WAR IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF HELLENISTIC WARFARE
to impose upon the citizens any additional requisition for a period of nine
years; and the wealthiest of the citizens have recently made great extraordinary
contributions due to the calamities that have occurred.
Given that 20,000 drachmas were needed for the construction of a single
tower, the Kytenians did not make a great progress in their endeavor with
the donation of the Xanthians.
Some cities were proud of their city walls, others of their fleet, which was
an equally costly contribution to their defense. Because of the limited space
for provisions on board a ship, long naval operations away from land were
not possible, and consequently the basic aim of Hellenistic naval warfare
was not to control the sea, but to avert attacks and raids by enemy or pirate
ships against merchant ships or coastal sites. Such a limited radius of action
obliged a city with maritime interests to maintain harbors, naval bases, and
headquarters with the necessary infrastructure for the logistical support of
the ships – i.e., to provide materials, food, and manpower (Gabrielsen 2001a:
73–6). Locations offering such facilities were frequently subjugated, and
both Antigonid Macedonia (Buraselis 1982) and Ptolemaic Egypt (Bagnall
1976) were extremely active in the subjugation of coastal towns on the
islands (especially in Euboia, Thera, Samothrake, Samos, and Cyprus, in
part also in Crete), and along the coast of Asia Minor and Syria-Palestine.
This subjugation took different forms, from indirect control by means of an
alliance to direct control through the establishment of a garrison.
A recognizable increase in the number of coastal sites in Hellenistic Crete
is also connected with the maritime interests of many Cretan cities, which
were actively involved in piracy and trade with booty (especially with slaves,
see section 7.3). Important cities, such as Gortyn, Lyttos, and Knossos,
acquired harbors and naval bases, either through conquest, by founding
harbors, or by incorporating independent communities by means of interstate
agreements (sympolity). Alternatively, they might reduce a previously
free city to the status of a dependent community. Praisos, for example,
conquered the coastal cities of Setaia and Stalai and later gave them certain
privileges as an exchange for naval services offered by these dependent
communities (Chaniotis 1996a: nos. 64–5).
The expenses connected with the construction and maintainance of
an ancient warship were manifold and high, ranging from iron and lead for
the metal parts, to timber and sail-cloth, to tow, pitch and tar (Morrison
and Coates 1994; Gabrielsen 2001a: 81). In one instance (ca. 200 BC) it is
reported that the daily cost of keeping a trireme in commission was 330
drachmas – which corresponds to the annual salary of a mercenary soldier –
but unfortunately we do not know whether this amount corresponds to the
avarage, is exceptionally high, or extremely low (Gabrielsen 2001a: 75).
The main problem of financing a fleet was the constant flow of resources for
manning and maintaining the ships (see below).
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