EXEMPLARITY AND POLITICS OF MEMORY: THE RECOVERY OF THE PIRAEUS BY OLYMPIODOROS OF ATHENS

The article discusses Pausanias' obscure statement (1.26.3) that the early Hellenistic Athenian general Olympiodoros 'recovered the Piraeus and Mounychia'. By understanding the feat as an episode within the wider context of the Athenian stasis of 295 between the 'tyrant' Lachares and Olympiodoros' democratic resistance, the article shows that the narrative of the enterprise (most likely based on an honorific decree) aimed to i) establish a parallel between Olympiodoros and the illustrious democratic recovery by Thrasyboulos, ii) rehabilitate Olympiodoros as a democratic hero after his involvement in the oligarchic years of the second regime of Demetrios Poliorketes in Athens, and iii) serve as a call to action to recover the Piraeus, which was under Macedonian control when the honours were bestowed.