Paralus (ship)

The Paralus or Paralos (Greek: , sea-side,named after a mythological son of Poseidon) was anAthenian sacred ship and a messenger trireme of theAthenian navy during the late 5th century BC. Its crewwere known for their vehement pro-democracy views.It played a notable role in several episodes of thePeloponnesian War.The Paralus appears more often in the literary andepigraphical sources for the classical period than anyother individual ship;[1] it carried almost all recordedAthenian diplomatic missions in the 5th and 4th cen-turies, and it appears that on most of these missionsthe treasurer (tamias) of Paralus acted as the chiefambassador.[1]

The crew of the Paralus (the Paraloi) was known for itsexceptionally strong pro-democracy views; its remark-able unity on this matter may indicate that it was com-posed of the members of a single genos of the nameParaloi.[2] This crew was instrumental in preventing anoligarchic coup at Samos in 411 BC. On bringing thenews of this event to Athens, however, they found thata successful oligarchic coup had taken place there, andwere interned; one crew member, escaping, brought thenews of this event to the eet at Samos, beginning theperiod of open division between the city and the eet.In 405 BC, the Paralus was one of ten ships that escapedfrom the Athenian disaster at Aegospotami with Conon;it was then dispatched to inform Athens of the defeat, itsarrival setting o a citywide panic.[3]

1 See also Salaminia

2 References[1] Jordan, Athenian Navy, 172

[2] Jordan, Athenian Navy, 174-5

[3] Xenophon, Hellenica 2.2.3

3 Other sources Kagan, Donald. The Peloponnesian War (PenguinBooks, 2003). ISBN 0-670-03211-5

Jordan, Borimir, The Athenian Navy in the ClassicalPeriod. (Berkeley, University of California Press,1975) ISBN 0-520-09482-4

Xenophon, Hellenica

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