Symmachy
Symmachie (Greek συμμαχία, symmachia , dt. Kampfgemeinschaft, Bündnis, from symmachos , pl. Symmachoi , fellow warrior) is the name for an alliance treaty in ancient Greece .
Above all, larger ancient alliance systems, such as the Peloponnesian League or the Attisch-Delian Sea League , are well-known examples of symmetries in which the individual Poleis had concluded a bilateral treaty with the hegemonic power of the federal government ( Sparta and Athens ) . The allies of the hegemon were usually not allied with one another. However, in these alliance systems, the Graubünden committed themselves to army succession if the hegemonic power so desired, which gave the alliance an offensive character.
In general, symmachies were little institutionalized treaty alliances; That is, they had little or no offices of their own or political organs: the military command, for example, naturally fell to the hegemon of an alliance; an irregularly convened, advisory federal assembly has only been handed down for the Peloponnesian Confederation . As is well known, the Attic Symmachie had a mostly richly filled federal treasury, into which mainly unarmed Graubünden residents had to make replacement payments for the missing military contribution. In the early days of the alliance it was on the island of Delos - which indicates a more decentralized organization - and was later housed in the Parthenon there, especially in the course of the stronger centralization of the alliance towards Athens .
In the Peloponnesian War a form of symmachy called epimachia ( epimachia ) emerged, which was basically just the old form of symmachy and had a strictly defensive character. The alliance was only obliged to provide assistance in the event of an attack on one of the alliance partners (cf. Thucydides I 44). The Epirotian tribes united under the kings of the Molossians originally formed only a koinon , which later expanded into a symmetry with the inclusion of other states. The hegemon of the covenant were the kings of the Aiakid family . In Hellenistic times , the contractual symmetries were replaced by much more solid, federal structures (the koina ), which were mostly no longer geared towards a hegemon.
The names of the alliances, such as the Delisch-Attic or Peloponnesian League, are all modern. In contemporary sources one finds, for example, the distinctive phrases "The Athenians and their comrades-in-arms" ( hoi Athenaíoi kai hoi sýmmachoi ) or "The Lacedaemonians and their comrades-in-arms" ( hoi Lakedaimonioi kai hoi sýmmachoi ).
Well-known symmachies
See also:
literature
- Ernst Baltrusch : Symmachie and Spondai. Studies on Greek international law of the archaic and classical period (8th – 5th centuries BC) (= studies on ancient literature and history. 43). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1994, ISBN 3-11-013745-3 (At the same time: Berlin, Technical University, habilitation paper, 1991).
- Peter J. Rhodes Durham: Symmachia. In: The New Pauly . Volume 11: Sam - Valley. Metzler, Stuttgart et al. 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , Sp. 1131 f.
- Michael Steinbrecher: The Delian-Attic League and the Athenian-Spartan Relations in the Kimonic Era. (approx. 478/7 - 462/1) (= Palingenesia . 21). Steiner-Verlag-Wiesbaden, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-515-04116-8 .
- Klaus Tausend: Amphictyony and Symmachy. Forms of interstate relations in archaic Greece (= Historia . Individual writings. Vol. 73). Steiner, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-515-06137-1 (at the same time: Graz, University, habilitation paper, 1991).
