Phrynichos (politician)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phrynichos († 411 BC ), son of Stratonides, was an Athenian strategist and politician in the Peloponnesian War . He was considered a moderate supporter of the oligarchy and opponent of Alcibiades . 411 BC He was involved in the oligarchical coup in Athens. After his murder by a political opponent, he was ostracized as a traitor.

Phrynichos is first mentioned in 422 BC. Mentioned in a comedy by Aristophanes .

In the summer of 412 BC As a strategist, he drove from Samos to Miletus as a strategist with a fleet of 55 ships and 3,500 hoplites , in order to restore Ionia , which had fallen from Athens . In the Battle of Miletus outside the walls of the city, the Athenians triumphed over the allied Milesians, Spartans and Persians . When the arrival of a Peloponnesian - Syracuse fleet was announced the next day , however, Phrynichus advocated abandoning the siege and withdrawing immediately, leaving the prey behind, ultimately prevailing against his more risk-taking colleagues. Although he deprived the Athenians of the fruits of their victory, the historian Thucydides attested that he had a correct insight into the limited possibilities of the Attic fleet.

The Attic fleet returned to Samos, which Phrynichos had fortified with an additional wall opposite the sea in view of the new maritime threat. At the same time, he was the only strategist to oppose the efforts to recall the defector Alkibiades, whom he sought to discredit through a complicated intrigue, and he also contacted the Spartan sea ​​lord Astyochus . Alkibiades then countered with the accusation of treason, which Phrynichus was able to refute by pointing out his energetic fortification of the island.

In Athens, meanwhile, Peisandros, who was trying to get Alcibiades back, brought up the same reproach, because Phrynichus had betrayed Athens' allies in Carian Iasus with his retreat from Miletus . Phrynichus also knew how to avert this danger by taking the side of Peisandro and the oligarchs allied with him after the end of his office as strategist in Athens. Overthrew the democratic constitution and established oligarchic rule.

Phrynichos was a member of the new "Council of Four Hundred" in which he played a leading role. Together with the speaker Antiphon, he was entrusted with an embassy to Sparta, whose efforts at peace, however, failed. On his return from Sparta, Phrynichus was stabbed to death by a patrolman in the Athens market. Since his death did not result in a clear backlash from the oligarchs, the critics of the aristocracy took courage and, under the leadership of Theramenes and the aristocrates, pushed through a return to a democratic constitution. Then they decided to rehabilitate and recall the Alkibiades.

After that there was no more grace for the memory of Phrynichus. His house was ransacked and his body was dug up on charges of treason and taken across the country's borders. His murderer, however, was honored by a decree, the inscription of which has been preserved.

The main source for the life of Phrynichus is Thucydides , VIII 25–92. The speaker Lysias , XIII 70-76, reports on his death.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Aristophanes, The Wasps , 1302.
  2. ↑ Thucydides, VIII 25-27.
  3. ↑ Thucydides, VIII 48-51.
  4. ↑ Thucydides, VIII 54 and 68.
  5. ↑ Thucydides, VIII 68 and Aristotle , Politeia , 5,6 1305b 27.
  6. ^ Thucydides, VIII 90-92.
  7. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae I³ 102 . Cf. Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War . Translated and provided with an introduction and explanations by Georg Peter Landmann, dtv, Munich, 1991, p. 695.
personal data
SURNAME Phrynichos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Athenian strategist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Athens
DATE OF DEATH 411 BC Chr.
Place of death Athens