The attempt by ‘treasurers of the temple and poor people’ (Herodotus 8.51.2) to defend the Athenian Acropolis strategically was worth making. The treasurers were trying to do what was their supposed duty, ‘to defend the Athenian Acropolis with a view of guarding the property of the gods’. As evidenced by the inscription of the third century B.C., it would seem that it was up to the treasurers to defend what belonged to the gods. On the other hand, the poor had no choice but to defend their dignity because that is all that remained of them. The poor people had no means to flee to Salamis because, on hearing of the imminent attack of Attica by the Persian army, the Greek commanders rushed to the ships and raised sails. The Commanders were conscious of the fact that they did not have much time to evacuate Attica.
The treasurers of the temple and poor people were also naïve. They believed that the Acropolis was the safest place and the most strategic place to provide an effective response to the Persian army. This belief was consistent with Pythia’s utterances that it was impossible for the wooden wall to be captured. As such, they believed that the Acropolis and not the ships was the best refuge that the oracle could provide for them. Accordingly, the attempt to defend the Acropolis was strategically worth making because it would seem that the resistance of the treasurers’ o the temple and the poor people provided great hope for the Greeks in Salamis. This aspect is evidenced by Xerxes’ efforts not to starve the defenders by leaving the stores on the acropolis hoping for an extended resistance (Sealey, 1972).
Reference List
Sealey, R., 1972. Again the Siege of the Acropolis, 480 B.C. California Studies in Classical
Antiquity Vol. 5, pp. 183-194.
