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Contents of the Twelfth Book of Diodorus
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84
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1When Pedieus was archon in Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Marcus Valerius Lactuca
and Spurius Verginius Tricostus. In this year Cimon, the general of the Athenians, being master
of the sea, subdued the cities of Cyprus. And since a
large Persian garrison was there in Salamis and the
city was filled with missiles and arms of every description, and of grain and supplies of every
other kind, he decided that it would be to his advantage to reduce it by siege.
[2]
For Cimon reasoned that this would be the easiest way for him not only
to become master of all Cyprus but also to confound
the Persians, since their being unable to come to the aid of the Salaminians, because the
Athenians were masters of the sea, and their having left their allies in the lurch would cause
them to be despised, and that, in a word, the entire war would be decided if all Cyprus were reduced by arms. And that is what actually happened.
[3]
The Athenians began the siege of Salamis and were making daily assaults, but the soldiers in the city, supplied as
they were with missiles and matériel, were with ease warding off the besiegers from
the walls.
[4]
Artaxerxes the king, however, when he learned of
the reverses his forces had suffered at Cyprus, took
counsel on the war with his friends and decided that it was to his advantage to conclude a
peace with the Greeks. Accordingly he dispatched to the generals in Cyprus and to the satraps the written terms on which they were
permitted to come to a settlement with the Greeks.
[5]
Consequently Artabazus and Megabyzus sent ambassadors to Athens to discuss a settlement. The Athenians were favourable and dispatched
ambassadors plenipotentiary, the leader of whom was Callias the son of Hipponicus; and so the
Athenians and their allies concluded with the Persians a treaty of peace, the principal terms
of which run as follows: All the Greeks cities of Asia
are to live under laws of their own making; the satraps of the Persians are not to come nearer
to the sea than a three days' journey and no Persian warship is to sail inside of Phaselis2 or the Cyanean Rocks3; and if these terms are observed by the
king and his generals, the Athenians are not to send troops into the territory over which the
king is ruler.4
[6]
After the treaty had been solemnly concluded, the Athenians
withdrew their armaments from Cyprus, having won a
brilliant victory and concluded most noteworthy terms of peace. And it so happened that Cimon
died of an illness during his stay in Cyprus.
1 449 B.C.
2 A city of Lycia on the Pamphylian Gulf.
3 At the entrance to the Black Sea at Byzantium.
4 There was a cessation of hostilities at this time between Athens and Persia; but the specific terms of the treaty, as they are stated here and in fourth-century orators, are clearly false. See Walker in Camb. Anc. Hist. 5, pp. 87-88, 469-471.
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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References (9 total)
- Commentary references to this page
(1):
- W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, 7.151
- Cross-references to this page
(6):
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), PARAPRESBEIA
- Smith's Bio, Artaba'zus
- Smith's Bio, Artaxerxes I. or Artaxerxes Longinmanus
- Smith's Bio, Caeliomonta'nus
- Smith's Bio, Ca'llias II.
- Smith's Bio, Cimon
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (2):
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