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Message:: [QUOTE="robinjojo, post: 4497337, member: 110226"]“This was the greatest event in the war, or, in my opinion, in Greek history; at once most glorious to the victors, and most calamitous to the conquered.  They were beaten at all points and altogether; their sufferings in every way were great.  They were totally destroyed – their fleet, their army, everything – and few out of many returned home.  So ended the Sicilian expedition.” Thucydides This is the final passage of Book VII from Thucydides’ classic work, The History of the Peloponnesian War, a war that culminated in 404 BC with the surrender of a starved and besieged Athens.  Athens’ expedition to Sicily to take on Syracuse and her allies Corinth and Sparta, was fraught, from the start of the expedition in 415 BC to the final battle in 413 BC with delays, missed opportunities, political opportunism, shifting alliances, fateful miscalculation, and questions of purpose of the expedition and who was to command for the Athenians.  Like many foreign interventions today, Athens became mired in the politics and complexities of waging an ambitious campaign nearly 900 miles away.  Her disastrous defeat set the stage for the final disaster, the virtual total destruction of the remainder of her rebuilt fleet, at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC. The disaster of the Sicilian expedition was profound, especially in its impact on Athens’ manpower.  Sir Richard Livingston footnotes Book VII with the observation on Athenian and ally losses that “The total numbers have been estimated at between 45,000 and 50,000.  Mary of these were not Athenians, but it was a crushing disaster for a country whose total male citizen population over the age of eighteen did not exceed 60,000.” The historians Will and Ariel Durant called this war “the suicide of Greece”, which in many ways it was.  While Sparta was the victor in this conflict, and in turn dominated Greece for a relatively short period, the war weakened the combatants, and it ultimately helped set the stage for the rise Macedonia and the conquest of Greece by Philip II of Macedonia in 338 BC, followed by the conquests of his son, Alexander III and the establishment of his vast empire. The playwright and satirist, Aristophanes, opening his play, The Acharnians, had this explanation about the start of the war, sparing no barbs, even targeting Pericles and Aspasia, who was Pericles’ partner and lover.  The “City” referred to here, of course, is Athens. “For men of ours – I do not say the City,Remember that – I do not say the City,But worthless fellows, just bad money, coinsNo mint has ever seen, kept on denouncingThe men of Megara.  Trifles, I grant,– Our way here – but some tipsy youngsters thenGo steal from Megara a hussy there.Then men of Megara come here and stealTwo of Aspasia’s minxes.  And those three,No better than they should be, caused the war.For then in wrath Olympian PericlesThundered and lightened and confounded Greece.Enacting laws against the MegariansThat sounded just like drinking songs –“ Aristophanes, from the Acharnians (425 BC) In terms of numismatics, the period of the Peloponnesian War is rich in coinage from Athens, and allied members of The Delian League, and Sparta, and allied members of the Peloponnesian League, as well as the coinage of Greek and Carthaginian cities on the  Italian mainland and Sicily, notably Syracuse.  Persia was also a later participant as an ally of Sparta, seeking to settle old scores with Athens. The Peloponnesian League was principally made up of Sparta allied with Corinth, Kythira, Melos, Pylos, Mantinea, Ellis, Epidaurus, Boeotia, Lefkada and Ambracia. The Delian League was primarily comprised of Athens, the dominating power, and a number of city-states dotting a large area of the Aegean and the Adriatic seas. This league, formed during the Persian wars came increasingly under the sway of Athenian hegemony during the 5th century, eventually, by the start of the war in 431 BC, formed the empire ruled by Athens.  Revolts against Athenian rule among some league city states occurred over the course of the war as the bonds of the league weakened with Athens' increasingly repressive actions towards it members. [ATTACH=full]1115506[/ATTACH] Here are some coins of this period from my collection. Athens “O shining white and famed in song and violet-wreathed,Fortress of Hellas, glorious Athens, city of God,” Pindar (c. 518 – 438 BC) First, the first tetradrachm of Athens that I purchased, back in the 1980s.  Compared to many of the flashier examples on the market today, she does't compare favorably, but as a long time friend, always has a place in my heart. This coin was part of hoard that hit the market back then, and I think it cost me somewhere between $225 and $250.  Circa 440-430 BC. 16.8 grams [ATTACH=full]1115507[/ATTACH] Next, a plated tetradrachm from the period of 406-404 BC, produced at the time when Athens was on the verge of collapse.  Ex CNG. [ATTACH=full]1115508[/ATTACH]  Sicily Syracuse Next is a tetradrachm from the period of the Second Democracy, 420-415 BC [ATTACH=full]1115509[/ATTACH] Kamarina Tetradrachm, circa 425-405 BC.  Some numismatists consider the obverse design to be the prototype for the issues of Alexander III.  Similar to Brett, Greek Coins (MFA), no. 0259.  17.5 grams. [ATTACH=full]1115514[/ATTACH]  Italy Lucania, Thurium Tetradrachm or double nomos, circa 443-400 BC.  BMC 1 (this obv. die); HN Italy 1762.  15.47 grams. [ATTACH=full]1115515[/ATTACH]So, bring on the triremes of terrific tetradrachms, the phalanxes of fabulous bronzes, the sieges of stellar staters, the cavalries of cool drachms, and anything else you would like to post.  And don't forget the Persian and Carthaginian coins of that period! Are there any decadrachms of Syracuse out there?[/QUOTE]

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