The Unknown Pioneers of the Mediterranean

by: Katsos, V.

Price: 40,00 EURO

(in stock)

 This book pays tribute to the unknown pioneers of the Mediterranean: the Chalcidians. To these Euboean seafarers, who from the 12th to the 4th century BC, founded more colonies than any other Greek metropolis of the ancient world, on the shores of the Middle East, Asia Minor, Africa, Illyria and, mainly, Halkidiki in northern Greece, Italy and Sicily. The new worlds that they created especially in the last two regions, preceding all other Greeks, paved the way for the birth of Greater Greece and modern Western Civilization. All these homelands far from home and their historical path, from their prosperity to their fall, are gathered and presented in detail, for the first time, in one document. At the same time, the important ―but also unknown― naval, military and cultural superiority of their metropolis, Chalcis, over the other Greek cities, mainly during the 8th century BC, which was its own Golden Age, is highlighted.

Part I: Abantes settlements

The establishment of ChalcisThe names of the island of Euboea and their connection with the city of Chalcis
The Abantes
Who were the first Greeks «with long hair at the back»?
Chalcis: The centre of power of the Abantes in Euboea
The Colonies of the Abantes in the Mediterranean: The Early settlements of the Chalcidians
Othronos
Amantia
Thronion
Orikos
Euboea (in Edessa)
Kanai
Euboea (in Libya): the oldest remote settlement of the Greeks in the West!
Tityus, Rhadamanthys and Libyan Euboea.
Euboea (in Corcyra)
The remaining travels of the Abantes in the Greek world
Chalcis: There was more than one
Chalcis (in Aitolia)
Chalcis (in Eleia)
Chalcis (in Erythrae)
Chalcis (near Lesbos)
Chalcis (in Messapia)
Chalcis (in Scythia)
Chalkedon
Chalcis in Syria
The dawn of a bright age that was once unfortunately called «dark»
Xeropolis: The unknown city that redefined the Dark Age of Greece
Which city is Xeropolis identified with?
The unknown Euboean Koinon of the Geometric Period
Zagora
Al Mina
Al Mina: the most remote colony of Chalcis and Eretria to the east
The end of Euboean presence in Al Mina.
Part II: The Italiot Greater Chalcis

A superpower is born
The leading role of Chalcis in Greek colonization
Briareus (or Aegaeon), the Pillars of Hercules of Gibraltar, the Aegean Sea and their connection with Chalcis
The colonies of the Chalcidians in the Bay of Naples
The echo of the Chalcidian colonies in Western Civilization
Linos of Chalcis: The first to bring alphabetic writing to the Greeks
Chalcidian alphabet: Chalcis? greatest legacy to Western civilization
The main causes of the second colonial wave of Chalcis
Through what process did the settlers depart from the metropolis? Why didn?t they take women with them?
The first confirmed Hellenic colony on the Italian peninsula: Pithekoussai
Names of the island and the Homeric Arimi
Cosmopolitan Pithekoussai
Pithekoussai; early colony or trading post?
Typhoeus: A myth which travelled along with the Chalcidians from East to West
The archaeological research in Pithekoussai and the Cup of Nestor
The end of Pithekoussai
Cyme
Who founded Cyme?
How the Graeans who settled in Cyme named all the Greeks in the West
The rapid growth of Cyme and its causes
The Cymaean Sibyl
The oracle of the Cymaean Sibyl
The gate of Hades, at the edge of the world
Dicaearchia
The disadvantage of Dicaearchia
Parthenope
Neapolis
Misenum
Baiae
Capri
Pandataria
Pontia
Nola
Atella
The Twilight of the Chalcidian Colonies in the Bay of Naples: The Greco-Etruscan Wars
The story of Aristodemus the Malacus
Aristodemus defeats the Etruscans again in 504 BC
How Aristodemus became the tyrant of Cyme
The End of Aristodemus
The decline of Cyme
How Neapolis saved the Hellenism of
Campania

Part III: The Siceliot Greater Chalcis

A new Greek world is rising
The first Hellenic colony in Sicily: Naxos
How did Naxos evolve?
Naxos today
Scylla and Charybdis: A Chalcidian Myth
Zancle
Rhegion
How was Rhegion founded and what is the origin of its toponym
With the founding of Rhegion a new Euripus was born in the Strait of Messene
The evolution of Rhegion and its controversial colonies
Leontini
Catana
Charondas: «The first lawgiver of Italy and Sicily»
Mylai
Callipolis
Euboea
Morgantina
The settlement of Monte San Mauro: An unknown Chalcidian colony
The finding of a rare legal text belonging to Charondas in the Chalcidian alphabet, discovered at Monte San Mauro
Metaurus
Himera
Thourioi: A pan-Hellenic colony, with Euboean participation
How Chalcis and Eretria were involved in the establishment of Syracusae by the Corinthians
The myth of Arethusa
Arethusa and Alpheius
Where else do we find the name Arethusa in the 8th c. BC
Who brought the cult of Arethusa to Sicily?
The beginning of the end of the Chalcidian colonies in Greater Greece
The re-establishment of Zancle as Messene
The Battle of Himera
The counterattack and the overwhelming victory of the Greeks
The dark days of the Chalcidian colonies
The role of the Chalcidian colonies in the Sicilian Expedition
The first Athenian intervention in Sicily
The escalation of war
The Βattle of the Strait of Messene
The siege of Siceliot Naxos
The Leontines fight back
The armistice of hostilities
The desolation of Leontini due to civil strife and the role of Syracusae
The beginning of the Sicilian Expedition; Leontini and Egesta become the cause of war
The request to send aid to Egesta is discussed in the Ecclesia of Demos
The mutilation of the Hermae
The Sicilian Expedition begins
Rumours of the Athenians arrival reach Syracusae
The Athenians arrive at Rhegion
Naxos and Catana receive the Athenians and side with their camp
The deposition of Alcibiades
The Athenians? trap and the Battle of Syracusae
The failed attempt to capture Messene
The Syracusae blockade
The Athenians send reinforcements to Sicily
The naval battles of Syracusae
Athenian reinforcements arrive at Syracusae:
The Battle of Epipolae
The Athenians are defeated at sea
The disastrous exodus of the Athenians from Syracusae
The end of Himera
The fate of Leontini, Naxos and Catana after the Sicilian Expedition of the Athenians
The Tauromenion: A new colony is born from the Chalcidian ashes of Naxos and Catana
The Fall of Messene
The Conquest of Rhegion by Dionysius I
The twilight of the Chalcidian colonies in Sicily
Rhegion?s adventure with the Campanian deserters of the Roman garrison
The dawn of the Roman era of the Chalcidian colonies in Sicily and Southern Italy
The Grecanican villages of Greater Greece —Greater Chalcis

Part IV: The colonies of Chalcis in Halkidiki

The «Chalkidikon genos» in Thrace
Gigantomachy: A myth of Chalcidian origin
The colonies of Eretria on the «leg» of Pallene
Mende
Aphytis
Chytropolis
Sane (of Pallene)
Therambo
Aige
Neapolis
The colonies of Chalcis on the headland of Sithonia
Torone
Assa
Piloros
Singos
Sarte
Galepsus
Sermyle
Mecyberna
Physcella
Parthenopolis
Callipolis
The colonies of Chalcis on the headland of Athos
Sane (of Athos)
Dion
Olophyxis
Acrothoon
Thyssus
Kleonai
Chalcis (of Athos)
The rest of the colonies of Chalcis and Eretria in North Greece
Stageira
Stolos
Arethousa
Milcorus
Arnai
Skabla
Polichne
The cities of Crusis: Lipaxos, Kombreia, Lisai, Gigonos, Skapsa and Smila
Cithas and Tinde
Strepsa
Chedrolioi
Methone
Discoveries in Methone?s «Underground»
The «Cup of Acesander» and its importance
Dicaea
Eion
Pharbelos
Sindos
The myth of Hercules and Cycnus
The beginning of the end of Chalcis? colonies in Halkidiki: The Persians invade Thrace
The destruction of the Persian fleet at Athos
The contribution of the Chalcidians to the construction of the Athos canal
The march of Xerxes to Halkidiki
The concession of Olynthus to the Chalcidians
Olynthus
The exemplary, innovative design of Olynthus
The cities of Halkidiki after the Battle of Plataea
The colonies of Chalcis and Eretria in Halkidiki that participated in the Athenian League.
The main events of the Pentecontaetia (fifty year period of 479-431 BC) in Euboea
The Peloponnesian War: The apostasy of Potidaea and the colonies of Chalcis in Thrace by the Athenian League
The events in Halkidiki, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War
The Chalcidians defeat the Athenians at Spartolus
The campaign of the Thracian Sitalces against the colonies of Chalcis
The campaign of the Lacedaemonian Brasidas in the country of the Chalcidians
The capture of Torone by Brasidas
The speech of Brasidas to the Toronaeans and the siege of Lecythus
The apostasy of Eretrian Mende
The Athenians reclaim Mende
The Athenians recapture Torone
The Peace of Nicias and its effects on Halkidiki
The beginning of the second phase of the Peloponnesian War in Halkidiki
The last recorded skirmishes in Halkidiki during the Peloponnesian War
Which Chalcidians of Thrace left their cities in 432 BC and settled in Olynthus?
The rise of Olynthian hegemony: the Chalcidian League
The cities that participated in the Chalcidian League
The story of Episthenes of Olynthus, who participated in the Anabasis Kyrou
The Chalcidian League at the dawn of the 4th c. BC
The speech of Cleigenes of Acanthus to the assembly of the Lacedaemonians
The beginning of the First Olynthian War
The first failed attack on Olynthus
The Chalcidians exterminate «the most serviceable part of the Lacedaemonian army»
The Lacedaemonians strike back. The final capitulation of the Chalcidian League in 379 BC
The cities of Halkidiki that participated in the Second Athenian League
The campaign of the Athenian Timotheus in Halkidiki, in the summer of 364 BC
The early years of Philip II?s reign and his relations with the Chalcidian League
The outbreak of the Second Olynthian War: Demosthenes? «First Olynthiac»
Philip?s stratagems: Demosthenes delivers his «Second Olynthiac» speech
The «Third Olynthiac» by Demosthenes
The end of Olynthus and the Chalcidian League
The incidents showing the fate the Olynthians suffered after the fall of their city
Which Chalcidian cities were razed to the ground by Philip II and which continued their course in time

Part V: The Golden Age of Chalcis

Chalcis? naval supremacy
The military supremacy of Chalcis: The Lelantine War
Chronicle of the Lelantine War
The alliances of the Lelantine War
When did the Lelantine War take place?
The cultural supremacy of Chalcis: The Poets? contest
The port of Aulis: The place where the Trojan adventure began
Odyssey: an Euboean poem
Why the general designation «Euboean Colonization» essentially corresponds to the activity of a single city: Chalcis
Numerical comparison of the colonies of Chalcis with those of Miletus and Phocaea
The Golden Age of Chalcis

The Unknown Pioneers of the Mediterranean

by: Katsos, V.

• ISBN-13: 9786188570115 / 978-618-85701-1-5
• ISBN-03: 6188570115 / 618-85701-1-5
• Square, Chalkida, 2023

Price: 40,00 EURO

(in stock)