Euphemus (archon)

For the mythological Argonaut and the character in the Iliad, see Euphemus.

Euphemus was archon of Athens in 416/7.[1] In Thucydides, he is given a speech which portrays Athens as a tyrannical city.[2]

Archonship

Euphemus gives his name to the year of his archonship in 416/7.[1] During his archonship, the Argive alliance with Athens is renewed and the Melian expedition is undertaken.[3]

Thucydides

His speech rendered in Thucydides, Book 6 (72-88.2), as Athenian ambassador to Camarina gives reply to Hermocrates the Syracusan: "Euphemus responds in terms that characterize all Athenian political strategy as an assessment of imperial expediency."[4]:290 Athens has become a tyrant.[2]

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Benjamin D. Meritt, "The Spartan Gymnopaidia", Classical Philology, Vol 26, No 1, (Jan 1931), pp 70-84, JSTOR 264683 accessed 23 November 2011.
  2. ^ a b P. J. Rhodes, "Democracy and Empire" in Loren J. Samons II (ed), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Pericles, Cambridge University Press, 2007, Cambridge Collections Online accessed 24 November 2011 doi:10.1017/CCOL9780521807937.002
  3. ^ Jacob Geerlings, "The Athenian Calendar and the Argive Alliance", Classical Philology, Vol 24, No 3 (Jul 1929), pp 239-244 JSTOR 262846 accessed 23 November 2011.
  4. ^ Thomas F. Scanlon, "Thucydides and Tyranny", Classical Antiquity, Vol 6, No 2 (Oct, 1987), pp 286-301, JSTOR 25010872 accessed 23 November 2011