Page 43 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

862 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

commanded a ready market throughout the Mediter- a conspicuously heroic part in the Persian war. When
ranean and Black Sea coastlands, where barbarian chief- Xerxes overran their city, Athenians fled to the island of
tains mobilized local peoples to supply grain, fish, Salamis nearby and refused to surrender. Athenian
timber, and other raw materials in exchange for the triremes (the specialized Greek fighting ship that relied
wine and oil they desired. For a long time terms of trade on rams, affixed to the ships’ prows, to sink enemy ships)
strongly favored the Greeks, so that the yield from an then helped to defeat the Persian fleet in the straits sep-
acre of land under vines or olive trees could be ex- arating Salamis from the Attic mainland (480 BCE), com-
changed for far more grain than the same land in Greece pelling Xerxes to withdraw from Greece with most of his
could produce. As a result, throughout the classical age army before the Persian remnant suffered final defeat at
commercially specialized farming in Greece sustained Plataea the next year.Thereupon, the Athenians chose to
free and more or less equal citizens far more comfortably keep their fleet in action and continued the war by send-
(and in larger numbers) than could have been done by ing naval expeditions to liberate Greek cities from Per-
raising their own grain locally. In western Asia cities drew sian rule around the shores of the Aegean and beyond.
grain from their immediate hinterlands in the form of Peace did not come until 448 BCE, by which time Athens
unrequited rents and taxes, but in Greece ships allowed had built an empire, first freeing cities from the Persians
cities to draw grain and other resources from far greater and then taxing them to help support the Athenian fleet
distances, in return for the oil and wine their farmer- that “liberated” them. Spartans at first held back, fearful
citizens brought to market each year. of helot revolt at home and dismayed by the sudden
Export of specialized artisan products—decorated surge of Athenian power.
Greek vases for example—supplemented this fundamen- Within Athens, the fleet’s annual campaigns swiftly
tal agricultural and raw-materials pattern of exchange. altered internal balances. Citizens whose surplus younger
Artisans, too, specialized and rapidly improved the qual- sons lacked enough land to be able to buy armor and
ity and quantity of their output. Thus, for a few genera- serve in the phalanx now had an attractive way to make
tions, increasing wealth and skill concentrated in a few ends meet by rowing in the fleet for a small wage, sup-
commercial cities, of which Athens was the most active. plemented every so often by hauls of booty. In winter,
Eventually, when farmers in other parts of the Mediter- when the fleet went ashore and stayed home, they were
ranean learned how to raise olives and vines, Greeks lost free to attend meetings of the assembly, whereas farmers,
their initial advantage. Greek rural prosperity waned scattered across Attica, only attended when an unusual
correspondingly, and the expansive buoyancy of the clas- crisis arose. This gave a decisive advantage to property-
sical age, when Greek population and wealth grew less citizens and assured continuation of the aggressive
steadily, soon faded away.Yet it was political contradic- overseas ventures upon which they had come to depend
tions inherent in polis ideals of heroism and justice that for a living. For a couple of generations, farmers served
brought an abrupt end to the Greek classical age in 338 contentedly in the phalanx in summer when there was
BCE, when a semibarbarian conqueror, Philip of Mace- no work to be done in the fields, while a few wealthy
don, deprived Greek cites of their cherished freedom. aristocrats went along with the democracy, playing their
Until then, Greek freedom triumphed on every front, rest- own specialized part by refraining from conspicuous
lessly, ruthlessly, amazingly. consumption in private life and competing instead for
the honor of using their wealth for various public pur-
Athens Ascendant poses, like equipping a trireme or financing one of the
Immediately after their victory over the Persians, Athens tragic performances that honored the god Dionysos
and Sparta went their separate ways. Athens had played (Dionysus).