Plutarch on the liberation of Athens

Few generals have received the honors that Demetrius I Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus Monophthalmus, received in 307 when he liberated Athens. It was an important event in the Fourth War of the Diadochi (the successors of Alexander the Great), because Demetrius and his father were called kings. A year later, they themselves assumed the title.

The story is told by Plutarch of Chaeronea in his Life of Demetrius (8-10). The translation was made by M.M. Austin.


The liberation of Athens

[8.1] As the glory of this achievementnote was noised abroad, Antigonus and Demetrius were filled with a remarkable eagerness to free Greece, which was all under the sway of Cassander and Ptolemy. None of the kingsnote fought a fairer or more just war than that one. The abundant resources they had gathered together by humbling the barbarians they now spent in search of glory and honor on the Greeks.

[8.2] As soon as they had decided to sail against Athens, one of their friends remarked to Antigonus that, should they capture that city, they must keep it for themselves, as it was the stepping-stone to Greece. But Antigonus would have none of it, and declared that goodwill was a fair and unshakable stepping-stone and that Athens, the watch-tower of the inhabited world, as it were, would quickly flash to all mankind the message of their glorious achievements.note

[8.3] Demetrius set sail for Athens with 500 talents and a fleet of 250 ships.

The city was governed on behalf of Cassander by Demetrius of Phalerum,note and a garrison had been installed in Munichia.note By a combination of good luck and foresight he appeared before Piraeus on the 26th of Thargelion;note

[8.4] no one had spotted him beforehand and when his fleet was sighted off-shore, they all believed the ships were Ptolemy's and made ready to receive them. The generals were late in realizing their mistake and coming to the rescue, and there was confusion as one would expect with a forced attempt to fight off an unexpected landing of enemies. Demetrius found the entrances to the harbor open and sailed in; he was now inside and in full view and signified from his ship that he was asking for quiet and silence.