Aristides was an ancient Greek statesman. He died in 468 BC at an advanced age. For his strict integrity he was surnamed the Just. He was one of the ten generals of the Athenians when they fought with the Persians at Marathon, in 490 BC. Next year he was eponymous archon, and in this office enjoyed such popularity that he excited the jealousy of Themistocles, who succeeded in procuring his banishment by the ostracism (about 483). Three years after, when Xerxes invaded Greece with a large army, the Athenians hastened to recall him, and Themistocles now admitted him to his confidence and councils. In the battle of Plataea in 479 he commanded the Athenians, and had a great share in gaining the victory. To defray the expenses of the Persian war he persuaded the Greeks to impose a tax, which should be paid into the hands of an officer appointed by the states collectively, and deposited at Delos. The confidence which was felt in his integrity appeared in their intrusting him with the office of apportioning the contribution. When he died he was so poor that he was buried at the public expense. Research Aristides
The Carthaginians were a powerful Phoenician people based in the city of Carthage. Carthage was the most famous city of Africa in antiquity, capital of a rich and powerful commercial republic, situated in the territory now belonging to Libya. Carthage was the latest of the Phoenician colonies in this district, and is supposed to have been founded by settlers from Tyre and from the neighbouring Utica about the middle of the 9th century BC. The story of Dido and the foundation of Carthage is mere legend or invention.
The history of Carthage falls naturally into three epochs. The first, from the foundation to 410 BC, comprises the rise and culmination of Carthaginian power; the second, from 410 to 265 BC, is the period of the wars with the Sicilian Greeks; the third, from 265 to 146 BC, the period of the wars with Rome, ending with the fall of Carthage.
The rise of Carthage may be attributed to the superiority of her site for commercial purposes, and the enterprise of her inhabitants, which soon acquired for her an ascendency over the earlier Tyrian colonies in the district, Utica, Tunis, Hippo, Septis, and Hadrumetum, Her relations with the native populations, Libyans and nomads, were those of a superior with inferior races. Some of them were directly subject to Carthage, others contributed large sums as tribute, and Libyans formed the main body of infantry as nomads of cavalry in the Carthaginian army. Besides these there were native Carthaginian colonies, small centres and supports for her great commercial system, sprinkled along the whole northern coast of Africa, from Cyrenaica on the east to the Straits of Gibraltar on the west.
In extending her commerce Carthage was naturally led to the conquest of the various islands which from their position might serve as entrepots for traffic with the northern shores of the Mediterranean. Sardinia was the first conquest of the Carthaginians, and its capital, Caralis, now Cagliari, was founded by them. Soon after they occupied Corsica, the Balearic, and many smaller islands in the Mediterranean. When the Persians under Xerxes invaded Greece the Carthaginians, who had already several settlements in the west of Sicily, co-operated by organizing a great expedition of 300,000 men against the Greek cities in Sicily. But the defeat of the Carthaginians at Himera by the Greeks under Gelon of Syracuse effectually checked their further progress (480 BC).
The war with the Greeks in Sicily was not renewed until 410. Hannibal, the son of Gisco, invaded Sicily, reduced first Selinus and Himera, and then Agrigentum. Syracuse itself was only saved a little later by a pestilence which enfeebled the army of Himiico (396). The struggle between the Greeks and the Carthaginians continued at intervals with varying success, its most remarkable events being the military successes of the Corinthian Timoleon (345-340) at Syracuse, and the invasion of the Carthaginian territory in Africa by Agathocles in 310 BC. After the death of Agathocles the Greeks called in Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, to their aid, but notwithstanding numerous defeats (277-275 BC), the Carthaginians seemed, after the departure of Pyrrhus, to have the conquest of all Sicily at length within their power. The intervention of the Romans was now invoked, and with their invasion in 264 BC, the third period of Carthaginian history begins.
The first Punic war in which Rome and Carthage contended for the dominion of Sicily, was prolonged for twenty-three years, from 264 to 241 BC, and ended, through the exhaustion of the resources of Carthage, in her expulsion from the island. The loss of Sicily led to the acquisition of Spain for Carthage, which was almost solely the work of Hamilcar and Hasdrubal. The second Punic war, arising out of incidents connected with the Carthaginian conquests in Spain, and conducted on the side of the Carthaginians by the genius of Hannibal, and distinguished by his great march on Rome and the victories of Lake Trasimene, Trebia, and Cannae, lasted seventeen years, from 218 to 201 BC, and after just missing the overthrow of Rome, ended in the complete humiliation of Carthage. The policy of Rome in encouraging the African enemies of Carthage occasioned the third Punic war, in which Rome was the aggressor. This war, begun in 150 BC, and ended in 146 BC, resulted in the total destruction of Carthage.
The constitution of Carthage, like her history, remains in many points obscure. The name of king occurs in the Greek accounts of it, but the monarchical constitution, as commonly understood, never appears to have existed in Carthage. The officers called kings by the Greeks were two in number, the heads of an oligarchical republic, and were otherwise called Suffetes, the original name being considered identical with the Hebrew Shofetim, judges. These officers were chosen from the principal families, and were elected annually. There was a senate of 300, and a smaller body of thirty chosen from the senate, sometimes another smaller council of ten. In its later ages the state was divided by bitter factions, and liable to violent popular tumults. After the destruction of Carthage her territory became the Roman province of Africa.
Twenty-four years after her fall an unsuccessful attempt was made to rebuild Carthage by Caius Gracchus. This was finally accomplished by Augustus, and Roman Carthage became one of the most important cities of the empire. It was taken and destroyed by the Arabs in 638. The religion of the Carthaginians was that of their Phoenician ancestors. They worshipped Moloch or Baal, to whom they supposedly offered human sacrifices; Melkart, the patron deity of Tyre; Astarte, the Phoenician Venus, and other deities, which were mostly propitiated by allegedly cruel or lascivious rites, though these accounts are most likely exagerated propaganda by enemies of the Carthaginians. Research Carthaginians
Gelon was an ancient Greek ruler. He was tyrant of Gela, and afterwards of Syrracuse. Afetr the death of Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, he seized the sovereign power in 491 BC, and about 485 BC gained possession of Syracuse. From this time he bent all his energies to the aggrandizement of his new Capitol, the power and importance of which he greatly increased by his conquests and good government. His aid was sought by the Greeks against Xerxes, but a formidable invasion of Carthaginians under Hamilcar engaged him in Sicily. The result was the total defeat of the Carthaginians in the great battle of Himera in 480 BC. It is celebrated in an ode by Pindar. Gelon died in 478 BC, and was succeeded by his brother Hieron. Research Gelon
Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon was a French writer of tragedy. He was born in 1674 at Dijon and died in 1762. His first play, La Mort des Enfants de Brutus, was rejected by the actors; but his next productions, Idomenee (1705) and Atree (1707), were successful. These were followed by Rhadamiste (1711), Xerxes (1714), and Semiramis (1717). At the age of seventy-six he wrote the Triumvirate, or the Death of Cicero, which was brought upon the stage in his eighty-first year. Research Prosper de Crebillon
Thais was an Athenian prostitute who was said to have accompanied Alexander the Great on his eastern campaigns, and to have persuaded him, during a drunken bout, to set fire to the old palace of the Persians at Persepolis, by way of reprisal for the destruction of Athens by Xerxes. Research Thais
Xerxes was King of Persia. He was born in 519 BC and died in 465 BC. He invaded Greece and defeated the Spartans at Thermopylae but he in turn was defeated at salamis. Research Xerxes
The Battle of Salamis during the Persian Wars, was a Greek naval victory over the Persians in 480 BC in the Strait of Salamis south-west of Athens. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Greeks inflicted a crushing defeat on the invading Persians which effectively destroyed their fleet. After the sack of Athens by the Persians, the commanders of some 370 Greek war galleys then lying off the island of Salamis debated what action they could take; their debate was ended by the appearance of the Persian fleet in the Bay of Phalerum.
Themistocles, the Athenian commander of the Greek fleet, sent a fake message, ostensibly from a spy, to the Persians warning that the Greek fleet was about to withdraw and that the Persians should blockade the entrance to the Bay of Eleusis. The Persians fell for the ruse and spread their 1,000 ships thinly across the bay. The Persians were so confident they could deal with a mere 370 vessels that they had a throne prepared for their king, Xerxes, on nearby Mount Aegaleus so that he would have a grandstand view from which to watch the anticipated crushing of the Greek fleet. Unfortunately, the Greeks came out into the bay at full speed, broke the Persian line, and then sowed mayhem in all directions, sinking over 500 Persian ships for the loss of only about 40 of their own. Xerxes, disgusted at this humiliation, returned to Asia, leaving a subordinate; Mardonius, to continue the land campaign. Research Battle of Salamis
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Abbreviations
Research Aristides
