Persian Fire (72 page)

6
  
The Iliad,
8.553-6.

7
  
Such, at any rate, seems the only plausible explanation for the fact that the Greek patrol on Sciathos was so comprehensively ambushed. That their assailants were Sidonian is deducible from Herodotus' description of them as being 'the fastest ships' (7.179) in Xerxes' fleet.

8
  
Plutarch,
Themistocles,
7.

9
  
The Odyssey,
13.296-9.

10
Quoted by Burkert (1985), p. 141.

11
Plutarch,
Lycurgus, 22.

12
Diodorus Siculus, 11.5.4.

13
Plutarch,
Spartan Sayings,
Leonidas 11.

14
Herodotus, 7.226.

15
For this last meteorological detail, see the admittedly contested reference in Polyaenus, 1.32.2.

16
Herodotus, 7.188.

17
Ibid., 7.192.

18
Plutarch,
Moralia,
217 E.

19
Herodotus, 7.211.

20
The chronology here follows that of Lazenby, whose squaring ot the numerous circles in Herodotus' account of the twin battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium is by far the most cogent of the many attempts that have been made. See
The Defence of Greece,
pp. 119—23.

21
Herodotus, 8.9.

22
Ibid., 8.12.

23
Ibid., 8.13. The precise location of the shipwreck has resulted in many a

scholarly headache. Herodotus says that it took place off the 'Hollows', which later geographers — although not Herodotus himself — place in the south of Euboea. Yet this seems impossible: no fleet setting off from Sciathos in the afternoon could possibly have reached so far before midnight. As Lazenby has pointed out, there is a small island still called 'Hollow' ('Koile') to this day: since it is only halfway down Euboea, this seems by far the likeliest site for the disaster.

24
Plutarch,
Themistocles,
8.

25
Herodotus, 8.15.

26
Athenaeus, 2.48d.

27
Quintus Curtius, 3.4.2.

28
Herodotus, 7.104.

29
Ibid., 7.105.

30
Ibid., 7.236.

31
Ibid., 7.119.

32
Ibid., 7.120.

33
Athenaeus, 14.652b.

34
Ibid.,4.145e.

35
Herodotus, 7.213.

36
Presuming, as most historians now do, that the path taken by the Immortals began at the modern-day village of Ayios Vardates. For the best analysis of the various alternative routes, and the one that I certainly found most helpful during the course of my own walking of them, see Paul Wallace (1980).

37
Herodotus (7.222) claims that Leonidas kept the Thebans against their will, as hostages, but this is one of those occasions where the bias of his — almost certainly Athenian — sources is palpable. As Plutarch, a proud Boeotian, indignantly pointed out, why, if Leonidas regarded the Thebans as hostages, did he not hand them over to the retreating Peloponnesians? The astounding courage and principle shown by the loyalist Thebans at Thermopylae deserved a better memorial than Athenian calumny.

38
Three hundred Spartans marched to Thermopylae, along with perhaps 300 helots, 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans, making a total of 1700 men. Casualties over the previous two days' fighting must have reduced the total to nearer 1500.

39
Diodorus Siculus, 11.9.4.

40
The Iliad, 4A50.

41
Herodotus, 8.24.

42
Ibid., 7.238.

43
Aristophanes,
Acharnians,
1090—3.

44
SeeBurkert(1983),p. 226.

45
Herodotus, 7.99.

46
Xenophon,
Economics,
7.5.

47
Demosthenes,
Against Neaera,
67.

48
Herodotus, 8.71.

49
Plutarch,
Themistodes,
10.

50
Plutarch,
Themistodes,
10. Pet-lovers may be relieved to know that Xanthippus' dog was reported by Aelian (12.35) to have survived the crossing.

51
Plutarch,
Themistodes,
11.

52
Herodotus, 8.49.

53
The figure is Aeschylus'
(Persians,
339-40). Herodotus (8.48) puts the total of the Greek fleet at 380. On this occasion, Aeschylus is almost certainly more accurate. After all, he fought in the Battle of Salamis.

54
Herodotus, 8.60.

55
Ibid. As they appear in Herodotus, these words were spoken in the debate that followed the burning of the Acropolis. They are not, however, a verbatim record of what Themistocles said, but rather expressive of the gist of his general argument, which he pressed from the beginning.

56
Ibid., 8.50.

57
Ibid., 8.61.

58
TheTroezen decree, 11—12.

59
Herodotus, 8.52.

60
Ibid., 8.54.

VIII Nemesis

1
  
From the letter of Darius to Gadatas. See Meiggs and Lewis, p. 20.

2
  
Herodotus, 7.235.

3
  
Ibid.,8.68B.

4
  
Ibid., 8.59.

5
  
Ibid., 8.70.

6
  
Ibid., 8.70-1.

7
  
We know from Herodotus (8.70) that the Persian fleet had put to sea in the late afternoon; we know from Aeschylus (374—6) that it was back in port in time for supper.

8
  
Darius, inscription at Naqsh-i-Rustam (Dnb 8c).

9
  
Ibid.

10
According to Plutarch, he was actually a Persian prisoner-of-war.

11
Herodotus, 8.75.

12
Aeschylus, 380-1.

13
Herodotus, 8.76.