Athens Victory In The Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War pitted the Athenians against the Spartans. The Peloponnesians’ were an alliance of city-states controlled by Sparta. These two powerful city-states became locked in a struggle for dominance of the eastern Mediterranean area. The roots of the conflict and in particular this expedition is highly complex. As Thucydides says in his history of the war, the underlying cause was Spartan fear of Athens' expansive power. But, the triggering event was Athens' aggressive behavior towards Corinth, an ally of Sparta.

The Peloponnesian War changed Greece and nothing was the same after the war. Athens was never to be as powerful again. As a result of the war, the Athenian Empire was never the same again because of the change in the balance of power in the Greek world. This greatly alarmed Sparta and its allies. The aggressive policies of Athens did not de-escalate the situation whilst the ambitions of the city-state certainly provoked the Spartans. Increasingly, the Spartans became very nervous about the growing naval and commercial power of Athens.

The Peloponnesian war lasted from 431 to 404 B.C. and was profoundly influenced by two Athenian men, Pericles and Alcibiades. Though Pericles and Alcibiades were related by blood they were quite different. Pericles was a diplomat, he approached matters with a level head and tried to find a solution that did not end in bloodshed. Alcibiades was less stable, he either fought, manipulated, or ran when confronted with a problem. Both men spoke eloquently enough to move almost the entire city of Athens, using their words to bend people to their will.  What was different between them was what their will was, one cared about the city and its wellbeing, the other cared about his own wellbeing.

Throughout the Ancient Greek world, there have been many wars and standoffs. However, there has been only one which changed the course of Greek history forever; the Peloponnesian War. Caused by the growing tension between Athens and Sparta, it came and left, leaving only destruction in its wake. The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War caused the downfall of Greece, and the end of the Classical Age.

The great historian, Herodotus, who is also known as the “father of history,” wrote many books on the Greek culture. Herodotus describes the cultural values of the Greeks in his detailed work, The Histories. Because the book concentrates on the Greek and Persian wars, he also writes about the values of the Persians. In his account of the Greek and Persian wars, Herodotus describes the different values of the Greek culture and the Persian culture in this famous book. From reading this work of Herodotus, it becomes clear that the values which each of these two cultures held, differed greatly.

Assess the reasons for the Greek victory over the Persians in 490 to 480/479 BC. Make a judgement based on outcome, results and values.

The Persian Wars were a series of destructive and malevolent battles which occurred in the time frame of 490B.C and 480 – 479B.C. The Greek victory over the Persians in the Persian Wars cannot be attributed to only one factor, more it was a commixture of factors. Such factors include unity, leadership, strategy, tactics and the pre-eminence of the Greek soldier. Each contributing factor was to play a distinctive and pivotal role in the various battles to come, which ultimately would lead to the subsequent demise of the Persians.

The Peloponnesian War began in 431 BC between the Spartans and Athenians. The war was instigated by how Athens was gaining power, wealth, and prestige. The surrounding polishes became hostile and malicious towards Athens, Sparta included. Instead of pursuing an end to the hostility and conflict through diplomatic means, the leaders of Athens and Sparta both were for the beginning of a war. Each polis believed they had the upper hand and superior strategy and military. In time, war was declared between the two polises. The

existing wars between each other” (Hdt. VII.145.1) in order to fight against Persia. However, only one Peloponnesian state (Sparta) offered help throughout the wars.

Undeniably, the ancient Greek society places a heavy emphasis on values and traditions. The two texts of the “Clouds” by Aristophanes and “History of the Peloponnesian war” by Thucydides, although contextually divergent, are actually conceptually convergent. Both texts are built around the central theme of the collapse of conventional values. While the breakdown of traditional values in the “History of the Peloponnesian war” is presented in a more metaphorical and symbolical manner, the downfall of conventional values in the “Clouds” is on a more direct basis. Although both texts essentially convey across the same solemn message that the relinquishment of

The Peloponnesian war made the Greek city-states all weak for about 50 years (Dowling paragraph 16). You should never wager on something ever, but if you do then make sure it is something where you can win, we all can learn from Athens why not to wage something you are not sure of (Dowling paragraph 17). This war lasted 27 years and it did not end up well for Athens because almost everything was destroyed ( Dowling paragraph

of events which I am going to look at to see if there was a single

The book written by Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, contains two controversial debates between distinguished speakers of Athens. The two corresponding sides produce convincing arguments which can be taken as if produced as an honest opinion or out of self-interest. The two debates must be analyzed separately in order to conclude which one and which side was speaking out of honest opinion or self-interest, as well as which speakers are similar to each other in their approach to the situation.

I enjoyed reading you post this week, too. It is very informative, too. The war was very cruel, and the weaker side won, although people thought that the powerful side would have won. I mean that the Athenians were favorite to win the war, but they lost. They lost, although they won the Persian War. As I was instructed by Dr. Ng, I understood that the war’s reason was politics. So, it looks that Athens’ three movements, which were Potidaea’s siege, helping Corcyra against Corinth, and imposing an embargo on Megara, were about politics, not economics. But, this war was amazing to me.

In this paper, I will explain the Greeks, the Peloponnesian War, Socrates' horse training analogy in the Apology, and the Venus de Milo. Ancient Greece refers to the times before the classical age, between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C. Greece saw many advances in art, poetry and even some technology, but most importantly it was the age in which the polis, or know the city-state, was created. The city-state is compared with the modern nation-state as being sovereign, also know as answering to no one. The Classical and Hellenistic eras of Greece having left behind a host of ideas, concepts, and art to lay the foundation of what we now call the"western civilization". This is where the Greeks first started their lives.