Euthydemos (strategist)
Euthydemos ( Greek Ευθύδημος ) was an Attic strategist in the Peloponnesian War during the siege of Syracuse .
The name Euthydemos is given by Thucydides in 422 BC. BC as one of the signatories of the Nicias peace and the treaty of alliance between Sparta and Athens. Presumably it is the same person who died in 414 BC. First took part as an officer under the command of the generals Nikias , Alkibiades and Lamachos in the expedition of the Athenians against Sicily and the siege of Syracuse . After the flight of Alcibiades and the death of Lamachos, Euthydemus was appointed strategist at the end of 414, together with another officer, Menandros , by the people's assembly in Athens to support Nicias, who had kidney disease, on the spot. At the same time, the general Demosthenes was commissioned to set up an auxiliary fleet for the beleaguered expedition army and to lead it to Syracuse.
Before the reinforcements arrived, the two newly appointed strategists, Euthydemus and Menandros, pushed for a battle to justify their appointment, but when they prevailed with their ambitious plan against the more cautious Nicias, they suffered a setback in port, killing several ships and the important outworks at the port entrance were lost.
After the arrival of the auxiliary expedition, Euthydemos commanded the left wing of the Athenians against the right wing of the Syracusans under Sikanos in another naval battle . Early September 413 BC BC Euthydemus was next to Demosthenes and Menandros again among the commanders of the Attic fleet when it was trapped and defeated in the last decisive naval battle in the port of Syracuse. Since nothing is known about the further whereabouts of the Euthydemos, it can only be assumed that he was killed in the last sea battle or when the Athenians retreated into the interior.
swell
- Diodorus : Greek World History , Book 11-13. Translated by Otto Veh , introduced and commented by Wolfgang Will . Hiersemann-Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-7772-9739-9 (Library of Greek Literature, Volume 45).
- Plutarch : Nicias. German Translation by Konrat Ziegler . In: Great Greeks and Romans. 6 volumes, Zurich 1954–1965 (numerous reprints).
- Thucydides : The Peloponnesian War. Translated by GP Landmann. Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-7608-4103-1 (Library of the Old World).
literature
- Arthur Hugh Clough: Euthydemus . In: William Smith (Ed.): Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . tape 2 : Ea'rinus, Fla'vius – Nyx . Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1870, p. 123–124 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- Donald Kagan : The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition. Ithaca / NY 1981, ISBN 0-8014-9940-2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thucydides , 5, 19 and 24.
- ↑ Thucydides, 7:16 .
- ↑ Plutarch , Nicias 20.
- ^ Diodorus , Bibliothek 13, 13.
- ↑ Thucydides, 7:69.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Euthydemos |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Greek general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th century BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | uncertain: 413 BC Chr. |
| Place of death | near Syracuse |