Nearchus, Polyaenus and the sea

[ancientlibrary]

Forgive me for making a new topic. This is really
a reply to Marcus' new biography of Nearchus.
But that thread is about to slip off the screen,
and is below all the posts on meanness and
forum death; I didn't think it would get noticed..I'm writing to add my thoughts on Nearchus, his
connection to the sea, and the Lycian
appointment. You bio doesn't use the Nearchus
incident in Polyaenus; I'm wondering if that
might change your mind. (Do you have it? I can't
find a translation, but could work one up.)
Badian's article doesn't use it either. The
following is from a class presentation I did on
Alexander in Ionia, Caria and Lycia, trying to
discern patterns of government. I draw a line
between Nearchus' appointment, Polyaenus
and why Nearchus was eventually recalled. My
apologies for the breezy style. It's a speaking
script. If you're interested maybe we can get
deeper into the arguments.
"Alexander severed Lycia from Caria, attaching it
instead to Pamphylia. By getting rid of the
Carian domination he no doubt won local favor.
There was apparently no resistance in Lycia
itself, and he appears to have helped the
Lycians by conducting a long biter winter
campaign against the Pisidians in the
highlands of Lycia.... .... Over Lycia and Pamphylia Alexander
appointed Nearchus, a good friend of his from
Crete, who later headed the expedition in the
Indian Ocean recorded in the Indica. By
appointing Nearchus and joining Lycia to
Pamphylia, Alexander stressed its naval
importance. Denying Persian ships a port and
(possibly) controlling grain shipments to Attica
were on AlexanderGÇÖs mind. You can also see
this in the route that Alexander took through
Pamphylia. [draw on board].Robin Lane Fox suggests Nearchus had Lycian
connections. We know from a passage in
Polyaenus that while he was Satrap he took
over a coastal city in Lycia from a friend. Badian
passes this off in a footnote, and its just as
likely that some Cretan pirate friend of Nearchus
captured a Lycian city and turned tyrant. ThereGÇÖs
good evidence that the line between pirate and
dynast was pretty thin..By 330/29 the Alexander had won the Aegean
war from the land. Lycia/Pamphylia was no
longer as crucial. It is no surpise that when
Alexander recalled Nearchus at that time, that
no replacement was sent. In fact, the whole
area seems to have falled to Antigonus, satrap
of Phry

[ancientlibrary]

... In fact, the whole area seems to have fallen to
Antigonus, satrap of Phrygia, further enlarging
his power.

[marcus]

Hi Tim,You're right, I wasn't aware of the Polyaenus passage. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.I'm not sure, yet, whether that changes my mind as to Nearchus' 'involvement' with the sea. It is, of course, very possible that he knew many people on Crete, as I'm sure his family connections were not severed; but there is still nothing that really suggests that he was great seaman himself. Of course, my saying that the satrapal appointment was land-based is very general - one of the key things he would have to have done was to keep the sea clear, particularly of the Persian navy. But, of course, the satrap wouldn't necessarily be expected to do the job himself. All the bestMarcus

[amyntoros]

Polyaenus is impossible to find at any library near me. I've even had an inter-library loan request out for over six weeks, with no luck. Amazon has it on their site - the volume shows Books I-V. Is that the complete Stratagems of War, or are there other Books?Amyntoros

[ancientlibrary]

No, Polyaenus is eight books long. There's both
a new and old (ie., public domain) edition from
Ares press. The new is by P. Krenz and E.
Wheeler; the first volume is books 1-5. You can
buy both volumes for $50 on Ares' website
(http://www.arespublishers.com/WARFARE.htm)
. (But is Ares still in operation? Nothing seems
updated since 1998!) The old edition, by R.
Shepherd , was also published (reprinted) by
Ares press, but is no longer. There's a lot of
copies of it floating around, however. I'd very
much like to put the older edition online like my
other stuff, so if anyone has it...

[Taphoi]

Is this the one you're after?"Nearchus the Cretan took Telmessus away from Antipatrides. Nearchus sailed into the harbour. When Antipatrides, an old friend, came down from the citadel and conversed with him, the Cretan said he wanted to leave some women and slaves in chains with him. Antipatrides agreed, and the slaves in chains took the baggage of the female musicians. In the boxes for the pipes were unsheathed daggers and in the chests were small shields. When they were inside the citadel, the men leading the women and the slaves drew the daggers and captured the citadel, and Nearchus became master of Telmessus."
Polyaenus, Stratagems of War 5.35 (trans Krentz & Wheeler)Best wishes,Andrew

[marcus]

Hi Andrew,Er, I suppose that must be the reference Tim's referring to. Thanks!ATBMarcus

[ancientlibrary]

Thanks a lot, Prof. Chugg!
.
Now, the question is: When does this take
place? Logically, the options are:
.
1. Before Alexander's expedition.2. During Alexander's expedition.3. During his time as satrap of Lycia and
Pamphylia.4. After Alexander's death.
.
I find 3 the most likely, with 4 possible. I don't
think 1 or 2 are possible.
.
I'll do a little work on the options tonight.

[Taphoi]

Heckel dates it to Nearchus' time in the service of Antigonus between circa 319-317BC. I can't see any strong reason to disagree with him.Best wishes,Andrew

[ancientlibrary]

I thought it through and upgraded my rating of that possibility, although I don't think it's conclusive. If interested in the reasoning, see my post at:http://mothboard.com/topic.php?board=ne ... topic=1331(I didn't want to put it here because the forum doesn't handle long posts.)

[ancientlibrary]

And freel free to respond here instead, or let it lie.http://mothboard.com/topic.php?board=ne ... topic=1332

[smittysmitty]

I've a 1976 Ares copy of R. Shepherd's translation.
Does anyone know what this passage relates too? [4.2.20] Philip having long laid before Carae, a well fortified town, which he was at last unable to carry, found his best exertions necessary to effect a safe retreat, and carry off with him his machines. For this purpose he availed himself of a very dark night; and ordered the smiths to take his machines in pieces, imitating in the noise, as much as they could, the fabrications of new ones. The Carians, hearing the sound of hammers, applied themselves to strengthen their gates, and to counter-work the effect of the enemy's supposed operations by new erections. And while they were thus employed, Philip in the night struck his tents, and carried off his machines. I wasn't aware Phillip II partook on a campaign agvainst the Carians - does't surprise if he did - just never read any modern scholarship on this matter?Can anyone expand on this matter for me?
cheers!

[ancientlibrary]

Well, I don't have a full explanation, but I can tell you that Carae isn't Caria. Carae is a city, Caria a region. The Greek form is also different. Carae (Karai) is one of those plural city names, like Athenai. In fact, the Greek text doesn't say that the "Carians" or "Caraeans" heard the hammers, but "the people in Carae heard" them. In Greek, if you want to say Caria you say Karia; a person from Caria is a Kar/Kares. So, Shepherd's use of "Carians" is misleading. Now, as to where the heck Carae actually *is*, I have no clue. It doesn't show up in the material available to me--some bios of Philip, OCD, Anthon, Hazlitt's Classical Gazeteer, etc.. A TLG search seemed overkill. Does anyone know?

[marcus]

Hi Tim and Andrew,I'm afraid a bit of a trip away prevented me from joining in this, but I enjoyed your correspondence about it, and now that I have written down the Polyaenus quote I shall put a (more than tentative) date of around 319 to it (and read Heckel more carefully - on the other hand, I didn't really want to get into post-Alexander events too much with any of the biographies, so I clearly missed this point in Heckel).All the bestMarcus

[smittysmitty]

Carae - a Latinized form of the name perhaps?