The Fall of the Athenian Empire-(A New History of the Peloponnesian War) Donald Kagan - (1987)

THE RESTORATION 271
which would have allowed them to threaten the city from two directions.
Instead of making an immediate assault, however, they continued
inland to Lydia, where they did much damage and collected a
great deal of booty, but once again the failure of the commander to
impose strict discipline proved costly. Stages, the Persian commander
in the area, caught the Athenians scattered and in disarray, killed some,
and would have done even more damage had not the Athenian cavalry
come to the rescue. Thrasyllus turned back to the coast, intending to
sail against Ephesus.
Once again the ravaging and delay gave the enemy warning and
time to rally its troops. It was not until the seventeenth day after the
raid that Thrasyllus set sail for Ephesus. By that time Tissaphernes
was on the scene with a large army, swelled by the crews of twentyfive
Syracusan ships and two from Selinus, for the Carthaginian attack
on Sicily had not yet begun. Tissaphernes used the time well, sending
horsemen into the countryside, urging the people of the neighborhood
"to come to the aid of Artemis. " 99 We should not forget that the last
event reported by Thucydides is Tissaphernes' sacrifice to Artemis at
Ephesus. 100 We may be sure that it was public and well advertised.
The sa trap must have carefully nourished a reputation for piety toward
the Greek gods and especially Artemis of the Ephesians. His appeal,
therefore, will have been both plausible and effective. Thrasyllus
landed at daybreak and split his forces: he landed his hoplites on one
side of the city, at the foot of Mt. Coressus, and the other troops near
a marsh on the opposite side. This may have seemed a clever strategy
to Thrasyllus, but it turned out to be disastrous. The enemy concentrated
its forces and attacked the hoplites first, routing them, killing
about a hundred, and driving the rest to the sea. Then they turned
their full force against the troops by the marsh, once again routing the
Athenians and killing another 300. The Ephesians set up two trophies,
one at each battle site, and gave prizes for valor to the Sicilians, who
had especially distinguished themselves, and to individuals among
them for particularly conspicuous bravery.'"'
wlbid., 4-6.
100 8.1()().
101 Xen. 1.2. ro. All of the Sicilians were invited to settle in Ephesus as resident aliens
freed from the taxes other such metics paid. Later, when the Carthaginians destroyed
Selinus, its people were offered Ephesian citizenship. See now the new papyrus fragment
of P. published by L. Koenen in Studio Papyrologica XV (1976), 55-76. It agrees
with the account of the other sources and adds some details.