Greek History

The Pentecontaetia and the Peloponnesian War: 448 to 405 BCE

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In the period of the Pentecontaetia and the Peloponnesian War the main historian that needs to be examined is Thucydides. Through Thucydides we have detailed account of most of the Peloponnesian war (Thucydides account of the Peloponnesian War cuts off mid sentence near the end of the war), and an abbreviated account of the period comprising of the Pentecontaetia. The Pentecontaetia comprises of the fifty years between the end of the Persian Wars and the start of the Peloponnesian War. After the final victory of the Greeks in the Persian Wars the Hellenic League that had composed of all the Greek states did not immediately disband. Instead, under the guidance of Athens and the leadership of Sparta it sought to take revenge of the Greek states that had fought on the side of the Persians. Soon though, other Greeks states asked Athens to take over the league, when Athens accepted a new league was constituted, the Delian League. This league would change over time and eventually become what can only be called the Athenian Empire. Each state in the league agreed to contribute money in order to build ships to protect the interests of the league. Athens and Sparta began to become openly hostile to each other and in 460 BCE, the Spartans and Athenians went to war against each other in what is called the First Peloponnesian War. This war only lasted until 445 BCE, and the war solved very little of what was becoming a power struggle in Greece between Athens and Sparta.

In 450 BCE a formal peace was declared between the Delian League and the Persian Empire in a peace agreement known as the Peace of Callias. The peace of Callias removed the need for the Delian League, and many of its members began to balk at its continued existence. The Athenians, who had agreed to a thirty-year peace with the Peloponnesian states, used this period to redesign the league to suit their purposes and quell dissent. The broker of the Peace of Callias, Pericles proposed rebuilding the temples in Athens that had been destroyed during the Second Persian War. The focus of Pericles building program was on the acropolis. The crowning jewel in Pericles plan to build a complex of temples on the acropolis was the Parthenon. In 447 BCE work on the Parthenon began, it was not completed until 432 BCE. There was a spirit of humanism and rationalism that was incorporated into the Periclian building program, but these ideas of humanism and rationalism found other outlets in Athens, particularly in philosophy.

As the Athenian Empire developed and the fleet that brought Athens its great wealth through trade grew, the importance of the men of the lower classes, those who were rowers on the great triremes grew. Contrary to popular belief, slaves were not used as rowers on triremes as coordination was necessary for success. One discontented rower could disrupt a complex maneuver in the middle of a sea battle, spelling death for all those aboard. For that reason it was imperative that the rowers on board the trireme be content. During wartime Athens maintained a fleet of 100 ships, each manned by 200 men. It is important to note that in the Ancient Greek world periods of peace were rare, Athens was no exception to this and was almost constantly at war. On top of this, another 200 trireme were kept in reserve, with often more than 100 being commissioned. The role that these common citizens played in the defense of their city made their say important. This is reflected by the growing influence of the lower classes in the assembly during this period.

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While Athens was enriching itself with the support of its allies, other prominent Greek states, particularly Sparta and Corinth began to feel threatened by Athens growing imperial power. Event though the scene was largely set for war, war was slow to come about. In explaining the origins of the war Thucydides tries to argue that it was Athens abuse of power that brought the Greek states to war, however most modern historians feel that this is a rather simplistic explanation. Modern historians place more importance on economic factors. There was no single spark that started the war, but rather a series of minor military clashes in 431 BCE between Athens and the small city of Plataea. In 431 BCE, the Thebans tried to seize the city claiming that it was in their sphere of influence. The Plataeans held out against the Thebans initial attack but required help from Athens to maintain their defenses. The Athenians sent a small contingent of men to Plataea to reinforce the city. This brought Sparta into the war as Sparta was an ally of Thebes. Thucydides notes that enthusiasm for a large war was high all throughout Greece. In Athens Pericles, who some might argue was responsible for creating the situation for war in order to gain glory for himself, wanted Athens to rely entirely on her sea power to prevail against Sparta. Pericles strategy called for the Athenians to abandon all their agricultural territory outside of the Long Wall between Athens and the port of Piraeus. The city would then be supplied via the sea through Athens powerful navy. This strategy was smart in that it would deny the Spartans the opportunity to win the land battle they would need to win the war, however it failed to take one thing into account, plague.

In the summer of 430 BCE the ships supplying Athens with grain brought something unexpected, plague. With all the Athenians crowed together in the city the plague spread like wildfire. It is estimate the plague robbed Athens of a third of its population. Thucydides, oddly, gives us a rather good account of the plague in Athens. This is strange, as no author to this point in history had ever attempted to describe the ravages of plague in such a scientific manner. Despite the incredibly description of the plague that Thucydides provides, modern scholars have been unable to agree on what the plague is. The plague robbed Athens of its manpower, wealth and even its political leadership. Pericles, perhaps Athens greatest leader would succumb to the ravages of the plague in 429 BCE. With the loss of Pericles, Athens lost perhaps the only leader capable of weathering and successfully winning the Peloponnesian War. With Pericles death the new leaders that assumed control via the assembly simple pandered to the whims of the people. Thus Athens began to see the dark side of democracy through demagogues.

In 421 BCE, the deaths of some of the more infamous demagogues allowed Athens to conclude peace with Sparta for a set period of time. However, during the peace both sides conducted activities that were in direct defiance of the peace. At the beginning of the war, Pericles had warned the Athenians not to attempt to expand Athens holdings, as new territory might be too much to handle during a period of warfare. Segesta, a small city and ally of Athens in Sicily, asked for Athenian help against their neighbour Syracuse. Athens only decided to listen to Segesta and send support, because gaining control over Syracuse would given Athens access to a large grain producing region. When the expedition sent by Athens arrived in Syracuse they attempted to siege the city in 414 BCE. On September 3rd the Athenians lost the battle for the harbour at Syracuse and on September 9th they suffered their final defeat at sea and were forced to retreat by land. The Syracusans captured the retreating army and slaughtered both generals in charge. The Sicilian Expedition was a colossal failure for Athens as Athens lost both ships and men in a pointless expedition against a power that was not even involved in the Peloponnesian War. The only the thing that the Sicilian Expedition managed to do was bring Syracuse into the war on the side of the Spartans.

In 411 BCE Athens was able to win a critical battle for control of the Hellespont against the Spartans at Cyzicus. The victory was so one sided that the Spartans actually offered the Athenians peace terms after the battle, the Athenians under the influence of the demagogues refused and opted to continue the war. Ironically, at this point in the conflict, both the Spartans and the Athenians, so desperate for money were actually receiving funds from the Persians. After the battle of Cyzicus Thucydides history breaks off mid sentence. This is unfortunate at the other sources in the period are not nearly as exceptional as Thucydides and their accounts are largely one sided. The Athenians were to have one more victory before their final defeat. At Arginusae the Athenians were able to defeat the Spartans in a naval battle, however a storm prevented the Athenian commander from retrieving the troops that have fallen overboard during the battle. The generals who won the battle expected to come home to Athens and bask in the glory of their victory; however, upon arriving home they were condemned for failing to pick up the Athenians that had fallen overboard. The generals were tried on mass, contrary to Athenian law, and executed before the public. Athens was nearing the end.

The Athenians final defeat in the Peloponnesian war would come almost entirely from neglect and internal dissention. In 405 BCE, the Athenians met the Spartans under their commander Lysander at Aegospotmai. Of the 180 Athenian ships engaged in the battle, only 20 survived. With nothing now to stand in the way of a naval blockade and all out siege of Athens Lysander began to put pressure on the cities food supply. The Athenians held out for eight months but were eventually force to capitulate in 405 BCE. The terms of surrender forced upon the Athenians were not as devastating as some of the Greek states had demanded. Thebes had wanted to the entire city torn down, brick by brick. Contributing to the light punishment that Athens received was the fact that immediately after her defeat, all the over Greek city-states began to view each other suspiciously. The Athenians were necessary for the balance of power in Greece, so instead of being destroyed they were made allies of Sparta and force to limit their fleet to 12 ships.

In the century that followed the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta, Thebes and Athens would contest with each other for power in Greece. Though democracy had ended in Athens during the Peloponnesian War it would be restored shortly after the end of the war. Although Athens recovered from the Peloponnesian War it would never have the power it had enjoyed at the start of the Peloponnesian War again. As the three major city-states in Greece squabbled for power a new power began to emerge in north that would bring an end to the era of the autonomous polis.

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