Diomedon

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Diomedon ( Greek Διομέδων Diomédōn ; * around 450 BC; † 406 BC ) was a politician and general in classical Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC). He was close to the democratic party and was considered particularly god-fearing.

The historian Thucydides first mentions Diomedon in 412 BC. When he was sent to Ionia with 16 ships in the rank of strategist in order to hold the remaining possessions of Athens after the defeat of the island of Chios . First he succeeded in doing this in the city of Teos .

After the Chians attacked the island of Lesbos a little later , Diomedon and his colleague Leon succeeded in defeating the fleet of the allied Chians and Spartans by means of a surprise attack in the port and regaining the already defected main towns of Mytilene and Methymna for Athens. Then they turned against Chios itself, devastated the island and besieged the city.

The following winter Diomedon and Leon were dispatched to the island of Samos off the coast of Asia Minor , which had meanwhile become the headquarters of the Athenian fleet. From there they undertook a journey against the also renegade Rhodes , whose marching fleet they defeated in a battle.

After 411 BC When the oligarchical council of four hundred had taken power in Athens, the army and navy in Samos remained a refuge of democratic resistance against the new regime. Under the leadership of the democratically-minded strategists, who included Diomedon and Leon, Thrasybulus and Thrasyllos , the Athenian soldiers and rowers on the island succeeded in reversing the short-term overthrow of the oligarchs. A little later, the resistance of the fleet in Samos brought about a return to democracy in Athens .

At the end of 411 Diomedon was probably among the participants in the Battle of Kynossema , even if his name, unlike Thrasybul and Thrasyllos, is not mentioned for several years. Under the command of Alcibiades he seems to have played a subordinate role, but after his dismissal as a result of the lost battle of Notion (407 BC), Diomedon and Leon were re-elected strategists for the year 406.

After Leon fell off Lesvos in the summer of the same year and the rest of the fleet was locked in the port of Mytilene under the command of the general Konon , Diomedon made an attempt to bring relief with twelve ships, but failed with heavy losses.

Subsequently, Diomedon was in the battle of the Arginus one of the commanders in the front line, where he commanded the left center on the side of the commanding Aristocrates and defeated the Spartan sea ​​lord Kallikratidas . After a victorious battle he campaigned in the General Council for the urgent rescue of the castaways, but was only able to prevail in part, as the greater part of the fleet was parked in Mytilene for the pursuit of the fugitive enemies and the relief of the trapped.

After returning to Athens, Diomedon was accused of omission in the Arginusen trial and, despite the eloquent defense speech of his friend Euryptolemus, was sentenced to death together with his fellow military officers . Before the execution , Diomedon warned the Athenians to fulfill the vows he had made to the gods in his place, since he was no longer able to do so himself.

swell

  • Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War
  • Xenophon: Hellenika
  • Diodorus: library

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thucydides, VIII 19f.
  2. ^ Thucydides, VIII 22-24.
  3. ^ Thucydides, VIII 54f.
  4. ^ Thucydides, VIII 73f.
  5. ↑ Thucydides, VIII 104.3.
  6. ↑ Xenophon , Hellenika , I 5,16.
  7. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika , I 6.22f.
  8. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika , I 6.29f and I 7.29.
  9. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenika , I 7.1ff and Diodor , Bibliothek , XIII 101f.
personal data
SURNAME Diomedon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Athenian general
DATE OF BIRTH around 450 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 406 BC Chr.
Place of death Athens