THE 



343 



T 11 E 



nd Therasia, to which he gives the names of Hiera and 

 Automate, and of another which appeared in his own age, 

 called Thia. The former is now called Aspronisi, or ' the 

 white island ;' the latter Kaimeni, or ' the burnt.' 



Thera was originally inhabited by the Phoenicians, who 

 are said to have been left there by Cadmus. It was sub- 

 sequently colonized by Theras with a mixed colony ol 

 Minyans and Spartans (Herod., iv. 147, 148), and always 

 remained faithful to its mother-city Sparta. This island 

 and Melos were the only islands of the Cyclades that re- 

 mained faithful to Sparta at the beginning of the Pelopon- 

 nesian war. (Thucyd., ii. 9.) But Thera has acquired its 

 chief importance from having founded the colony of 

 Cyrene in Africa, under the guidance of Battus, in B.C. 631. 

 (Herod, iv. 150, &c.) 



The Doric dialect was spoken at Thera, as we learn from 

 inscriptions, and the government was in the hands of the 

 descendants of Minyans and Spartans, who first settled 

 there. We find mention in inscriptions of a senate and 

 a popular assembly. 



Coins of Thera are extant belonging both to the time 

 of its independence and that of the Roman empire. 

 Those of the former kind bear the letters e H, with the 

 head of a youth on one side and three dolphins on the 

 other. 



In the present day the island is covered with pumice- 

 stone ; and though the soil is dry and barren, it produces 

 a large quantity of cotton and wine. The wine is strong, 

 and is exported to all parts of the Archipelago. There is 

 no wood in the island ; and as it has to be imported, and is 

 dear, the inhabitants hardly ever have new bread, but eat 

 biscuits, composed of wheat and barley, which they make 

 only three or four times a year. They have hardly any 

 cattle, and very little fruit except grapes, and there is only 

 one spring in the island. It contains a few castles, sur- 

 rounded by some houses ; but the majority of the inhabi- 

 tants live underground in caves cut out of the pumice- 

 stone, which are arched over with very light stones of a 

 reddish colour. The island has a very desolate appearance, 

 the coast being craggy and rugged, and the rocks burnt 

 and scorched. It has only one harbour, in the shape of a 

 half-moon ; but no ship can anchor in it, as no bottom has 

 yet been found by the plumb-line. 



In the beginning of the eighteenth century, when Tour- 

 nefort visited the island, there were 10,000 inhabitants, 

 and two bishops, one of the Greek and the other of the 

 Latin church. About two-thirds of the inhabitants be- 

 longed to the Greek church. (Tournefort, Voyage into 

 tin' ]."vn,,t, vol. i., p. 202, &c.) 



THERA1MENES (9r,pa M Jv;, c ) was a native of Ceos, and 

 the adopted son of Hagnon, or Agnon, an Athenian. He 

 acted a very prominent part about the close and after the 

 end of the Peloponnesian war. He first appears in the 

 history of Greece as taking a part in public atfairs in B.C. 

 409, when, in conjunction with Antiphon, Phrynichus, and 

 Pisander, he endeavoured to upset the democratical con- 

 stitution of Athens. In B.C. 410 he took part with Thra- 

 sybulus in the battle of Cyzicus, and, in B.C. 40G, in the ce- 

 lebrated battle of Arginusae. On this occasion, on which 

 the Athenians gained a glorious victory, many lives were 

 lost in the wrecks of their ships, which it was thought 

 might have been saved if proper care had been taken. 

 Tlieiamencs and Thrasybulus had been commissioned by 

 the Athenian generals to take care of the wrecks and to 

 save the men, but they were prevented by a storm from 

 accomplishing this object. The generals in their de- 

 spatch to Athens concealed the commission they had given 

 to Theramenes and his colleague, as it was clear that the 

 I:iff<-r would be severely punished for their apparent 

 neglect. After the first report, the generals themselves 

 summoned to return to Athens, and in self-defence. 

 they were compelled to give an accurate account of the 

 occurrence, and the more so as they had reason to believe 

 that Theramenes and Thrasybulus were instigating the 

 people against, them. That their suspicion was not un- 

 founded became evident afterwards, for when six of the 

 general* were actually brought to trial, Theramene 

 base enough to appear foremost among their accuseis. 

 The generals defended themselves ; and the late hour of 

 the day rendering it. impossible to t take the votes of the 

 MUKpbly, the bunnies* was adjourned to another da}'. 

 During the interval, Theramenes and the other enemies of 

 the generals exerted themselves to excite the indignation 



of the people. On the day appointed for the next meet- 

 ing a number of persons hired by Theramenes appeared 

 in the assembly dressed in mourning, to rouse the sympa- 

 thies of the people for the loss of their friends and ex- 

 asperate them against the alleged authors of their misfor- 

 tune. After various debates eight of the generals were 

 condemned to death, and six of them, who were pre- 

 sent at Athens, were executed immediately. The blame 

 of this act of cruelty falls mainly upon Theramenes, who 

 ' had taken advantage of the uncommon forbearance and 

 candour of his victims, and of his own reputation, which 

 had never before been stained by any atrocious crime, to 

 effect their destruction.' 



Soon after the execution of the generals, the eyes of the 

 Athenians were opened, it is said, by Thrasybulus, to their 

 innocence, and it was decided that those who had misled 

 the people should be proceeded against, and that they 

 should give security for their appearance at the trial. 

 Theramenes, however, either by his skill or by accident, 

 not only avoided the prosecution, but retained his place 

 in the popular favour. In the following year (B.C. 

 405), shortly after the battle of Aegos P.otami, when an 

 Athenian embassy had been rejected by the Spartan 

 ephors, Theramenes, who, though he belonged to the oli- 

 garchical party, yet kept up the appearance of a friend of 

 the people, offered to go as ambassador to Lysander, who 

 was blockading the city, while famine was raging within. 

 Theramenes promised to procure favourable terms, if the 

 people would trust him. The majority readily acceded to 

 his proposal, and he went to the camp of Lysander. Here 

 he stayed for upwards of three months, hoping that in the 

 meantime the city would be reduced to such a state of 

 weakness as to accept any terms, or that in the interval 

 the oligarchical party would gain the ascendency. There 

 is moreover no doubt that he made Lysander acquainted 

 with the plans of the oligarchs. When he returned to the 

 city, he declared that he had been detained by Lysander, 

 who himself had no power to decide upon the terms of 

 peace with Athens, and that at last he had been directed 

 by the Lacedaemonian general to apply to the government 

 at Sparta. He was accordingly sent thither with nine col- 

 leagues, and invested with full power to negotiate peace 

 on any terms. Deputies of the Spartan allies met the 

 ambassadors, and several of them insisted upon the total 

 destruction of Athens ; but the Spartans, with an air of 

 generosity, declared themselves willing to grant peace on 

 condition that the long walls and the fortifications of Pi- 

 raeeus should be demolished, that all ships of war with 

 the exception of twelve should be delivered up to them, 

 and that Athens should join the Peloponnesian confede- 

 racv, and follow Sparta both by land and sea. (Xenophon, 

 Ifi-Ui'ii., ii. 2.) When Theramenes and his colleagues re- 

 turned to Athens with these tidings, the famine had reached 

 its heiijht, but there were still some who refused to submit, 

 to the humiliating conditions. Theramenes and his party, 

 anxious to get rid of these few before the report was laid 

 before the assembly, gained over a man of the name of 

 Agoratus to bring accusations against them and get them 

 all arrested. The plan succeeded, and the assembly was 

 held in the theatre of Piraeeus, where Theramenes urged 

 the necessity of concluding peace on the terms proposed. 

 Notwithstanding the opposition of some citizens to the 

 treaty, and the taunts of others, who saw through the plans 

 of Theramenes, peace was ratified, and Lysander entered 

 Piraeeus. [LYSANDER.] 



After the withdrawal of the Spartan general from 

 Athens, Theramenes, Critias, and their associates, who 

 liad assumed the supreme power, wishing to upset the de- 

 mocratical constitution, but to maintain some appear- 

 ance of decency, invited Lysander to attend the assembly 

 in which alterations in the Attic constitution were to be 

 discussed. Theramenes undertook the management of 

 the business, and proposed that the supreme authority 

 should for the present, be placed in thirty persons who 

 should draw up a new code of laws. The presence of Ly- 

 sander and the neighbourhood of the Peloponnesian troops 

 overwhelmed all attempts of the friends of the people to 

 maintain their constitution, and the proposal of Thera- 

 menes was adopted. Theramenes himself was one of the 

 Thirty, and he nominated ten of the others. The outrages 

 and atrocities committed by these Thirty spread general 

 alarm in Attica, and the future was looked to with fearful 

 prehensions. Theramenes, perceiving the state of feel- 



