Talk:Sicilian Expedition

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Comments[edit]

This article cited as a source [1] (HuffPost) -SV|t 01:32, 25 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Spartan Intervention[edit]

Under Spartan Intervention, it is said there were 700 'marines' employed, with 'marines' linking to Marine Corps, a lemma about modern marine corps. Can someone explain to me what these Spartan 'marines' were?

-Probably Helots, indentured Spartan foot soldiers.

Fleet Size[edit]

what reference was used for the size of the fleet in the sicilian expedition? According to plutarch in his parallel lives, he states that they set sail for sicily with "140 galleys, 5,100 men at arms, and about 1300 archers, slingers, and light armed men." currently the article says pretty much the same, but the numbers are a little differentDmcheatw 02:55, 19 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think I added that, so if I did, I got it from Thucydides (possibly by adding up various numbers). Adam Bishop 03:06, 19 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Alcibiades[edit]

There are two instances of the Athenians sending a ship to arrest Alcibiades. The first in the "Athenian Landing" section:
"...where an Athenian ship arrived to inform Alcibiades that he was under arrest, not only for the destruction of the hermai, but also for supposedly profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries. Alcibiades agreed to return, but on the way back his ship escaped to the Peloponnese, where he eventually sought refuge in Sparta;"

The second in the "Winter of 415/Spring of 414 BC" section:
"Around this time a ship arrived from Athens with the job of summoning Alcibiades back to Athens, where he was to stand trial for the desecration of the Hermae. Though Alcibiades boarded the ship under escort, he jumped ship at the first possible moment and slowly made his way to Sparta."

This is somewhat confusing as the reader sees the same information twice. 131.225.232.49 20:07, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Campaign/Battle template[edit]

I think this needs one at the top just for reference, it would include the involved states, commanders, troop numbers and casualties. The troop numbers would be listed as from what they started as from the beginning of the expedition (inline with Thucydides), and will also list that they were reinforced here and there on both sides, and for casualties I will list those given by Thucydides and add them up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.179.240.177 (talk) 09:42, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello everyone, this is my first post. I have just changed the numbers for the size of the original expedition and its reinforcements to support Thucydides's estimates. For the original expedition Thucydides first says, "After this the Athenians weighed from Corcyra, and proceeded to cross to Sicily with an armament now consisting of one hundred and thirty-four galleys in all (besides two Rhodian fifty-oars), of which one hundred were Athenian vessels--sixty men-of-war, and forty troopships--and the remainder from Chios and the other allies; five thousand and one hundred heavy infantry in all, that is to say, fifteen hundred Athenian citizens from the rolls at Athens and seven hundred Thetes shipped as marines, and the rest allied troops, some of them Athenian subjects, and besides these five hundred Argives, and two hundred and fifty Mantineans serving for hire; four hundred and eighty archers in all, eighty of whom were Cretans, seven hundred slingers from Rhodes, one hundred and twenty light-armed exiles from Megara, and one horse-transport carrying thirty horses." Then for the reinforcements he says, "In the meantime, while the Syracusans were preparing for a second attack upon both elements, Demosthenes and Eurymedon arrived with the succours from Athens, consisting of about seventy-three ships, including the foreigners; nearly five thousand heavy infantry, Athenian and allied; a large number of darters, Hellenic and barbarian, and slingers and archers and everything else upon a corresponding scale." (123Boomer (talk) 17:36, 1 January 2010 (UTC))[reply]

Work underway[edit]

I'm doing some section-by-section rewriting of this over in my sandbox. I'm aiming towards a total rewrite of the article, but I'll be working one section at a time and incorporating new sections into this version as soon as they're ready. --Robth^Talk 17:11, 6 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Corinthian commander?[edit]

The article names the commander of the Corinthian naval contingent as Erasinides, providing no source for this. However, in A War Like No Other, Victor Davis Hanson states the Corinthian commander was Gongylus. ("The Athenians let a Corinthian naval squadron under the Corinthian admiral Gongylus sail into the harbor at Syracuse." pg 213) Is there any source for the Erasinides claim? If not, it seems to me that Gongylus should be credited with leading the Corinthian fleet. SpudHawg948 (talk) 21:53, 2 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Nicias and Demosthenes[edit]

Shouldn't it be noted, that they were executed and not just captured? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Melaneas (talk • contribs) 09:49, 10 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I've added that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by The Uncle of History (talk • contribs) 22:51, 10 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Nicias/Nikias[edit]

I haven't done an extensive survey, but my impression is that Nikias is the standard spelling in most modern texts. The Latin form Nicias seems rather old fashioned now. Was there some reason it was chosen for use here? The Uncle of History (talk) 22:54, 10 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Update: looking at some more books it seems that Nicias is more common, though Nikias is also found in some standard books. The Uncle of History (talk) 13:57, 11 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]