Early on in the History of the Peloponnesian War, the historian Thucydides writes of an exchange between Athens and the island of Melos. The Athenians are fighting Sparta (Thucydides is writing in the 5th century BCE) in a war that ultimately proves ruinous for all parties. As part of it, Athens invades Melos, whose people do not want war with Athens, and asks them to pay tribute. The Melians refuse to submit and are attacked and are utterly ruined, their men are killed and their women and children enslaved. The exchange that happens before this, with the envoys of Athens, is ...
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First Published: Fri, November 03 2017. 22:46 IST
