Potidaea: From Persian Siege to Peloponnesian War – A Strategic Ancient Greek Colony

Potidaea was a Corinthian colony established under the tyrant Periander on the third or western spur of the Chalcidice Peninsula in about 600. The site was near where the western spur or finger was attached to the mainland, meaning that Potidaea controlled not only the bay, but the mainland approach. Periander had realized the economic importance of the site, which controlled the terminus of the Macedonian trade for the Balkans from both Illyria and the Adriatic to the Aegean.

This strategic location meant that Potidaea was in constant contact with the news and issues of the north. The colony was close to Mount Pangaeum and its rich gold and silver deposits, as well as the trade going to the north. Beginning about 500, its coinage showed Poseidon, from which it derived its name, carrying a trident and riding a Thracian horse. As one of the colonies on the Chalcidice, it helped influence Macedon and brought further Greek civilization to the north. Macedon always looked to the Chalcidice as part of its territory and would engage in struggles with the major Greek cities for domination of the region.

Potidaea received its chief magistrate, the archon, from Corinth as a symbol of its legacy. Potidaea remained independent until Darius’s invasion of Thrace in 513, when they were conquered by the Persians. For the next thirty years, Persia controlled the city, and it was probably used as a supply station for Xerxes’s invasion in 480. With the Persian defeat in 479, Potidaea rebelled against the Persians and was besieged by the retreating Persian army. According to the historian Herodotus, the Persians attempted to use the retreat of the water during a tide to attack, only to be swept away by a sudden high tide.

Some believe that it may have been a tsunami, although no earthquake is mentioned by Herodotus, or perhaps a meteotsunami caused by a rapid change in barometric pressure and amplified by the long, narrow body of water at the head of the Toroneos Gulf, a fairly common natural phenomenon. Regardless of the actual event, the cascading water washed away many of the Persians, saving the city from capture and destruction.

With Potidaea free, it soon joined the Delian League and helped with the war against Persia to free the other Greek cities. During the early history of the league, the city probably contributed ships, but by 449, it was paying tribute. The city, however, continued to receive its chief magistrate from Corinth, and with its strong defenses, it potentially allowed Potidaea to be in a position of independence from and defiance of Athens. During the conflicts between Athens and Corinth in the latter fifth century leading up to the Peloponnesian War, Potidaea was in a difficult situation, with its loyalties strained.

When Athens made a defensive pact with Corinth’s enemy, Corcyra, the situation soon boiled over, and Athens raised the tribute amount for Potidaea. Athens then went further, ordering Potidaea to tear down its walls and effectively rendering it defenseless. Athens then ordered Potidaea to no longer accept magistrates from Corinth. At the same time, Perdiccas II, the king of Macedon, had begun to urge the cities in the region to rebel from Athens. Athens sent a fleet and hoplites to attack Macedon when news reached Athens that Potidaea had rejected Athens’s demands.

Potidaea now rebelled and allied itself with Perdiccas in 432. The Athenians sent another fleet to join the first, and together the two forces attacked Potidaea and its allies. The Athenians were able to defeat the Potidaean army, and the Macedonian cavalry, although it was there, did not engage the Athenians. The Athenians now advanced to Potidaea and began to besiege the city. The siege would last two years, but the cost was high, supposedly over 1,000 talents a year. At the same time, the plague in Athens meant that the rebellion was having a serious impact on Athens. Finally, Potidaea surrendered in 429; its walls were torn down and a heavy fine imposed, along with its city being depopulated. In addition, Athens sent out colonists. Potidaea remained under Athenian control until the end of the war, when the inhabitants regained it, although it is doubted that the city was completely depopulated.

The city was in a precarious position after the war. It was taken over by nearby Olynthus in 382, but then in 379 Sparta was able to conquer it. In the struggle between Athens and Thebes, Potidaea was captured by the Athenians in 365. It now became the center of conflict between Athens and Macedon under Philip II. In 356, Philip seized the city, enslaved the population, and gave it over to Olyn- thus, which relinquished Pydna to Philip. Macedon then moved against Olynthus in 348, taking both Olynthus and Potidaea.

Potidaea had been a strategic city in the fifth and fourth centuries and ultimately came under the control of Athens. During the lead-up to the Peloponnesian War, it had been a member of the Delian League. Potidaea had become part of the wider conflict between Greece and Macedon, which would lead to Philip’s takeover of the Greek world.