Phormion (strategist)

Phormion (Gr. Φορμίων; † around 428 BC), the son of Asopios (also: Asopichos), was an Athenian strategist (military commander) at the time of Pericles and in the early years of the Peloponnesian War .

The ancient writer and geographer Pausanias referred to Phormion in his “Description of Greece” as “one of the good citizens of Athens” and reported that he “was distinguished by the fame of his ancestors” (I 23, 10).

In 440 BC Phormion worked under Pericles as an admiral in the conquest of the Aegean island of Samos . In the run-up to the Peloponnesian War, he was 432 BC. He was charged with leading the Athenian operations at Potidaia (on the westernmost "finger" of the Chalkidike peninsula in the North Aegean), where he commanded 1,600 armored personnel.

431 BC He undertook military operations against the Chalcidian cities and 430 BC. Against the Ambrakioten in support of the Amphilochians and Acarnanians.

429 BC He operated off Argos and Naupaktos, where he defeated a superior Corinthian fleet of 47 ships with 20 ships. In a second naval battle near Naupaktos against an even greater superiority of 77 ships under Spartan leadership, he was only half successful because his reinforcements from Athens did not arrive in time. In the winter of 429/428 BC He went on a campaign in Akarnania and then returned to Athens.

At one point (not entirely clear) in his career, Phormion was fined 100 mines as a disciplinary measure by the Athenian People's Assembly, which Phormion was unable to pay. As a result, he lost his civil rights through " atimie " and had to withdraw from Athens to his hometown Päania. When the Athenians called him again soon afterwards, possibly at the request of the Akarnans, with whom Phormion was in high regard, to lead their fleet, Phormion refused to take over this office, citing the atimia that weighed on him, which made it impossible for him to to preside over a fleet with authority. Thereupon the Athenians, who absolutely wanted Phormion to take over the office, as Pausanias reported, paid his debts from the state treasury.

Phormion is probably still 428 BC soon after his return to Athens. Died. His cause of death is unclear. However, it can be pointed out that in the Attic capital between 430 and 427 B.C. A plague epidemic raged intermittently, killing thousands of Athenians.

Phormion was so popular with the Acarnans that after his death they wanted a relative as their general to continue military operations. Athens then sent the son of Phormion, named Asopios the Elder after his grandfather. J. However, this came as early as 428 BC. After previous successful actions in an unfortunate landing operation in Akarnanien.

In the comedies of Aristophanes and Eupolis , Phormion was presented to the Athenians for at least a decade as a prototype of an exemplary officer.

According to Pausanias , there was later a statue of Phormion on the Acropolis in Athens.

swell

• Diodorus Siculus : Historical Library .
• Pausanias : Description of Greece .
• Thucydides : History of the Peloponnesian War . Books I, II and III.

literature

• Norbert Geske: Nikias and the people of Athens in the Archidamian War . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2005. Historia individual writings, vol. 186.
• Joseph Roisman: The General Demosthenes and his Use of Military Surprise . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1993. Historia individual writings, vol. 78.
• Lawrence A. Tritle: A new history of the Peloponnesian War , Hong Kong 2010. [1]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lawrence A. Tritle: A new history of the Peloponnesian War , Hongkong 2010, p. 52.
2. ^ Pausanias : Description of Greece , I 23,10.