The Sicilian Expedition 415-412

"This was the greatest Hellenic action that took place during this war, and in my opinion, the greatest action that we know of in Hellenic history - to the victors the most brilliant of successes, to the vanquished the most calamitous of defeats" - Thucydides

Background to the Sicilian Campaign

• The Athenians were becoming more interested in western trade and colonisation from the time of Themistocles
• By 446 BC there was trouble in the Athenian empire (Megara and Euboea had revolted)
• Many politicians believed that Athens should make its political influence felt among the Ionian cities of Sicily and Italy
• In 443-442 BC Athens concluded alliances with Rhegium in Italy and Leontini in Sicily, to keep a check on Syracuse:
1. There were city-state rivalries between the Dorians led by the Corinthian Syracuse and the Ionians led by Leontini
2. Athens founded the colony of Thurii in southern Italy in 444 BC - this caused alarm in Syracuse
3. Western trade rivalry with Corinth had been one of the significant causes of conflict leading up to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War
• With the death of Pericles there was a much more aggressive attitude to the west and in 427 BC an embassy from Leontini appealed to the Athenians for help against Syracuse. Leontini wanted to prevent the unification of Sicily under Syracuse, stop any western help getting to Sparta, cut off supplies from Sicily to the Peloponnese and stroke a blow at the trade of their hated rival Corinth - The Athenians agreed
• Laches led the expedition, but achieved little beyond patrolling the straits and renewing the old alliance with Segesta
• Two years later another expedition was dispatched under Pythodorus, Sophocles and Eurymedon. It was delayed for some time at Pylos
• Hermocrates, a Syracusan general, appealed to the Sicilians for unity and in 424 BC a conference was held at Gela, where the cities agreed on peace. The Athenians were no longer needed and so returned home. However, public opinion in Athens, influenced by Cleon, fined Eurymedon and banished his colleagues for dereliction of duty
• In 416 BC Segesta appealed to Athens for help in her dispute with Selinus, an ally of Syracuse, and offered to supply the funds to finance the expedition. Athenian envoys, who were sent to investigate the claims of the Segestaeans regarding their wealth, returned with 60 talents as payment for a fleet with considerable enthusiasm about Segesta's resources. They had been deceived

Segesta Appeal to Athenians

• The main argument used by the Segestaeans, was that if Syracuse was left unchecked, it could grow in power, conquering the rest of Sicily and eventually being able to conquer Athens itself
• When the crews of the Athenian ships were received, the Segestaeans had rounded up as many gold and silver cups as they could find in town and the neighbouring cities and presented them at parties as if they belonged to the host
• "Those who had been deceived in turn misled others, and they were all held responsible by the troops when word got out that Segesta did not have any money"

The Athenian Assembly's Decision

• The radical Assembly was easily influenced by Alcibiades, who "persuaded them to abandon these piecemeal attempts, sail out to Sicily and try to subdue the island completely by means of an invasion on the grand scale"
• The people were influenced by:
• The thought of rich rewards (corn, wheat, minerals);
• The hope of striking a decisive blow against the Peloponnesians by cutting them off from valuable supplies and naval support;
• The possibilities of the conquest of the whole of Sicily; many, like Alcibiades, saw Sicily as a stepping stone to further conquests in the western Mediterranean
• The Assembly voted to send a fleet of 60 ships under the joint command of Nicias, Alcibiades and Lamachus. Plutarch says that the people believed that the experience and caution of Nicias would combine well with the daring of Alcibiades and the forthrightness of Lamachus

Thucydides 6.8 - The Aims of the Expedition

• The Athenians held an assembly, and after receiving a report from the Segestaeans and their own envoys about the state of affairs and money (which was false, as there wasn't actually any money), voted to send 60 ships to Sicily under Nicias, Alcibiades and Lamachus

Alcibiades vs Nicias

• Nicias "who had been chosen to the command against his will" "came forward in the hope of diverting the Athenians from the enterprise"
• Alcibiades "who wished to thwart Nicias both as his political opponent, and also because of the attack he had made upon him in his speech" was "exceedingly ambitious of a command by which he hoped to reduce Sicily and Carthage, and personally to gain in wealth and reputation by means of his successes"

Activity: Debate in Athens Over Sicily

Thucydides 6.12-13 (Nicias) + 6.17-18 (Alcibiades)

• List the reasons Nicias gives as to why the Athenians should not launch an expedition to Sicily
• The danger at home, as many important states such as Corinth had not accepted the peace and were still openly at war with Athens
• The instability of the empire - "We get only a grudging obedience from our subjects"
• The need for Athens to recuperate from the plague and the financial strains of the war- "only recently that we have had a little respite from a great plague and from the war"
• The danger involved in distant alliances and the difficulties of controlling Sicily if the Athenians should be successful
• The folly of listening to an ambitious and reckless young spendthrift who hoped to make great profit out of his appointment - "too young for his post"
• It is for Alcibiades' "selfish reasons" and he is "endangering the state" for "profit"
• "Remember that success comes from foresight"
• "Do not be frightened of being called a coward if you do not vote for war"
  
• List the reasons Alcibiades gives as to why the expedition should be launched
• "We have sworn to help them, and it is our duty to help them"
  
• The prospect of becoming the leader of all Greek cities by using what was gained in Sicily - "We shall become rulers of Hellas using what we gain in Sicily"
• The lack of unity among Sicilians, and their limitations in terms of military resources - "The Sicilian cities have swollen populations made out of all sorts of mixtures, and there are constant changes and rearrangements in the citizen bodies. The result is that they lack the feeling that they are fighting for their own fatherland"
• "As for their hoplites, they have not got so many as they boast of"
  
• "Our security is guaranteed by our navy"
• "We shall also have a number of non-Hellenic people who, through hatred of the Syracusans, will join us in our attack on them"
• "They should be a thorn in the flesh of our enemies in Sicily"
• "There is nothing here to hinder us"
• "The Peloponnesians have never had so little hope of success against us as they have now"
• His youth was irrelevant as he had already managed to deal with the Peloponnesians, and Nicias had a "reputation for being lucky"
  
• The danger to Athens of an "inactive" policy and the setting of young against old

Nicias attempted once again to deter the people, by exaggerating the estimates and men needed, but the Athenians "far from losing their appetite for the voyage because of the difficulties in preparing for it, became more enthusiastic about it than ever" They voted for more than double that which was originally requested. Their overall force was over 30,000

Magnitute of Sicilian Expedition (Thucydides 6.31)

"Indeed the expedition became not less famous for its wonderful boldness and for the splendour of its appearance, than for its overwhelming strength as compared with the peoples against whom it was directed, and for the fact that this was the longest passage from home attempted up until that time, and the most ambitious in its objectives considering the resources of those who undertook it...it was more a display of power and resources than an armament against an enemy"

The Mutilation of the Hermae

• Just prior to the fleet sailing an event occurred which the superstitious masses saw as a bad omen for the expedition. It was the mutilation of nearly all the stone busts, or hermae (originally of the god Hermes), which stood outside the entrances to private houses and shrines. The angry populace were convinced that it was "evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy to overthrow the democracy"
• The enemies of Alcibiades accused him of instigating this, because he is believed once to have taken part in mock celebrations of the Eleusinian mysteries, and because of his unconventional character. "There were those (such as Androcles and Pisander) who were envious of his leadership of the people, and wanted to get rid of him. It is also possible that the whole affair may have been instigated by Corinth, to cripple the Sicilian enterprise

Evil Omen: Mutilation of the Herms (Thucydides 6.27)

"While these preparations were going on, it was found that in one night nearly all the stone Herms in the city of Athens had had their extremities cut off. These are a national institution, the well-known square-cut figures, of which there are great numbers both in the porches of private houses and in the temples. No one knew who had done this, but large rewards were offered by the state in order to find out who the criminals were, and there was also a decree passed guaranteeing immunity to anyone, citizen, alien or slave, who knew of any other sacrilegious act that had taken place and would come forward with information about it. The whole affair, indeed, was taken very seriously, as it was regarded as an omen for the expedition, and at the same time as evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy to overthrow the democracy"

Aims of the Leaders

Immediate problems in the expedition were emphasised by the differences among the leaders over what could be achieved in Sicily

Nicias: Stick to original objective of liberating Leontini, then sail round Sicily in a show of force: this was too cautious and would not satisfy the wishes of the Athenian assembly, who wanted a full conquest of the island

Alcibiades: Use the size of the roce to win over allies in Sicily that could crush any remaining resistance: a pragmatic strategy but rested on chance they would find ready allies in Sicily

Lamachus: Use the element of surprise to attack and conquer Syracuse: probably the best approach as the Syracusans were by far the biggest threat to the expedition

The Recall of Alcibiades

The enormous armada set out from Athens in 415 BC, sailing round the Peloponnese toward Corcyra. From here they sailed around the southern Italian coast toward Sicily

• 134 Triremes
• 5,100 Hoplites
• 1,000 light armoured troops
• c.30,000 (combined Athenian and allied)
  

• However, shortly after leaving Corcyra, a ship caught up with the armada from Athens, with an arrest warrant for Alcibiades
• He had been charged by his political enemies in his absence - of sacrilege and conspiring to overthrow the democracy
• Alcibiades turned his ship home and began sailing back to Greece, but on the way he slipped away from the escort and defected
• He arrived at Sparta!
  

Alcibiades' Conduct

• [Thucydides, 6.15] "the position he held among the citizens led him to indulge his tastes beyond what his real means would bear, both in keeping horses and in the rest of his expenditure; and this later on had not a little to do the ruin of the Athenian state. Alarmed at the greatness of his licence in his own life and habits, and of the ambition which he showed in all things whatsoever that he undertook, the mass of the people set him down as a pretender to the tyranny, and became his enemies; and although publicly his conduct of the war was as good as could be desired, individually, his habits gave offence to every one, and caused them to commit affairs to other hands, and thus before long to ruin the city"
• [Plutarch, Alcibiades, 16] "At Sparta, he was held in high repute publicly, and privately was no less admired. The multitude was brought under his influence, and was actually bewitched, by his assumption of the Spartan mode of life. When they saw him with his hair untrimmed, taking cold baths, on terms of intimacy with their coarse bread, and supping on black porridge they could scarcely trust their eyes, and doubted whether such a man as he now was had ever had a cook in his own house, had even so much as looked upon a perfumer, or endured the touch of Milesian wool. He had, as they say, one power which transcended all others: that of assimilating and adapting himself to the pursuits and lives of others, thereby assuming more violent changes than the chameleon"

Alcibiades' Advice to the Spartans: The Occupation of Decelea

Now exiled from his own country, Alcibiades acted whole-heartedly against them. He now became an advisor to the Spartans, using his tactical insider knowledge to greatly undermine the Athenian war effort

Thucydides, 6.89-91, Alcibiades' speech to the Spartans

1. How, according to Alcibiades, will the conquest of Sicily be used against the Spartans?
• "In addition to our existing fleet we should have built many more triremes, since Italy is rich in timber, and with all of them we should have blockaded the coast of the Peloponnese, while at the same time our army would be operating on land against your cities, taking some by assault and others by siege"
• Athens wanted to be "the masters of the entire Hellenic world" and would use Sicily's help to achieve this
• Basically, the Athenians would use what they gained in Sicily to destroy Sparta and its allies
  
2. What assistance should the Spartans send to Sicily according to Alcibiades?
• "You must send out to Sicily a force of troops that are able to row the ships themselves and to take the field as hoplites as soon as they land"
• They should send a Spartan officer to mould the forces already there into shape
• They should also continue to wage war in Hellas to strengthen the Syracusan resolve and make it harder for Athens to send reinforcements to Sicily
  
3. Why should the Spartans occupy Decelea? What setbacks will it deal to the Athenians?
• "It is the thing of which the Athenians have always been most frightened"
• "The surest way of harming an enemy is to find out certainly what form of attack he is most frightened of, and then to employ it against him"
• It would also deprive Athens of the revenue from the silver mines
• The revenue from the Athenian allies would be paid less regularly, for they will "lose their awe of Athens"
4. Overall Alcibiades played on the innate Spartan fear of Athenian power
   

The Athenians Seek Allies

With the news of the Athenian approach, cities in Sicily reacted in different ways to the invasion:

• Some advocated resistance (such as Syracuse), others wanted to join the Athenians
• In the winter of 415-414 BC the Athenians sent a delegation to Kamarina, on the southern coast of Sicily, attempting to convince them to join the Athenians
• The Syracusans also sent a delegation, hoping to deter them

Activity: Athenian Speech to Kamarina

Thucydides, 6.82-83

• How do the Athenians justify their presence in Sicily?
• "We have come here to settle matters for our own security, together with our friends; not to enslave anybody, but rather to prevent anybody from being enslaved"
• "So now it is for our own security that we are in Sicily, and we see that here your interests are the same as ours"
• They claim that they simply want to renew their former alliance
• "We therefore looked about for the best means of preserving our independence"
• "It is also because of fear that we have come here to settle matters for our own security"
• "What you do concerns us very much indeed"
• "it is illogical for us to enslave Chalcidians in Hellas and liberate them in Sicily"
• "We therefore deserve the empire which we have, partly because we supplied to the cause of Hellas the largest fleet and a courage that never looked back"
• "This we can prove from what the Syracusans are saying against us and from your suspicions of us which you yourselves, in your rather over-anxious mood, no doubt entertain"
• "Now, we are Ionians and the Peloponnesians are Dorians; they are more numerous than we and they live close to us"
• The Ionians are always the enemies of the Dorians
• "The Syracusans will not find it so easy to do us harm by sending a force to help the Peloponnesians"
• "After the Persian war...we broke free of the Spartan empire and of Sparta's leadership" - bit rich to call Sparta an empire lol