Last night my dreams were crowded.
I remember thinking about things like eponymous archons and Alcmaeonids.
My subconscious could not, for the life of it, remember who Miltiades was.
My consciousness however, remembered very well in the morning that Miltiades was an Athenian leader who thought that the hoplite land army, not the navy, was the key to beat the Persians in the first Persian invasion in 490 BCE. He was largely credited with the victory at the Battle of Marathon in East Attica. In 489 BCE he lead an attack against the island of Palos to punish them for siding with the Persians, which was an embarrassing defeat for him and for Athens. Miltiades was wounded and fined by the Athenian government for his failure. He died of his injuries and his son Cimon was forced to repay his debt to Athens.
My head is crowded with Greek names and dates. Too many names that are long and somewhat similar, or at least they get confused in my head. Like Aristagorus and Archilochus, or Pesistratus, Pausanius, and Parmenides. And too many greek terms, like pentakosiomedimnoi and seisachtheia.
Athenian history is a giant web of tyrannies, archons, conspiracy, exile, conflicting political leaders, ostracism, reforms, treason, and wars.
No comments:
Post a Comment