Sami war

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South of Ephesus: Samos, Priene, Miletus

The Sami War ended in 441–439 BC. BC, at the end of the Pentecontaetie , between Athens and Samos and thus took place a few years before the start of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. Instead of. It is a prime example of the violent enforcement of the hegemonic position of Athens within the Attic League , but also of the resistance and the desire for freedom of the Attic allies.

Historical meaning

The Sami War shows very clearly the historical process, during which the former campaigner ( Symmachoi , ξύμμαχοι ) becoming subjects (Hypekooi, in the Persian Wars ὑπήκοοι were) Athens. Athens restricted the autonomy of its allies, especially when the poleis became too powerful. The dissatisfaction of the allies and Sparta's opposition led to the Peloponnesian War, which began with a conflict similar to that in Samos, namely with Corinth over the islands of Kerkyra and Epidamnos . With this war, the great conflict between Athens and Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, with the end of which Athens lost its hegemonic position, casts its shadow.

swell

The most important source for the dispute is the first book of Thucydides , from the so-called archeology , which discusses the prehistory to the Peloponnesian War. There he writes about the beginning of the war:

"Five years later the war between the Sami and Milesians for Priene started  ..."

With “after” he referred to the Thirty Years Peace with Sparta 446/445. - At the end of the war Thucydides writes:

"... they [the Samians] were conquered in the ninth month [after the outbreak of the war] and submitted to the contract: to destroy the walls, to give hostages and to hand over the ships and to pay the war costs in installments."

Plutarch wrote something similar, but blamed Pericles ' mistress and wife Aspasia for the outbreak of war . Because Samos and Miletus were at war for the possession of Priene and Aspasia herself came from Miletus, she had urged Pericles to war against Samos.

Another source is Diodorus .

backgrounds

In the Attic League, the small poleis willingly leaned against Athens and made tribute payments in order not to have to maintain their own fleet. It was different with the big Poleis, who maintained their own warships and provided separate contingents for the League instead of paying tribute. They owned independent territories and poleis and waged independent wars with their neighbors over them, in which Athens only interfered when it was called for help by one of the adversaries. The best-known example of this is the dispute between Samos and Milet over Priene. After the submission of Thasos and Aegina , Samos retained its independence among all federal islands. It had once been the leading sea power in the Aegean Archipelagos ; its inhabitants had done the most of all the Ionians to liberate the islands and coasts from Persian occupation, and were therefore treated with the greatest consideration by Athens. Samos was therefore not prepared to allow Athens to patronize it, either through arbitral awards or through interference with its own oligarchical constitution.

Conflict between Samos and Miletus (442 BC)

In Samos, a small ruling class formed by hoplites ruled as an oligarchy , which suppressed the democratic movement and pursued its own rulership plans. These plans involved Samos in 442 BC. In a war with Miletus . It was about the possession of Priene . This lay between the Milesian area and the mainland property of the Samians, opposite their island. The Milesians could not hold Priene. They turned to Athens, where they were supported by the democratic opposition representatives from Samos. This was the opportunity for Athens to intervene on behalf of the Democrats in Samos. The Athenian People's Assembly demanded that the parties involved in the conflict, in particular the victorious Samos, bring the matter to an Athenian arbitration tribunal. When the Sami oligarchs refused, in the summer of 441 BC Perikles immediately took 40 ships to Samos, established a democratic constitution there without great resistance and forced the oligarchs to stand still by taking 50 men and 50 children from their midst as hostages to Lemnos , which was inhabited by Athenian settlers .

The uprising against Athens (441/40 BC)

The oligarchic party did not give up. Their leaders, who had fled from Samos, received support from Pissouthnes , the satrap in Sardis , who contacted Byzantium , which had left the League. They freed their hostages, overpowered the Attic occupation of their island, and then openly declared their secession from Athens. This was the beginning of another alliance war.

For Athens the situation worsened. The general reluctance of the Graubünden to pay war taxes had grown during the years of peace, the Persians interfered in conflicts, the Phoenician fleet of the Persian great king was ready for action, Sparta was asked to support and the oligarchs, including Melissus , a philosopher from the school of Parmenides , who commanded the fleet, immediately resumed the war on the mainland after their rule was restored, in order to gain a firm position here too.

Athens was forced to act and was afraid of losing its reputation. Therefore Pericles appeared before the beginning of spring 441 BC. BC with 60 ships off Samos, sent 16 ships partly in the direction of Caria to observe the movements of the Phoenician fleet, which was supposed to leave in spring, partly to Chios and Lesbos to get support. Another Athenian naval commander was Sophocles , who had won first prize with the Antigone in Athens the year before . Pericles and the other ships defeated the 70 Sami ships that came from the mainland, and then, reinforced by further troops, enclosed the city of Samos on the land and sea side. When the approach of the Phoenicians was reported, Pericles rushed to meet them with all dispensable ships and the besieged took the opportunity to break through the weakened blockade. Under the leadership of Melissos, the Melesians ruled the sea for 14 days and supplied themselves with weapons and food.

Suppression of the uprising (440/39)

When Pericles returned, he defeated Melissus' fleet and renewed the blockade. In July new generals, including Thucydides (not the historian, not even the son of Melesias ), Hagnon and Phormion , came to help with 90 triremes . The general office of Pericles had meanwhile been extended. With the help of new siege engines, he managed to have the Sami surrender after nine months of siege. Their triremes were surrendered, their walls destroyed, they had to take hostages, pay Athens' war costs, change the constitution according to the will of the Athenians, and renounce any independence. However, the Sami mainland possessions were excluded from this and in addition to the duties of the Sami there were also those of the Athenians: In the future, always to decide good things for the good of the Samians and to stand up for them.

consequences

This war had far-reaching consequences. The only state that could be dangerous in the alliance of Athens had been completely defeated, and Pericles' reputation had been consolidated by the short and successful campaign. Pericles seemed to become indispensable. Byzantium, which had fallen away, gave up after the defeat of Samos and returned to the League. Lesbos and Chios remained the only independent states among the allies of Athens, all the rest (about 400 Poleis) were now subservient to the Athenians. An Athens triumphing through the Sami War was quicker ready for major disputes, which with the Peloponnesian War brought the end of Athens' supremacy.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Thucydides 1,115.2-117.3.
  2. ↑ Thucydides 1, 115, 2: ἕκτῳ δὲ ἔτει Σαμίοις καὶ Μιλησίοις πόλεμος ἐγένετο περὶ Πριήνης .
  3. ↑ Thukydides 1, 117, 3: ἐξεπολιορκήθησαν ἐνάτῳ μηνὶ καὶ προσεχώρησαν ὁμολογίᾳ, τεῖχός τε καθελόντες καὶ ὁμήρους δόντες καὶ ναῦς παραδόντες καὶ χρήματα τὰ ἀναλωθέντα ταξάμενοι κατὰ χρόνους ἀποδοῦναι . ξυνέβησαν δὲ καὶ Βυζάντιοι ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον ὑπήκοοι εἶναι .
  4. ↑ Plutarch, Pericles 24-28.
  5. ↑ Plutarch, Perikles 24 u. 25th
  6. ↑ Diodorus 12, 27-28.
  7. ↑ Plutarch, Pericles 25, 1.
  8. ↑ IG I 3 48 lines 15-16 and 21-22.