Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome by Victor Davis Hanson Page B
Authors: Victor Davis Hanson
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the underclasses; see “The Character of the Athenian Empire,” Historia 3 (1954):
1–41, which should be read alongside the classic account of Athenian imperial finance
by M. I. Finley, “The Fifth-Century Athenian Empire: A Balance Sheet,” in Imperialism
in the Ancient World , ed. P.D.A. Garnsey and C. R. Whittaker, 103–26 (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1978).
Notes
1 Thucydides 1.97.1.
2 Thucydides 3.10.5.
3 Thucydides 1.99.2–3.
4 B. D. Meritt, H. T. Wade-Gery, and M. F. McGregor, The Athenian Tribute Lists , vol.
2 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1949), 69.
5 Thucydides 5.105.
6 Phocylides frag. 5.
7 Pseudo-Xenophon Respublica Atheniensium 2.7–8. This work was falsely attributed
to the historian Xenophon, and its true author is unknown. He is generally referred
to as “the Old Oligarch” because of this work’s antidemocratic views, but we do not
know his age or the purpose of his work, which is usually dated by internal evidence
to the 420s.
8 Hermippus in Athenaeus 1.27e–28a.
9 Pseudo-Xenophon Respublica Atheniensium 1.18.
10 Diodorus Siculus 12.4.5–6.
11 Raphael Sealey, “The Entry of Pericles into History,” Hermes 84 (1956): 247.
12 Eduard Meyer, Forschungen zur alten Geschichte , vol. 2 (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1899),
19–20.
13 Plutarch Pericles 17.1.
14 Some scholars have doubted the authenticity of the Congress Decree, as it is
called. For a good discussion, see Russel Meiggs, The Athenian Empire (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1972), 151–52, 512–15. Plutarch does not give a date for the decree, but
the sequence adopted here is the one chosen by those who accept its reality.
15 Pericles 12.2.
16 Pericles 12:3–4.
17 Thucydides 2.8.4.
18 Thucydides 1.75.3–5.
19 Thucydides 1.76.2.
20 Thucydides 2.63.1–2.
21 Thucydides 2.38.
56 Kagan
22 Thucydides 2.43.1.
23 Thucydides 2.64.3–6.
24 Pseudo-Xenophon 1.2–3.
25 Pseudo-Xenophon 2.4–6, 11–13.
26 Thucydides 1.4–19.
27 Pericles 1.143.4.
28 Pericles 2.62.1–2.
29 Pericles 143.4–5.
30 Pericles 1.143.5.
31 Thucydides 6.18.2.
32 Thucydides 6.18.7.
33 Thucydides 1.70.
Pericles and the Defense of Empire 57
3. Why Fortifications Endure
A Case Study of the Walls of Athens
during the Classical Period
David L. Berkey
The history of Athens during the classical period of Greek his-
tory is closely related to the building and rebuilding of the city’s
walls, as well as the extension of its defensive perimeter along the bor-
der of Attica. With every phase of construction, the walls transformed
the landscape and symbolized Athenian power, both at its peak and
at its nadir.1 Thousands of Athenian citizens and slaves constructed
these walls and forts, many of whom toiled incessantly at moments of
danger and uncertainty in the polis’s history. Throughout the classical
period, their construction was a critical public works project of great
political and strategic significance to Athens. In our contemporary era
of sophisticated technology, fortifications seem to remain ubiquitous,
and they reappear in new and innovative forms even as each new gen-
eration of military strategists seems to dismiss their utility. A review of
the century-long history of Athenian fortifications illustrates why walls
endure, and how construction practices evolve over time to meet new
diverse military and political agendas.
These grand investments of the city’s resources, both human and
material, in the defense of Athens are associated with some of the
city’s most prominent politicians and military commanders, in particu-
lar Themistocles, Pericles, and Conon. Following a time of both crisis
and triumph at the end of the Persian Wars, Themistocles began the
enlargement of Athens’s defenses and positioned the city to become
the foremost naval power in the Greek world. In the following decades,
Pericles ushered in the next phase in the fortification, the building
1–41, which should be read alongside the classic account of Athenian imperial finance
by M. I. Finley, “The Fifth-Century Athenian Empire: A Balance Sheet,” in Imperialism
in the Ancient World , ed. P.D.A. Garnsey and C. R. Whittaker, 103–26 (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1978).
Notes
1 Thucydides 1.97.1.
2 Thucydides 3.10.5.
3 Thucydides 1.99.2–3.
4 B. D. Meritt, H. T. Wade-Gery, and M. F. McGregor, The Athenian Tribute Lists , vol.
2 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1949), 69.
5 Thucydides 5.105.
6 Phocylides frag. 5.
7 Pseudo-Xenophon Respublica Atheniensium 2.7–8. This work was falsely attributed
to the historian Xenophon, and its true author is unknown. He is generally referred
to as “the Old Oligarch” because of this work’s antidemocratic views, but we do not
know his age or the purpose of his work, which is usually dated by internal evidence
to the 420s.
8 Hermippus in Athenaeus 1.27e–28a.
9 Pseudo-Xenophon Respublica Atheniensium 1.18.
10 Diodorus Siculus 12.4.5–6.
11 Raphael Sealey, “The Entry of Pericles into History,” Hermes 84 (1956): 247.
12 Eduard Meyer, Forschungen zur alten Geschichte , vol. 2 (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1899),
19–20.
13 Plutarch Pericles 17.1.
14 Some scholars have doubted the authenticity of the Congress Decree, as it is
called. For a good discussion, see Russel Meiggs, The Athenian Empire (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1972), 151–52, 512–15. Plutarch does not give a date for the decree, but
the sequence adopted here is the one chosen by those who accept its reality.
15 Pericles 12.2.
16 Pericles 12:3–4.
17 Thucydides 2.8.4.
18 Thucydides 1.75.3–5.
19 Thucydides 1.76.2.
20 Thucydides 2.63.1–2.
21 Thucydides 2.38.
56 Kagan
22 Thucydides 2.43.1.
23 Thucydides 2.64.3–6.
24 Pseudo-Xenophon 1.2–3.
25 Pseudo-Xenophon 2.4–6, 11–13.
26 Thucydides 1.4–19.
27 Pericles 1.143.4.
28 Pericles 2.62.1–2.
29 Pericles 143.4–5.
30 Pericles 1.143.5.
31 Thucydides 6.18.2.
32 Thucydides 6.18.7.
33 Thucydides 1.70.
Pericles and the Defense of Empire 57
3. Why Fortifications Endure
A Case Study of the Walls of Athens
during the Classical Period
David L. Berkey
The history of Athens during the classical period of Greek his-
tory is closely related to the building and rebuilding of the city’s
walls, as well as the extension of its defensive perimeter along the bor-
der of Attica. With every phase of construction, the walls transformed
the landscape and symbolized Athenian power, both at its peak and
at its nadir.1 Thousands of Athenian citizens and slaves constructed
these walls and forts, many of whom toiled incessantly at moments of
danger and uncertainty in the polis’s history. Throughout the classical
period, their construction was a critical public works project of great
political and strategic significance to Athens. In our contemporary era
of sophisticated technology, fortifications seem to remain ubiquitous,
and they reappear in new and innovative forms even as each new gen-
eration of military strategists seems to dismiss their utility. A review of
the century-long history of Athenian fortifications illustrates why walls
endure, and how construction practices evolve over time to meet new
diverse military and political agendas.
These grand investments of the city’s resources, both human and
material, in the defense of Athens are associated with some of the
city’s most prominent politicians and military commanders, in particu-
lar Themistocles, Pericles, and Conon. Following a time of both crisis
and triumph at the end of the Persian Wars, Themistocles began the
enlargement of Athens’s defenses and positioned the city to become
the foremost naval power in the Greek world. In the following decades,
Pericles ushered in the next phase in the fortification, the building
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