The Battle of Arginusae: Victory at Sea and Its Tragic Aftermath in the Final Years of the Peloponnesian War

by Debra Hamel

Overview

A harrowing, immersive introduction to a violent turning point in the conflict between Sparta and Athens.

A pivotal skirmish involving nearly three hundred Athenian and Spartan ships toward the end of the Peloponnesian War, the Battle of Arginusae was at the time the largest naval battle ever fought between warring Greeks. It was a crucial win for the Athenians, since losing the battle would have led to their total defeat by Sparta and, perhaps, the slaughter and enslavement of their entire population. Paradoxically, the win at Arginusae resulted in one of the worst disasters to befall the Athenians during the brutal twenty-seven-year war.

Due to a combination of factors—incompetent leadership, the weariness of the sailors, a sudden storm—the commanders on the scene failed to rescue the crews of twenty-five Athenian ships that had been disabled during the battle. Thousands of men, many of them injured, were left clinging to the wreckage of their ships awaiting help that never came. When the Athenians back home heard what had happened, they deposed the eight generals who had been in command during the battle. Two of these leaders went into exile; the six who returned to Athens were tried and eventually executed.

The Battle of Arginusae describes the violent battle and its horrible aftermath. Debra Hamel introduces readers to Athens and Sparta, the two thriving superpowers of the fifth century B.C. She provides a summary of the events that caused the long war and discusses the tactical intricacies of Greek naval warfare. Recreating the claustrophobic, unhygienic conditions in which the ships' crews operated, Hamel unfolds the process that turned this naval victory into one of the most infamous chapters in the city-state's history. Aimed at classics students and general readers, the book also provides an in-depth examination of the fraught relationship between Athens' military commanders and its vaunted sovereign democracy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421416816
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	06/25/2015
Series:	Witness to Ancient History
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Debra Hamel is an independent scholar and the author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan’s Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Timeline xi

Maps xiii

Prologue 1

I Setting the Stage: From Xerxes' Invasion to the Eve of Arginusae 4

II Naval Warfare: Ramming, Dying, and Breaking Wind at Sea 21

III The Battle of Arginusae: From Manning the Fleet to Collecting Corpses 42

IV The Athenians and Their Generals: Democracy and Accountability 58

V The Aftermath in Athens: Tribunals and Tribulations 71

Epilogue 91

Appendix A Sequence of Events from the Storm to the Deposition of the Generals 95

Appendix E Sequence of Events after the Generals' Return to Athens 96

Notes 99

Suggested Further Reading 113

Index 121

What People are Saying About This

Lawrence A. Tritle

A captivating account of the battle of Arginusae and its fateful consequences for the Athenians in their great struggle with Sparta. Hamel is well-versed in Greek (and Athenian) history of the classical era and is an authority on the Athenian strategia, the board of generals who commanded armies and fleets. The Battle of Arginusae is a gripping read.

From the Publisher

A captivating account of the battle of Arginusae and its fateful consequences for the Athenians in their great struggle with Sparta. Hamel is well-versed in Greek (and Athenian) history of the classical era and is an authority on the Athenian strategia, the board of generals who commanded armies and fleets. The Battle of Arginusae is a gripping read.
—Lawrence A. Tritle, Loyola Marymount University, author of A New History of the Peloponnesian War

Editorial Reviews

Hamel combines hip writing for the general reader with a scholar's ability to size up the sources of our knowledge of the past.

Lection - Tim Morris

Hamel combines hip writing for the general reader with a scholar's ability to size up the sources of our knowledge of the past.
—Tim Morris, Lection

The book is a welcome addition to the extensive literature on the Peloponnesian War — which surprisingly lacks such a detailed account of this critical aspect of the war — and also a key event surrounding the trial of Socrates.
—Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire

From the Publisher

The book is a welcome addition to the extensive literature on the Peloponnesian War — which surprisingly lacks such a detailed account of this critical aspect of the war — and also a key event surrounding the trial of Socrates.

Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire

"The book is a welcome addition to the extensive literature on the Peloponnesian War — which surprisingly lacks such a detailed account of this critical aspect of the war — and also a key event surrounding the trial of Socrates."

Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire