query: what was the war between sparta and athens

pos: Peloponnesian War Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought by the Delian League led by Athens against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. In the first phase, the Archidamian War, Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica, while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponnese and attempt to suppress signs of unrest in its empire. This period of the war was concluded in 421 BC, with the signing of the Peace of Nicias. That treaty, however, was soon undermined by renewed

pos: History of democracy after the Persian Wars, was becoming the hegemonic power in the Greek world and disagreements between Sparta and Athens over supremacy emerged. These led to a series of armed conflicts known as the Peloponnesian War, with Sparta prevailing in the end. However, the war exhausted both poleis and Sparta was in turn humbled by Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE. It was all brought to an end a few years later, when Philip II of Macedon crushed what remained of the power of the factional city-states to his South. Athens is often regarded as the birthplace of

pos: First Peloponnesian War the Peloponnesian League and Aegina became a tribute-paying but autonomous member of the Delian League. The war between the two leagues restarted in 431 BC, leading to the Second Peloponnesian War. It ended with a conclusive Spartan victory, where, in 404 BC, Athens was occupied by Sparta. A mere twenty years before the First Peloponnesian War broke out, Athens and Spartans had fought alongside each other in the Greco-Persian Wars. In that war, Sparta had held the hegemony of what modern scholars call the Hellenic League and the overall command in the crucial victories of 480 and 479 BC. Over

pos: First Peloponnesian War Athens received recognition of her alliance by Sparta. The peace concluded in 445 BC, however, would last for less than half of its intended 30 years. In 431 BC, Athens and Sparta would go to war once again in the (second) Peloponnesian War, with decidedly more conclusive results. First Peloponnesian War The First Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC) was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the

pos: Classical Athens death in 429 BC, always by election of the Athenian Assembly. The Parthenon, a lavishly decorated temple to the goddess Athena, was constructed under the administration of Pericles. Resentment by other cities at the hegemony of Athens led to the Peloponnesian War in 431, which pitted Athens and her increasingly rebellious sea empire against a coalition of land-based states led by Sparta. The conflict marked the end of Athenian command of the sea. The war between Athens and the city-state Sparta ended with an Athenian defeat after Sparta started its own navy. Athenian democracy was briefly overthrown by the coup

pos: Pentecontaetia empire. Athens benefited greatly from this tribute, undergoing a cultural renaissance and undertaking massive public building projects, including the Parthenon; Athenian democracy, meanwhile, developed into what is today called radical or Periclean democracy, in which the popular assembly of the citizens and the large, citizen juries exercised near-complete control over the state. The later years of the "Pentecontaetia" were marked by increasing conflict between Athens and the traditional land powers of Greece, led by Sparta. Between 460 BC and 445 BC, Athens fought a shifting coalition of mainland powers in what is now known as the First Peloponnesian War. During

pos: Battle of Oenophyta Battle of Oenophyta The Battle of Oenophyta took place between Athens and the Boeotian city-states in 457 BC during the First Peloponnesian War. In this period between the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, alliances and leagues sprang up and collapsed, although there was very little prolonged warfare. In 457 Athens, the leader of the Delian League, came into conflict with Corinth and their ally Sparta (leader of the Peloponnesian League) over Megara; two months prior to the Battle of Oenophyta, the Athenians were defeated at the Battle of Tanagra by Sparta, but Sparta had lost so many men that

pos: First Peloponnesian War which caused them to enter into a five years' truce with Sparta. However, the war flared up again in 448 BC with the start of the Second Sacred War. In 446 BC, Boeotia revolted and defeated the Athenians at Coronea and regained their independence. The First Peloponnesian War ended in an arrangement between Sparta and Athens, which was ratified by the Thirty Years' Peace (winter of 446–445 BC). According to the provisions of this peace treaty, both sides maintained the main parts of their empires. Athens continued its domination of the sea while Sparta dominated the land. Megara returned to

pos: History of Greece Potidaea, and forbade all commerce with Corinth's closely situated ally, Megara (the Megarian decree). There was disagreement among the Greeks as to which party violated the treaty between the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues, as Athens was technically defending a new ally. The Corinthians turned to Sparta for aid. Fearing the growing might of Athens, and witnessing Athens' willingness to use it against the Megarians (the embargo would have ruined them), Sparta declared the treaty to have been violated and the Peloponnesian War began in earnest. The first stage of the war (known as the Archidamian War for the Spartan king,

pos: History of Sparta Spartan reactions to Athens' growing power and this may reflect the divergence of opinion within Sparta. According to this view one Spartan faction was quite content to allow Athens to carry the risk of continuing the war with Persia while an opposing faction deeply resented Athens' challenge to their Greek supremacy. In later Classical times, Sparta along with Athens, Thebes, and Persia had been the main powers fighting for supremacy against each other. As a result of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta, a traditionally continental culture, became a naval power. At the peak of its power Sparta subdued many of the

pos: Nicias Peloponnesian War, both Athens and Sparta were exhausted. The Athenian general, Laches, with the support of Nicias, successfully moved in the Athenian Assembly in 423 BC for an armistice with Sparta to check the progress of Sparta's most effective general, Brasidas. However, the "Truce of Laches" had little impact on Brasidas and collapsed within a year. Brasidas proceeded to take Scione and Mende in the hope of reaching Athens and freeing Spartan prisoners. Athens sent reinforcements under Nicias, who recaptured Mende. Cleon then effectively ended the truce between Athens and Sparta after he resolved to rescue the town of Amphipolis

pos: Second Athenian League the exceptions of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, which would belong to Athens. This war empowered Athens for the first time since the end of the Peloponnesian War, allowing it to rebuild its previously decommissioned fortifications and its navy. The formation of the League was stimulated by three major events that caused relations between Athens and Sparta to deteriorate. The first event was Spartan intervention in a factional conflict within Thebes. In 382 BC, Sparta sent a force led by the general Eudamidas and his brother Phoebidas to combat the expansion of Olynthus in Chalkidiki, northern Greece. On the way to

pos: Wars of the Delian League Sparta were still allied, Greece achieved a modicum of stability. However, over this period, Sparta became increasingly suspicious and fearful of the growing power of Athens. It was this fear, according to Thucydides, which made the second, larger (and more famous) Peloponnesian War inevitable. Athens sent troops in 462 BC to aid Sparta with the Messenian Revolt (c. 465–461 BC), under the terms of the old Hellenic alliance. The Spartans however, in the fear that Athens might interfere in the political situation between the Spartans and their helots, sent the Athenians home. This event directly led to the ostracism of

pos: Wars of the Delian League of hostilities. In Greece, the First Peloponnesian War between the power-blocs of Athens and Sparta, which had continued on and off since 460 BC, finally ended in 445 BC, with the agreement of a thirty-year truce. However, the growing enmity between Sparta and Athens would lead, just 14 years later, to the outbreak of the Second Peloponnesian War. This disastrous conflict, which dragged on for 27 years, would eventually result in the utter destruction of Athenian power, the dismemberment of the Athenian empire, and the establishment of a Spartan hegemony over Greece. However, not just Athens suffered. The conflict would

pos: Greco-Persian Wars of hostilities. In Greece, the First Peloponnesian War between the power-blocs of Athens and Sparta, which had continued on/off since 460 BC, finally ended in 445 BC, with the agreement of a thirty-year truce. However, the growing enmity between Sparta and Athens would lead, just 14 years later, into the outbreak of the Second Peloponnesian War. This disastrous conflict, which dragged on for 27 years, would eventually result in the utter destruction of Athenian power, the dismemberment of the Athenian empire, and the establishment of a Spartan hegemony over Greece. However, not just Athens suffered—the conflict would significantly weaken the

pos: Thasian rebellion cited the Thasian episode as one of the incidents during the pentecontaetia which marked the transformation of the Delian League into an Athenian empire. Modern scholars have also approached it as a telling indicator of the internal politics of Sparta, revealing the presence of a strong war party there during a time of peace and harmony between Athens and Sparta and foreshadowing the breakdown of relations which would result in the outbreak of the First Peloponnesian War by the end of the decade. Thucydides reports that the dispute between Athens and Thasos was caused by a dispute over control of

pos: Second Sacred War the Phocians, who held it until 421 BC, after which Delphi was finally proclaimed independent under the Peace of Nikias. According to Matthew Dillon, the military actions of both Sparta and Athens were quick and effective and there is no available evidence that they affected pilgrims consulting the oracle. Second Sacred War The Second Sacred War took place during 449 BC and 448 BC and resulted in an indirect confrontation between Athens and Sparta during the First Peloponnesian War. In 457 BC, after the Battle of Oenophyta, the Athenians who had gained control over Boeotia and Phocis decided to detach

pos: Macedonia (ancient kingdom) it; Therma was returned to Macedonia and much of Chalcidice to Athens in a peace treaty brokered by Sitalces, who provided Athens with military aid in exchange for acquiring new Thracian allies. PerdiccasII sided with Sparta in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) between Athens and Sparta, and in 429 BC Athens retaliated by persuading Sitalces to invade Macedonia, but he was forced to retreat owing to a shortage of provisions in winter. In 424 BC, Arrhabaeus, a local ruler of Lynkestis in Upper Macedonia, rebelled against his overlord Perdiccas, and the Spartans agreed to help in putting down the revolt.

pos: History of Sparta On that occasion Corinth successfully opposed Sparta and they were voted down. When the Peloponnesian War, finally broke out in 431 BC the chief public complaint against Athens was its alliance with Corinth's enemy Korkyra and Athenenian treatment of Potidea. However, according to Thucydides the real cause of the war was Sparta's fear of the growing power of Athens. The Second Peloponnesian War, fought from 431—404 BC would be the longest and costliest war in Greek history. Sparta entered with the proclaimed goal of the "liberation of the Greeks" — an aim that required a total defeat of Athens. Their

pos: Peloponnesian War Greece except Sparta, which was later subjugated by Philip's son Alexander in 331 BC. Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought by the Delian League led by Athens against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. In the first phase, the Archidamian War, Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica, while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponnese and attempt to suppress signs of unrest in its empire. This period of the war was concluded in 421 BC, with the

pos: Sparta Sparta Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, "Spártā"; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, "Spártē") was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece. Given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the leading force of the unified Greek military during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which

pos: Greece in the 5th century BC out. After some years of inconclusive war a 30-year peace was signed between the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League (Sparta and her allies). This coincided with the last battle between the Greeks and the Persians, a sea battle off Salamis in Cyprus, followed by the Peace of Callias (450 BC) between the Greeks and Persians. In 431 BC war broke out again between Athens and Sparta and their allies. The immediate causes of the Peloponnesian War vary among the ancient historians. However, three causes are proposed by both Thucydides and Plutarch. Prior to the war, Corinth and one of

pos: Greece withdrawal from all of their European territories. Led by Athens and Sparta, the Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are considered a pivotal moment in world history, as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as the Golden Age of Athens, the seminal period of ancient Greek development that laid many of the foundations of Western civilization. Lack of political unity within Greece resulted in frequent conflict between Greek states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), won by Sparta and marking the demise of the Athenian Empire as the leading power in ancient

pos: History of Athens of Athens led to the Peloponnesian War, which began in 431 BC and pitted Athens and its increasingly rebellious overseas empire against a coalition of land-based states led by Sparta. The conflict ended with a victory for Sparta and the end of Athenian command of the sea. This civil war in Greece left the Greeks weak and divided leading to Philip II and Alexander the Great taking over Greece. Due to its poor handling of the war, the democracy in Athens was briefly overthrown by a coup in 411 BC, however, it was quickly restored. The Peloponnesian War ended in

pos: Ancient Greece a single city-state. The eventual triumph of the Greeks was achieved by alliances of city-states (the exact composition changing over time), allowing the pooling of resources and division of labor. Although alliances between city-states occurred before this time, nothing on this scale had been seen before. The rise of Athens and Sparta as pre-eminent powers during this conflict led directly to the Peloponnesian War, which saw further development of the nature of warfare, strategy and tactics. Fought between leagues of cities dominated by Athens and Sparta, the increased manpower and financial resources increased the scale, and allowed the diversification of

pos: Spartan hegemony 360 BC, Archidamus III became king and practiced a policy of non-conflict between Athens and the Second Naval Confederacy (357-355 BC). Between 355 and 346 BC, they allied with Athens against Thebes and the Amphictyonic Council effectively pulling Theban attention away from the Peloponnese. Spartan hegemony The polis of Sparta was the greatest military land power of classical Greek antiquity. During the classical period, Sparta governed, dominated or influenced the entire Peloponnese. Additionally, the defeat of the Athenians and the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War in 431-404 BC resulted in a short-lived Spartan dominance of the southern Greek world

pos: 464 BC Sparta earthquake as the Spartan king Archidamus leading the Spartan army out of the city to safety. Regardless of the exact death toll, there was some destruction, and the helots, the slave class in Spartan society, took advantage of this moment to rise in rebellion. The aftermath of the earthquake contributed to a growing distrust between Sparta and the increasingly powerful city-state of Athens. According to Thucydides, the ancient Greek chronicler of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta had already decided to invade Attica when the earthquake struck. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the helots and various Messenian subjects of Sparta revolted; Sparta

pos: Political climate by the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. The war concluded with an Athenian defeat and several years of oppression by pro-Spartan rulers. By 399 B.C.E, Athens had returned to self-rule through revolution. At this time, Athens was undergoing social turmoil due to the apparent failure of democracy as an effective form of government, which created a public backlash against anything anti-democratic. Socrates—the self-described "gadfly" of Athens because of his practice of "elenchos" (critical interrogation)—was seen by many as anti-democratic and thus a traitor to Athens due to his associations with Critias and Alcibiades (the former a Spartan supported tyrant,

pos: Megarian decree been a deliberate provocation towards Sparta on the part of Pericles, who was the sponsor of the decree. The decree banned Megarians from harbours and marketplaces throughout the large Athenian Empire, effectively strangling the Megarian economy. The sanctions would have also affected Megara's allies and may have been seen as a move by Athens to weaken her rivals and extend her influence. The ban strained the fragile peace between Athens and Sparta, which was allied with the strategically located Megara. The extent to which the decree encouraged the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War is the subject of debate. Our primary

pos: Chemical warfare back to the fifth century BC, during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Spartan forces besieging an Athenian city placed a lighted mixture of wood, pitch, and sulfur under the walls hoping that the noxious smoke would incapacitate the Athenians, so that they would not be able to resist the assault that followed. Sparta was not alone in its use of unconventional tactics in ancient Greece; Solon of Athens is said to have used hellebore roots to poison the water in an aqueduct leading from the River Pleistos around 590 BC during the siege of Kirrha. The earliest archaeological

pos: Siege of Melos Siege of Melos The Siege of Melos occurred in 416 BC during the Peloponnesian War, a war fought between Athens and Sparta. Melos is an island in the Aegean Sea roughly 110 km east of mainland Greece. At the time it was populated by Dorians. Though the Melians were of the same ethnic group as the Spartans, they chose to remain neutral in the war. Athens invaded Melos in 416 BC and demanded that the Melians surrender and pay tribute to Athens, or face annihilation. The proud Melians refused, and after a siege the Athenians captured their city, slaughtered the

pos: First Peloponnesian War First Peloponnesian War The First Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC) was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the Second Sacred War. There were several causes for the war including the building of the Athenian long walls, Megara's defection and the envy and concern felt by Sparta at the growth of the Athenian Empire. The war began in 460 BC (Battle of Oenoe). At first the Athenians

pos: Wars of the Delian League impunity. The Egyptian campaign, as discussed above, is generally thought to have begun in 460 BC. Even this date is subject to some debate however, since at this time Athens was already at war with Sparta in the First Peloponnesian War. It has been questioned whether Athens would really commit to an Egyptian campaign under these circumstances, and therefore suggested that this campaign began "before" the war with Sparta, in 462 BC. However, this date is generally rejected, and it seems that the Egyptian campaign was, on the part of Athens, simply a piece of political opportunism. The Egyptian satrapy

pos: Sicilian Expedition Athenian democracy was overthrown in favour of an oligarchy, and Persia joined the war on the Spartan side. Although things looked grim for Athens, they were able to recover for a few years. The oligarchy was soon overthrown, and Athens won the Battle of Cynossema; however, the defeat of the Sicilian expedition was essentially the beginning of the end for Athens. In 404 BC they were defeated and occupied by Sparta. Sicilian Expedition The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between the Athenian empire on one side and

pos: Messapians cities of Magna Graecia. In 473 BC, the Greek city of Tarentum (which was on the border with Messapia) and its ally, Rhegion, tried to seize some of the towns of the Messapii and Peucetii. However, the Iapyge tribes defeated them thanks to the superiority of their cavalry. The war against Tarentum continued until 467 BC. During the Second Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the Mesapii were allies of Athens. They provided archers for Athens' massive expeditionary force sent to attack Syracuse in Sicily (415-13 BC). The expedition was a disaster and the entire force was destroyed. In 356

pos: Themistocles of Athenian power and influence. Themistocles seems to have deliberately set Athens up as a rival to Sparta in the aftermath of Xerxes's invasion, basing this strategy on Athenian naval power (contrasted with the power of the Spartan army). Tension grew throughout the century between Athens and Sparta, as they competed to be the leading state in Greece. Finally, in 431 BC, this tension erupted into the Peloponnesian War, the first of a series of conflicts that tore Greece apart for the next century; an unforeseen, if indirect, legacy of Themistocles's. Diodorus provides a rhetorical summary that reflects on Themistocles's

pos: Classical Greece and the Battle of Artemisium. The Delian League then formed, under Athenian hegemony and as Athens' instrument. Athens' excesses caused several revolts among the allied cities, all of which were put down by force, but Athenian dynamism finally awoke Sparta and brought about the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. After both forces were spent, a brief peace came about; then the war resumed to Sparta's advantage. Athens was definitively defeated in 404 BC, and internal Athenian agitations mark the end of the 5th century BC in Greece. Since its beginning, Sparta had been ruled by a diarchy. This meant that

pos: Peloponnesian War When the rebellious helots were finally forced to surrender and permitted to evacuate the state, the Athenians settled them at the strategic city of Naupaktos on the Gulf of Corinth. In 459 BC, Athens took advantage of a war between its neighbors Megara and Corinth, both Spartan allies, to conclude an alliance with Megara, giving the Athenians a critical foothold on the Isthmus of Corinth. A fifteen-year conflict, commonly known as the First Peloponnesian War, ensued, in which Athens fought intermittently against Sparta, Corinth, Aegina, and a number of other states. For a time during this conflict, Athens controlled not

pos: Battle of Tanagra (457 BC) Battle of Tanagra (457 BC) The Battle of Tanagra took place in 457 BC between Athens and Sparta during the First Peloponnesian War. Although it had won a hegemony over the Greek city-states from its leadership in the Persian Wars, the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League feared the growing power of the Athenian empire and worsened relations by repeated diplomatic affronts and demands. Wanting to deny any future Persian invasion a base from which to operate, Sparta had urged Athens, along with other Greek cities, to refrain from rebuilding their walls. However, suspecting a Spartan ploy and having already begun the work

pos: Nicias in Macedonia. However, through skilful generalship by Brasidas, the Spartans routed the Athenians at the Battle of Amphipolis. Both Brasidas and Cleon were killed in the battle, thereby removing the key members of the pro-war factions on both sides. After the two generals who opposed peace, the Athenian Cleon and the Spartan Brasidas, were slain in battle, Nicias decided to seek peace between all the warring states. Nicias, and Pleistoanax, King of Sparta, negotiated in 421 BC the Peace of Nicias between Athens and Sparta, which brought a temporary end to the Peloponnesian War. The essence of the Peace of

pos: Mantineia Peloponnesian War. On one side were Sparta and its remaining allies, and on the other were Athens, its allies, plus the cities that had revolted against the Spartans. After the Athenians' commander, Laches, was killed, the battle turned into a rout of the Athenian and allied armies, a result attributed to greater Spartan courage. Mantineia had been a member of the Peloponnesian League, but during the Peloponnesian War, the city joined Athens. After the war, it was forced to rejoin the Peloponnese. Later, Sparta used the Peace of Antalcidas as a pretext to break Mantineia into its constituent villages. In

pos: Second Sacred War Second Sacred War The Second Sacred War took place during 449 BC and 448 BC and resulted in an indirect confrontation between Athens and Sparta during the First Peloponnesian War. In 457 BC, after the Battle of Oenophyta, the Athenians who had gained control over Boeotia and Phocis decided to detach the city of Delphi from the Ampictyony and hand it over to the Phocians. The basic reason for this action was Athen's desire to control the sanctuary, i.e. to have the right to promanteia. However, as an excuse for its action, Athens blamed the pro-Persian behaviour of the Amphictyony.

pos: Thirty Years' Peace Thirty Years' Peace The Thirty Years' Peace was a treaty, signed between the ancient Greek city-states Athens and Sparta, in the year 446/445 BCE. The treaty brought an end to the conflict commonly known as the First Peloponnesian War, which had been raging since c. 460 BCE. The purpose of the treaty was to prevent another outbreak of war. Ultimately, the peace treaty failed in achieving its goal, with the outbreak of the Second Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE. Athens was forced to give up all of her possessions in the Peloponnese which included the Megarian ports of Nisaea and

pos: Hegetorides 411 BC, Thasos revolted again during the Peloponnesian War, a Spartan governor assumed power on the island, suggesting the Thasians, rather than suing for peace, prevailed over Athens. Hegetorides Hegetorides was a citizen of the Greek island of Thasos during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BC), mentioned by the 2nd-century historian Polyaenus. Lemprière's "Classical Dictionary" claims that when Hegetorides saw that his city was besieged by Athenian forces and that there was a law declaring death to anyone who spoke of peace, he went into the agora with a rope tied around his neck. He told his

pos: Scione was that on which the defenders encamped 'before the city.'" Its moment of historical importance came during the Peloponnesian War, when just after the truce between Sparta and Athens in early 423 BC, Scione revolted against Athens and was encouraged by the Spartan general Brasidas with promises of support. The Athenians sent a fleet to retake Mende and Scione; after securing the former, they besieged Scione. In the summer of 421 they finally succeeding in reducing it; they put the adult males to death, enslaved the women and children, and gave the land to Plataea, an ally of Athens. Tim

pos: Pausanias of Sparta at Piraeus. An agreement was reached for the capitulation of Athens and the cessation of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Lysander then put in place a puppet government in Athens with the establishment of the oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants under Critias which included Theramenes as a leading member. However, in 403 BC Pausanias was able to undermine Lysander's dominance of Athens after Pausanias gained the command of the Peloponnesian League expedition against the Athenian democrats then based in Piraeus. Despite opposition from Lysander, Pausanias took the opportunity to promote a reconciliation between the democratic party in Piraeus and

pos: Delphi around the protection of the Temple of Apollo. This shrine was destroyed by fire in 548 BC and then fell under the control of the Alcmaeonids banned from Athens. In 449–448 BC, the Second Sacred War (fought in the wider context of the First Peloponnesian War between the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta and the Delian-Attic League led by Athens) resulted in the Phocians gaining control of Delphi and the management of the Pythian Games. In 356 BC the Phocians under Philomelos captured and sacked Delphi, leading to the Third Sacred War (356–346 BC), which ended with the defeat of

pos: History of Sparta led to an increase in tension between Sparta and their rival Athens and the cancellation of a treaty between them. After the troops of a relief expedition dispatched by conservative Athenians were sent back with cold thanks, Athenian democracy itself fell into the hands of reformers and moved toward a more populist and anti-Spartan policy. Therefore, this earthquake is cited by historical sources as one of the key events that led up to the First Peloponnesian War. Sparta's attention was at this time, fully occupied by troubles nearer home; such as the revolt of Tegea (in about 473-471 BC), rendered

neg: Second Athenian League government. This led to war between Sparta and Thebes. The third event was the invasion of Piraeus, an Athenian port in Attica, by the Spartan general Sphodrias in winter of 378 BC. Diodorus Siculus claims that the invasion was ordered by the Spartan king Cleombrotus, while other historians like Xenophon argue that Sphodrias was bribed by Thebes as part of a plot to bring Athens to their side in the war against Sparta. The Spartan ambassadors stationed in Athens promised that Sphodrias would be convicted and punished in Sparta, but he was acquitted in what Siculus calls a "miscarriage of

neg: Classical Greece that time Athens enrolled all the island states and some mainland ones into an alliance called the Delian League, so named because its treasury was kept on the sacred island of Delos. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation afterwards, allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power. In 431 BC war broke out between Athens and Sparta. The war was a struggle not merely between two city-states but rather between two coalitions, or leagues of city-states: the Delian League, led by Athens, and the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. The Delian League

neg: Theban–Spartan War and Thebes, with Athens also drawn into the conflict. A feeble attempt at a common peace had been made in 375 BC, but desultory fighting between Athens and Sparta had resumed by 373 BC (at the latest). By 371 BC, Athens and Sparta were again war-weary, and in 371 BC a conference was held at Sparta to discuss another attempt at a common peace. Epaminondas was serving as a Boeotarch for 371 BC, and led the Boeotian delegation to the peace conference. Peace terms were agreed at the outset of the conference, and the Thebans presumably signed the treaty in

neg: Epaminondas had become a Boeotarch. It seems safe to assume, given their close friendship, and their close collaboration after 371 BC, that Epaminondas and Pelopidas also collaborated closely on Theban policy in the period 378–371 BC. The years following the Theban coup had seen desultory fighting between Sparta and Thebes, with Athens also drawn into the conflict. A feeble attempt at a common peace had been made in 375 BC, but desultory fighting between Athens and Sparta had resumed by 373 BC (at the latest). By 371 BC, Athens and Sparta were again war-weary, and in 371 BC a conference was

neg: First Peloponnesian War their walls in secret at the urging of Themistocles, who convinced the Athenians that this was the best way to protect themselves. Themistocles also delayed talks with Sparta for universal arms control by constantly finding issues with Sparta's proposals, stating that it would leave Athens vulnerable to Sparta's superior hoplites and superior fighting formation: the phalanx. After the completion of the walls Themistocles declared Athens independent of Spartan hegemony stating that Athens knew what was in its best interest and was now strong enough to defend itself. At this time, one of the first hints of animosity between Athens and

neg: Classical Greece Alcibiades was required to flee from Sparta and seek the protection of the Persian Court. In the Persian court, Alcibiades now betrayed both by helping Sparta build a navy commensurate with the Athenian navy. Alcibiades advised that a victory of Sparta over Athens was not in the best interest of the Persian Empire. Rather, long and continuous warfare between Sparta and Athens would weaken both city-states and allow the Persians to dominate the Greek peninsula. Among the war party in Athens, a belief arose that the catastrophic defeat of the military expedition to Sicily in 415–413 could have been avoided

neg: Pentecontaetia Euboea began to rebel against Athens and the Delian League when the Spartan Army invaded Athenian territory. 445—The Thirty-Year Peace Between Athens and Sparta: After losing Attica, Boeotia and Megara, Athens agreed to a thirty-year peace in return for all the conquered areas in the Peloponnesian region. From this point on, all future conflicts between Athens and Sparta were resolved under arbitration. 447—Athenian Colonization and the Colony of Brea: With the 30-year peace treaty, Athens was able to concentrate attention towards growth rather than war. From 447-445, the Delian League was able to influence city-states near the Mediterranean to join

neg: Peloponnesian War ruled by the "Thirty Tyrants", and democracy was suspended. This was a reactionary regime set up by Sparta. In 403 BC, the oligarchs were overthrown and a democracy was restored by Thrasybulus. Although the power of Athens was broken, it made something of a recovery as a result of the Corinthian War and continued to play an active role in Greek politics. Sparta was later humbled by Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, but the rivalry between Athens and Sparta was brought to an end a few decades later when Philip II of Macedon conquered all of

neg: First Peloponnesian War Persia. In his place in Athens rose Cimon, who advocated a policy of cooperation between the two states. Cimon was Athens' proxenos at Sparta, and so fond was he of that city that he named one of his sons Lakedaemonios, meaning "Spartan". Still, hints of conflict emerged. Thucydides reports that in the mid 460s BC, Sparta actually decided to invade Attica during the Thasian rebellion, and was only prevented from doing so by an earthquake, which triggered a revolt among the helots. Perhaps it was this revolt that prevented Sparta from attacking Athens before the Athenian walls were completed even

neg: History of Sparta thirty-year peace with Argos to ensure that they could strike Athens unencumbered. Thus Sparta was fully able to exploit the situation when Megara, Boeotia and Euboea revolted, sending an army into Attica. The war ended with Athens deprived of its mainland possessions but keeping its vast Aegean Empire intact. Both of Sparta's Kings were exiled for permitting Athens to regain Euboea and Sparta agreed to a Thirty Year Peace.But the treaty was broken when Sparta warred with Euboea. Within six years, Sparta was proposing to its allies to go to war with Athens in support of the rebellion in Samos.

neg: Greece in the 5th century BC between Sparta and Athens. They argue that the underlying cause was the growing resentment of Sparta and its allies at the dominance of Athens over Greek affairs. The war lasted 27 years, partly because Athens (a naval power) and Sparta (a land-based military power) found it difficult to come to grips with each other. Sparta's initial strategy was to invade Attica, but the Athenians were able to retreat behind their walls. An outbreak of plague in the city during the siege caused heavy losses, including the death of Pericles. At the same time the Athenian fleet landed troops in the

neg: Congress at the Isthmus of Corinth Congress at the Isthmus of Corinth The Congress at the Isthmus of Corinth took place in 481 BC, under the presidency of Sparta, and brought together a number of the Greek city states. The Congress agreed to the end of the war between Athens and Aegina. The Congress also discussed the threat from the Persians. Athens was unwilling to place her forces under Sparta and its King Leonidas. Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse wanted high command, but Sparta and Athens refused. However, during the Congress, Gelon had to withdraw due to Carthage's plans to invade Sicily. Finally, Athenian archon and political

neg: 464 BC Sparta earthquake fact alone posed a threat to the oligarchic regime of Sparta. The Athenians were insulted, and therefore repudiated their alliance with Sparta. Once the uprising was put down, some of the surviving rebels fled to Athens, which settled them at Naupactus on the strategically important Corinthian Gulf. The alliance would never be revived, as disagreements between Sparta and Athens would continue to intensify until the outbreak of war in 460 BC. Given that the Helot population seized upon the earthquake to rebel against the Spartans, they reformed their society after the Helots were gained control of again, becoming extremely austere.

neg: Peloponnesian War tribute-paying subject states of the Delian League. This tribute was used to support a powerful fleet and, after the middle of the century, to fund massive public works programs in Athens, causing resentment. Friction between Athens and the Peloponnesian states, including Sparta, began early in the Pentecontaetia; in the wake of the departure of the Persians from Greece, Sparta attempted to prevent the reconstruction of the walls of Athens (without the walls, Athens would have been defenseless against a land attack and subject to Spartan control), but was rebuffed. According to Thucydides, although the Spartans took no action at this

neg: Peloponnesian War beginning, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece. The economic costs of the war were felt all across Greece; poverty became widespread in the Peloponnese, while Athens found itself completely devastated, and never regained its pre-war prosperity. The war also wrought subtler changes to Greek society; the conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta, each of which supported friendly political factions within other states, made civil war a common occurrence in the Greek world. Ancient Greek warfare, meanwhile, originally a limited and formalized form of conflict, was transformed into

neg: The Spartans (documentary) the unmarried warriors, aged between 20 and 30. He was a surrogate mother and father, as well as a teacher and mentor, but he was also a lover. The 464 BC Sparta earthquake caused massive disruption, allowing the Helots to revolt. A desperate Sparta asks Athens for help, only to change their minds once it is clear that Athens could side with the Helots. Sparta expels the Athenians and, eventually, war begins. The surprising surrender of a Spartan detachment on the isle of Sphacteria is a major blow to Sparta's reputation of invincibility. Part 3 introduces Alcibiades, an Athenian statesman

neg: Pausanias of Sparta the oligarchs controlling Athens, thus allowing the reunification of Athens and Piraeus. Pausanias was able to restore democracy in Athens while bringing the Athenians, temporarily, into an alliance with Sparta. Pausanias's actions led to a major conflict with the Spartan ephors. Pausanias was prosecuted, but then acquitted. Returning to Sparta in 395 BC, Lysander was instrumental in starting a war with Thebes and other Greek cities, which came to be known as the Corinthian War. The Spartans prepared to send out an army against this new alliance of Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos (with the backing of the Persians). The

neg: Peloponnesian War refusal to destroy a city that had done a good service at a time of greatest danger to Greece, and took Athens into their own system. Athens was "to have the same friends and enemies" as Sparta. The overall effect of the war in Greece proper was to replace the Athenian Empire with a Spartan empire. After the battle of Aegospotami, Sparta took over the Athenian empire and kept all of its tribute revenues for itself; Sparta's allies, who had made greater sacrifices for the war effort than had Sparta, got nothing. For a short period of time, Athens was

neg: Battle of Nemea Battle of Nemea The Battle of Nemea (394 BC) was a battle in the Corinthian War, between Sparta and the allied cities of Argos, Athens, Corinth, and Thebes. The battle was fought in Corinthian territory, at the dry bed of the Nemea River. The battle was a decisive Spartan victory, which, coupled with the Battle of Coronea later in the same year, gave Sparta the advantage in the early fighting on the Greek mainland. Hostilities in the Corinthian War began in 395 BC with raiding in northwestern Greece, eventually leading to a clash between Sparta and Thebes at the Battle

neg: Classical Greece and, accordingly, Sparta formally declared war on Athens. Many historians consider these to be merely the immediate causes of the war. They would argue that the underlying cause was the growing resentment on the part of Sparta and its allies at the dominance of Athens over Greek affairs. The war lasted 27 years, partly because Athens (a naval power) and Sparta (a land-based military power) found it difficult to come to grips with each other. Sparta's initial strategy was to invade Attica, but the Athenians were able to retreat behind their walls. An outbreak of plague in the city during

neg: First Peloponnesian War the next several years, however, Spartan leadership bred resentment among the Greek naval powers that took the lead in carrying the war against Persian territories in Asia and the Aegean, and after 478 BC the Spartans abandoned their leadership of this campaign. Sparta grew wary of Athens' strength after they had fought alongside each other to disperse the Persians from their lands. When Athens started to rebuild its walls and the strength of its naval power, Sparta and its allies began to fear that Athens was becoming too powerful. Different policies made it difficult for Athens and Sparta to avoid

neg: Philaidae He was acquitted on a charge of bribery largely through the efforts of his half-sister Elpinice. In c.462 BC Cimon encouraged the Athenians to send military aid to the Spartans who were trying to put down a major revolt by the Helots in the wake of an earthquake which had heavily damaged Sparta. But the conservative Spartans became worried by the revolutionary democratic spirit of the Athenian troops and sent Cimon and his army back home to Athens. War between Athens and Sparta soon followed this rebuff and Cimon as a prominent pro-Spartan advocate was ostracised from Athens for ten

neg: The Spartans (documentary) who defects to Sparta and becomes an adviser and strategist. In particular, he suggests that Sparta takes the war to Syracuse, in Sicily, during which Athens suffers a major blow (including the capture of their entire expeditionary force). The Spartan Lysander, chief of its naval forces, begins to rise in power, and he eventually defeats the Athenian navy (which enables him to blockade Athens) and finally ends the war by successfully invading and subjugating Athens. Agesilaus, who becomes one of the kings of Sparta, finally sees Sparta become the dominant power in Greece. But decadence and corruption follow, along with

neg: Pentecontaetia protect itself. At this point, Sparta acknowledged that Athens might be getting too powerful. According to Thucydides, the Athenians were deeply offended by their removal from Ithome. They denounced their original treaty with Sparta made during the Greco-Persian Wars, then proceeded to make an alliance with Argos, a major enemy of the Spartans. 460—Athens' Clash with Corinth over Megara: Megarians joined the Delian League due to a war between Megara and Corinth. This angered the Corinthians. Even using Athens' weakest soldiers, being the old and young men who were left behind in the city, they were able to win the

neg: Ancient Greece the Spartans. In the 450s, Athens took control of Boeotia, and won victories over Aegina and Corinth. However, Athens failed to win a decisive victory, and in 447 lost Boeotia again. Athens and Sparta signed the Thirty Years' Peace in the winter of 446/5, ending the conflict. Despite the peace of 446/5, Athenian relations with Sparta declined again in the 430s, and in 431 war broke out once again. The first phase of the war is traditionally seen as a series of annual invasions of Attica by Sparta, which made little progress, while Athens were successful against the Corinthian empire

neg: Samian War every power has a right to punish its own allies." Modern scholars have generally regarded this as an accurate report, and have taken it to mean that Sparta was willing to go to war against Athens, but that the Corinthians, whose powerful navy would have been necessary for the Peloponnesians to participate effectively in such a war, derailed the plan with their opposition. Samian War The Samian War (440–439 BC) was an Ancient Greek military conflict between Athens and Samos. The war was initiated by Athens's intervention in a dispute between Samos and Miletus. When the Samians refused to break

neg: Classical Athens fought against Sparta in the decisive Corinthian War of 395–387 BC. Opposition to Sparta enabled Athens to establish a Second Athenian League. Finally Thebes defeated Sparta in 371 in the Battle of Leuctra. However, other Greek cities, including Athens, turned against Thebes, and its dominance was brought to an end at the Battle of Mantinea (362 BC) with the death of its leader, the military genius Epaminondas. By mid century, however, the northern Greek kingdom of Macedon was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs. In 338 BC the armies of Philip II defeated Athens at the Battle of Chaeronea, effectively limiting

neg: Thasian rebellion Thasos itself. The Spartan promise of intervention has been the subject of much analysis by scholars attempting to discern the inner workings of the Spartan state during this period, and modern scholars have cited the Thasos promise as evidence of a war party active at Sparta even during the period of accord between Athens and Sparta in the 470s and 460s BC; Although this war party was thwarted by the earthquake in this case, only a few years later anti-Athenian sentiment at Sparta would trigger the dismissal of Cimon with his army, which had been dispatched by the Athenians to

neg: First Peloponnesian War Sparta emerged in an anecdote reported by Diodorus Siculus, who said that the Spartans in 475–474 BC considered reclaiming the hegemony of the campaign against Persia by force. Modern scholars, although uncertain of the dating and reliability of this story, have generally cited it as evidence of the existence, even at this early date, of a "war party" in Sparta. For some time, however, friendly relations prevailed between Athens and Sparta. Themistocles, the Athenian of the period most associated with an anti-Spartan policy, was ostracised at some point in the early 470s BC, and was later forced to flee to

neg: Peloponnesian War time, they "secretly felt aggrieved". Conflict between the states flared up again in 465 BC, when a helot revolt broke out in Sparta. The Spartans summoned forces from all of their allies, including Athens, to help them suppress the revolt. Athens sent out a sizable contingent (4,000 hoplites), but upon its arrival, this force was dismissed by the Spartans, while those of all the other allies were permitted to remain. According to Thucydides, the Spartans acted in this way out of fear that the Athenians would switch sides and support the helots; the offended Athenians repudiated their alliance with Sparta.

neg: History of Sparta method was to invade Attica in the hope of provoking Athens to give battle. Athens, meanwhile, planned a defensive war. The Athenians would remain in their city, behind their impenetrable walls, and use their naval superiority to harass the Spartan coastline. In 425 BC, a body of Spartans surrendered to the Athenians at Pylos, casting doubt onto their ability to win the war. This was ameliorated by the expedition of Brasidas to Thrace, the one area where Athens possessions were accessible by land, which made possible, the compromise of 421 BC known as the Peace of Nicias. The war between

neg: Thirty Years' Peace Pegae with Troezen and Achaea in Argolis; however, the Spartans agreed to allow the Athenians to keep Naupactus. This also ruled out armed conflict between Sparta and Athens if at least one of the two wanted arbitration. Neutral poleis could join either side (i.e. Sparta or Athens) and this implies that there was a formalized list of allies for each side. Athens and Sparta would keep all other territories pending arbitration. It also recognized both Leagues as legitimate, a boost for Athens and its newly formed empire in the Aegean. The Thirty Years' Peace, however, only lasted 15 years. It

neg: Battle of Lyncestis Battle of Lyncestis The Battle of Lyncestis/Lyncus took place in 423 BC between the allied forces of the Lyncestians and Illyrians against those of the Spartans and Macedonians. The battle was part of the wider Peloponnesian Wars. Before Athens suffered defeat at Delium in 424 BC, Sparta had sent an expedition under Brasidas to assist Perdiccas II of Macedonia and other opponents of Athens. At first Sparta avoided involvement in Macedon's war with Arrhabaeus, but in 423 BC they joined an expedition which ended with retreat by the Macedonians and a brilliantly contrived escape of the Spartans. After the initial

neg: Theban–Spartan War 377 BC Athens, in preparing for participation in the Spartan–Theban struggle, reorganised its finances and its taxation, inaugurating a system whereby the richer citizens were responsible for the collection of taxes from the less rich. In 376 BC Chabrias won a naval victory for Athens over the Spartan fleet off the island of Naxos. In 374 BC Athens tried to retire from the Theban–Spartan war and made peace with Sparta. However, the peace was quickly broken when Sparta attacked Corcyra, enlisting Syracusan help, forcing Athens to come to the island's aid. The Athenian general, Timotheus, captured Corcyra and defeated the

neg: History of Sparta but were nevertheless openly shocked to discover that the rebels were Greeks like themselves. Sparta began to fear that the Athenian troops might make common cause with the rebels. The Spartans subsequently sent the Athenians home. Providing the official justification that since the initial assault on Ithome had failed, what was now required was a blockade, a task the Spartans did not need Athenian help with. In Athens, this snub resulted in Athens breaking off its alliance with Sparta and allying with its enemy, Argos. Further friction was caused by the consummation of the Attic democracy under Ephialtes and Pericles.

neg: Callistratus of Aphidnae fiscal administration, and forced the allies of Athens to pay contributions ("syntaxeis") for taking part in the war effort. See Xenophon, "Hellenica", iii. 3, vi. 2; and Lycurgus, "In Leocr". 93. Callistratus of Aphidnae Callistratus of Aphidnae (; died 350s BC) was an Athenian orator and general in the 4th century BCE. For many years, as "prostates", he supported Spartan interests at Athens, recognizing that Thebes posed a greater threat to Athens. In 371 BC he was one of the crafters of the peace treaty between Athens and Sparta which recognized the hegemony of Athens on the sea and that

neg: Ephialtes "ought not to suffer Greece to be lamed, nor their own city to be deprived of her yoke-fellow." Ephialtes, meanwhile, argued that Sparta and Athens were natural rivals, and that Athens should rejoice at Sparta's misfortune rather than help the other city recover. Cimon, however, was victorious in the debate, and set out for Sparta with 4,000 hoplites. However, shortly after the Athenians arrived to help the “conservative and fundamentally xenophobic” Spartans, their assistance was turned down. Subsequently, harmony between Sparta and Athens was broken and Cimon was ostracized for his misjudgment. The end of Cimon’s ascendancy resulted in the

neg: Constitution constitution in general terms was "the arrangement of the offices in a state". In his works "Constitution of Athens", "Politics", and "Nicomachean Ethics" he explores different constitutions of his day, including those of Athens, Sparta, and Carthage. He classified both what he regarded as good and what he regarded as bad constitutions, and came to the conclusion that the best constitution was a mixed system, including monarchic, aristocratic, and democratic elements. He also distinguished between citizens, who had the right to participate in the state, and non-citizens and slaves, who did not. The Romans first codified their constitution in 450

neg: Sparta provinces in Anatolia, a period which marks the Spartan Hegemony. During the Corinthian War Sparta faced a coalition of the leading Greek states: Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos. The alliance was initially backed by Persia, whose lands in Anatolia had been invaded by Sparta and which feared further Spartan expansion into Asia. Sparta achieved a series of land victories, but many of her ships were destroyed at the battle of Cnidus by a Greek-Phoenician mercenary fleet that Persia had provided to Athens. The event severely damaged Sparta's naval power but did not end its aspirations of invading further into Persia,

neg: Cimon This proves that I don't desire personal wealth. Rather, I love enriching our nation, with the booty of our victories." As a result, Elpinice convinced Pericles not to be too harsh in his criticism of her brother. Cimon was in the end acquitted. Cimon was Sparta's Proxenos at Athens, he strongly advocated a policy of cooperation between the two states. He was known to be so fond of Sparta that he named one of his sons Lacedaemonius. In 462 BC, Cimon sought the support of Athens' citizens to provide help to Sparta. Although Ephialtes maintained that Sparta was Athens' rival

neg: Greece in the 5th century BC Peloponnese, winning battles at Naupactus (429 BC) and Pylos (425 BC). But these tactics were not able to provide either side with a decisive victory. After several years of inconclusive campaigning, the moderate Athenian leader Nicias concluded the Peace of Nicias (421 BC). In 418 BC, however, hostility between Sparta and the Athenian ally Argos led to a resumption of fighting. At Mantinea Sparta defeated the combined armies of Athens and her allies. The resumption of fighting brought the war party, led by Alcibiades, back to power in Athens. In 415 BC Alcibiades persuaded the Athenian Assembly to launch a

neg: Ancient Greece Persia in 450 BC, after a disastrous defeat in Egypt in 454 BC, and the death of Cimon in action against the Persians on Cyprus in 450. While Athenian activity against the Persian empire was ending, however, conflict between Sparta and Athens was increasing. Sparta was suspicious of the increasing Athenian power funded by the Delian League, and tensions rose when Sparta offered aid to reluctant members of the League to rebel against Athenian domination. These tensions were exacerbated in 462, when Athens sent a force to aid Sparta in overcoming a helot revolt, but their aid was rejected by

neg: Battle of Haliartus Persian support was enough to induce a number of states, and in particular Thebes, to make war on Sparta. Rather than undertake offensive operations immediately, the Thebans chose to precipitate a war indirectly. Accordingly, they persuaded the Locrians to raid Phocis, a Spartan ally. Thebes, as an ally of Locris, was obligated to assist in the conflict thus begun; Phocis, meanwhile, appealed to its ally, Sparta. The Spartans, seeing a chance to chasten the increasingly restive Thebans, chose to launch a major campaign against Thebes. Meanwhile, the Thebans sent emissaries to Athens requesting aid; a perpetual alliance was concluded between

neg: Pericles Pericles and Athens. Plutarch seems to believe that Pericles and the Athenians incited the war, scrambling to implement their belligerent tactics "with a sort of arrogance and a love of strife". Thucydides hints at the same thing, believing the reason for the war was Sparta's fear of Athenian power and growth. However, as he is generally regarded as an admirer of Pericles, Thucydides has been criticized for bias against Sparta. Pericles was convinced that the war against Sparta, which could not conceal its envy of Athens' pre-eminence, was inevitable if unfortunate. Therefore, he did not hesitate to send troops to

neg: Peace (play) with the Megarian decree in 431 BC and, under the cautious leadership of Archidamus II in Sparta and Pericles in Athens, it developed into a war of slow attrition in which Athens was unchallenged at sea and Sparta was undisputed master of the Greek mainland. Every year, the Spartans and their allies invaded Attica and wreaked havoc on Athenian farms. As soon as they retreated, the Athenians marched out from their city walls to avenge themselves on the farms of their neighbours, the Megarians and Boeotians, allies of Sparta. Till then, most Athenians had lived in rural settlements but now

neg: Symposium (Plato) towards young men, establishing lifelong relationships, productive of the benefits described by Phaedrus. This love is related to "Aphrodite Urania" (Heavenly Aphrodite), and is based on honoring one's partner’s intelligence and wisdom. He then analyses the attitudes of different citystates relative to homosexuality. The first distinction he makes is between the cities that clearly establish what is and what is not admitted, and those that are not so explicitly clear, like Athens. In the first group there are cities favorable to homosexuality, like Elis, Boeotia and Sparta, or unfavorable to it like Ionia and Persia. The case of Athens is

neg: Corinthian War Corinthian War The Corinthian War was an ancient Greek conflict lasting from 395 BC until 387 BC, pitting Sparta against a coalition of four allied states, Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos, who were initially backed by Persia. The immediate cause of the war was a local conflict in northwest Greece in which both Thebes and Sparta intervened. The deeper cause was hostility towards Sparta provoked by that city's "expansionism in Asia Minor, central and northern Greece and even the west". The war was fought on two fronts, on land near Corinth (hence the name) and Thebes and at sea in

neg: Callistratus of Aphidnae Callistratus of Aphidnae Callistratus of Aphidnae (; died 350s BC) was an Athenian orator and general in the 4th century BCE. For many years, as "prostates", he supported Spartan interests at Athens, recognizing that Thebes posed a greater threat to Athens. In 371 BC he was one of the crafters of the peace treaty between Athens and Sparta which recognized the hegemony of Athens on the sea and that of Sparta on land. On account of the refusal of the Thebans to surrender Oropus, which on his advice they had been allowed to occupy temporarily, Callistratus, despite his magnificent defence

neg: History of Sparta that led to Theban rebellion and hence to the outbreak of the Boeotian War. Sparta started this war with the strategic initiative, however, Sparta failed to achieve its aims. Early on, a botched attack on Piraeus by the Spartan commander Sphodrias undermined Sparta's position by driving Athens into the arms of Thebes. Sparta then met defeat at sea (the Battle of Naxos) and on land (the Battle of Tegyra) and failed to prevent the re-establishment of the Boeotian League and creation of the Second Athenian League. In 371 BC, a fresh peace congress was summoned at Sparta to ratify the

neg: History of Greece restoring democracy in their states, where as they saw Macedon as a tyrannical kingdom because of the fact they had not adopted democracy. The Achaean League, while nominally subject to the Ptolemies was in effect independent, and controlled most of southern Greece. Sparta also remained independent, but generally refused to join any league. In 267 BC, Ptolemy II persuaded the Greek cities to revolt against Macedon, in what became the Chremonidean War, after the Athenian leader Chremonides. The cities were defeated and Athens lost her independence and her democratic institutions. This marked the end of Athens as a political actor,

neg: Classical Greece if Alcibiades had been allowed to lead the expedition. Thus, despite his treacherous flight to Sparta and his collaboration with Sparta and later with the Persian court, there arose a demand among the war party that Alcibiades be allowed to return to Athens without being arrested. Alcibiades negotiated with his supporters on the Athenian-controlled island of Samos. Alcibiades felt that "radical democracy" was his worst enemy. Accordingly, he asked his supporters to initiate a coup to establish an oligarchy in Athens. If the coup were successful Alcibiades promised to return to Athens In 411, a successful oligarchic coup was mounted

neg: Theban–Spartan War Thebes was not necessarily to be trusted. For example, Thebes destroyed Plataea in 372 BC, which had only recently been refounded. Athens started to think about negotiating peace with Sparta; it was while Athens was discussing this with Sparta that Thebes defeated the Spartan army conclusively at Battle of Leuctra (371 BC). In 378 BC a Spartan attempt to seize Piraeus brought Athens closer to Thebes. The Athenian mercenary commander Chabrias successfully faced off the larger army of Agesilaus II near Thebes. At the advance of Agesilaus' forces, instead of giving the order to charge, Chabrias famously ordered his men