The Democratic Revolution at Rhodes

I. A. F. Bruce

doi:10.1017/S0009838800015494

The Democratic Revolution at Rhodes

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009

I. A. F. Bruce

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At some time during the years 398–395 B.C. the people of Rhodes revolted against Sparta, freed themselves from the oppression of the Spartan empire and admitted to their city the Persian fleet commanded by Conon, the Athenian. This fact was overlooked by Xenophon, but reported by Diodorus (14. 79. 6) and Pausanias (6. 7. 6) who quotes Androtion. It seemed, before the discovery of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia, that the revolt of Rhodes from Sparta was in some way associated with internal party strife, for Xenophon relates that exiled Rhodian oligarchs appealed to Sparta for help in 391 B.C. Such an interrelation between internal politics and foreign policy had, of course, been a feature of Greek political life since the early years of the Peloponnesian War, as Thucydides was not slow to recognize. The discovery of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia, which devotes a chapter to a democratic revolution at Rhodes in 395 B.C, provided a good deal of new information on the political situation in that city, notably that, contrary to what we might have expected, the revolt from Sparta and the democratic revolution were not contemporaneous. Let us review briefly the details of these two events as far as our information permits.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Classical Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 3-4 , December 1961 , pp. 166 - 170

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800015494 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1961

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^{page 166 note 1} I refer, of course, to the ‘London fragments’ of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia, first published in 1908 in the Oxyrkynchus Papyri, v, edited by B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt. I shall use the chapter numbering established by the first editors in referring to the text, and not the system of Bartoletti by which the ‘Florence fragments’ make up chapters 1–5.

^{page 166 note 2} Hell. 4. 8. 20.

^{page 166 note 3} Thuc. 3. 82.

^{page 166 note 4} Strictly speaking the Athenians were not at war with Sparta until after the alliance with Thebes in 395 B.C. (cf. Tod, M. N., Greek Historical Inscriptions, ii. 101Google Scholar). Conon was, of course, an Athenian, and there is evidence that he had assistance from Athens at this time, probably of an unofficial nature. Cf. Isoc. Paneg. 142: and Hell. Oxy. 2. 1 :

^{page 167 note 1} Pindar, , Olymp. 7, celebrates the victory of Diagoras in the boxing contest at Olympia in 464 B.C. His sons Acusilaus, Damagetus, and Dorieus were all renowned athletes, the latter winning the pancratium at Olympia on three successive occasions.Google Scholar

^{page 167 note 2} Hell. Oxy. 10. 2.

^{page 167 note 3} Cf. Grenfell, and Hunt, , op. cit., p. 212.Google Scholar Cf. Hell. Oxy. 11. 1. The outbreak of war between Boeotia and Phocis occurred, i.e. the summer in which the democratic revolution took place at Rhodes.

^{page 168 note 1} Hell. Oxy. 10. Gren-fell and Hunt, or Bartoletti.

^{page 168 note 2} On the form of the name Nicophemus, Xenophon, Hell. 4. 8. 8 and Lysias 19. 7 agree with Hell. Oxy. Diodorus 14. 81. 4 calls him Nicodemus.

^{page 168 note 3} Hell. Oxy. 10. 2 This is the only direct speech in the extant portions of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia.

^{page 168 note 4} Hell. Oxy. 10. 3:

^{page 168 note 5} Cf., for example, Thuc. 2. 27. 2 (of Helots at Sparta) and Thuc. 8. 21 (of the Samian democrats against the oligarchs).

^{page 168 note 6} Gigante, M., Le Elleniche di Ossirinco, p. xxxiii.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 1} The restoration was tentatively suggested by Grenfell and Hunt in the editio princeps, but was not considered by them to be the best restoration. It was not adopted by them in the Oxford text. Kalinka (Teubner edition, 1927) adopted this reading and has been followed by Bartoletti. Gigante, , op. cit., restores , giving the same motive for the parades of the troops.Google Scholar