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The History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides · Composed beginning at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (traditionally 431 BCE); continued thereafter (Book I–VIII survive; work unfinished). primary

passage 361 of 394 · BOOK I > CHAPTER XXIV (14/17)

↪ you wandered here via “first Athenian execution history” — the connecting lines are tinted below

in brief
Thucydides records a treaty convention between Lacedaemonians (and allies) and King Darius: mutual nonaggression, joint action against Athens, shared peacemaking, and each side paying troops in the King’s lands.

The convention of the Lacedaemonians and the allies with King Darius and the sons of the King, and with Tissaphernes for a treaty and friendship, as follows:

  1. Neither the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians shall make war against or otherwise injure any country or cities that belong to King Darius or did belong to his father or to his ancestors; neither shall the Lacedaemonians nor the allies of the Lacedaemonians exact tribute from such cities. Neither shall King Darius nor any of the subjects of the King make war against or otherwise injure the Lacedaemonians or their allies.

  2. If the Lacedaemonians or their allies should require any assistance from the King, or the King from the Lacedaemonians or their allies, whatever they both agree upon they shall be right in doing.

  3. Both shall carry on jointly the war against the Athenians and their allies: and if they make peace, both shall do so jointly.

  4. The expense of all troops in the King’s country, sent for by the King, shall be borne by the King.

  5. If any of the states comprised in this convention with the King attack the King’s country, the rest shall stop them and aid the King to the best of their power. And if any in the King’s country or in the countries under the King’s rule attack the country of the Lacedaemonians or their allies, the King shall stop it and help them to the best of his power.

After this convention Therimenes handed over the fleet to Astyochus, sailed off in a small boat, and was lost. The Athenian armament had now crossed over from Lesbos to Chios, and being master by sea and land began to fortify Delphinium, a place naturally strong on the land side, provided with more than one harbour, and also not far from the city of Chios. Meanwhile the Chians remained inactive. Already defeated in so many battles, they were now also at discord among themselves; the execution of the party of Tydeus, son of Ion, by Pedaritus upon the charge of Atticism, followed by the forcible imposition of an oligarchy upon the rest of the city, having made them suspicious of one another; and they therefore thought neither themselves not the mercenaries under Pedaritus a match for the enemy. They sent, however, to Miletus to beg Astyochus to assist them, which he refused to do, and was accordingly denounced at Lacedaemon by Pedaritus as a traitor. Such was the state of the Athenian affairs at Chios; while their fleet at Samos kept sailing out against the enemy in Miletus, until they found that he would not accept their challenge, and then retired again to Samos and remained quiet.

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topics: diplomacy and embassies · treaties, truces, and peacemaking

The History of the Peloponnesian War · Thucydides · 431–404 BCE