Social Tension in Athens: The Second Peloponnesian War Essay

Pericles's speech first gave praise to the ancestors, for which they are the people who built the city from the ground up and fought for democracy. He speaks of the ancestors with great honor and valor and that it was them who gave birth to Athens. He perceives Athens as a city with virtue, modesty, and modernization. It is a city who doesn't isolate itself from other governing states. Pericles announce that they aren't afraid to show their culture to the world and any foreigners may come and learn or observe from them. He suggests Athens is a country that welcomes foreigners and they

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 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.

A reading of Thucydides’, Pericles’ Funeral Oration and The Melian Dialogue uncovers both contrasting and comparable viewpoints on Athenian politics, power, aims of war, and empire. Thucydides presents two differing characteristics of Athens, one as the civilizer in Pericles’ funeral oration and the other as an tyrant in the Melian dialogue. In the funeral oration delivered by Pericles during the first year of the war, the Athenian leader emphasizes the idealized personal image of the Athenians in regard to their constitution and good character. Pericles goes on to praise the Athenian democratic institution of Athens that contributes to their cities greatness; in Pericles’s own words, “The Athenian administration favors the many instead of few… they afford equal justice to all of their differences” (112, 2.37). This quote emphasizes the good character of the Athens’ to coax and encourage the Athenians to preserve and better their great empire into the future. On the other hand, in the Melian dialogue, this notion of justice and equality is irrelevant; one, because Athens compared to Melos, is the stronger of the two and thus, is more powerful. Further, Athens, will continue to acquire absolute power and build its empire by conquering Melos and whomever else stands in its way. Through Pericles’ funeral oration and the Melian dialogue, the following conclusions/themes will demonstrate both the changing and somewhat stable nature of Athenian policy with regards to empire,

Athens is a major Greek city-state in European history. It was a great center of cultural and intellectual development, and thus home to philosophers. Socrates and Pericles, two of these philosophers, had polarizing opinions about the city-state and its citizens. While Pericles chooses to praise the Athenian citizen, Socrates criticizes Athens’ people. Pericles gave his opinion at a funeral during the first battles of the Peloponnesian War, while Socrates gave his during the trial that ultimately led to his death. The Athenian city-state has become a model for today’s systems of government and a hearth for western philosophy, so Pericles’ opinion seems to be the one that is more accurate.

Investigating Athens' Treatment of Her Allies During the period of 478-431, Athens’ treatment of her allies changed dramatically as she rose to become the leader of an empire. The establishment of the Delian League marked the beginning of a significant series of events, which lead to Athens’ rise to extreme power. From the evidence of Thucydides and the inscriptions, it is possible to track the progress of these events and the rapidly changing treatment that Athens enforced upon her allies.

The Peloponnesian war (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens against the Peloponnesian led by Sparta. Thucydides famously claims that the war started “because the Spartans were afraid of further growth of Athenian power, seeing as they did have the greater part of Hellas was under the control of Athens”. The two main protagonists from opposing sides Lysander and Alcibiades had the most influential impact on the end of the war.

The Peloponnesians and the Athenians War The Peloponnesian war was the main conflict between the two dominant Greek city-states withe their names was Sparta and Athens. It was happen between 404 and 431BC. This war was the great and more worthy war that was happen in Greece during that time and before it. Also, the Peloponnesians war was the strongest war between Sparta and Athens because they both powerful city-states in Greece.

The Peloponnesian War was the turning point in Athenian hegemony in Ancient Greece. It was fought in 431 B.C. between the Delian League, led by Athens, and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. According to Thucydides, Athens’ imposing hegemonic status and its overwhelming quest for more power made the Peloponnesian War and Athens’s eventual fall from power inevitable. Despite the Athenians having a far more superior navy and being considerably wealthier, they were defeated and made subjects of Sparta. In this paper, I will discuss Thucydides’ and Socrates’ reasons for why

The second grievance that was attributed to the cause of the Peloponnesian war was the resulting dispute between Athens and Corinth in Potidaea. Now suspecting the scheming of Corinth against them, Athens took extreme measures in Potidaea: “The Potidaeans, who inhabit the isthmus of Pallene, being a Corinthian colony, but tributary allies of Athens, were ordered to raze the wall looking towards Pallene, to give hostages, to dismiss the Corinthian magistrates, and in future not to receive the persons sent from Corinth annually to succeed them. It was feared that they might be persuaded by Perdiccas and the Corinthians to revolt…” (1.56) Potidaea could not convince Athens to concede these demands and so went to the Spartans and Corinthians to

It is well known that both Sparta and Athens committed awful behaviours concerning the Peloponnesian conflicts, and as a member of an educated Spartan society and now a member of the high court, I argue that external groups, not only Athenian allies

For, once more, since you drive us from the plea of justice and press upon us your doctrine of expediency, we must show you what is for our interest, and, if it be for yours also, may hope to convince you: Will you not be making enemies of all who are now neutrals? When they see how you are treating us they will expect you some day to turn against them; and if so, are you not strengthening the enemies whom you already have, and bringing upon you others who, if they could help, would never dream of being your enemies at all?” Looking at Athens and comparing their actions towards the Melians to the Oration of Pericles, Athens seems like a different country. Their future looks bleak and their leaders have become corrupted. Their desperation for power and greatness to remain is so great, that they begin to bully smaller and less powerful countries, despite their

The Peloponnesian War lasted from 431-404 BCE, which pitted the Athenians against Sparta to the south, after the latter had attempted repeated invasions into Attica. The war was extremely brutal and lead to a significant loss of life, which lead Plato to the idea that to govern one must be virtuous and ruthless, and that defending the city against those outside its borders is best left to guardians educated in important ethical and practical matters of governance. Therefore, Plato suggests it is necessary to be courageous and that those given the responsibility to rule in defence of a city must exercise virtue, for only through virtue can one confront the important day to day decisions needed to safeguard the polis from harm.

This is because he was the one who started the war between Sparta and Athens. He also refused to make agreements with the Spartans who were scared of his powerful ruling. He even caused the Spartans to destroy the fields of the Athenians after asking the citizens of Attica to move inside the city. This allowed the Spartan soldiers to invade the Athenians fields of produce and the economy of Athens declined. Pericles also brought the downfall of Athens when he became emotional for the death of his sons and found that leading the battles against the Spartans was no longer important and he became weak. The Spartans dominated and the powerful ruler died and this brought a great disaster to Athens and its citizens as stated by the great historian of the time by the name Thucydides. If Pericles had given concessions to Sparta as they requested, then the Peloponnesian War could not have started and Athens could not have been