Halonnesus
place · 2 works · 2 mentions · 2 anchored passages
the island · fortress · garrison · maritime strongholds
in the texts
On Halonnesus
The island at the center of the speech's dispute over whether Philip may give it as his property or must restore it to Athens.
Philip begins by saying that he offers you Halonnesus as his own property, but that you have no right to demand it of him, because it was not yours when he took it, and is not yours now that he holds it.
but that he wants all Greece to take notice that the Athenians are content to receive maritime strongholds from the man of Macedon.
Nor again does he fail to see that in either case, however you dub the transaction, the island will be yours, whether it is presented or restored to you.
Philip’s Letter
Island and fortress disputed among Philip, Athens, the Peparethians, and Sostratus.
I actually punished them less rigorously than they deserved, for they seized Halonnesus in time of peace and refused to restore either the fortress or the garrison in spite of my repeated remonstrances.
In my regard for the interests of your city, I offered you the island, but your statesmen urged you to refuse it as a gift and demand it as an act of restitution, in order that, if I submit to their dictation, I may thereby confess that I have no right to the place, but if I do not give it up, I may arouse the suspicions of your democracy.
Yet I robbed neither them nor you of the island, but only the pirate chief, Sostratus.