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Ep. 0290: ‘The Mad Dream of Conquest,’ Pt. III
Published 16 hours ago
Description
Join CJ as he discusses:
- The Syracusan reaction to news of a huge, inbound Athenian expeditionary force, including the wise advice of Hermocrates (that wasn’t sufficiently heeded at first)
- The arrival of the Athenians in the area, & initial difficulties & disappointments they began to encounter
- The debate among the 3 Athenian strategoi (Nicias, Lamachus & Alcibiades) over how to proceed, the strategy adopted, & the lack of significant progress
- The recall of Alcibiades to Athens for trial, & his subsequent escape
- Athenian successes in Sicily that they failed to capitalize upon sufficiently to defeat Syracuse prior to the onset of the winter of 414/415
- Athenian & Syracusan diplomatic efforts during that first winter
- The success of Syracusan diplomacy (with the help of Alcibiades) in securing aid from Corinth & Sparta
- Gylippus, the Spartan strategos sent to take command of the Syracusan war effort against Athens
- Initial Athenian successes during the campaign season of 414 that (despite the death of Lamachus) drove the Syracusans to the brink of surrender
- The arrival of Gylippus in the nick of time, & his stunning successes in turning the tide of the war against Athens & nullifying their efforts to circumvallate & besiege Syracuse
- Nicias’ extremely downtrodden & pessimistic report back to Athens, sent during the winter of 414/413, in which he demanded that the Athenian Assembly either authorize the evacuation of his expeditionary force, or send him significant reinforcements (men, supplies, & money), along with a strong request that he (Nicias) be relieved of command if they chose the latter option
As promised, here’s a zoomed out map of the expedition to Sicily, showing 1) how far the Athenians traveled, & 2) the relative locations of significant cities on Sicily & on the adjacent ‘toe’ of Italy , plus a more zoomed-in map of Syracuse, its harbors, & the surrounding territory.
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