This dissertation examines Hipparchos, the son of Peisistratos, and the years 528-514 B.C. at Athens. Modern scholarship has generally adjudged Hipparchos a powerless, dissolute aesthete on the basis of Thucydides' test- imonia about Hipparchos' murder. Yet, it is clear from other sources that Hipparchos was much more, perhaps even the most important Peisistratid after Peisistratos' death, certainly the most visible. The purpose of this dissertation is to shed new light on this important period by aiming at a better understanding of Hipparchos. Chapter I concerns Hipparchos' image and is a compilation of testimonia relevant to him. The introduction to the chapter attempts to illustrate the importance of image to Greek tyrants of the archaic period and to show that image can be useful as an indicator of tyrannical power. The remainder of the chapter is divided into the archaeological and literary records of Hipparchos. Sections are devoted to Hipparchos' herms, the wall of the Akademy and his Ptolon dedication. The literary record is divided into external affairs (Hipparchos and Ionia), internal/external affairs (the Onomakritos-affair), and internal affairs (the Panathenaia and Hipparchos). The conclusion is that Hipparchos was far more prominent than his brother Hippias and much more significant than previously believed. Chapter II confronts the historiographical problem of succession to Peisistratos. It is divided into examination of the stele concerning the adikia of the tyrants', Thucydides' most important evidence for the successsion, and the literary tradition about the succession. (An appendix examines the evidence of the sixth century archon-list.) The conclusion is that the succession-issue became controversial in the fifth century, apparently well after the end of the tyranny. Chapter III deals with Thucydides' account of Hipparchos' murder. Sections are given to accounts before Thucydides', but later accounts are considered only as they differ from his on specific points. Thucydides1 account is examined in two sections: motivation of the tyrannicides and the act itself. The conclusion is that Thucydides was quite probably influenced by his own preconceptions to read his beliefs into a substructure of earlier material. The evidence for this is inconsistency and implausibility in Thucydides' account. An epilogue considers Hipparchos1 influence over later prominent Athenians and the city itself. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

In the Timaeus Plato sets forth his cosmological system, and near the beginning of the dialogue he carefully qualifies his claims by saying that his account of the cosmos is not absolutely true, but only no less likely than any other account. Rather than being an offhand remark, this statement is key to understanding Plato's aim in constructing his cosmological myth. Plato's epistemological position prevents him from making strong assertions about physical objects and phenomena, but does allow him to make assertions of truth in morality and metaphysics. Thus while the Timaeus is ostensibly an account of the physical universe, for Plato its true value is in using the physical universe as a mythological symbol for moral and metaphysical truth. Plato's account is no less likely than those of other ancient cosmologists because multiple accounts can fit with the observed phenomena. However, his account, while no more likely, is superior to those of others in that it avoids impiety and, by qualifying its claims about the physical universe, is not threatened by future observations. / text

The following offers a new perspective to explain the disintegration of the Peloponnesian League and the Boeotian Federation in the early half of the fourth century B.C. Members of both these alliances had legal and conventional expectations regarding what they had to give and what they could receive from their associations. Tensions and conflicts arose within an alliance once an individual polis did not fulfill its duties and obligations. There were two factors that persuaded a member not to meet their expected responsibilities: one was the role of a polis ' factions and the other was the intervention in the association's affairs by a third party. It was primarily the failure of an alliance's members to meet each others expectations that inevitably led to the dissolution of these interstate organizations.

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This thesis will trace the origin and development of the term "Sacred War" in the corpus of extant Greek literature. This term has been commonly applied by modern scholars to four wars which took place in ancient Greece between the sixth and fourth centuries B. C. The modern use of "the attribute "Sacred War" to refer to these four wars in particular raises two questions. First, did the ancient historians give all four of these wars the title "Sacred War?" And second, what justified the use of this title only for certain conflicts? In order to resolve the first of these questions, it is necessary to examine in what terms the ancient historians referred to these wars. As a result of this examination, it is clear that only two of the modern series of "Sacred Wars" (the so-called Second and Third Sacred Wars) were actually given this title in antiquity. The other two wars (the so-called Second and Third Sacred Wars), although they were evidently associated by the ancients with the "Sacred Wars," were not given this attribution. Consequently, the habit of grouping all four wars together as "Sacred Wars" is modern. Nevertheless, the fact that the ancients did see some connection between these wars does justify this modern classification to some degree. Once this conclusion had been reached, it became possible to proceed to the second of the problems presented in this thesis, namely the justification for the application of the title "Sacred War" to two specific conflicts. In order to achieve this aim, those conflicts labelled "Sacred Wars" by the ancient historians were compared to two categories of test cases: the other two conflicts classified as "Sacred Wars" by modern scholars and conflicts which share elements in common with "Sacred Wars" but which are not given this attribution by ancient or modern authorities. In the course of this comparison, I discovered that little differentiated the so-called "Sacred Wars" from the non-"Sacred Wars" and that all of these latter conflicts appear equally worthy of the title as those which were in fact given this attribution. The deciding factor in the classification of a certain conflict as a "Sacred War," as a result, lies not in the specific elements making up its constitution but rather in the political circumstances surrounding it. The two conflicts labelled by the ancients as "Sacred Wars" were given this title by contemporary powers in order to justify military interference in the political affairs of other states which might otherwise have been considered unnecessary. Thus, the term "Sacred War" arose originally as the result of an effective propaganda campaign. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

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Modern studies of Classical Greek battle devote little attention to the role and importance of the general in achieving battlefield success. As a result of this the general is reduced to a simple leader of men whose only influential decision was where and when to fight, and whose major role was to provide inspiration by fighting in the front ranks. A modern conception of Hellenic fair play in warfare has further limited the importance of the general to Greek armies: apparently advanced manoeuvring and tactics were deliberately rejected in favour of a simple and direct test of strength and morale. I do not believe this to be the case, and in this study I demonstrate the importance of the general to Greek armies by offering a new analysis of his role in hoplite battle.

Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The main purpose of this thesis is to examine examples of information-gathering and political intelligence in Herodotus' Histories. In Herodotus' account, dialogues, anecdotes, and even inserted authorial commentary describe how leaders obtain politically relevant and timely information about other individuals and nations (intelligence). Herodotus links political decisions, based on gathered information, with his presentation of historical causation. In his multi-themed account, Herodotus provides tales of commissioned information-gathering missions, espionage, secret messages, and even disguises as nations and political leaders attempt to find out about their enemies and their allies. While the various anecdotes of information-gathering may not be historically precise, they may, in fact, infer real goals and problems of ancient Greek intelligence practices. The second purpose of this thesis is to explore Herodotus' use of cultural information within decision-making and statecraft. Herodotus presents nomos (culture or custom) as a compelling force for human behavior and military action. By articulating the importance of cultural information to political and military intelligence, Herodotus' work foreshadows modern intelligence theories and practices. This nomos-aspect of Herodotus' information-gathering anecdotes is especially relevant to current post-modern trend of culturally-based intelligence solutions to western counter-insurgency efforts. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hoofdoel van hierdie tesis is om voorbeelde van inligtingversameling en politieke intellegensie in Herodotus se Histories te ondersoek. In Herodotus se verslae, dialoë, anekdotes en selfs ingevoegde ouktoriele kommentaar word daar beskryf hoe leiers polities relevante en aktuele inligting oor ander indiwidue en nasies (intellegensie) verkry. Herodotus verbind politieke besluite, gebaseer op ingewinde inligting, met sy voorstelling van historiese kousaliteitsleer. In sy vertellings met meervoudige temas, verskaf Herodotus verhale van opdragte wat gegee is vir inligtingsinwinningsendings, spioenasiewerk, geheime boodskappe en selfs vermommings waarmee nasionale en politieke leiers gepoog het om uit te vind oor hul vyande en bondgenote. Terwyl die verskeie anekdotes van inligtinginwinning moontlik nie histories presies is nie, is hulle dalk in werklikheid afgelei van regte doelstellings en probleme van antieke Griekse intellegensiepraktyke. Die tweede doel van hierdie tesis is om ondersoek in te stel na Herodotus se gebruik van kulturele inligting in besluitneming en regeerkuns. Herodotus stel nomos (kultuur of gebruik) as ‟n dwingende krag vir menslike gedrag en militêre aksie voor. Deur die belangrikheid van kulturele inligting vir politieke en militêre intellegensie te artikuleer, is Herodotus se werk ‟n voorafskaduwing van moderne intellegensie teorieë en praktyke. Hierdie nomos-aspek van Herodotus se inligtingsinwinningsanekdotes is veral relevant vir die huidige post-modernistiese neiging van kultuur-gebaseerde intellegensieoplossings vir westerse teen-insergensie pogings.

When looking at Dark Age Greece, one of the most important sites to consider is Athens. The Dark Age was a transitional period between the fall of Mycenaean Greece of the Bronze Age, and Archaic Greece of the Iron Age. This period is called the Dark Age because the palaces that ruled the Mycenaean age collapsed, and with them fell civilization in mainland Greece. Writing, fine art, massive architecture, trade, and luxury goods disappear from mainland Greece. But Athens survived the fall of the Mycenaeans. In order to understand the reason why Athens survived one must look at what the causes of the fall of the Mycenaeans were. Theories range from raiders and invasion, to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, droughts, and plagues. One must also examine Greece itself. The landscape and climate of Greece have a large impact on the settlement of the Greeks. The land of Greece also affects what Greek communities were able to do economically, whether a city would be rich or poor. It is because Athens is located in Attica that it survived. Attica had the poorest soil in the Mycenaean world, and was the poorest of the major cities, therefore, when looking at the collapse of the Mycenaeans being caused by people, there would be no reason for said people to raid or invade Athens and Attica. It is because Athens survives that it is such an important site. Athens survived the fall of the Mycenaeans and in doing so acts as a refugee center and a jumping off point for the remaining Mycenaeans to flee east, to the Aegean islands and Anatolia. Athens also stayed occupied during the Dark Age and because of this it was able to make some advancements. In particular Athens was a leader in mainland Greece in the development of iron. Not only this, but Athens became a cultural center during the Dark Age, inventing both proto-geometric and geometric pottery. These styles were adopted by the rest of the Greek world, and Athens was looked to as the influence for these styles. It is because Athens was the poorest city and Attica the poorest area during the Mycenaean age that it survived. Because it survived it was able to continue to develop and in turn influence the rest of mainland Greece.