Le relazioni internazionali degli esuli politici durante l’egemonia spartana: l’esempio degli esuli rodii

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to consider the ways in which political exiles acted in their relations with other states during the first phase of Spartan hegemony and up to the stipulation of the Peace of Antalcidas. It analyses as a case study the actions of those Rhodians who became exiles during the revolts that shook the island in the first decade of the 4th century BC. After a brief introduction, the paper focuses on the contexts that led to the proliferation of exiles in the period under consideration dwelling on the special relationship of mutual support between the Spartan king Agesilaus and the exiles. Then it analyses the case of the Rhodian exiles as an example of the general activism of the political exiles. They presented themselves as groups opposed to the governments in power or to precise policies that these governments supported and resorted to the traditional means of political struggle. By so doing, they broadened the area of political action outside the polis, politicising their exile with strategies that recall, at least embryonically, forms of modern political transnationalism.