07-05-2010, 07:17 PM
I think that you are right that a "naval expedition" is not the same as a "naval battle". And indeed, Mycale is a forgotten battle. The inhabitants of the small village on the site are probably the only ones in Turkey who are aware of it.
There is indeed something strange with many accounts of the Persian War. After Plataea, there was the battle of Mycale (479), the siege of Sestus )479/478); next, naval expeditions to Cyprus and Byzantium and a Spartan raid on Thessaly (478); the founding of the Delian League (478); and the fall of the last Persian stronghold in Europe, Eion (476?). It is all forgotten (cf. Tom Holland's Persian Fire) because it is not dealt with by Herodotus (except the two first items). What happens is that we make our historical judgment dependent on the chance preservation of our sources. That is very, very bad method.
There is indeed something strange with many accounts of the Persian War. After Plataea, there was the battle of Mycale (479), the siege of Sestus )479/478); next, naval expeditions to Cyprus and Byzantium and a Spartan raid on Thessaly (478); the founding of the Delian League (478); and the fall of the last Persian stronghold in Europe, Eion (476?). It is all forgotten (cf. Tom Holland's Persian Fire) because it is not dealt with by Herodotus (except the two first items). What happens is that we make our historical judgment dependent on the chance preservation of our sources. That is very, very bad method.
