Robert Garland - Athens Burning: The Persian Invasion of Greece and the Evacuation of Attica

ATHENS BURNING

WITNESS TO ANCIENT HISTORY

G REGORY S. A LDRETE , Series Editor

A LSO IN THE S ERIES

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ATHENS BURNING

The Persian Invasion of Greece and the Evacuation of Attica

Robert Garland

COLGATE UNIVERSITY

Johns Hopkins University Press

Baltimore

2017 Johns Hopkins University Press

All rights reserved. Published 2017

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Garland, Robert, 1947, author.

Title: Athens Burning : the Persian invasion of Greece and the evacuation of Attica / Robert Garland.

Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017. | Series: Witness to ancient history | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016022026| ISBN 9781421421957 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 142142195X (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781421421964 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 1421421968 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781421421971 (electronic) | ISBN 1421421976 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Athens (Greece)HistorySiege, 480 B.C. | GreeceHistoryPersian Wars, 500-449 B.C.Social aspects. | Civilians in warGreeceAthensHistoryTo 1500. | GreeceHistoryPersian Wars, 500-449 B.C.Campaigns.

Classification: LCC DF225.55 .G37 2017 | DDC 938/.03dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016022026

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

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For Richard and Danielle with love

Une m me vague par le monde, une m me vague depuis Troie roule sa hanche jusqu nous.

Saint-John Perse

I hope they will not forget the poor devils that died here.

Sapper Harry Billinge on the seventy-year commemoration of D-Day (June 6, 2014)

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES

MAPS

TIMELINE

Prologue

IF YOU WALK from Syntagma Square, where the Greek parliament building stands, down modern Odhos Hermou as the road passes through the industrial district on the west side of Athens, you will eventually come to the chief burial ground of the ancient city. The Ceramicus, or Potters District, as it is called, lies just outside the circuit wall, which is pierced at this point by two

The wall was built largely out of debris resulting from the double burning of Athens in 480 and 479. From the exposed section of the wall beside the two city gates, you can still today identify many fragments of funerary monuments that the Athenians utilized in its construction. This recycling of high-quality sculpture is indicative of the unsentimental, no-nonsense policy that the Athenians adopted at the end of a war that had seen their city burned not once but twice within a single year. The determination to preserve their freedom at all costs outweighed any other consideration, and for this reason everyone shared in the labormen, women, and children alike. In my view, it is one of the greatest community building projects ever undertaken and, once completed, it set Athens firmly on the path to full democracy.

The Themistoclean Wall

This book takes its inspiration from the sufferings of those tens of thousands of Athenian refugees who chose to abandon their homes, their ancestral tombs, and their shrines, without any certainty they would ever return. It was a fate that millions have repeated throughout history. Women and children were sent to one safe haven, the elderly to another, while the men of military age were conscripted into the fleet.