Epikouroi in Thucydides

Author(s): B. M. Lavelle
Source: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 110, No. 1 (Spring, 1989), pp. 36-39
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/294950
Accessed: 24-12-2018 00:39 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and
extend access to The American Journal of Philology

This content downloaded from 154.137.176.71 on Mon, 24 Dec 2018 00:39:19 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 EPIKOUROI IN THUCYDIDES

Invariably in Homer's Iliad, the word 7ctiKotpog me

never 'mercenary', and that, or more precisely, 'fight(er) al
'on behalf of) must be the original sense of the root.' 'EmnK
also to denote 'fight(er) for pay' from the time when Carian
epikouroi accepted Psammetichos' promises of rewards
with him in Egypt.2 The original sense of epikour- was ne
retained through the fifth century.
Herodotos uses epikouros to denote both 'fighter for p
'ally', but the former primarily when he reports on the C
Ionians in Egypt.3 He sometimes includes words of paymen
kouros, indicating thereby that the root had not, by his ti
synonymous with 'fight(er) for pay'.4 (The far more p
descriptive term for mercenaries, misthotoi, Herodotos em
elsewhere; misthophoros, as precise, Herodotos uses not at
This fact has important bearing upon Thucydides' use of
inasmuch as that usage has been misconstrued. For exam
"Thukydides verwendet dem Begriff 67riKoupot im Sinne

1 2.130, 803, 815; 3.188, 451, 456; 4.379; 5.477, 478, 491, 614; 6.111
368, 477; 8.497; 10.420; 11.220; 12.61, 101, 108; 17.212; 18.229; 21.431. Ho
use epikouros in the Odyssey.
2 Hdt. 2.152; cf. Archilochos 216 West. On the Carians and lonians i
especially H. W. Parke, Greek Mercenary Soldiers (Oxford 1933) 4-6; M
Greece and Egypt in the Archaic Age (Cambridge 1970) 15-34; and A. B.
dotos, Book II (Introduction) (Leiden 1975) 14-23, and "Two Figured O
Saqqara," JEA 64 (1978) 107-12. On Psammetichos and the events of hi
A. Kitchen. The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1 100-650 B.-.) (War
1986) 393-404.
3'ally': 2.152.2; 7.189.1; 'mercenary': 2.163; 3.91.2, 146; (see also
ambiguous: 1.64.1. Epikourein means 'to fight on behalf of: 4.128.3; ep
'alliance' or '(armed) assistance': 5.63. 3, 80.2; 6.100.1, 108.2. Cf. n. 4 and
4 epikouros as 'fighter for pay', but with terms for payment included:
6.39.2. Cf. Aeschylos (epikouros = 'ally'): Pr. 870; (epikouria = 'armed a
717; Th. 702; Sophokles (epikouros = 'fighter on behalf of' or'helper'): OT
and Euripides (epikouros = 'fighter on behalf of or 'helper'): Or. 21, 30
L4 1027, 1241; El. 138; Ba. 1367; Rh. 753; Heracl. 921; Ion 297; (epikoure
on behalf of): IA 1452; Rh. 937, 956: (epikouria = 'assistance'): Or. 266,
878; epikouresis = 'assistance'): 4ndr. 28. Cf. n. 7 and n. 8 below.
5 misthotoi: 1.61.8; 3.45.3. Cf. n. 8 below.
American Journal of Philology I 10 (1989) 36-39 tc 1989 by The Johns Hopkins University Press

This content downloaded from 154.137.176.71 on Mon, 24 Dec 2018 00:39:19 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 EPIKOUROI IN THUCYDIDES 37

worbene S61dner', 'Leibwachter', nicht aber im Sinne 'Hilfstr

This pronouncement is simply incorrect. The Corinthians wa
Athenians that becoming allies (epikourous) of the Corcyraea
make them enemies of the Corinthians (1.40.3) and the Theb
use the word epikouros figuratively, but substantively in its
sense (3.67.2).7 Epikouros in Thucydides can in fact mean
alongside' without hint of pay or of professionalism.
There are passages in which Thucydides uses epikouros (a
oblique cases) certainly to mean 'fighter for pay',8 but his usa
at all uniform and some passages will admit of either sense.9 F
ple, the epikouroi who fought with the Chalcidians at Spa
(2.79.3) and the 800 epikouroi who came from the mainland t
the Corcyraean oligarchs (3.73.3) may have been allies rath
mercenaries. (Indeed, the oligarchs found refuge on the mainl
apparently among these epikouroi [3.85.2-3]: in their diff
would they have fallen back on mercenaries?'?) There is o
obvious case in which the generally accepted reading of 'mer
for epikouros owes itself to very little more than a misinferre
mity of meaning.
When in 428, all Lesbos with the exception of Methy
revolted from Athens, the rebel Lesbians under the leadersh
Mitylenaians were synoecized to Mitylene and the city was m
for inevitable Athenian siege." Its walls were strengthened,

6 G. Siebt, Griechische Sildner im Achaimenidenreich (Bonn 1977) 42.

below.
7 Siebt (n. 6 above) 42, n. 2, does not list these in his set of examples. epikouria
in Thucydides means 'alliance' or 'force for support': 1.32.1, 32.5, 33.1; 3.45.5; 6.12.1,
77.1, 86.5, 87.4, 91.5, 7.18.4; epikourein means 'to fight in behalf of: 1.49.7; 5.23.2;
7.57.10 (in the last instance, epikourein helps to distinguish the Acarnanian allies of the
Athenians at Syracuse from other serving for pay).
8 1.115.4; 2.33.1, 70.3 (these last two with words for payment); 3.34.2; 8.28.4, 38.3;
epikourikon apparently means 'mercenary force': 4.52.3; 7.48.5 (both with words indi-
cating payment); 8.25.2, 28.5, 55.3. Thucydides uses misthotos (4.129.2; 5.6.4) and mis-
thophoros (1.35; 3.109.2; and 9.58.3 among other instances) to denote 'mercenaries'
elsewhere.
9 Cf. 2.79.3; 3.18.2 (see below text), 73.3, 85.3; 4.46.1; 6.55.3; all of course contra
Siebt (n. 6 above).
10 These epikouroi are more plausibly Corcyraean colonists of the island's peraea
(cf. A. W. Gomme, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, II: Books II-III [Oxford,
1956] 386).
11 Th. 3.2.2.

This content downloaded from 154.137.176.71 on Mon, 24 Dec 2018 00:39:19 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
38 B. M. LAVELLE

bours blocked, and Pontic grain and archers were procured,

undoubtedly serving for pay.12 Although the Athenians and
were able to deny the islanders use of the sea, the Mitylenai
rest of the Lesbians who had now joined them nevertheless controlled
most of the island.'3
To strengthen their position by land, the Mitylenaians and their
epikouroi marched to Methymna, the only remaining ally of Athens
on the island, believing that the city would be betrayed.'4 It was not;
they failed in their assault on its walls and so marched home, on the
way stopping to fortify more strongly the allied cities of Antissa, Pyr-
rha, and Eresos and taking measures for their internal security. Buoyed
by the successful defense of their city, the Methymnans launched a
counterassault against Antissa, but were thrown back by the Antissans
and their epikouroi and retreated in haste.
Several notable translators and commentators take the word epi-
kouroi in these two instances to mean 'mercenaries', i.e., the Pontic
archers recruited by the Mitylenaians. 5 But that does not follow at all
from what Thucydides says. The historian mentions the Pontic archers
in among other preparations which the Mitylenaians were making for
defence of the city, not for aggression. Within the city, the archers
would have been effective against the enemy on the battlements or,
possibly, in sea-fights, aboard the city's triremes.16 They were, how-
ever, perhaps most effective in helping to police the potential enemy

2 Cf. And. De Pace 5; cf. also M. Vos, Scvthian Archers in Archaic Attic Vase-
Painting (Groningen, 1963).
13 Th. 3.6.2.
4 Th. 3.18.
'5 Translators: R. Crawley (London 1876) 139 (Everyman edition); R. Warner
(Harmondsworth, U.K. 1954) 202-3 (Penguin edition); C. F. Smith Thucydides, II:
Books III-IV (London 1929) 29. Commentators: W. Bloomfield, The History of Thu-
cydides, 2 (London 1829) 28, who translates 'auxiliaries', but refers to 3.2.2; G. B6hme,
Thukydides 1(3) (Leipzig 1885) 14, who translates 'die Fremden' referring to 3.2.2; J.
Classen/J. Steup, Thukydides III (Berlin 1892) 33; A. W. Spratt, Thucydides, Book III
(London 1896) 129; E. C. Marchant, Thucydides, Book III (London 1918) 127; cf.
Gomme (n. 10 above) 277. Others: D. Gillis, "The Revolt at Mitylene," JP 92 (1971)
43; and H. D. Westlake, "The Commons at Mitylene," Historia 25 (1976) 430-1.
16 On battlements cf. Y. Yadin. The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, II (New
York 1963) 406ff. (on Assyrian archers). Although Assyrian archers are frequently
depicted shooting arrows up at cities under siege (Yadin, 294ff.), the Scythian bow seems
to have lacked sufficient firepower to shoot other than straight ahead and at rather close
range (cf. Vos [n. 12 above] 71). On ships: And. De Pace 5.

This content downloaded from 154.137.176.71 on Mon, 24 Dec 2018 00:39:19 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 EPIKOUROI IN THUCYDIDES 39

within, an untrustworthy demos, given only light arms f

lion.7 That the demos was essentially disarmed in this des
ation is a certain sign that it was greatly distrusted by th
oligarchs who, refusing to arm it properly, obviously wa
tralized. Once hoplite arms were distributed to the demos
tan Salaithos and the people had made demands, the rebel
estimation of the oligarchs, was finished.18 Of course, as t
the rebellious faction was broken by the re-arming of the d
was the police force of archers instantly invalidated.19
The Mitylenaian epikouroi who marched against the M
nans were much likelier to have been the Lesbians synoeciz
lene (but not Mitylenaians per se), very possibly the Anti
rhans, and Eresians; the epikouroi of the Antissans,
possibly the same Pyrrhans and Eresians, but Lesbians in
attacking Methymna, the Mitylenaians were attempting to
their hold on the island, but perhaps they also sought to
burden of an unprecedentedly large population of Mit
Antissans suffered reprisal from the Methymnans becaus
allied to Mitylene and had joined in the attack on Methym
rhans and Eresians came to their aid because of the same alliance. The
epikouroi mentioned by Thucydides at 3.18.2 are far more plausibly
the Lesbian allies of the Mitylenaians than the Pontic archers fetched,
Thucydides indicates, for the defence of the city and, really, the only
impediment to this conclusion is misinference of epikouros' meaning
in Thucydides.20

B. M. LAVELLE
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

17 Cf. Gillis (n. 15 above) 43.

18 Th. 3.27.2-28.2: distribution of food was surely not the only issue (cf. Westlake
[n. 15 above] 429-40): see G. E. M. de St. Croix, The Class Struggle in the Ancient World
[Ithaca 1981] 603-4, n. 26); and Gillis (n. 15 above) 38-47, especially 41ff.
'9Cf.n. 16 above.
20 Cf. E. F. Poppo, De Bello Peloponnesiaco (Leipzig 1835) 530, correcting Bloom-
field who may have been the first to make the equation: "Nobis igitur non mercenarii
sunt, sed socii Lesbii." Cf. also K. Kruger, ouicuSi6ou ]vuyypawpi III (Berlin 1846) 14-
15; G. Grote, History of Greece, V (London 1888) 142; G. P. Landemann, Thukydides.
Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Krieges (Zurich 1960) 206 ('Hilfstruppen'). 'Auxilia-
ries': T. Hobbes, History of the Grecian War (London 1822) 139; H. Dale, Thucydides,
I (London 1896) 168; B. Jowett, Thucydides, I (Oxford 1900) 195; and J. de Romilly,
Thucydide, Livre III (Paris 1969) 11.

This content downloaded from 154.137.176.71 on Mon, 24 Dec 2018 00:39:19 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms