Editing Zakynthos (section)

===Ancient history===
The ancient Greek poet [[Homer]] mentioned Zakynthos in the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', stating that its first inhabitants were the son of King Dardanos of Arcadia, called Zakynthos, and his men.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} Before being renamed Zakynthos, the island was said to have been called Hyrie. Zakynthos was then conquered by King [[Arkesios]] of [[Kefalonia]], and then by [[Odysseus]] from [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]]. Zakynthos participated in the Trojan War and is listed in the Homeric [[Catalogue of Ships]] which, if accurate, describes the geopolitical situation in early Greece at some time between the [[Bronze Age|Late Bronze Age]] and the eighth century BC. In the ''Odyssey'', Homer mentions 20 nobles from Zakynthos among a total of 108 of Penelope's suitors.<ref name="John Murray">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=William |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography |date=1854 |publisher=John Murray }}</ref>

The [[Classical Athens|Athenian]] military commander [[Tolmides]] concluded an alliance with Zakynthos during the [[First Peloponnesian War]], sometime between 459 and 446 BC. In 430 BC, the Lacedaemonians led a force of about 1,000 heavy infantry, led by the Spartan admiral [[Cnemus]], in an attack upon Zakynthos. Although the attackers managed to burn much of the surrounding countryside, the city itself refused to surrender and the attack ultimately failed.<ref>Thucydides, ''History of the Peloponnesian War'', [[wikisource:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 2#2:66|2.66]]</ref> The Zakynthians are then enumerated among the autonomous allies of Athens in the disastrous [[Sicilian Expedition|Sicilian expedition]]. After the [[Peloponnesian War]], Zakynthos seems to have passed under the supremacy of Sparta because in 374 BC, Timotheus, an Athenian commander, on his return from Kerkyra, landed some Zakynthian exiles on the island and assisted them in establishing a fortified post. These exiles must have belonged to the anti-Spartan party as the Zakynthian rulers applied for help to the Spartans who sent a fleet of 25 to the island.<ref name="John Murray"/><ref>{{cite book |title=History of the Peloponnesian War |last=Thucydides |author-link=Thucydides |translator=[[Richard Crawley]] |at=2.8 |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_the_Peloponnesian_War/Book_2 |access-date=24 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Library of History |last=Diodorus Siculus |author-link=Diodorus Siculus |translator=C. H. Oldfather |volume=4 |year=1946 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |isbn=978-0-674-99413-3 |at=11.84.7 |url=https://archive.org/details/diodorussiculus09diod |url-access=registration |access-date=24 July 2010 }}</ref>

The importance of this alliance for Athens was that it provided them with a source of [[tar]]. Tar is a more effective protector of ship planking than [[Pitch (resin)|pitch]] (which is made from [[Pine|pine tree]]s). The Athenian [[trireme]] fleet needed protection from rot, decay and the [[Shipworm|teredo]], so this new source of tar was valuable to them. The tar was dredged up from the bottom of a lake (now known as [[Keri, Greece|Lake Keri]]) using leafy [[Myrtus|myrtle]] branches tied to the ends of poles. It was then collected in pots and could be carried to the beach and swabbed directly onto [[Hull (watercraft)|ship hulls]].<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Herodotus |last=Herodotus |author-link=Herodotus|translator=George Rawlinson |year=1910 |at=4.195 |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_Herodotus/Book_4 |access-date=24 July 2010}}</ref> Alternatively, the tar could be shipped to the Athenian naval yard at [[Piraeus]] for storage.<ref>{{cite book |title=Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy |last=Hale |first=John |year=2009 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0-670-02080-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lordsofseaep00hale/page/107 107] |url=https://archive.org/details/lordsofseaep00hale/page/107|url-access=registration }}</ref>In addition to tar and miltos, the Athenians sourced timber for shipbuilding from various regions, as Greece's limited forest resources necessitated the import of quality wood. This practice ensured a steady supply of essential materials for constructing and maintaining their naval fleet.<ref>{{cite book |last=Casson |first=Lionel |title=Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1995 |page=234 |isbn=9780801851308}}</ref>

[[Philip V of Macedon]] seized Zakynthos in the early 3rd century BC, when it was a member of the Aetolian League. In 211 BC, the Roman praetor [[Marcus Valerius Laevinus]] took the city of Zakynthos with the exception of the citadel. It was afterwards restored to Philip V of Macedon. The Roman general [[Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (consul 189 BC)|Marcus Fulvius Nobilior]] finally conquered Zakynthos in 191 BC for Rome. In the [[Mithridatic Wars|Mithridatic War]], it was attacked by Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, but he was repulsed.<ref name="John Murray"/>