Athens Facts

Pericles, the Athenian leader, avoided land battles and concentrated on control of the sea. After Pericles' death, the Athenians signed a fifty year truce called the Peace of Nicias in 421. This provided that each side restore captured places and prisoners and remain at peace with each other. This was soon supplemented by an actual Athenian-Spartan alliance, which concluded for fifty years. The intention was chiefly to give each power a chance to put its own alliance in order while secure from an attack by the other. The war had been marked by numerous acts of brutality on both sides; prisoners had been slaughtered or enslaved, and agreements broken in a way that were shameful. (Winks)

Amidst an interlude in the fierce struggle for power between the two dominant Greek poleis, Athens and Sparta, the Peloponnesian war, there was unrest. Despite the Peace of Nicias, belligerence between the two states did not cease, but rather took on a new face. While careful to remain within the parameters set several years before in the peace treaty, Athens moved cautiously, but aggressively in establishing alliances, albeit coerced, and strengthening its empire. It was at this juncture that it made its move toward securing the small, weak island-state of Melos, which in its neutral independence suggested danger to the Athenian empire. In a move not of fairness, but of survival, Athens offered the Melians an ultimatum: to be subjugated

After the conclusion of the Persian Wars (492-479BC) with Athens being the true victor, and before the Peloponnesian War, a period of prosperity covered Athens, and they needed to devise new ways to protect themselves and expand their wealth, and how this would affect their relations with allies.

Athens and Sparta were both dominant powers in ancient Greece. However, a legendary rivalry existed between the two. When Athens ended its alliance with Corcyra in 433 B.C. and began to surround Potidaea, it threatened Corinth’s position. Sparta feared that Athens was becoming too powerful and tried to avert war. The Spartans believed that peace was possible if the Athenians would revoke measures against Sparta's ally, Megara. The Athenian leader, Pericles, refused to concur with this because Sparta and Athens had earlier agreed that conflicts would be solved by negotiation. If the Athenians would yield to Sparta's request, they would in fact be accepting Sparta’s orders. This was unacceptable, and as a result, war broke out. Athens and its Delian League were attacked by Sparta and its Peloponnesian League. Diodorus mentions that the Spartans did not just declare war, but sought additional support from Persia.

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 Peloponnesian War between the city-states of Athens and Sparta (and their respective allies) lasted from 431-404 BC. Conflicts between the two cites dated back further, however, with

During the following years, the Athenians decided to take the offensive by attacking the city of Syracuse. They campaigned all throughout western Greece and even the Peloponnese. By 425 B.C., it wasn’t looking good for Sparta and they wanted to bring about peace. They soon, however, gained victory of Chalcidice and Athens were encouraged to revolt, but in a battle at Amphipolis in 422 B.C., two major leaders of Sparta and Athens were killed and Athenians were persuaded to accept Sparta’s peace

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August or September 480 BC, at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae. The Persian invasion was a delayed response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.

In 431 B.C., even before the Peloponnesian War, Athens’ strength compared to other Greek polises was evident. Athens had islands, a powerful, a well-trained navy, and one, if not the best, general at the time: Pericles. Pericles says in his speech that, “war is inevitable,” but in fact the war was preventable (72). Even with all of the military strengths and assets that Athenians had afforded to them, they chose to be merciful to the Peloponnesians who were in no shape to go to war. They did not have the experience, money, manpower, or means to participate in a lengthy war and Pericles makes the citizens aware of this (70). Pericles is both modest and humble for choosing to point out these facts which in turn helps the Athenians see the potential

The plague caught Athens off guard, for the navy was well armed and prepared, the citizens were all safely barracked up inside the city walls, however, one thing that even Pericles himself was not prepared for, that was a brutal attack to their health. In my view the plague was a silent killer, almost 1/3 of the Athenian population died in the summer of 430 BCE according to Thucydides accounts ("Thucydides on the Plague," n.d., p. 1). Pericles died only two years into the war which continued on for another

Athens and Sparta had formed a league against Persia. Even with the league, Greece was at a major disadvantage. In the words of Eric V. D. Luft, “Modern estimates put Xerxes's troop strength as high as 350,000. The sheer size of this unwieldy mass contributed to its undoing. (2004)” The Greeks only had 7,000 men. Even outnumbered, the Spartans still showed immense bravery. “When told the Persian arrows would darken the sky in battle, one Spartan warrior supposedly responded, "That is good news. We will fight in the shade! (William J. Duiker and Jaskson J. Spielvogel, 2001) (p. 105)" In 480 BCE, the battle of Thermopylae broke out. The Athenian and Spartans fought for many days but suffered very heavy losses. On the second night of the battle, a Greek traitor helped the Persian army. He informed the Persian army on how to get around the Greek army and attack from behind. Luckily, Leonidas, the Spartan general, was able to guild the Athenian army to safety. However, he returned to Thermopylae to fight Persia with the rest of the Spartan army. “He [Leonidas] sent most of his forces back to Sparta and remained with only a small guard, determined to fight to death. (Eric H. Cline and Sarolta A. Takalcs, 2007) (p. 84)” As the Spartans fought to the death, Athens was evacuated and residents were sent to Salamis. After the Persians defeated the Spartans, they burned

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.

When Sparta gave its ultimatum to Athens, Pericles was more than happy to oblige and go to war. He embodies Athenian arrogance and overzealousness. Pericles speaks to the Athenian assembly convincing them to go to war because according to him, they cannot lose. Pericles explains how Sparta doesn’t have the same financial advantages that Athens does and how Athens has a far superior navy. According to Pericles, the best strategy is to use that to Athens’ advantage, leaving Attica exposed by only attacking and defending the sea were they have an advantage. Pericles finishes of by saying that Athens possesses all of Sparta’s strengths and none of its weaknesses, and Athens must fight so that future generations will have an Athens that is as good as ever.

The Battle of Salamis took place in Athens, Greece in September of 480 BCE. The conflict between the Greeks and the Persians is one of the most important battles in all of the Greek’s history. This battle determined whether or not the Greeks could retain their independence or if the Persians would overthrow them. The Greeks of course won and were able to divide and conquer many new places.

The battle of Thermopylae in year 480 BCE was a major part in the Greek victory of the Graeco-persian wars and for the battle of Greece as an independent nation leading to the Greek golden age and Hellenism forever changing the western world and its culture. (Frye)The start of the Graeco-Persian hostilities can be traced back to 499 BCE at the beginning of the Ionian revolt when Ionian Greeks revolted against their Persian leaders in a bloody civil war that lasted over seven years. The most significant event that would eventually lead to further hostilities was when the city states of mainland Greece mostly Athens started to support the Greek rebels both financially and militarily. Even with the help of mainland Greece the rebellion was crushed by Darius the great and the rest of the Persian Empire allowing it to become whole once again. But unfortunately this would not stop hostilities between these two nations for Darius wanted revenge on Greece most notably the city of Athens for supporting the Ionians during the revolt. But it wasn’t all about revenge the Ionian revolt severely threatened Darius’s Empire and Darius saw that mainland Greece would continually cause turmoil in this region of his empire unless they were dealt with thus leading to the first Persian invasion of Greece and The Greco Persian wars.