The Battle of the Eurymedon was a double battle, taking place both on water and land, between the Delian League of Athens and her Allies, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. It took place in either 469 or 466 BCE, in the vicinity of the mouth of the Eurymedon River (now the Köprüçay) in Pamphylia, Asia Minor. It forms part of the Wars of the Delian League, itself part of the larger Greco-Persian Wars.
The Delian League had been formed between Athens and many of the city-states of the Aegean to continue the war with Persia, which had begun with the first and second Persian invasions of Greece (492–490 and 480–479 BCE, respectively). In the aftermath of the Battles of Plataea and Mycale, which had ended the second invasion, the Greek Allies had taken the offensive, besieging the cities of Sestos and Byzantium. The Delian League then took over responsibility for the war, and continued to attack Persian bases in the Aegean throughout the next decade.
In either 469 or 466 BCE, the Persians began assembling a large army and navy for a major offensive against the Greeks. Gathering near the Eurymedon, it is possible that the expedition aimed to move up the coast of Asia Minor, capturing each city in turn. This would bring the Asiatic Greek regions back under Persian control, and give the Persians naval bases from which to launch further expeditions into the Aegean. Hearing of the Persian preparations, the Athenian general Cimon took 200 triremes and sailed to Phaselis in Pamphylia, which eventually agreed to join the Delian League. This effectively blocked the Persian strategy at its first objective.
Cimon then moved to pre-emptively attack the Persian forces near the Eurymedon. Sailing into the mouth of the river, Cimon quickly routed the Persian fleet gathered there. Most of the Persian fleet made landfall, and the sailors fled to the shelter of the Persian army. Cimon then landed the Greek marines and proceeded to attack the Persian army, which was also routed. The Greeks captured the Persian camp, taking many prisoners, and were able to destroy 200 beached Persian triremes. This stunning double victory seems to have greatly demoralised the Persians, and prevented any further Persian campaigning in the Aegean until at least 451 BCE. However, the Delian League do not appear to have pressed home their advantage, probably because of other events in the Greek world that required their attention.
Sources and chronology
The military history of Greece between the second Persian invasion (480–479 BC) and the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) is poorly attested by surviving ancient sources. This period, sometimes referred to as the pentekontaetia by scholars, was one of relative peace and prosperity within Greece... The richest source for the period, and also the most contemporary with it, is the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, which is generally considered by modern historians to be a reliable primary account.... Thucydides only mentions the pentekontaetia period in a digression, discussing the growth of Athenian power in the run up to the Peloponnesian War. The digression is brief, probably selective, and lacks any dates... Nevertheless, historians have used Thucydides' account to construct a rough chronology for the period, as a basis for interpreting archaeological records and other writers.
Additional details are provided by Plutarch's Parallel Lives biographies of Aristides and especially Cimon. Plutarch wrote six centuries after the events, so is a secondary source, but he often explicitly names his sources which allows some verification of his statements.e.g. Themistocles 25 has a direct reference to Thucydides I, 137 In his biographies, Plutarch explicitly draws on many ancient histories that have not survived, preserving details of the period that Thucydides's account omits.
The only other major extant source for the period is Bibliotheca historica, a universal history written in the 1st century BC by Diodorus Siculus. Much of Diodorus's description of this period seems to be derived from the much earlier Greek historian Ephorus, who also wrote a universal history which is now lost.. However, modern historians generally disparage Ephorus' history. Diodorus, who has often been dismissed by modern historians,. is therefore not a particularly good source for this period. The historian Charles Henry Oldfather, who translated Diodorus' account into English, commented on the passage describing the Eurymedon campaign: "the three preceding chapters reveal Diodorus in the worst light".Oldfather, note to Diodorus XI.62.
There is also a body of archaeological evidence for the period, including inscriptions. Particularly useful are probable tribute lists for the members of the Delian League..
Chronology There is no wide agreement on the precise date of the battle, with most authorities placing it in either 469 or 466.Eyal Meyer, "Cimon's Eurymedon Campaign Reconsidered", Ancient History Bulletin, 32 (2018), 25-43, p. 25 note 2 Thucydides provides a succinct list of the main events occurring in this period, but almost no chronological information.. The surest fact of the battle is that it predated the revolt of Athens' ally Thasos in or just before the Athenian calendar year 465/4. Thucydides also narrates Eurymedon after the revolt of Naxos, which the same author in turn associates with the flight of Themistocles to Persia and the death of Persian king Xerxes in 465, suggesting that the battle was fought no earlier than 466.. But the date of Naxos's revolt is itself a matter of dispute,.. and Thucydides may not have narrated these events in strict chronological order.Victor Parker, A History of Greece, 1300 to 30 BC (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014), 174-176.
The earlier date for the battle is hinted by the choice of Cimon, the Athenian commander at Eurymedon, together with the entire college of generals, to serve as judges in a tragic competition which is dated to spring 468. Many historians hold that this was done because a great victory involving all generals had been achieved, and that the most likely candidate for such is the battle of Eurymedon, which will have taken place in the previous year, 469... Critics point out that this is not direct evidence, and prefer dating the battle closer to the revolt of Thasos in 465..
Background
The Greco-Persian Wars had their roots in the conquest of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, and in particular Ionia, by the Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great shortly after 550 BC. The Persians found the Ionians difficult to rule, eventually settling for sponsoring a tyrant in each Ionian city.. While Greek states had in the past often been ruled by tyrants, this was a form of government on the decline.. By 500 BC, Ionia appears to have been ripe for rebellion. The simmering tension finally broke into open revolt due to the actions of the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras. Attempting to save himself after a disastrous Persian-sponsored expedition in 499 BC, Aristagoras chose to declare Miletus a democracy.Herodotus. Histories, V.35. This triggered similar revolutions across Ionia, and indeed Doris and Aeolis, beginning the Ionian Revolt..
The Greek states of Athens and Eretria allowed themselves to be drawn into this conflict by Aristagoras, and during their only campaigning season (498 BC) they contributed to the capture and burning of the Persian regional capital of Sardis.. After this, the Ionian Revolt carried on (without further outside aid) for a further 5 years, until it was finally completely crushed by the Persians. However, in a decision of great historic significance, the Persian king Darius the Great decided that, despite successfully subduing the revolt, there remained the unfinished business of exacting punishment on Athens and Eretria for supporting the revolt.. The Ionian Revolt had severely threatened the stability of Darius's empire, and the states of mainland Greece would continue to threaten that stability unless dealt with. Darius thus began to contemplate the complete conquest of Greece, beginning with the destruction of Athens and Eretria.
In the next two decades there would be two Persian invasions of Greece, including some of the most famous battles in history. During the first invasion, Thrace, Macedon and the Aegean islands were added to the Persian Empire, and Eretria was duly destroyed.. However, the invasion ended in 490 BC with the decisive Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon.. Between the two invasions, Darius died, and responsibility for the war passed to his son Xerxes I.. Xerxes then led the second invasion personally in 480 BC, taking an enormous (although oft-exaggerated) army and navy to Greece.. Those Greeks who chose to resist (the 'Allies') were defeated in the twin battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium on land and at sea respectively.. All of Greece except the Peloponnesus thus fell into Persian hands, but then seeking to finally destroy the Allied navy, the Persians suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Salamis.. The following year, 479 BC, the Allies assembled the largest Greek army yet seen and defeated the Persian invasion force at the Battle of Plataea, ending the invasion and the threat to Greece..
According to tradition, on the same day as Plataea, the Allied fleet defeated the demoralised remnants of the Persian fleet in the Battle of Mycale.. This action marks the end of the Persian invasion, and the beginning of the next phase in the Greco-Persian wars, the Greek counterattack.. After Mycale, the Greek cities of Asia Minor again revolted, with the Persians now powerless to stop them.Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, I.89. The Allied fleet then sailed to the Chersonesos, still held by the Persians, and besieged and captured the town of Sestos.Herodotus. Histories, IX.114. The following year, 478 BC, the Allies sent a force to capture the city of Byzantium (modern day Istanbul). The siege was successful, but the behaviour of the Spartan general Pausanias alienated many of the Allies, and resulted in Pausanias's recall.Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, I.95. The siege of Byzantium was the last action of the Hellenic alliance that defeated the Persian invasion.
After Byzantium, Sparta was eager to end her involvement in the war. The Spartans were of the view that, with the liberation of mainland Greece, and the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the war's purpose had already been reached. There was also perhaps a feeling that securing long-term security for the Asian Greeks would prove impossible.. The loose alliance of city states that fought against Xerxes's invasion was dominated by Sparta and the Peloponnesian league. With the Spartan withdrawal, the leadership of the Greeks now explicitly passed to the Athenians. A congress was called on the holy island of Delos to institute a new alliance to continue the fight against the Persians. This alliance, now including many of the Aegean islands, was formally constituted as the 'First Athenian Alliance', commonly known as the Delian League. According to Thucydides, the official aim of the League was to "avenge the wrongs they suffered by ravaging the territory of the king."Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, I.96. Forces of the Delian League spent much of the next decade expelling the remaining Persian garrisons from Thrace, and expanding the Aegean territory controlled by the League.
Prelude