Battle of the Eurymedon

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The battle of Eurymedon took place around 465 BC. . Chr between the troops of the Delian League led by Kimon and the Persians instead; it belongs to the late phase of the Persian Wars and is considered to be the last significant armed conflict between the League and the Persians.

Course of events

In fact, this was a double battle: On the same day, the land armies and the fleets of the Athenians and Persians fought each other at the mouth of the Eurymedon River (today: Köprü Çayı in southern Turkey). The Eurymedon ran in southern Asia Minor , coming from the Taurus Mountains , past the city of Aspendos to the coast of Pamphylia in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Greeks first succeeded in destroying the enemy fleet, which consisted of 200 Phoenician ships in the service of the Persians, in the sea battle . Thereupon Kimon landed on the coast, attacked the Persian army camp and also defeated the enemy land army. Since the Greek triremes usually only wore a small number of hoplites , it is usually assumed that the land battle is more like a small encounter.

consequences

The Persian supremacy in the waters between Cyprus and Asia Minor was broken by the victory of the League of Nations ; the Aegean became an inland sea ruled by Greece. The victory made Athens a great power and appears as the most important opponent of the Persian Empire. As a result, the cities of Caria and Lycia (including Knidos and Phaselis ) joined the League. The booty gained in battle was used to expand the Acropolis of Athens.

Artistic reception

The famous, so-called “ Eurymedon jug ” obviously belongs in the context of the battle . This shows a caricatured Persian who is about to be anally raped by a Greek or Thracian, as well as the words "I am Eurymedon".

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literature

  • Hans Ditten: Eurymedon . In: Johannes Irmscher , Renate Johne (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Antike , Leipzig 1990.
  • Josef Fischer: The Persian Wars. Darmstadt 2013.
  • Detlev Wannagat : Eurymedon eimi. Signs of ethnic, social and physical difference in vase painting of the 5th century. v. Chr. In: Ralf von den Hoff et al. (Ed.): Constructions of Reality. Pictures in Greece of the 5th and 4th centuries v. Chr. Stuttgart 2001, pp. 51-71.
  • Wolfgang Will : The Persian Wars . Munich 2010.