Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/05/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jay, thanks for your comment. I do worry about leadership by committee without any imagination, hence the coin's lesson for me. John On 5/20/15 9:52 PM, Jay Burleson wrote: > Great history lesson & great photography, John. > > Jay > > On 5/20/2015 1:11 PM, John Nebel wrote: >> <http://photos.csd.net/athens_s_gi.html> >> >> Tetradrachm 483-480 BC >> O: Athena wearing a crested Corinthian helmet >> R: Owl, olive branch left, ??? right, ? off the flan >> >> By 483 BC, the Athenians had discovered a new, large silver deposit in >> their Laurion mines. One foresighted Athenian, Themistokles, persuaded >> the Athenian assembly that the newly mined silver should be used to pay >> for expansion of their navy. He knew the Persians were planning an >> invasion, although he used a local adversary, the Aeginetans as a more >> immediate and publicly acceptable reason for the naval expansion. As a >> result of Themistocles's persuasion, the Athenian navy was increased by >> 200 ships, triremes, three banks of oars, each ship to be manned by a >> crew of 200. >> >> In 480 BC, under the command of Xerxes, the Great King, an immense >> Persian army and navy invaded the fiercely independent collection of >> city-states comprising the Greek world. Cities surrendered, often >> without a fight, but a few stood fast, allied with the Spartans and >> Athenians. A crack contingent of Spartans had been destroyed at >> Thermopylai and the Persians prepared to invade Athens although the >> Greek tenacity at Thermopylai had surprised Xerxes. The Athenians >> panicked, and again Themistokles intervened. He convinced his fellow >> Athenians that a Pythian oracle advising them to seek refuge within >> wooden walls must be interpreted that the Athenians should take refuge >> in their triremes, ships of wood, which most indeed did. >> >> Herodotus 7.143-4 >> >> "But a wall made of wood does farsighted Zeus to Tritogenes (Athena) >> grant >> Alone and unravaged, to help you and your children. >> Do not await peacefully the horse and the foot, >> The army gigantic that comes from the mainland; >> Withdraw, turn your backs, though someday you still will meet face to >> face" >> >> Athens was abandoned by its citizens, transported to safety in her >> ships, soon afterwards invaded and sacked by the Persians. >> >> The Persian navy pursued the Athenian and allied cities' ships, thinking >> them cornered, and Themistokles intervened yet again, persuading again >> with trickery, this time that the allied navy must fight the Persians >> rather than run, ultimately resulting in a decisive Greek naval victory >> at Salamis. The Persian defeat was viewed personally by Xerxes, watching >> from a throne on a nearby hilltop. Xerxes fully expected to be >> entertained by viewing a slaughter of the Greeks, thereby bloodily >> demonstrating his absolute power. Instead, Xerxes fearing for his life >> after the naval defeat, fled to Asia leaving behind only part of his >> army, the remaining men commanded by Mardonius, who, the next spring was >> killed with much of the remaining Persian force at the decisive infantry >> battle of Plataia. >> >> The allied navy and its victory at Salamis was the turning point, the >> Persian invasion had been stopped, the west had been saved from Persian >> domination. The coin shown is part of the emergency coinage of the >> Laurion silver used to pay for constructing and manning the Athenians' >> ships. > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information