Note 120 — Chapter XLVII · FROM THE THIRTY YEARS’ TRUCE, FOURTEEN YEARS BEFORE THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR, DOWN TO THE BLOCKADE OF POTIDÆA, IN THE YEAR BEFORE THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. (continued 2)

Thucyd. i, 61. The statement of Thucydidês presents some geographical difficulties which the critics have not adequately estimated. Are we to assume as certain, that the Berœa here mentioned must be the Macedonian town of that name, afterwards so well known, distant from the sea westward one hundred and sixty stadia, or nearly twenty English miles (see Tafel, Historia Thessalonicæ, p. 58), on a river which flows into the Haliakmon, and upon one of the lower ridges of Mount Bermius?

The words of Thucydidês here are—Ἔπειτα δὲ ξύμβασιν ποιησάμενοι καὶ ξυμμαχίαν ἀναγκαίαν πρὸς τὸν Περδίκκαν, ὡς αὐτοὺς κατήπειγεν ἡ Ποτίδαια καὶ ὁ Ἀριστεὺς παρεληλυθὼς, ἀπανίστανται ἐκ τῆς Μακεδονίας, καὶ ἀφικόμενοι ἐς Βέροιαν κἀκεῖθεν ἐπιστρέψαντες, καὶ πειράσαντες πρῶτον τοῦ χωρίου καὶ οὐχ ἑλόντες, ἐπορεύοντο κατὰ γῆν πρὸς τὴν Ποτίδαιαν—ἅμα δὲ νῆες παρέπλεον ἑβδομήκοντα.

“The natural route from Pydna to Potidæa (observes Dr. Arnold in his note) lay along the coast; and Berœa was quite out of the way, at some distance to the westward, near the fort of the Bermian mountains. But the hope of surprising Berœa induced the Athenians to deviate from their direct line of march; then, after the failure of this treacherous attempt, they returned again to the sea-coast, and continued to follow it till they arrived at Gigônus.”

I would remark upon this: 1. The words of Thucydidês imply that Berœa was not in Macedonia, but out of it (see Poppo, Proleg. ad Thucyd. vol. ii, pp. 408-418). 2. He uses no expression which in the least implies that the attempt on Berœa on the part of the Athenians was treacherous, that is, contrary to the convention just concluded; though, had the fact been so, he would naturally have been led to notice it, seeing that the deliberate breach of the convention was the very first step which took place after it was concluded. 3. What can have induced the Athenians to leave their fleet and march near twenty miles inland to Mount Bermius and Berœa, to attack a Macedonian town which they could not possibly hold,—when they cannot even stay to continue the attack on Pydna, a position maritime, useful, and tenable,—in consequence of the pressing necessity of taking immediate measures against Potidæa? 4. If they were compelled by this latter necessity to patch up a peace on any terms with Perdikkas, would they immediately endanger this peace by going out of their way to attack one of his forts? Again, Thucydidês says, “that, proceeding by slow land-marches, they reached Gigônus, and encamped on the third day,”—κατ᾽ ὀλίγον δὲ προϊόντες τριταῖοι ἀφίκοντο ἐς Γίγωνον καὶ ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο. The computation of time must here be made either from Pydna or from Berœa; and the reader who examines the map will see that neither from the one nor the other—assuming the Berœa on Mount Bermius—would it be possible for an army to arrive at Gigônus on the third day, marching round the head of the gulf, with easy days’ marches; the more so, as they would have to cross the rivers Lydias, Axius. and Echeidôrus, all not far from their mouths,—or, if these rivers could not be crossed, to get on board the fleet and reland on the other side.

This clear mark of time laid down by Thucydidês,—even apart from the objections which I have just urged in reference to Berœa on Mount Bermius,—made me doubt whether Dr. Arnold and the other commentators have correctly conceived the operations of the Athenian troops between Pydna and Gigônus. The Berœa which Thucydidês means cannot be more distant from Gigônus, at any rate, than a third day’s easy march, and therefore cannot be the Berœa on Mount Bermius. But there was another town named Berœa, either in Thrace or in Emathia, though we do not know its exact site (see Wassi ad Thucyd. i, 61; Steph. Byz. v, Βέρης; Tafel, Thessalonica, Index). This other Berœa, situated somewhere between Gigônus and Therma, and out of the limits of that Macedonia which Perdikkas governed, may probably be the place which Thucydidês here indicates. The Athenians, raising the siege of Pydna, crossed the gulf on shipboard to Berœa, and after vainly trying to surprise that town, marched along by land to Gigônus. Whoever inspects the map will see that the Athenians would naturally employ their large fleet to transport the army by the short transit across the gulf from Pydna (see Livy, xliv, 10), and thus avoid the fatiguing land-march round the head of the gulf. Moreover, the language of Thucydidês would seem to make the land-march begin at Berœa and not at Pydna,—ἀπανίστανται ἐκ τῆς Μακεδονίας, καὶ ἀφικόμενοι ἐς Βέροιαν κἀκεῖθεν ἐπιστρέψαντες, καὶ πειράσαντες πρῶτον τοῦ χωρίου καὶ οὐχ ἑλόντες, ἐπορεύοντο κατὰ γῆν πρὸς Ποτίδαιαν—ἅμα δὲ νῆες παρέπλεον ἑβδομήκοντα. Κατ᾽ ὀλίγον δὲ προϊόντες τριταῖοι ἀφίκοντο ἐς Γίγωνον καὶ ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο. The change of tense between ἀπανίστανται and ἐπορεύοντο,—and the connection of the participle ἀφικόμενοι with the latter verb,—seems to divide the whole proceeding into two distinct parts; first, departure from Macedonia to Berœa, as it would seem, by sea,—next, a land-march from Berœa to Gigônus, of three short days.

This is the best account, as it strikes me, of a passage, the real difficulties of which are imperfectly noticed by the commentators.

The site of Gigônus cannot be exactly determined, since all that we know of the towns on the coast between Potidæa and Æneia, is derived from their enumerated names in Herodotus (vii, 123); nor can we be absolutely certain that he has enumerated them all in the exact order in which they were placed. But I think that both Col. Leake and Kiepert’s map place Gigônus too far from Potidæa; for we see, from this passage of Thucydidês, that it formed the camp from which the Athenian general went forth immediately to give battle to an enemy posted between Olynthus and Potidæa; and the Scholiast says of Gigônus,—οὐ πολὺ ἄπεχον Ποτιδαίας: and Stephan. Byz. Γίγωνος, πόλις Θρᾴκης προσεχὴς τῇ Παλλήνῃ.

See Colonel Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, vol. iii, ch. xxxi, p. 452. That excellent observer calculates the march, from Berœa on Mount Bermius to Potidæa, as being one of four days, about twenty miles each day. Judging by the map, this seems lower than the reality; but admitting it to be correct, Thucydidês would never describe such a march as κατ᾽ ὀλίγον δὲ προϊόντες τριταῖοι ἀφίκοντο ἐς Γίγωνον: it would be a march rather rapid and fatiguing, especially as it would include the passage of the rivers. Nor is it likely, from the description of this battle in Thucydidês (i, 62), that Gigônus could be anything like a full day’s march from Potidæa. According to his description, the Athenian army advanced by three very easy marches; then arriving at Gigônus, they encamp, being now near the enemy, who on their side are already encamped, expecting them,—προσδεχόμενοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο πρὸς Ὀλύνθου ἐν τῷ ἰσθμῷ: the imperfect tense indicates that they were already there at the time when the Athenians took camp at Gigônus; which would hardly be the case if the Athenians had come by three successive marches from Berœa on Mount Bermius.

I would add, that it is no more wonderful that there should be one Berœa in Thrace and another in Macedonia, than that there should be one Methônê in Thrace and another in Macedonia (Steph. B. Μεθώνη).