Segesta

Nicias and the Importance of Persuasive Leadership How did Nicias fail to convince the Athenian assembly that the Sicilian Expedition was a strategic error? His arguments, while valid and logical, are not sufficient to win over the assembly to undo their vote of war. Not only does Thucydides have incomplete information about these events, but Thucydides’ prior knowledge of Nicias’s failure colors the way he reconstructs Nicias’s ineffective arguments against war. Nicias attempts to dissuade the assembly from a war it has already approved by discussing the lack of a compelling reason to aid the Egesteans, the challenge of conquering and ruling Sicily, and the fragile truce with Sparta. Because Nicias’s appeals are ultimately unsuccessful, Thucydides uses this failure as an example of ineffective leadership in the Athenian state. Thucydides’ credibility as an accurate historian of the Sicilian Expedition debates is questionable, but his reconstructions, even if historically inaccurate, give insights into Athenian society and the disposition of Nicias. Thucydides makes no reference to the Treaty of Egesta in the debates about the Sicilian Expedition. New evidence (Chambers, 25-31) recalibrates the date of the Treaty of Egesta to 418 BCE, shortly before the Sicilian Expedition of 415 BCE. Such a treaty would have strongly compelled the Athenians to aid the Egesteans when the 416 BCE Egestean embassy appealled for military assistance against Selinus. Thucydides does mention the…

The Peloponnesian War started when Sparta the leader of the Peloponnesian league and the largest land power in the region started to become concerned with the rise of Athens powers. Athens was a power in their own right; they were the largest sea power and was the leader of the Delian league. Neither Sparta nor Athens could afford to accept supremacy from the other country. Power can be a dangerous thing, those who have it don’t like letting it go, and those who don’t have it will do anything…

(Wikipedia) First Sicilian War The island of Sicily, lying at Carthage's doorstep, became the arena in which this conflict played out. From their earliest days, both the Greeks and Phoenicians had been attracted to the large island, establishing a large number of colonies and trading posts along its coasts. Small battles had been fought between these settlements for centuries. Carthage had to contend with at least three Greek incursions, in 580 BC, in 510 BC and a war in which the city of…

This expedition seemed doomed because they started with three different strategies, and three different generals. The Athenians named three generals to lead the expedition. They named Alcibiades, Nicias and Lamchus as their leaders. Nicias, who had tried to convince the people of Attica not to go to Sicily, suggested that they sail towards Sicily and force a settlement between Segesta and Selinus; then after that return home. Lamachus, suggested that they could attack their real enemy,…

This expedition seemed doomed because they started with three different strategies, and three different generals. The Athenians named three generals to lead the expedition. They named Alcibiades, Nicias and Lamchus as their leaders. Nicias, who had tried to convince the people of Attica not to go to Sicily, suggested that they sail towards Sicily and force a settlement between Segesta and Selinus; then after that return home. Lamachus, suggested that they could attack their real enemy,…