In the introduction to his historical treatise the Athenian historian Thucydides mentions the most ancient naval battle in Greek history that took place between the Corinthians and their colonists Corcyraeans around 664 BC, of which battle there is no account in other sources. Having analysed the information on the relationships between Corinth and Corcyra in the Archaic and early Classical periods provided by the written tradition of antiquity, the author of the article arrives at the conclusion that it was but one of many conflicts between the metropolis and its colony, which started as early as the end of the 8th century BC and by the end of the 5th century BC became one of the reasons for the Peloponnesian War that split the ancient Greek world into two camps.
ancient Greece
Manipulating Genealogies: Pheidon of Argos and the Stemmas of the Argive, Macedonian, Spartan and Median Kings
The article focuses on the manipulations of the genealogy of a legendarily famous Argive king or tyrant Pheidon ruling during the Greek Archaic Age (eighth to sixth century BC). The ancients did not possess any precise knowledge about his dating, which caused variable attempts to locate him in time. On the other hand, he became a target of different synchronisations which led to the manipulation not only of the Argive data, but also the genealogies of the Macedonian, the Median and the Assyrian kings. The discussion will reveal how genealogical evidence, or pseudo-evidence, was forged and manipulated for arriving at ostensibly historical accounts which, although possibly based on genuine traditions, produced visions of the past which in many points clearly did not correspond to the truth.
Kalokagathia: to a Question on Formation of an Image of the Ideal Person in Antiquity and During Modern Time
This paper is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon of kalokagathia, developed by the Greek writers and philosophers in 5th–4th centuries BC The term kalokagathia combines two adjectives, with kalos designating outward, and agathos — inward perfection. The resulting neologism—a word-combination—denotes a predicate of perfection, with no existing synonyms to express the notion of virtue in the Greek lexicon at that time. For the upbringing of the ideal person, leisure (schole) was necessary, which in this slaveholding society was available to all free citizens. The author of the paper emphasises that during the Archaic period kalos kagathos was the self-determination of aristocracy, while during the Classical period the term acquired more generalized semantic value and was applied to worthy citizens of all strata of society. The specificity of the term kalokagathia was most fully developed in the writings of Thucydides and Xenophon. Thus, in Sparta kalos kagathos designated the ideal soldier, whereas in Athens — the ideal person and the citizen. The author of paper considers it difficult to give an adequate translation of the terms kalokagathia and kalos kagathos; therefore, it would be more rational to transliterate both of them. In the modern-day society, the concept of the ideal person appears to be in demand again, mainly within the framework for developing therapeutic sports and education system for the younger generations.
Greeks, Phoenicians and the alphabet
The invention of the alphabet is still a problem for the contemporary historiography, archaeology and linguistics. This study emphasizes some of the most important aspects of this process. After a critical review of the most important theories, the author takes into consideration the issue of the author and the reason of inventing the vowels. The latter is presented here as a linguistic necessity.