Mytilene Research Paper

Introduction

Mytilene was last member of Delian League which selected to worship in their own and they sent their men to fight with Athens fleet. There were so many differences between Mytilene and other allies regarding Athens. Mytilene ended it alliance with Athens and announced an open war against them. However, Sparta refused to make an alliance with Mytilene. It was prior to Peloponnesian War which gave an opportunity to Mytilene to seek assistance and support of Peloponnesians people (HISTORY.com, 2015).

This study describes various aspects regarding Thucydides' Peloponnesian War and Mytilenians against Athens.

I. How did Mytilene's ambassador to Sparta justify Mytilene’s revolt against Athens?

Mytilene government initiated a revolt against Athenians who were already suffering from bad financial conditions and plague as well. To seek the assistance from Sparta and to justify the Mytilene revolt against, Mytilene government sent ambassador to Sparta (En.wikisource.org, 2015). Ambassador argued that Athens had misused Delian League. They used this mechanism to exploit other Greeks and to make them slaves. Ambassador called it the matter of time that first Athens took control of prosperous islands of Mytilene and now they

had forced it into their system of oppression. It was time to get up otherwise Athens would crush them.
The Mytilenean ambassadors gave complete argumentative speech in which they discussed the weaknesses of Athens and strength of Mytilene forces. They justified their revolt against Athens and suggested to attack on empire. According to the, the first attack must be made on empires as Athens was receiving aid and resources from empire (HISTORY.com, 2015). This argumentative speech motivated Spartans and their allies and they decided to support Mytilene forces against Athens.
II. What arguments did Cleon and Diodotus make for and against democratic open debate about foreign policy especially in times of war? Summarize in your own words these arguments, but cite the page number.
When Mytilenians reached in Athens, then many of them were executed and killed by Athens to protect from further revolt. All the Mytilenians male citizens were killed and their women and children were sold. However, Mytilenians were in thousands and it was not possible for Athens to kill all of them. Many of Athens regretted on the cruelty of their previous actions and it caused the second debate which was named as Mytilenians debate by Thucydides.
Cleon was the person who spoke from Athens side.

According to Thucydides, Cleon was most violent person in Athens. He began his discussion through questioning the worth of democracy. He argued that a democracy is totally incapable to govern the other people. He exemplified their changing minds about Mytilenians during the time of war (Livius.org, 2015). He argued about the injustice of Mytilenians with Athens and raise of revolt against Athens by Mytilenians. According to him, the democratic assembly was a place of professional lecturer and they were not focusing on state issue. Cleon used language of hate, injustice and punishment during his speech. However, he talked about the enforcement of law in vase of Mytilenians (HISTORY.com,

2015).
On the other hand, Diodotus spoke in favor of Mytilenians and he opposed the decisions taken by Cleon regarding democracy and foreign policy of Athens in time of war. He argued that anger and haste are two major obstacles to a wise council. According to him, punishing Mytilenians was not an issue; rather it was issue of Athens’s best interest. He questioned that death either death penalty and executing Mytilenians is solution of this problem. He asked to find the way of moderation as compare to punishment to deal with case of Mytilenians. He argued that Athens must establish an alliance with Mytilenians regarding the democracy and foreign policy of Athens (Livius.org, 2015).
III. What do the speeches reveal about Greek attitudes concerning government and direct democracy?
The speeches made by Cleon and Diodotus present the two different pictures of Greek attitude towards democracy and enforcement of law. The speech made by Cleon focuses on enforcement of law and punishment, while the speech made by Diodotus focuses on negotiation, humanity, rationality and alliances as well. However, both speeches reveal that counseling was major to make decisions in Greeks. Furthermore, Greeks were very serious and restrict regarding the enforcement of law as well as democracy. However, rationality was most important to them. Diodotus won the case as he argued on the base of rationality and true myth of democracy.
Aftermath demonstrated that Athens government accepted the argumentation made by Diodotus and death penalty was rejected in case of Mytilenians. However, the leaders who were directly responsible for revolt were executed to enforce the law and to maintain democracy within the country.