Formione in Acarnania (Thuc. II 68,7-8) e le origini della guerra del Peloponneso

An Athenian expedition to North-Western Greece led by Phormio, on request of Amphilochians and Acarnanians striving against the Ambraciote ‘co-settlers’ of Argos, and the ensuing alliance between Athenians and Acarnanians are briefly reported retrospectively by Thucydides (II 68,7-8) without any clear chronological indication. This paper, after discussing the several proposed datings (spreading from ca. 455 to 432), builds on the evidence of Ambracia’s military involvment in the clash between Corinth and Corcyra to suggest 435, perhaps its second half, as the most plausible date. It endeavours also to define more precisely ways and goals of the Athenian intervention and its impact on the relations between Athens and Corinth on the eve of the Peloponnesian war. Finally, it is argued that the shift of this event from its proper historical context in Thucydides’ work can be explained away less through his alleged pro-Athenian bias than through his complex arrangement of the historical stuff of the pre-war years.