Skion

According to legend, Skion was founded by Achaeans from Pellen around 700 BC. One version says that it was founded by Protesilaus , who did not die in the Trojan War . Skion was known as a trading city.

During the Greco-Persian wars, Skion became part of the First Athenian Maritime Union . It is known that in 454 BC Skion paid Athens 6 talents foros ^[1] .

During the Peloponnesian war in 424 BC. e. the Spartan army under the command of Brasid appeared on Chalkidike, and the Greek cities there began either to cross over to Sparta or to be captured by force. Amphipolis , even founded by the Athenians, was conquered, which was a major loss for Athens and jeopardized their power in the region. In 423 BC e. the Athenians and Spartans entered into a ceasefire for a year on the condition of maintaining the current situation in order to begin peace negotiations. However, two days after the armistice, Skion joined the side of Brasid, welcoming him as the liberator of Greece and accepting the Spartan garrison. When the news of the ceasefire reached Chalkidiki, the Athenians refused to believe that Skion fell under his terms, demanded that they return this city and rejected the Spartans' offer of arbitration. The leader of the party of radical democrats, Cleon, issued a decree on the execution of the inhabitants of the rebellious Skion, and the Athenians sent a military expedition to Chalkidica under the command of Nikias , who, acting from Potidea , captured nearby Menda and besieged Skion, who Brasid could not protect, although he brought women out of it and children.

After the death of Cleon and Brasid at the battle of Amphipolis, the Athenians and Spartans made peace, but Skion was still besieged by the Athenian army and fell only two years later in the summer of 421 BC. e. In punishment for falling away from the Athenian state, all the adult men of Skion were executed, and the Athenians sold the rest of the population into slavery. The city was re-populated by the Athens-friendly population. The massacre of the inhabitants of Skion became one of the symbols of the cruelty of the Athenians along with the massacre at Melos and in Miklessa.

After the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian war, Skion gained independence and later became a member of the Chalkidian Union . After the defeat of the Chalkidian Union by Philip II, Skion became part of Macedonia , and later on into the Roman province of Macedonia. In the Roman period, Skion was abandoned by the inhabitants and depopulated.

• Lubker F. The Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. - M .: Directmedia Publishing , 2007 .-- ISBN 5-94865-171-2 .
• Hammond N. History of Ancient Greece. - M .: Centerpolygraph, 2008 .-- ISBN 978-5-9524-3490-5 .