The Classical World Part 2

8.

Towards Democracy Histiaeus of Miletus held the opposite view: 'as of now,' he said, 'it is because of King Darius that each one of us is the tyrant of his city-state. If Darius' power is destroyed, I will not be able to go on ruling the Milesians, nor will any of you anywhere else, for each of the city-states will prefer to be democracies rather than tyrannies.'

Herodotus, 4.137, on events at a bridge across the Danube, c. c. 513 BC 513 BC When the Persian King Cyrus and his commanders reached the western coast of Asia Minor as the new conquerors in 546 BC BC, the Spartans sent him a messenger by boat, carrying a 'proclamation' (another Spartan 'Great Rhetra'). They told him 'not to damage any city-state on Greek land because they would not allow it'.1 For Sparta, there was a clear line between Asia and Greece (surely including the Aegean), and the latter's freedom was their concern. For Sparta, there was a clear line between Asia and Greece (surely including the Aegean), and the latter's freedom was their concern.

In Greece, the years from 546 to c. c. 520 were to be the supreme years of Spartan power. Her warriors had already defeated their powerful neighbours in southern Greece, the men of Argos and Arcadia, and forced the defeated cities of Arcadia to swear an oath to 'follow wherever the Spartans lead'. 520 were to be the supreme years of Spartan power. Her warriors had already defeated their powerful neighbours in southern Greece, the men of Argos and Arcadia, and forced the defeated cities of Arcadia to swear an oath to 'follow wherever the Spartans lead'.2 In battle, the trained Spartan soldiers had been heartened by the presence among them of the great mythical hero Orestes, son of Agamemnon. In the 560s In battle, the trained Spartan soldiers had been heartened by the presence among them of the great mythical hero Orestes, son of Agamemnon. In the 560s BC BC his enormous bones were believed to have been discovered in Arcadia by a very prestigious Spartan who transferred them to Sparta, bringing the hero's power with them. The hero's bones were probably the bones of a big prehistoric animal which the Spartans, like other Greeks, misunderstood as the remains of one of their race of superhuman heroes ('Orestesaurus Rex'). his enormous bones were believed to have been discovered in Arcadia by a very prestigious Spartan who transferred them to Sparta, bringing the hero's power with them. The hero's bones were probably the bones of a big prehistoric animal which the Spartans, like other Greeks, misunderstood as the remains of one of their race of superhuman heroes ('Orestesaurus Rex').

It also helped the Spartans that during the sixth century BC BC tyrannies came to an end in most of Greece. In many city-states, the sons or grandsons of the first tyrants proved even harsher or more objectionable than their predecessors and were remembered in some spectacular anecdotes, the best of which concerned their s.e.x life. Periander, tyrant of Corinth, was even said to have insulted a boy-lover by asking him if he was pregnant by him yet. The brittle, compet.i.tive culture of h.o.m.oerotic love was indeed one source of insult and revenge, but it was not the only cause of turmoil. Tyrants had seized power at a time of faction in the n.o.ble ruling cla.s.ses, after the military hoplite reform had changed the balance of power between n.o.bles and non-n.o.bles. Two or three generations later this military change had settled down and the former n.o.ble families could at least unite in wanting the tyrants out. Spartan soldiers were a convenient ally with whom to overturn a tyranny which had lost its point. Sparta was believed to have the most stable 'alternative to tyranny' tyrannies came to an end in most of Greece. In many city-states, the sons or grandsons of the first tyrants proved even harsher or more objectionable than their predecessors and were remembered in some spectacular anecdotes, the best of which concerned their s.e.x life. Periander, tyrant of Corinth, was even said to have insulted a boy-lover by asking him if he was pregnant by him yet. The brittle, compet.i.tive culture of h.o.m.oerotic love was indeed one source of insult and revenge, but it was not the only cause of turmoil. Tyrants had seized power at a time of faction in the n.o.ble ruling cla.s.ses, after the military hoplite reform had changed the balance of power between n.o.bles and non-n.o.bles. Two or three generations later this military change had settled down and the former n.o.ble families could at least unite in wanting the tyrants out. Spartan soldiers were a convenient ally with whom to overturn a tyranny which had lost its point. Sparta was believed to have the most stable 'alternative to tyranny'3 in her social and political system, the nature of which, however, outsiders did not really under-stand. Spartans, therefore, were frequently invited in by discontented n.o.bles to help put a tyranny down. Sparta 'the liberator' ranged far and wide in Greece. With one eye on Persian ambition in the Aegean and a close connection with her distant kin at Cyrene ('Black Sparta') in north Africa, from 550 to in her social and political system, the nature of which, however, outsiders did not really under-stand. Spartans, therefore, were frequently invited in by discontented n.o.bles to help put a tyranny down. Sparta 'the liberator' ranged far and wide in Greece. With one eye on Persian ambition in the Aegean and a close connection with her distant kin at Cyrene ('Black Sparta') in north Africa, from 550 to c. c. 510 Spartans did indeed have a wider interest in the Mediterranean. When one of their kings, Dorieus, was forced to leave Sparta ( 510 Spartans did indeed have a wider interest in the Mediterranean. When one of their kings, Dorieus, was forced to leave Sparta (c. 514 514 BC BC), he set off first to Libya with supporting troops, then later to south Italy and Sicily where he died trying to conquer the north-western, Phoenician end of the island.

Tyrannies had been resented as 'slavery' by their discontented citizens and their removal was therefore celebrated as 'freedom'. When tyranny ended on the island of Samos (c. 522) a cult of 'Zeus of Freedom' was inst.i.tuted, a type of cult which was to have a long history. Freedom, here, meant freedom of the citizenry from arbitrary misrule. For, within a 522) a cult of 'Zeus of Freedom' was inst.i.tuted, a type of cult which was to have a long history. Freedom, here, meant freedom of the citizenry from arbitrary misrule. For, within a polis polis, the value of freedom had not been forced to the male citizens' attention by unfree slaves or women, protesting at what they did not have. It had become prominent thanks to the experience of the political 'polis-males' under 'enslaving' tyrannies which had overstayed their welcome. Nonetheless, even under a tyranny, the magistrates and procedures of a city-state were not suspended. Important principles of subsequent free Greek, even democratic, political life went back, by origin, to the aristocratic-tyrannical age of the seventh and sixth centuries BC BC. Tenure of a civil magistracy was limited in duration by law: retiring magistrates were to be scrutinized, albeit rather cursorily, when their office ended. Legal procedures also developed and there was already a public use of the 'lot', in some states, to select office-holders. The names which entered the ballot for office were pre-selected, no doubt with a tyrant's approval. Between c. c. 650 and 650 and c. c. 520 520 BC BC there was a continuing growth of 'the state'. Under the subsequent democracies, these procedures were to be extended and applied by the male citizenry as a whole. But they were not introduced into a void, as if tyrants and n.o.bles had ruled autocratically. there was a continuing growth of 'the state'. Under the subsequent democracies, these procedures were to be extended and applied by the male citizenry as a whole. But they were not introduced into a void, as if tyrants and n.o.bles had ruled autocratically.

Nor were tyrannies the only form of government outside Sparta. Throughout the sixth century BC BC they continued to be replaced or avoided; and it was still a period of active Greek political experiment in the male citizen-bodies. Some of the Greek communities (such as Corinth or Cyrene) changed the number and names of their 'tribes'; there and elsewhere, more broadly based const.i.tutions replaced tyrants. In Cyrene, they continued to be replaced or avoided; and it was still a period of active Greek political experiment in the male citizen-bodies. Some of the Greek communities (such as Corinth or Cyrene) changed the number and names of their 'tribes'; there and elsewhere, more broadly based const.i.tutions replaced tyrants. In Cyrene, c. c. 560 560 BC BC, the powers of the ruling kings were curbed by a lawgiver, invited in from Greece; the reform did not cause bloodshed. In the 520s, after a time of internal turmoil in Miletus, foreign arbitrators even gave political power to those of the citizens who had the tidiest farms. By the end of the century new political terms had begun to be coined. City-states started to insist on autonomia autonomia, or self-government, a degree of political freedom which left them to run their own internal affairs, their courts, elections and local decisions. Quite where this degree of freedom began and ended would be constantly contested and redefined during subsequent centuries. By origin, the demand had arisen only because there were now outside powers strong enough to infringe it. In absolute terms, it was a city-state's second best to total freedom, which included freedom in foreign policy. Autonomia Autonomia is first cited in surviving sources as the concern of eastern Greek communities when confronted with the much greater power of the Persian kings. The context would well suit the idea's invention. is first cited in surviving sources as the concern of eastern Greek communities when confronted with the much greater power of the Persian kings. The context would well suit the idea's invention.

Besides autonomia autonomia, citizens within a community would also claim isonomia isonomia, perhaps best rendered as 'legal equality', leaving open whether it was equality under the law, or equality in administering the law. This term is first ascribed to political proposals which followed the ending of tyranny on the island of Samos, c. c. 522 522 BC BC. Again, this context fits the idea well, suggesting that isonomia isonomia was a word for freedom after the resented 'slavery' of tyranny. The main force of the word was probably equal justice for all citizens after the favouritism and personal whim of tyrants; it was not necessarily democratic, but could become so. For, the years of tyrannies had often weakened the power of local n.o.blemen. In several city-states, some of the n.o.bles had been exiled and in their absence, or their curtailment, the 'people' ( was a word for freedom after the resented 'slavery' of tyranny. The main force of the word was probably equal justice for all citizens after the favouritism and personal whim of tyrants; it was not necessarily democratic, but could become so. For, the years of tyrannies had often weakened the power of local n.o.blemen. In several city-states, some of the n.o.bles had been exiled and in their absence, or their curtailment, the 'people' (dmos) had had good reason to learn to manage local disputes on their own behalf. By the mid-sixth century there had been signs, too, of an obstinate solidarity in some city-states among people who were not n.o.ble or rich. In Megara, c. c. 560 560 BC BC, the 'people' were even said to have forced creditors to repay all interest-payments to their debtors. But who, exactly, were the 'people'? Those farmers with small (perhaps tidy) properties? Those who fought as hoplites? The word did not necessarily refer to the entire male citizenry, including the lower cla.s.ses.

In 510 one of the last major tyrannies in Greece was ended, the rule of the Peisistratids in Athens. During the previous six years attacks by n.o.ble Athenian families had weakened the second generation of this tyrant family's control. By bribing the priestess at Delphi, exiled Athenian n.o.bles then obtained oracles from 'Apollo' which urged the Spartans to intervene and finish the tyranny off. In 510 BC BC they succeeded, at the second attempt. The Athenians now had to run themselves very differently. they succeeded, at the second attempt. The Athenians now had to run themselves very differently.

For two years their n.o.ble families continued to compete within the surviving sh.e.l.l of Solon's const.i.tution: in an anti-tyrannical mood, they seem to have agreed to a law that in future, no Athenian citizen could be tortured. It was symptomatic of a new sense of 'freedom'. The aristocratic Alcmeonid clan had been n.o.ble pioneers in the expulsion of the Athenians' tyrants, but in spring 508 BC BC they failed to win the supreme magistracy for one of their own number. Something drastic was needed if they were to regain favour, and so it was probably in July or August, when their rival came into office, that their most experienced elder statesman, Cleisthenes, proposed from the floor of a public meeting that the const.i.tution should be changed and that, in all things, the sovereign power should rest with the entire adult male citizenry. It was a spectacular moment, the first known proposal of democracy, the lasting example of the Athenians to the world. they failed to win the supreme magistracy for one of their own number. Something drastic was needed if they were to regain favour, and so it was probably in July or August, when their rival came into office, that their most experienced elder statesman, Cleisthenes, proposed from the floor of a public meeting that the const.i.tution should be changed and that, in all things, the sovereign power should rest with the entire adult male citizenry. It was a spectacular moment, the first known proposal of democracy, the lasting example of the Athenians to the world.

Like St Paul, Cleisthenes knew from inside the system which he so cleverly subverted: he himself had been the Athenians' chief magistrate under the tyrants, seventeen years before. What he proposed was a new role and composition for some very familiar Athenian ent.i.ties. In his speech, he probably referred to a council and an a.s.sembly (both of which had functioned, at times together, since Solon), to tribes and 'demes' (Attica's small villages and towns.h.i.+ps, already totalling some 140) and to 'thirds' or so-called trittyes trittyes (ent.i.ties which had long been familiar in Attica's organization). At a local level, he proposed something new; locally elected officials to be called 'demarchs' ('deme governors') would preside over local meetings in the village-demes and replace the time-honoured roles of the local n.o.blemen. Cleisthenes' proposal was that the male citizens should go off and register themselves in a 'deme' locally, and then they would find themselves allotted deme by deme to one of thirty new 'thirds' which, in turn, would connect them to one of ten newly named tribes. The numbers of tribes and 'thirds' were to be increased (to a 'decimal system') but the core of it all seemed wonderfully clear and straightforward. Until this moment, the highest clique in Attica had been the ex-magistrates who made up the revered Areopagus council and served on it for the rest of their lives. They could only look on and listen helplessly to Cleisthenes' populist speech. In 508 (ent.i.ties which had long been familiar in Attica's organization). At a local level, he proposed something new; locally elected officials to be called 'demarchs' ('deme governors') would preside over local meetings in the village-demes and replace the time-honoured roles of the local n.o.blemen. Cleisthenes' proposal was that the male citizens should go off and register themselves in a 'deme' locally, and then they would find themselves allotted deme by deme to one of thirty new 'thirds' which, in turn, would connect them to one of ten newly named tribes. The numbers of tribes and 'thirds' were to be increased (to a 'decimal system') but the core of it all seemed wonderfully clear and straightforward. Until this moment, the highest clique in Attica had been the ex-magistrates who made up the revered Areopagus council and served on it for the rest of their lives. They could only look on and listen helplessly to Cleisthenes' populist speech. In 508 BC BC almost all of them were politically discredited men, former magistrates who had been 'selected' in previous decades by the hated tyrants. Their main concern was to avoid being exiled for their past. almost all of them were politically discredited men, former magistrates who had been 'selected' in previous decades by the hated tyrants. Their main concern was to avoid being exiled for their past.

Cleisthenes' proposals were excitingly new. Since Solon's reforms, a second public council (other than the Areopagus) had helped to run the Athenians' business and had sometimes brought items after discussion to a wider a.s.sembly of citizens. We know nothing about this council's powers or members.h.i.+p, but it is most unlikely that almost everything which it discussed went on to the a.s.sembly as a matter of course. Henceforward, Cleisthenes' idea was that every major public decision must go to a popular a.s.sembly by rights. A very few inscribed decrees of the Athenians which survive within decades of 508 BC BC begin bluntly: 'it seemed good to the people'. In future, too, the council was to be chosen from all male citizens over the age of thirty and no restrictions of cla.s.s or property are attested as limiting members.h.i.+p of it. In the later Athenian democracy, a man could serve on the council only twice in his lifetime, and in my view this rule, too, was enacted in 508 begin bluntly: 'it seemed good to the people'. In future, too, the council was to be chosen from all male citizens over the age of thirty and no restrictions of cla.s.s or property are attested as limiting members.h.i.+p of it. In the later Athenian democracy, a man could serve on the council only twice in his lifetime, and in my view this rule, too, was enacted in 508 BC BC. In an adult citizenry with perhaps 25,000 men over the age of thirty, almost everyone could now expect a year on the council in his own lifetime. The implications were obvious, and like his audience Cleisthenes could see them.

So could his main opponent, the year's leading magistrate, Isagoras. He promptly summoned the Spartans to intervene, whereupon Cleisthenes artfully withdrew from Attica. The Spartans invaded, and Isagoras gave them a list of a further 700 families who were duly exiled. This listing is a fascinating example of the detailed knowledge which one aristocratic clique might have about the others, its rivals. The aim was for the Spartan invaders to install Isagoras and his partisans as a narrow pro-Spartan oligarchy, but the existing Athenian council members (400 of them as prescribed by Solon) resisted vigorously. The Spartans and Isagoras resorted to occupying the Acropolis, whereupon the other Athenians, 'agreeing with the council' (though some dispute this translation of the Greek),4 joined in and besieged them. Resistance had now caught on among the citizenry, and when the Spartan invaders surrendered there was no stopping the progress of Cleisthenes' proposals, the origin of the incident. The outrage of the Spartan invasion made them seem all the more desirable. By the early spring Cleisthenes was back in Attica and the proposed reforms could be voted through and carried out. There was now a much finer alternative to tyranny than Sparta's system. The word 'democracy' happens not to be attested in any surviving Greek text before the mid-460s, but it was a very simple one to have coined on the spot. joined in and besieged them. Resistance had now caught on among the citizenry, and when the Spartan invaders surrendered there was no stopping the progress of Cleisthenes' proposals, the origin of the incident. The outrage of the Spartan invasion made them seem all the more desirable. By the early spring Cleisthenes was back in Attica and the proposed reforms could be voted through and carried out. There was now a much finer alternative to tyranny than Sparta's system. The word 'democracy' happens not to be attested in any surviving Greek text before the mid-460s, but it was a very simple one to have coined on the spot.

The Athenian version counted on a very strong willingness of all citizens to partic.i.p.ate. In 508 less than a fifth of the citizenry lived in Athens 'city': many of them had to walk in and lodge with friends if they were to serve and attend meetings. For one-tenth of the year a fraction of the council, the Athenians' most visible 'presiding' body, would even be kept in the city on permanent alert. Yet a council of 500 continued to be manned yearly without difficulty. a.s.semblies, at least four a month, would meet in the city too, though they were expected to number more than 6,000 for important business. In due course, procedures to scrutinize all new council members both before and after holding office became established beside the 'scrutiny', still rather cursory, of magistrates. After c. c. 460 460 BC BC an Athenian who served for a year on the council would expect to hear the brief 'vetting' of 509 separate partic.i.p.ants in public affairs. As a great modern historian of their democracy, M. H. Hansen, has observed, 'to our way of thinking it must have been deadly boring; that the Athenians went through it year after year for centuries shows that their att.i.tude to this sort of routine must have been quite different from ours. They evidently enjoyed partic.i.p.ation in their political inst.i.tutions as a value in itself.' an Athenian who served for a year on the council would expect to hear the brief 'vetting' of 509 separate partic.i.p.ants in public affairs. As a great modern historian of their democracy, M. H. Hansen, has observed, 'to our way of thinking it must have been deadly boring; that the Athenians went through it year after year for centuries shows that their att.i.tude to this sort of routine must have been quite different from ours. They evidently enjoyed partic.i.p.ation in their political inst.i.tutions as a value in itself.'5 After nearly forty years of tyranny, and after centuries of aristocratic domination, this keenness was not surprising. Between 510 and 508 Athenians had feared above all a return to the n.o.ble faction-fighting which had brought them such bloodshed in the 560s and 550s. Now, there were to be no bureaucrats, no detested 'ministries', not even any specialized lawyers: l'etat, c'est nous l'etat, c'est nous, all adult male Athenian citizens. To modern eyes, there were still conspicuous exclusions: 'all citizens' did not mean 'all residents'. Non-Athenian residents (the metoikoi metoikoi, or metics, meaning those living away from their home), inhuman objects of property (the many slaves) and the unreasoning second s.e.x (women) were excluded without question or hesitation. These exclusions were universal in the political systems of Greek states. But what was new was that every male citizen was included equally. From now on, a male citizen might find himself on the council, appointed by lot to a minor magistracy or standing, thrillingly, in a ma.s.s meeting, waiting to vote or even (if brave) to speak on the fundamental topics of life, on whether or not to go to war, on who should pay what, on who should be honoured or excluded. On controversial questions, he would raise his hand to vote and be counted. In Sparta, when choosing magistrates, the a.s.sembled Spartiates would merely be asked to shout in favour of each candidate, and the 'authorities' would decide for which one they had shouted loudest. Even Aristotle considered this a childish game show. Among the Athenians, each male citizen counted for one and no more than one, the simple porter or goatherd beside the smart aristocrat. By having to choose and to be seen to have chosen, people soon learn to think and to take up informed positions. The results were anything but mob-rule.

The danger, rather, was that a leader of a frustrated option might try to rush a proposal through the a.s.sembly a second time and refuse to accept defeat. Brilliantly, Cleisthenes proposed that once a year Athenians should vote whether they wanted to hold an 'ostracism'. If so, with more than 6,000 people present, they could cast a bit of broken pottery (an ostrakon ostrakon) inscribed with the name of any citizen-candidate they proposed, in the hope that he would attract the most potsherds and thus be sent off into exile, to cool off for the next ten years. He would leave knowing that a majority had been against him, thereby ruling out his hope of a counter-coup; when he returned he would be 'yesterday's man'. Ostracism was a purely political process in intention and execution: it did not derive from religious beliefs or some need to expel 'pollution' or a 'scapegoat'. Political through and through, it became a crucial safety valve during the next seventy years or so of Athenian politics. It also presupposed that a high proportion of the Athenians could read or could at least find somebody to read for them. However, the ability to read, in many societies, does not require the separate skill of writing. Thus we hear stories of potsherds being written out in batches for voters to take up: our increasingly large volume of surviving ostraka ostraka do show that some of them were written by the same hand breaking up one and the same pot. This organization does not necessarily point to cheating or a manipulation of the ignorant. People who did not write could still read what they held. The surviving bits of pottery contain some wonderfully rude comments against individual rotters which appeal to personal prejudice and the scandal in the news-headlines of the time. Some of them even have witty drawings on them too. There is nothing similar, of course, in Persia, Egypt, Carthage or any monarchy. do show that some of them were written by the same hand breaking up one and the same pot. This organization does not necessarily point to cheating or a manipulation of the ignorant. People who did not write could still read what they held. The surviving bits of pottery contain some wonderfully rude comments against individual rotters which appeal to personal prejudice and the scandal in the news-headlines of the time. Some of them even have witty drawings on them too. There is nothing similar, of course, in Persia, Egypt, Carthage or any monarchy.

With two minor interruptions, this democracy persisted among the Athenians and evolved for more than a hundred and eighty years. In our terms, it was remarkably direct. It was not at all a 'representative democracy' which elected local representatives either to 'represent' their const.i.tuents or their own careers and prejudices. Its whole concern was to limit power-blocs or over-a.s.sertive cliques, to achieve fragmentation, not representation. In many moderns' opinion, use of the lot was the hallmark of Athenian democracy; in fact, Cleisthenes is not known to have extended random allotment in any new way. As a Greek practice, use of the lot had a long pre-democratic history anyway, not least as a way of allotting shared inheritances fairly between brothers. Nor were property qualifications abolished for the democracy's senior magistrates: they were to be elected, but only from propertied candidates. So far as we know, there was to be no pay yet, either, for them or for council members. But what mattered was that they served only for a year and that they were not a 'government' with a 'mandate' of their own devising. Power lay with the a.s.sembly, and in that a.s.sembly each male citizen counted for one, and one only.

To our eyes, this democracy was more just than any previous const.i.tution in the world. Nonetheless, the administration of justice was left unchanged: cases were still heard and tried by magistrates, with only a possibility of a secondary appeal on a few charges to a wider, popular body. Cleisthenes certainly did not base his proposals on judicial reform or new law courts. To modern outsiders, then, how 'just' is it all? Slaves continued to be widely used; women were politically excluded; immigrants were separately categorized and were not able to claim citizens.h.i.+p in virtue of a few years' residence in Attica. The point, rather, is that throughout the ancient world, even the gift of equal votes to all male citizens, to peasants as well as n.o.blemen, was almost unparalleled (it did exist, though, in Sparta) and the combination with it of a popular, rotating council and an a.s.sembly with almost total power to enact or reject proposals was unprecedented, as far as we know.

On present evidence, the Athenians were the first to take this democratic leap. No well-informed contemporary source implies that any other Greek city already had such a system. In south Italy, nonetheless, archaeologists have proposed the Greek city of Metapontum as a forerunner. In c. c. 550 550 BC BC a large circular building was constructed here, with s.p.a.ce for some 8,000 people. Surveys have suggested that the city's territory was indeed divided into equal lots, perhaps of this approximate number. In due course, the houses along the city's streets were built to a similar, repet.i.tive style and size. Perhaps Metapontum had had 'equal' government of some sort before 510 a large circular building was constructed here, with s.p.a.ce for some 8,000 people. Surveys have suggested that the city's territory was indeed divided into equal lots, perhaps of this approximate number. In due course, the houses along the city's streets were built to a similar, repet.i.tive style and size. Perhaps Metapontum had had 'equal' government of some sort before 510 BC BC, an extended oligarchy maybe, but we do not know that the owners of its land were the entire citizenry nor that the circular building was used for political meetings, let alone for equal voting by every male, peasants included. It is not the proof of a democracy before Athens.

Unlike many Greek citizens, especially those overseas, Athenians had one great a.s.set: they had lived for centuries in the same territory. Their local social groupings and local cults gave them an unusually strong infrastructure and a sense of community on which Cleisthenes capitalized. He did not attack private property or redistribute riches. Perhaps his particular 'clan' gained a degree of advantage from the detailed local arrangements of citizens into new tribes, but it was an advantage in a new and changed arena. Cleisthenes brought a new justice, an equal vote for every male citizen, and the blessings of a new freedom, political partic.i.p.ation. Justice was also applied to the local units of community life, the many demes, who were duly influenced by the centre's new system.

Alarmed, the Athenians' non-democratic neighbours tried to invade and kill off the new democratic system, but the newly inspired citizenry beat them back on two fronts at once. Their victories were seen, rightly, as a triumph for a freedom which they all shared: freedom of speech.6 There was no limit now, in principle, on who could serve in the new council or speak in the a.s.sembly. The 'freedom' at stake was not a freedom from state interference or a freedom from hara.s.sment by social superiors or unchecked magistrates. It was not a reserved area, merely protected by 'civil rights'. Since Solon, in 594 There was no limit now, in principle, on who could serve in the new council or speak in the a.s.sembly. The 'freedom' at stake was not a freedom from state interference or a freedom from hara.s.sment by social superiors or unchecked magistrates. It was not a reserved area, merely protected by 'civil rights'. Since Solon, in 594 BC BC, their superiors' licence to enslave ordinary Athenians had been abolished anyway. Instead, male Athenians now had the one right which really mattered, an individual vote on every major public issue. Their new freedom was a 'freedom to...', worth fighting for. From their battles in self-defence they returned with hundreds of prisoners for lucrative ransom and rich plots of land: 4,000 such plots were divided from land taken from the cavalry-cla.s.ses of hostile Euboea, once the champions of early Greek overseas ventures. These gains were hugely rich and probably given to the poorer Athenians, a further bonus of new democracy; the fetters of the prisoners were displayed for years on Athens' Acropolis. Athenians who died in these first 'democratic' battles may even have been honoured with a new privilege, burial in a new public cemetery. But it had been a hard battle, and, in order to find allies in these years of crisis, the newly democratic Athenians even sent envoys out east to the Persian governor at Sardis. Better a distant Persian, they thought, than a Spartan-style oligarchy. When their amba.s.sadors agreed to submit to the Persian king and offer the symbolic 'earth and water', the Athenians in their democratic a.s.sembly held them 'greatly culpable' and rejected them.7 Fifteen years later, their new democratic freedom would be severely tested by those very Persian helpers whom they had sought. Fifteen years later, their new democratic freedom would be severely tested by those very Persian helpers whom they had sought.

9.

The Persian Wars When they had finished dining, they had begun the drinking and the Persian [Attaginus] said as follows to the Greek, a man from Orchomenus, who was sharing a couch with him. 'Since you are my companion at table and we have shared in the same libations, I want to leave you with a memorial of what I think, so that you may have foreknowledge and be able to decide what is to your own advantage. You see these Persians dining here and the army which is camped up by the river: in a short while, out of all these people you will see only a few left alive.' As the Persian said this, he shed copious tears... Then he said, 'My friend, no man can turn aside what must come about from G.o.d... n.o.body wants to heed even those who say what is trustworthy. Many of us Persians know this but we follow, bound by necessity. This is the most hateful anguish of all among men, to understand much and to prevail in nothing.'

Herodotus, 9.16, on the PersianTheban drinking-party before the battle of Plataea (479 BC) When the sixth century BC BC began, the Persians were living in a trivial kingdom south-east of modern s.h.i.+raz in Fars in Iran. It is most unlikely that any Greek, Egyptian, Jew or Levantine had ever heard of them. They had contacts with the more civilized court at Susa, seat of the Elamite kings on their western borders, but their own society was tribal, their riches still mainly in their flocks. At his accession, their king would drink sour milk and chew the leaves of the terebinth tree. No Persian bothered to learn to read or write. Their values were much more straightforward: tell the truth, ride a horse and shoot arrows. began, the Persians were living in a trivial kingdom south-east of modern s.h.i.+raz in Fars in Iran. It is most unlikely that any Greek, Egyptian, Jew or Levantine had ever heard of them. They had contacts with the more civilized court at Susa, seat of the Elamite kings on their western borders, but their own society was tribal, their riches still mainly in their flocks. At his accession, their king would drink sour milk and chew the leaves of the terebinth tree. No Persian bothered to learn to read or write. Their values were much more straightforward: tell the truth, ride a horse and shoot arrows.

Between the 550s and 520s the Persians overran the entire Near East from Egypt to the river Oxus. They profited from discontent in several of the major neighbouring kingdoms, the total absence of a popular nationalist opposition and their own hardy style of warfare with bow and spear on foot and horseback. Susa, Sardis, Babylon and Memphis fell to invaders who had never even seen a city, let alone cities of such splendour. In 530 their great King Cyrus died in an aggressive war against a tribal army out east in central Asia beyond the river Oxus. The Greek historian Herodotus claimed to know at least seven Persian versions of Cyrus' death, but the one which he chose to tell had none of the others' solemnity. Cyrus' opponent, he wrote, the tribal queen Tomyris, had taunted him for being 'insatiable for blood'.1 When he attacked her army and was killed, she proved her point by filling a bag with blood, hunting for King Cyrus' corpse and stuffing its head into the bag to give it more of the blood it had craved. When he attacked her army and was killed, she proved her point by filling a bag with blood, hunting for King Cyrus' corpse and stuffing its head into the bag to give it more of the blood it had craved.

The Persians, like the Greeks, wors.h.i.+pped many G.o.ds, except for a small minority who respected the dualist teachings of their reforming prophet Zoroaster (of uncertain date, but perhaps c. c. 550520 550520 BC BC). Wherever they went, they wors.h.i.+pped the local G.o.ds of the land, not through 'tolerance' but through prudence. On conquering Babylon in 539, King Cyrus was approached by many groups of pet.i.tioners who wanted favours for cults which the previous Babylonian rulers had harmed. Among them was a group of exiles from the Near East who asked for leave to rebuild a temple to their favoured G.o.d in their homeland and to restore its cult-objects. These pet.i.tioners were Jews, deported to Babylon about fifty years earlier. Cyrus gave them permission, as we can still read at the start of the biblical Book of Ezra, and so these Jews returned home to Judaea to honour their particular G.o.d, Yahweh. In due course they developed in their homeland the Temple-cult which would remain central to Jewish wors.h.i.+p for nearly six centuries. Like the Greeks, who ignored Judaea, Cyrus had no idea of the momentous implication of his decision, one among many which he made in Babylon. His favour gave Yahweh's devoted supporters the upper hand among their own fellow Jews in Judaea, without which 'G.o.d' might have remained the cult of a minority.

In western Asia, too, Cyrus' generals were open to approaches from prominent pet.i.tioners. They included Greeks from the east Greek city-states who were offering surrender and sometimes, like the exiled Jews, bringing favourable oracles from their local G.o.ds. Persians had no idea of citizens.h.i.+p or political freedom. Unlike the Greeks, they had never lived through a military hoplite reform and towns were simply not their sort of thing. Cyrus is said to have described the agora agora, or 'market-place', in Greek cities as a place where people met to tell lies and cheat each other.2 n.o.ble Persians preferred their country 'towers' and parks ('paradises', the origin of our word) where they could plant trees and hunt wild animals on horseback (on their seal-stones, we see them spearing foxes, outrageously, with a sort of three-p.r.o.nged trident). n.o.ble Persians preferred their country 'towers' and parks ('paradises', the origin of our word) where they could plant trees and hunt wild animals on horseback (on their seal-stones, we see them spearing foxes, outrageously, with a sort of three-p.r.o.nged trident).

'Luxury' was widely invoked to explain their conquering progress. The Greek cities of Asia were said to have gone soft because they indulged in too much scent and finery and therefore capitulated to hardy Persian warriors. In fact, there was brave local resistance: 'luxury' was irrelevant to the Greek defeat and the Persians outmatched the Greeks in Asia with their manpower and the art, learned in the Near East, of heaping mounds against city-walls so as to overtop them. Some of the eastern Greeks fled westwards to escape the whole ghastly conquest. They were not being unwisely 'h.e.l.lenocentric', as multi-cultural critics might nowadays suspect. The conquering Persians settled some of their faraway subjects as garrison-troops and colonists so as to hold down Asia; tribesmen from the Caspian Sea were drafted west to new settlements with names like 'Cyrus' Plain' or 'Darius' Village'. Persians had no tradition of provincial government and they inflicted the most savage penalties on suspected enemies. In his public record of his accession, their King Darius publicized vast, precise numbers of the 'opponents' to his own usurpation, including the number of n.o.bles whom he had had impaled. Persian methods of punishment were utterly beastly, including physical mutilation of 'rebels' by cutting off their nose and ears.

Nonetheless, the king did profess to be a fine dispenser of justice. 'I am a friend to right,' proclaimed King Darius in his 'official version' of his reign. 'I am not a friend to wrong. It is not my wish that the weak man should have wrong done to him by the mighty...nor that the mighty man should have wrong done to him by the weak.'3 The king was also not overcome by anger: 'I am not hot-tempered. Whatever develops in my anger, I keep firmly under control by my thoughts. I rule firmly over my own [impulse].' The trouble was that practice was rather different: 'justice' was decided by what was in the king's interest. There was no new 'Persian law' imposed on all of his growing Empire. At most, local laws were a.s.sembled in a province and then applied to it alone as the 'king's law'. In The king was also not overcome by anger: 'I am not hot-tempered. Whatever develops in my anger, I keep firmly under control by my thoughts. I rule firmly over my own [impulse].' The trouble was that practice was rather different: 'justice' was decided by what was in the king's interest. There was no new 'Persian law' imposed on all of his growing Empire. At most, local laws were a.s.sembled in a province and then applied to it alone as the 'king's law'. In c. c. 512/1, after a campaign beyond the Black Sea, the Persian King Darius came down to Sardis and took up his seat in the suburb of the city: requests and pet.i.tions were then made to him personally, not least by insecure tyrants from the eastern Greeks' cities. It was a cardinal moment in Greek history, the first time that a ruling king of an entire Greek region (Ionia) was accessible and sitting in judgement within reach of ambitious Greek pet.i.tioners. Not only did some of Darius' rulings for Greek sanctuaries live on for centuries in their local keeping; his presence is the first instance of the giving of justice by pet.i.tion and royal response, a pattern which was to become entrenched, some one hundred and sixty years later, with the rise of the kings of Macedon. It would then prevail for centuries with the establishment of Roman emperors. 512/1, after a campaign beyond the Black Sea, the Persian King Darius came down to Sardis and took up his seat in the suburb of the city: requests and pet.i.tions were then made to him personally, not least by insecure tyrants from the eastern Greeks' cities. It was a cardinal moment in Greek history, the first time that a ruling king of an entire Greek region (Ionia) was accessible and sitting in judgement within reach of ambitious Greek pet.i.tioners. Not only did some of Darius' rulings for Greek sanctuaries live on for centuries in their local keeping; his presence is the first instance of the giving of justice by pet.i.tion and royal response, a pattern which was to become entrenched, some one hundred and sixty years later, with the rise of the kings of Macedon. It would then prevail for centuries with the establishment of Roman emperors.

As conquerors, the Persians took tribute from all of Asia, piling up uncoined bullion in their distant royal palaces. They also took land locally for their own provincial estates. Conquest, in turn, was believed to have brought luxury to the Persians and to have corrupted these hardy sons of an austere home kingdom. Having no court-culture, the Persians certainly borrowed from peoples whom they conquered. Their kings started to wear splendid robes and cosmetics and to be protected by court-ushers, symbols which were taken over from their predecessors, the kings of the Medes in Iran. According to Herodotus, the Greeks taught the Persians pederasty, in the palace maybe, or in those erotic hot beds, the army and navy, where Greeks were recruited: physical beauty may account for the rise of particular Greek favourites at the Persian court. But s.e.x and luxury did not sap ambition. The truly missing link among Persians was political freedom, a Greek value which Persian kings increasingly threatened.

The Persians' favoured solution for the Greek cities in Asia was to rule them through a friendly tyrant or a small clique: true to their values, Persians often gave them power as a reward for 'services rendered' to the king's interests. By c. c. 510 510 BC BC Darius I had even gained the submission of the king of the Macedonians in the north of Greece beyond Mount Olympus. Further pressure on Greece would probably have occurred anyway, as each Persian king would have tried to win renown and extend his dominions. It was hastened, however, by a clear sequence of 't.i.t for tat'. In 499 Darius I had even gained the submission of the king of the Macedonians in the north of Greece beyond Mount Olympus. Further pressure on Greece would probably have occurred anyway, as each Persian king would have tried to win renown and extend his dominions. It was hastened, however, by a clear sequence of 't.i.t for tat'. In 499 BC BC Greeks in western Asia rebelled against the Persian rule which they had endured for nearly fifty years. The rebellion has become known as the 'Ionian Revolt', although it called on the bravery of other Greeks in Asia besides the Ionians and also involved some of the minor kings on Cyprus. It was supported, too, by the valiant non-Greek Carians in south-west Asia. Two of the most prominent Greek leaders in the revolt were probably playing a double game, at best, and keeping a sharp eye on the possibility of a career in Persian service and a place high up in its graduated system of rewards in kind. But in most of the Ionian cities, most citizens wanted something else when given half a chance: democracy, as in Athens for the past nine years. The continuing revolt and its battles would root this desire even more strongly among the main Greek partic.i.p.ants. Greeks in western Asia rebelled against the Persian rule which they had endured for nearly fifty years. The rebellion has become known as the 'Ionian Revolt', although it called on the bravery of other Greeks in Asia besides the Ionians and also involved some of the minor kings on Cyprus. It was supported, too, by the valiant non-Greek Carians in south-west Asia. Two of the most prominent Greek leaders in the revolt were probably playing a double game, at best, and keeping a sharp eye on the possibility of a career in Persian service and a place high up in its graduated system of rewards in kind. But in most of the Ionian cities, most citizens wanted something else when given half a chance: democracy, as in Athens for the past nine years. The continuing revolt and its battles would root this desire even more strongly among the main Greek partic.i.p.ants.

When the revolt began, the Greek partic.i.p.ants met in common council at the Ionians' central religious shrine (the Panionion on Mount Mycale, the promontory opposite Samos). Their unity was very fragile and in due course there were some conspicuous Greek 'neutrals' in the area, including the important city of Ephesus. Within five years, the full Persian fleet, manned by skilled Levantines, proved far too strong in open combat for the Greeks' rowers and their triremes. On Cyprus, too, there were strong examples of anti-Persian, pro-Greek loyalty, but no lasting success. It is on this island that the main relics of the revolt are still to be seen, the impressive siege-mound which Persian troops piled up in order to take the walls of the royal city of Paphos and the great buried tomb at Kourion which probably belonged, like its excavated 'treasure', to one of the main partic.i.p.ants, King Stesanor, who treacherously deserted the rebels' cause.

Initially, this uprising among the eastern Greeks received support from two mainland Greek communities, Eretria on Euboea and Athens. The Athenians paraded the strength of their 'kins.h.i.+p' with the first Greek settlers in Ionia, and sent s.h.i.+ps with a commander called Melanthus (evoking the name of the Ionian hero Melanthius). When the revolt was crushed in 494 BC BC, Persian revenge against Athens and Eretria was inevitable. It came in two waves, the second bigger than the first (5 million men, in later Greek tradition) and provoked five crucial battles: Marathon (490), where the Athenians beat the Persian raiders on land in Attica; Thermopylae (480), where the 300 brave Spartans tried to hold the pa.s.s into central Greece against a full Persian invasion, perhaps of 250,000 men; Salamis (480), where Athenian and Corinthian crews distinguished themselves in the biggest naval engagement known in all ancient history; Plataea (479), where Spartan hoplite infantry were crucial in the defeat of Persia's remaining land-army on Greek soil; Mycale (479), where a Spartan and an Athenian commander won a final victory off the Asian coast having followed the Persian fleet across the Aegean.

For the big sea-battles, the Athenians accepted a near-total mobilization. Their fleet of triremes had only multiplied in size three years before, thanks to their wise use of a new silver-strike in their Attic mines. Into these recently built s.h.i.+ps, tens of thousands of Athenians now packed themselves (200 to a trireme), willing to risk all in the heat, sweat and chaos of ramming-battles against the experienced Phoenician fleet. We cannot really imagine how intense and transforming this experience was. Even the reconstruction of one trireme has taken years of scholarly skill and dispute and it is still unexplained how the rowers could be guided and kept to an overall plan in the din of battle. The modern reconstructed trireme used loudspeakers because 'the length of the hull... and 170 sound-absorbing human bodies...meant that calls at maximum volume reached at most one third of the way down the s.h.i.+p'. Otherwise, the best method was found to be the humming of a well-known tune by all crew-members: 'unfortunately, there is no clear evidence that the ancient Greek ever hummed in our sense, either at sea or ash.o.r.e.'4 It was unfortunate, but not culpable, for a naval enterprise that the Persian partic.i.p.ants in the main invasions could not swim. It was downright stupid that King Xerxes did not cut off the grain-s.h.i.+ps which he met sailing to Greece from the Black Sea or that he did not send s.h.i.+ps ahead to seize Cythera, the island off Sparta from which the Spartans themselves could have been attacked. With hindsight, both of these errors were recognized by the Greeks who knew their potential danger. Only a small proportion of the 'Persian' invasion was actually Persian. Their cavalry was excellent, but the main army was recruited from their subjects and was at its best when engaging in vast projects of forced labour. For three years, a ca.n.a.l more than half a mile long was dug through Mount Athos to a.s.sist the Persians' advance into Greece. The workmen were driven on by whips, under the skilled planning of Phoenicians, and their surviving handiwork has recently been surveyed and verified on site. A remarkable bridge of boats and rope, woven from flax, was intertwined to ferry the Persian king's troops across the h.e.l.lespont. In both 490 and 480 horses were transported by sea in boats, a use of 'floating horseboxes' which is said to have been invented by Greeks from Samos.

In 490, it was said, the brave Athenians at Marathon were the 'first who held out when they saw [Oriental] Median costume, and people wearing it: until then, the very name of the "Medes" was a terror for Greeks to hear'.5 Even the Greek Herodotus (author of these words) could respect the 'spirit and impulse' of the Persians, the equal of the Greeks' own; what they lacked, he thought, was good armour, know-how and expertise ( Even the Greek Herodotus (author of these words) could respect the 'spirit and impulse' of the Persians, the equal of the Greeks' own; what they lacked, he thought, was good armour, know-how and expertise (sophia). Certainly, the heavy-armoured solid ranks of the Greek hoplites proved crucial on land. At Marathon, the Athenian hoplites proved to have been the first to attack 'at the run', across a mile (or so they said). At Plataea, in 479, the solid Spartiates were decisive against the lightly armoured Persians who rushed on them in fatally small groups. The fine Persian cavalry had horses which were proved by experience to be even faster than the Thessalian horses, the pride of many Greek racecourses. Their riders sometimes wore heavy suits of metal, but again they could not charge down a hoplite formation which stood firm. Nor could the famed Persian archers break through so much metal armour. The Spartan hoplites could even move backwards in formation, as if retreating: at Plataea, the manoeuvre was critical. At Thermopylae, their 300 used it less formally in the narrow pa.s.s and ended by grappling and biting the barbarians with their teeth. At Marathon, the Athenian 'run' was surely a fearsome shock tactic too, plunging the Persians into hoplite battle as an American historian, Victor Hanson, has tried to visualize it: 'the awful thud of forceful impact at the combined rate of ten miles an hour...the unusual size and bowl-like shape of the Greek hoplite s.h.i.+eld helping to create a feeling of absolute protection in the last seconds of the run... Any man who stumbled or fell wounded was in danger of being ground up as the men in the rear lumbered forward, blinded by dust and the press of bodies.'6 But that horror was what Greek citizens.h.i.+p and political freedom could sustain. But that horror was what Greek citizens.h.i.+p and political freedom could sustain.

Despite a cl.u.s.ter of Greek deserters and traitors, many of the Greek states did agree, in 481 BC BC, on a common 'h.e.l.lenic Alliance' whose representatives would meet at Corinth to decide major matters of war. During the invasion Greek 'expertise' included some very artful tricks, none more so than those of Themistocles, the Athenian politician. When the Persian fleet was anch.o.r.ed off Euboea in September 480 BC BC he had messages inscribed on the rocks urging their east Greek contingents to desert (he a.s.sumed, therefore, that some of them were liter-ate). At Salamis, for the crucial naval battle in late September 480, he sent a false message to the Persian king by the hand of his old tutor Sicinnus, implying that the Greek fleet was about to try to break out of the narrow Bay. The tutor Sicinnus was a slave, possibly a bilingual slave from Asia, and he had three effects. He persuaded the Persians to divide their fleet into four, two parts of which went off to block irrelevant exits in the Bay. He kept the Persian crews at their oars all night, in case the Greeks tried a night-time escape: by dawn, they were exhausted. He also influenced the heavier Persian wars.h.i.+ps to move up into the narrowest entry to the Bay in the morning, expecting to find most of the Greeks gone. In fact, they were all there and broke the Persians' left wing, catching them in the narrows where their superior numbers were no help to them. Themistocles' trick was the ultimate cause of the Greek victory. he had messages inscribed on the rocks urging their east Greek contingents to desert (he a.s.sumed, therefore, that some of them were liter-ate). At Salamis, for the crucial naval battle in late September 480, he sent a false message to the Persian king by the hand of his old tutor Sicinnus, implying that the Greek fleet was about to try to break out of the narrow Bay. The tutor Sicinnus was a slave, possibly a bilingual slave from Asia, and he had three effects. He persuaded the Persians to divide their fleet into four, two parts of which went off to block irrelevant exits in the Bay. He kept the Persian crews at their oars all night, in case the Greeks tried a night-time escape: by dawn, they were exhausted. He also influenced the heavier Persian wars.h.i.+ps to move up into the narrowest entry to the Bay in the morning, expecting to find most of the Greeks gone. In fact, they were all there and broke the Persians' left wing, catching them in the narrows where their superior numbers were no help to them. Themistocles' trick was the ultimate cause of the Greek victory.

If the Persians had won in Greece, Greek freedom would have been curbed and with it, the political, artistic, dramatic and philosophical progress which has been a beacon to Western civilization. Satraps would have ruled Greece and dispensed personal justice; a few Greek traitors and collaborators would have flourished, and, at most, Persians might have dined on sofas and encouraged and watched the Greeks' athletic games, although their kings would never have risked competing in them for fear of losing, and, for good Persians, naked exercise (though t.i.tillating) was shameful and out of the question. In 480 brave Greeks and their families died for freedom not slavery. Posterity has remembered several of them, Pytheas from the island of Aegina who died in a sea-battle from so many wounds that even the enemy kept his corpse on board their s.h.i.+p to honour it, or Aristodemus of Sparta who survived alone from the glorious Spartan band of 300 'Knights' at Thermopylae and then, out of shame, fought way beyond the line with frenzied bravery so as to acquit himself, next year, at Plataea. To commemorate the victories, a column of three entwined serpents, made of bronze, was set up at Delphi to the G.o.d Apollo and was inscribed with the names of thirty-one grateful Greek states. Among them, the Spartans at Plataea and the Athenians deserved a particular praise. In 490 the Athenians had won the first round of battle against the Persian invasion at Marathon. In Winter 481/0 they acted on their dire decision to evacuate their city and left it, with their dogs swimming beside them. In their absence they saw a great Persian sacrilege, the burning and ruin of the temples on their Acropolis. For two consecutive harvests they were out of their own territory, but nonetheless they ignored offers of terms from the Persian king and continued to fight heartily at Salamis, Plataea and Mycale. The Delphic oracle, by contrast, took the Persian side, and then had to invent stories of its 'divine' protection in order to explain why the Persian invaders, its friends, had not sacked it.

The battle was for Greek freedom, but the contrasts of justice and luxury were woven into memories of it. Persians were capable of a terrible ruthlessness, decapitating and impaling corpses, having young boys castrated and, in Xerxes' case, ordering an attempted 'draft dodger' of a father to be flayed. The father's skin was then stretched as a covering on the very seat from which he had once given justice. Greek values of restraint, modesty and justice were affronted by these anecdotes. The invaders' finery made an equally profound impression and was remembered in some vivid episodes. One Persian cavalryman had armour entirely made of gold; Persian cavalry-horses ate from mangers made of solid bronze, too; the Greek concubine of a Persian n.o.bleman dressed herself and all her maids in gold jewellery in order to win pardon from the Greek commander after the defeat at Plataea. An astounding quant.i.ty of gold and silver objects, including wonderful clothing, was taken as spoils in the battle. Some of it was stolen by the Spartans' helot-serfs, but some was still being found in the nearby fields many years later. Just once, in 479, the young Spartan commander Pausanias ordered the captive cooks of King Xerxes to prepare a magnificent Oriental dinner and set it out for his guests in the former royal tent. He then ordered a Spartan meal to be prepared too and served in all its spa.r.s.eness beside the Persian one. Among the king's lavish silver and gold furniture, Pausanias is then said to have told his Greek guests how silly the king had been to come so far, when he had so much, in order to invade a Greece which had almost nothing.

The costumes, the jewellery, the gold which the Greeks observed were cla.s.sed as soft and 'effeminate'. In subsequent Athenian art, in vase painting and in the theatre, barbarian Orientals were indeed represented in these 'Oriental' terms. But this representation was not a new Greek 'invention' of the barbarian, in the wake of victory. Greeks abroad in the West and East had already antic.i.p.ated it, beginning with Homer's description of a 'barbarian-speaking' Carian who was dressed in gold 'like a girl' (barbaros referred to the alien 'bar-bar' sound of non-Greek speech). referred to the alien 'bar-bar' sound of non-Greek speech).7 Rather, old stereotypes were reinforced by the Greeks' amazing triumph. The barbarian losers were presented as 'slaves' to one master, their king (Persian kings did indeed refer to their subjects as their 'inferiors', a word which Greeks translated as 'slaves'). By contrast, the free Greeks were hardened by their poor land. The Spartans, Xerxes was said to have been told, were free men who knew only one master, their law. Rather, old stereotypes were reinforced by the Greeks' amazing triumph. The barbarian losers were presented as 'slaves' to one master, their king (Persian kings did indeed refer to their subjects as their 'inferiors', a word which Greeks translated as 'slaves'). By contrast, the free Greeks were hardened by their poor land. The Spartans, Xerxes was said to have been told, were free men who knew only one master, their law.

The ultimate victors were the Greek G.o.ds and semi-divine heroes. They seemed to be present in the awful tumult of battle; their very multiplicity kept up morale. If prayers and sacrifices to one of the G.o.ds proved ineffective, there was always another one to try hopefully instead. Persians, by contrast, included Zoroastrians who believed in two warring powers, one good, one evil, and when things went badly, the evil one, Ahriman, would seem unstoppable. Victory monuments to the Greek G.o.ds were built at the great Greek athletic centres, Olympia, Delphi and the Isthmus. In a fine celebration after the victory of 479, the Spartan king Pausanias, a warrior in his early thirties, sacrificed to Zeus Eleutherios, 'Zeus of Freedom', in the main agora agora of brave little Plataea. It is the most touching victory-celebration in all ancient history. of brave little Plataea. It is the most touching victory-celebration in all ancient history.

Evidence of the wars continues to reappear, with more, no doubt, to be found. In 1959 a reinscribed text of what appears to be Themistocles' proposal for the evacuation of Athens in 481/0 was found on a stone at the ancient site of Troezen: it was itself a later copy, evidence of the event's continuing fame.8 In 1971 another inscribed text was found at Plataea whose citizens had helped the Athenians at Marathon in 490 and had witnessed Pausanias' great sacrifice after the nearby battle in 479. This text testified to a cult some two centuries later of 'Zeus the Liberator and the Concord of the Greeks' and to an athletic contest which the Greeks were still celebrating 'for the brave men who fought against the barbarians for the liberty of the Greeks'. In 1971 another inscribed text was found at Plataea whose citizens had helped the Athenians at Marathon in 490 and had witnessed Pausanias' great sacrifice after the nearby battle in 479. This text testified to a cult some two centuries later of 'Zeus the Liberator and the Concord of the Greeks' and to an athletic contest which the Greeks were still celebrating 'for the brave men who fought against the barbarians for the liberty of the Greeks'.9 'Freedom' games remained popular, and for us the 'tombs' and the 'heroes' have acquired more meaning. In 1992 parts of a celebratory poem by the great poet Simonides were recovered from a piece of papyrus: they compare Pausanias, the Spartan commander at Plataea, with the hero Achilles, the star of Homer's Trojan War against barbarians. 'Freedom' games remained popular, and for us the 'tombs' and the 'heroes' have acquired more meaning. In 1992 parts of a celebratory poem by the great poet Simonides were recovered from a piece of papyrus: they compare Pausanias, the Spartan commander at Plataea, with the hero Achilles, the star of Homer's Trojan War against barbarians.10 In Athens, during the 1990s, yet more fragments of an inscribed text which was set up to honour the valiant dead at Marathon were recovered during building work. A further inscription now shows that they belonged to a special cenotaph in the heart of Athens which was se