This book presents for the first time a history of Eretria during the Archaic Era, the city’s
most notable period of political importance.
Keith Walker examines all the major elements of the city’s success. One of the key
factors explored is Eretria’s role as a pioneer coloniser in both the Levant and the West—
its early Aegean ‘island empire’ anticipates that of Athens by more than a century, and
Eretrian shipping and trade was similarly widespread.
We are shown how the strength of the navy conferred thalassocratic status on the city
between 506 and 490 BC, and that the importance of its rowers (Eretria means ‘the
rowing city’) probably explains the appearance of its democratic constitution. Walker
dates this to the last decade of the sixth century; given the presence of Athenian political
exiles there, this may well have provided a model for the later reforms of Kleisthenes in
Athens.
Eretria’s major, indeed dominant, role in the events of central Greece in the last half of
the sixth century, and in the events of the Ionian Revolt to 490, is clearly demonstrated,
and the tyranny of Diagoras (c. 538–509), perhaps the golden age of the city, is fully
examined.
Full documentation of literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources (most of which
have previously been inaccessible to an English-speaking audience) is provided, creating
a fascinating history and a valuable resource for the Greek historian.
Keith Walker is a Research Associate in the Department of Classics, History and
Religion at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia.