks, e.g., his trierarchy
d) Famous anecdotes of exercises (2.391, 4), inspiration to Harold Higgins, Teddy Roosevelt, wimps the world over
e) Difficulty in getting heard: Satyrus and the Fairy Tale Story
f) Political Innovation--charged, and guilty, of being the first to read his own speeches in the Assembly
g) Demosthenes wanted Athens to recover Pericles' legacy, not be satisfied with what it had--Halonesus anecdote, 2.393, take vs. take back
3. Effort to Recover the Thoroughly Doomed 2nd Confedracy after Mausolus seized Rhodes in 353-1--forget it!
a) Mausolus had funded a Rhodian-Chian fleet which had defeated the Athenians at Chios in 356
b) Demosthenes wanted Rhodes freed after the 351 appeal, but wanted Athens alone to do it--as in the good old days.
4. Phocis
a) When the Theban messenger announced Sparta's defeat at Leuctra, the reaction in the Athenian assembly was silence
b) Athens and Thebes had been enemies for a much longer time than Athens had been an enemy of Sparta
c) Athens and Sparta supported Phocis against Thebes
d) Philip wanted access through Thermopyle and supported Thebes vs. Phocis, barely stopped there in 352
5. Olynthiacs
a) Demosthenes and the Athenians wanted the return of their old colony of Amphipolis, which Brasidas's Spartans had taken from them in 424
b) Philip wanted, got, and kept Amphipolis because
(1) The city was right next to the gold mines financing his superlative army
(2) The Athenians had used/would use it as a base to exploit and intimidate Macedonia
(3) When the Chalcidean League asked for help, Demosthenes saw it as a way of re-establishing Athens' old authority in the North
(4) Convinced the Athenians to help the last city, Olynthus the capital, but not in time (348)(Starr, p. 369)--Mention the archaeology!
6. Philip--Was Demosthenes identifying the King of Macedon with his plundering guardians? Rhetorician, woman, sponge anecdote--Plutarch, 2.397
a) Does it matter?
b) Philip DID have Athens in his sights! Struggle for Euboea, 2.399.
c) Bribery by Persia to oppose Philip and Alexander (2.397, 400) made political sense, if Persia would have been satisfied with the old status quo
d) Grand coalition of Athens and Thebes to oppose Philip's invasion of 339--why (2.399-400) is Plutarch so interested in Chaeronea?
e) Demosthenes vs, Philip on the personal level
(1) Philip's chant after the battle (2.400)
(2) Demosthenes' garland, with his daughter dead, in 336 (2.401)
7. Alexander
a) Demosthenes revives old coalition but
b) Thebes left to face Alexander alone and destroyed (1.402)
c) Alexander's demand and the grain response (2.402--explain)
d) The Harpalus affair and the great joke on Athens (2.405): "The Owl, the Snake, and the People."
e) Remark after Alexander's death
8. Antipater
a) Last effort against the Inevitable, the Lamian War
b) Alexander's army still in Persia, while the Athenian general Leosthenes trapped him briefly at Lamia near Thermopyle over the winter of 323-2.
c) Leosthenes killed in siege, reinforcements arrive from Asia
d) The Athenian navy crushed by Macedonian/Phoenican fleet at Amorgos
e) Alliance collapses after failure to keep Hellespont open at Crannon, 322
9. Splat--the Permanent End of Polis-Based Greek Culture