Timoleon’s Revival of Syracuse. See Westlake (1952; 1969, 276–312; 1994, 707–22); Finley (1979, 94–101); Talbert (1974, 146–60); and McKechnie (1989, 39–42). The depopulation of Syracuse raises a number of interesting questions, not the least of which is its principal cause—internal strife, foreign war, disease, decline in the birthrate, or population transfer. Citing archaeological data for the revival of Greek Sicily under Timoleon, Talbert (1974, 146) claims that “the ancient authors’ generous praise [of Timoleon] is perhaps not sufficiently lavish.” As Westlake (1952, 55) insightfully puts it, “he refused to despair of the city-state.” Finley’s (1979, 101) is a lone, dissenting voice, seeing his contribution as short-lived, on the grounds that “the autonomous, self-governing Greek city was beyond redemption even in old Greece and there was surely no hope for it in Sicily, where it had never grown strong roots.”
Mass Resettlement in the Peloponnese. See Demand (1990, 107–19). For Mantinea and Megalopolis, see Nielsen (in Hansen and Nielsen 2004, 517–22), with important discussion in both cases of the scale and nature of the synoecisms.
The Synoecism of Halicarnassus. See Hornblower (1982, 78–105; 1994, 223, 225–26) and Demand (1990, 120–27; 133–50). As Hornblower (1990, 105) notes, we are prevented from understanding the full-scale of Mausolus’s accomplishment by the fact that the city was partially destroyed by Alexander the Great, even though Arrian’s claim (Anab. 1.23.6) that he razed it to the ground is certainly an exaggeration. Demand (1990, 123) states, “The relocation and synoecism were the necessary first steps to the establishment of Caria as a significant player (i.e., naval power) in the Aegean power game.” It is possible that Mausolus planned a number of other changes in settlement patterns in Caria, though the evidence remains inconclusive.
Chapter 5. The Deportee
Political Stasis as a Cause of Deportation. The literal meaning of stasis is “that which stands, a position in relation to something, a state of affairs.” Van Effenterre (cited in Loraux 2002, 93, without reference) commented: “To designate” ‘sedition’ revolution in the city, Greeks use the word stasis, which they borrowed from the root most evocative of ideas of firmness, permanence, and stability. As if stasis were an institution for them!” In effect it was, and an essential one at that. Stasis in the sense “civil strife” already appears in the poems of Solon, Alcaeus, and Theognis, viz ca. 600. Hansen and Nielsen (2004, index 19 [pp. 1361–62]) list 266 certain instances of stasis involving some 120 poleis, though not all of these resulted in deportation. Their count updates Gehrke’s (1985) pioneering work on the subject. Fifty-four poleis experienced more than one outbreak of stasis. Heading the list is Syracuse, with twenty-seven instances from ca. 650 to 279/69. For the vicissitudes of this city and other poleis in Sicily and south Italy (excluded by Gehrke), see Berger (1992, 34–53). For a linguistic analysis of the application of the term stasis in political discourse, see Loraux (2002, 104–8). Forsdyke (2005, 15–29) argues that stasis was a key factor in the emergence and development of the archaic polis. The Peloponnesian War made the situation between opposing factions immeasurably worse. As Hanson (2005, 104) notes, what in other circumstances would have been “heated, but mostly restrained, civil disputes” now turned into “unchecked bloodletting.” From 431 to 406 at least fourteen instances of collusion with the enemy and the subsequent betrayal of their city by both sides occurred (Losada 1972, 16–29; Hanson 2005, 103). A modern instance of mass deportation by a foreign power occurred in 1941 when the Japanese deported approximately 100,000 Hong Kongers to work in munitions factories and the like (Bain and Yu in Adler and Gielen 2003, 57).
Surviving as a Deportee. The moment of departure is vividly captured by Livy, who tells us that, when the Romans decided to transfer the population of Alba to Rome, “The hearts of all the people were seized by a doleful silence as they helplessly debated what to take with them and what to leave behind, asking each other’s advice, at times standing on their doorsteps, at times wandering through the rooms of their houses which they would never see again” (1.29.3). On the destruction of cities as a literary theme, see Ogilvie (1965, 120–21), who suggests that Livy’s description may derive from Ennius, as did Vergil’s description of the fall of Troy in Aeneid book 2. For evidence that women were deported, see Tod 202.49–56 = Heisserer 1980, 206–8 = Harding 122 = Rhodes and Osborne 101. For decrees passed by the Samian dêmos honoring individuals who had assisted deportees during their time of exile, see SEG I 350–60, with Heisserer (1980, 187) and Shipley (1987, 162). Presumably the reason why Herodotus is uncritical of the Colophonians is because he greatly admired their shrewdness (Asheri et al. 2007, 179). He tells a similar story of how the Samians acquired Zancle (6.23–24). For Aeneas Tacticus, see Whitehead (1990), who provides a useful commentary on the passage cited. Paranoia about the presence of foreigners in one’s country in wartime has its echo in recent history. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law Executive Order no. 9066, which authorized the internment—in harsh conditions, as it turned out—of Japanese Americans and those of Japanese descent on grounds of “national security.”
Deportations by the Sicilian Tyrants Gelon, Hieron, and Theron. See Dunbabin (1948, 415–18); Finley (1979, 51–52); and Demand (1990, 46–50). For brief histories of the Greek cities of Sicily, see Guido (1967). As Dunbabin notes, it is possible that an inscription found at Olympia refers to the deportees from Megara Hyblaea being received at Selinus. The town of Euboea is not heard of again. For the resettlement of Aetna and Himera, see Asheri (1992, 150–51). The table of population redistribution in Sicily provided by Lomas (2006, 98–99) puts Gelon’s initiative in a larger context. The mass resettlement program of the Sicilian tyrants anticipated Julius Caesar’s plan to resettle 80,000 Roman poor in coloniae throughout the Mediterranean.
Deportations during the Peloponnesian War. For the Athenian settlement on Aegina, see Figueira (1991, 30–39). Thucydides does not specifically mention the political affiliation of the Megarian deportees but they were almost certainly oligarchs in light of the fact that they enjoyed the support of Sparta (Legon 1981, 236). The 110 women who remained in Plataea after all other noncombatants had been evacuated may well have been slaves already, since their purpose was to make bread (Thuc. 2.78.3). Nearly a decade after settling in Athens, those Megarians who were still of military age fought alongside the Athenians in the Sicilian Expedition. As Thucydides notes, there was an odd irony in the fact that Syracuse, which the Athenians were seeking to destroy, was allied to Selinus—a city that had been founded in part by settlers from Megara (7.57.8). For the date of the treaty between Athens and Leontini, see Berger (1991, 135–36).
Deportation by the Thirty Tyrants. Krentz (1982, 69) provides a list of all the testimonia relating to the flight of deportees from Athens under the Thirty Tyrants. For the presence of deportees in the Piraeus, see Garland (2001, 32–37). Whitehead (1982–83) equates the Thirty’s action with Sparta’s policy of xenêlasiai, being intended “to purge Attike of its dangerously cosmopolitan immigrant population.” For the conflicting testimonies in our sources, see Wolpert (2002, 15–28). For the dioikismos of Athens and Eleusis, see Rhodes (1993, 462–72) and Wolpert (2002, 30–32).
Laws Ordering the Expulsion of Foreigners. The Megarian exclusion decree was prompted by a dispute both about sacred property near Eleusis, on the borders between Attica and Megara, and about the harboring of runaway slaves (Thuc. 1.139.2). The first known instance of xenêlasiai was the expulsion of Maeandrius of Samos from Sparta (Hdt. 3.148). However, this was not a general prohibition but an action that targeted a specific individual. See Forsdyke (2005, 297–98) for discussion of the reliability of the tradition of Spartan xenêlasiai. A rare Athenian case involves Arthmius of Zelea, who was expelled from Athens and all the territory under Athenian control for scheming to make war between Athens and Persia (Aeschin. 3.258; Din. 2.24).
The Massacre and Enslavement of Prisoners of
War. See Ducrey (1968, 131–40) and Hanson (2005, 182–84). Hansen and Nielsen (2004, 122 with index 20 [pp. 1363–64]) identify 46 poleis that underwent andrapodismos, though “only five or perhaps six disappeared for good.” In some cases those who had been enslaved later returned to resettle the polis. Thucydides’ use of the verb edoulôthê (was enslaved) to describe the fate of the Naxians after the failure of their revolt in ca. 471 is doubtless metaphorical (cf. Gomme 1945, I, 282). Female prisoners of war feature in Greek tragedy (cf. the choruses in Aes. Ch. and Eur. Phoen.) and are clearly intended to evoke pity in the audience. Male prisoners of war never appear. References to the outrageous treatment of enslaved women among the orators is self-serving (cf. Dem. 19.196–98, 305–6, 309; Din. 1.24). Panagopoulos (1978, 219) argues that the treatment of prisoners of war by both sides progressively deteriorated during the course of the Peloponnesian War. For Philip Il’s treatment of prisoners, see Rosivach (1999, 134–36). For hostages, a group incidentally that lacked any legal definition in Greek law, see Amit (1970, 129–47) and Panagopoulos (1978, 187–217).
Chapter 6. The Evacuee
The Evacuation of Attica before the Battle of Salamis. See Strauss (2004, 59–62 and 65–70). For Athens’s connection with Troezen, see Barrett (1964, 2–3). The legendary Athenian king Theseus was born in Troezen and was the son of Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. On the authenticity of Themistocles’ Decree, ML (pp. 51–52) writes, “Relatively few of the points of detail which have been raised against the decree have turned out to be decisive.” Diodorus Siculus (11.13.4) says only this of the evacuation: “The Athenians, comprehending that every single inhabitant of Athens was now at risk, embarked their wives and children and every useful object they could and conveyed them to Salamis.”
The Evacuation of Attica at the Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. Hansen (2005, 337 n. 36) notes that there are references to the devastation of Attica in a majority of Aristophanes’s extant contemporary plays. He estimates (p. 57) that in the decade from 431 to 421 the Peloponnesians remained in Attica only 150 days in total. Even so, I agree with Hornblower’s (2011, 190) description of the evacuation as “a change in immemorial living habits” for the inhabitants of rural demes. See also Demand (1990, 95–97). The only other reference to the evacuees occurs in Ar. Knights (produced in 424), where the Sausage Seller, with typical comic exaggeration, upbraids Paphlagon (in “real life” the demagogue Cleon) for demonstrating no pity for those who had been living in “barrels, shacks, and garrets for eight years.” Instead, Paphlagon continues, “You lock them up and steal their property” (ll. 792–94). This suggests that the evacuees were treated as second-class citizens. For the debate about migration from the Attic countryside to the urban areas in the classical era, see Moore (1975, 238); Whitehead (1986a, 352–57); and Damsgaard-Madsen (1988, 55–68). Irrespective of the scale of internal migration at this time, the evidence does not permit us to conclude that the bulk of it occurred in response to the Peloponnesian War. The Athenians were again forced to evacuate Attica when the Spartans occupied Decelea in 413, though it is doubtful whether this was on such a large scale as the evacuation that took place in 431 and the years immediately following. For “those living within the Long Walls,” see the fragment from Eupolis’s Dêmoi in Page, no. 40, ll. 12–13, where it is suggested that evacuees have more to eat than those who remained in the countryside, which Page takes to refer to the so-called Decelean War. For the evacuation of Boeotia, see Demand (1990, 83–85). For the formal relationship between Athens and Plataea, see Figueira (1991, 149–54).
Evacuations during the Punic Wars in Sicily. See Caven (1990, 47–49, 72–74). The historical accuracy of Diodorus Siculus is somewhat questionable. It is entirely conceivable that he is describing what he supposes “must have happened” when a city evacuated overnight.
Chapter 7. The Asylum-Seeker
Asylum as a Sacred Obligation. For supplication in the Hebrew Bible, see briefly Naiden (2006, 89). Many of the most important studies of Greek asylum are by Sinn, of which the latest is ThesCRA III, pp. 217–32 (pp. 218–19 for bibliography). Ogilvie (1965, 62–63) sees evidence of Greek influence in Livy’s claim that a place of asylum existed on the Capitoline Hill in Romulus’s day.
Qualifying for Asylum. Chaniotis (1996, 67–69) provides plentiful evidence to indicate that those guilty of lesser crimes could claim asulia. For kakourgoi (felons), see Phillips (2008, 124–25). Incidentally, in the second play of Aeschylus’s trilogy of which Suppliants is the first, the Danaids, forced to marry their cousins, commit murder, which raises questions retrospectively about their entitlement to asylum (Dreher 2003, 65–67). Because it did not in principle differentiate between innocent and guilty, asulia presented a severe conflict between themis (divine law) and nomos (secular law).
Supplication. Hiketês (suppliant) means literally “one who comes.” The noun is cognate with hêkô, hikneomai. See Gould (1973, 74–103); Pedrick (1982, 125–40); Freyburger (1988, 501–15), and Canciani et al. (“Hikesia” in ThesCRA III, pp. 193–216). As to why suppliants grasped the chin, knees, and beard, see Freyburger (1988, 508–10). For asulia and hikesia in Aes. Supp., see Dreher (2003, 59–84). Five of the 32 surviving Greek tragedies fall into the category of suppliant plays, viz those in which the homeless take refuge in a sanctuary where they make formal application for inclusion within the community. The plays in question are Aes. Supp. and Eum.; Soph. OC; and Eur. Heracl. and Supp. As Dreher (2003, 61) points out, they take the form of a “triangular relationship model,” consisting of suppliants, enemy, and savior. For Admetus’s reception of Themistocles and embellishments of the tale in other authors, see Hammond (1967, 492–93). The motif of clutching an infant as a form of extreme supplication also occurred in Euripides’s lost tragedy Telephus (ThesCRA III, p. 197 with no. 29). In Athens it was customary at some meetings of the Assembly for “anyone who wishes” to place a suppliant branch on the altar in order to claim the right to speak on any matter, whether private or public ([Arist.] Ath. Pol. 43.6). Supplication could also be made to the Council (Aeschin. 1.104). It seems unlikely, however, that this right would have extended to foreigners.
The Politics of Offering Asylum. For the involvement of the Athenian Assembly in awarding asylum, see Naiden (2006, 173–83). Another interesting instance involves the 500 wealthy exiles from Sybaris who sought refuge in Croton. When the Sybarites responsible for their exile turned up and demanded that the Crotonians hand them over or face war, the latter, though wavering, eventually declined to do so, interestingly on the advice of the philosopher Pythagoras. In the ensuing war they were victorious and went on to destroy Sybaris utterly (D.S. 12.9.2–10.1).
Granting Asylum within a Sanctuary. Excavations conducted in the sanctuary of Hera at Perachora have brought to light cisterns and wells that could accommodate large numbers of people and cattle. For the possibility that a specific area within a sanctuary was designated for the use of asylum-seekers, see Maffi (2003, 15–22). For sanctuaries of Poseidon as places of refuge, see Schumacher (1993, 62–87). For the sanctuary of Poseidon at Calauria, see Sinn (2003, 107–25). For that at Taenarum, see Naiden (2006, 207–10).
Mistreating Asylum-Seekers. For Cylon, see Rhodes (1993, 79–84). Though many scholars are skeptical of the effectiveness of asylum, Sinn (1993, 93) floats the possibility that “every violation against this indispensable institution was recorded with misgivings and at the same time branded with sharp disapproval, whereas all mention of the cases with positive outcomes were [sic] omitted because they were normal.” See Naiden (2006, table 3.1 [pp. 163–65]) for instances of rejected supplication in Greek sources.
Athens’s Exceptionalism. In four of the five surviving suppliant plays (Aes. Eum.; Soph. OC; Eur. Heracl. and Supp.), the suppliants petition for residence in Athens, a further indication of the city’s professed compassion for asylum-seekers. Though the plot of Aes. Supp. seems prima facie to advocate giving refuge to asylum-seekers, the next (missing) p
lay in the trilogy dealt with the outbreak of a war between Argos and Egypt due to Argos’s reception of the suppliants. In it Pelasgus was almost certainly killed in battle. What the trilogy may have explored, therefore, were the unforeseen and disastrous consequences of a good faith decision. Rather than advocating kindness to strangers, it might reasonably be interpreted as a warning against giving asylum to suppliants, even when their case is justified on humanitarian grounds. For the topos of Athens’s hospitality to foreigners, see the bibliography cited in Montiglio (2005, 31 n. 26). Isocrates (12.94) cites Athens’s generous treatment of both the Messenians and the Plataeans as examples of her support for those in need.
Xenia and Proxenia. For both xenia and proxenia, see Herman (1987). For xenia-based relationships in the Odyssey, see Finley (2002, 100–104). Other examples of xenia between a Greek and a non-Greek include Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, and the pharaoh Amasis (Hdt. 3.39–43); and Pharnabazus, the Persian satrap, and Agesilaus, the king of Sparta (Xen. Hell. 4.1.34–35). The institution of xenia remained in force into the hellenistic period and beyond. For proxenia, see Walbank (1978, 1–9); Baslez (1984, 111–25); and Davies (1993, 69–71). As Davies notes, the honors that were paid to proxenoi by the state whose citizens they represented indicate they sometimes put their lives at risk, for which reason they were given legal protection (cf. IG I3 19, ca. 450). Proxenia is first attested in the late seventh century BCE in a decree of the people of Corcyra (ML 4) and continued into the first century CE. In the fifth century it became an instrument of Athenian imperialism that enabled Athens to be kept apprised of seditious activity among her allies (IG I3 18, 19, 27, 28, 91, 92). For its evolution into a communal institution based on the model of xenia, see Herman (1987, 132–42).
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