Νέας παρείχοντο. Modelli ed esperienze storiche alle origini della visione greca sulla struttura delle flotte achemenidi

Abstract

This paper investigates the Greek narrative(s) of the structure and composition of the
Achaemenid fleets. In fact, in Herodotus and much of the later tradition, and thus consequently
in the common opinion, it is assumed that the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean
coast subjugated by the Persians were the suppliers to the Great King not only of the
crews and of their well-acquainted expertise in the practice of the sea, but also of the warships
themselves (i.e., the hulls). What seems to emerge from these sources, therefore, is
a picture in which the Great King’s control over the naval units of the Persian fleets (at
least from the great exploits of the early 5th century B.C. onwards) would have been essentially
limited to their use in times of conflict. According to this position, the Achaemenid
rulers would not have directly managed the production of warships, nor would they
have held their continuous and official ‘ownership’, to the advantage of their maritime
subjects. The synthesis of that representation can be found explicitly in the recurrent expression
παρέχειν τὰς νέας (lit. «to furnish the ships»), which occurs repeatedly in most
of Greek sources on the subject. In the present study, this view is the object of a (re-)investigation
that aims to trace the historical backgrounds that led the Greeks of the 5th century
B.C. to elaborate it, and that then contributed to its diffusion in later periods.