Concept
Sicilian Expedition
Overview
The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military campaign in Sicily from 415 to 413 BC during the Peloponnesian War. It pitted Athens and its allies against Syracuse, supported by Sparta and Corinth. The expedition ended in a devastating defeat for the Athenians and severely weakened their position in the war.
The expedition was hampered from the outset by uncertainty over its objectives and command structure. Political manoeuvring in Athens expanded an originally modest force of twenty ships into a massive armada, while the expedition's principal advocate, Alcibiades, was recalled to Athens to stand trial before the fleet had even reached Sicily. Despite these setbacks, the Athenians achieved early successes. Syracuse, the most powerful state in Sicily, responded slowly to the threat and was nearly surrounded and besieged before the arrival of reinforcements under the Spartan general Gylippus, who galvanised the city's resistance. Thereafter, the Athenians gradually lost the initiative. Although a large reinforcing armada from Athens briefly restored their advantage, a disastrous assault on a strategic high point and a series of crippling naval defeats undermined both their military effectiveness and morale. A final attempt to evacuate the army failed, and nearly the entire expeditionary force was killed, captured, or sold into slavery.
The consequences of the defeat were immense. Two hundred ships and thousands of soldiers, a significant portion of Athens' military resources, were lost in a single campaign. The disaster encouraged Athens' enemies in mainland Greece and Persia to intensify their efforts against the city, while revolts broke out among Athenian allies in the Aegean. Some historians regard the expedition's failure as the turning point of the war, although Athens continued fighting for another decade. Thucydides observed that contemporaries were astonished not that Athens eventually lost the war, but that it was able to continue fighting for so long after suffering such catastrophic losses. Although Athens rebuilt much of its fleet, the loss of experienced soldiers and sailors proved far more difficult to replace.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
These early demonstrations of divine favor greatly encouraged his whole army; so that, making all the speed they were able, by a voyage across the open sea, they were soon passing along the coast of Italy. But the tidings that came from Sicily much perplexed Timoleon, and disheartened his soldiers. For Hicetes, having already beaten Dionysius out of the field, and reduced most of the quarters of Syracuse itself, now…
Plutarch, Plutarch
States what Sicilian Expedition is.
The first man that took a ship was Lycomedes the Athenian, captain of a galley, who cut down its ensign, and dedicated it to Apollo the Laurel-crowned. And as the Persians fought in a narrow sea, and could bring but part of their fleet to fight, and fell foul of one another, the Greeks thus equaled them in strength, and fought with them till the evening, forced them…
Plutarch, The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch
Close in meaning to Sicilian Expedition; the term itself is not named.
I again resumed the horizontal position, in which I was diligently tended by Kniep, who administered to me plenty of red wine and good bread. In this position our Sicilian expedition presented itself to my mind in no very agreeable light. On the whole, we had really seen nothing but traces of the utterly vain struggle which the human race makes to maintain itself against the violence of Nature, against the malicious…
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Letters from Switzerland and Travels in Italy
Names Sicilian Expedition.
Philosophers who discussed Sicilian Expedition
Related ideas
- Aristophanes
- Classical Athens
- Ancient Corinth
- Delian League
- Oligarchy
- Sicily
- Slavery
- Syracuse, Sicily
- Thucydides
- Achaemenid Empire
- Ionians
- Sparta
- Peloponnese
- Alcibiades
- Carthage
- Reggio Calabria
Place in the tradition
Part of Socrates.