https://www.introducingathens.

com/history

History of Athens
Cradle of western civilization, the history of Athens is eventful and fascinating. Discover the
city’s past from its foundation until it became the cultural, economical and political hub of
Greece.

Parthenon in Athens

Views from Mount Lycabettus

Acropolis at dusk
Arch of Hadrian

Hellenic Parliamen and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Foundation and monarchy

Athens is named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, and daughter of Zeus.
The story of Athena is very similar to the story of the founding of Greece.

The first settlers in Athens were from various ethnic groups that were organized in several
kingdoms. They established themselves near the crag, which later would
become the Acropolis.

According to the Greek mythology, Cecrops, who was half man and half serpent, founded
Athens and became the first king. Around the tenth century B.C., the settlers formed twelve
cities, of which Athens was always dominant.

The mythical king Theseus was responsible for unifying the cities in Attica under Athens after
subduing his main competitor, the town of Eleusis. When the cities were unified,
the Panathenaic Games were held in honor of Athena.

When Athens was ruled by kings, the monarch directed the political and military affairs and
was assisted by the Areopagus, the king’s court.
Athens evolved from a city dominated by the monarchy, then the aristocracy and eventually
gave way to Athenian democracy.

From oligarchy to democracy

During the eighth century the monarchy was replaced with nine Archons, meaning ruler in
Greek. These were elected rulers of the Eupatridae (the nobility of Athens).

The social tumult obliged the aristocracy to make concessions for the rest of the
population. To avoid the abuses of power, the laws were written down.

In 621 B.C., Draco was the first legislator in Ancient Greece to impose a written law code that
would become famous as an example of severity, but was a great step compared to the
primitive justice system which had existed before.

Draco was replaced by Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece, renowned for his honesty and
patriotism. He made new concessions to the working classes, considered the germ of the first
democracy on earth. Solon was elected Archon in 594 and made great reforms,
including forgiving the peasants their debts, limiting the right to life and death of the father of
the family and dividing the population into four groups according to their income and their
military service. He also formed the boule, a council of 400 or 500 people and the Ekklesia
(assembly) and the Heliaia (court).

After the wise Solon, there were new social revolts that fractioned the city until Peisistratus
took control of Athens by force, so he was considered a tyran. He was succeeded by his sons
that compared to their father were a lot more brutal, which created more division among the
Athenians. Eventually, Cleisthenes, leader of the democratic movement in 508 B.C. granted
citizenship to all free men and reformed the constitution of ancient Athens.

510 B.C. is considered the year of the birth of Athenian democracy.

Cleisthenes reorganized the boule with 500 members that represented the ten tribes in Athens.
The Areopagus was also reformed with three members and the Arconte, ten members. The
Ekklesia also grew considerably, integrating the Metics, which were the foreigners living in
Athens and the Freedmen.

Cleisthenes is famous for establishing the “politically ostracized” figure. To defend

democracy from tyranny, the Ekklesia had the power to banish for a certain period a citizen
that was perceived as a threat for the popular sovereignty. Each citizen had the right to a
secret vote, where they would write the person’s name on an ostracon (piece of pottery).
The Golden Age and Pericles
The fifth century B.C. is also known as the Golden Age of Athens or “The Age of Pericles”.
Pericles was a prominent and renowned political leader that did important reforms to
democracy, by establishing the theorikon, a fund for subsidizing attendance at public festivals.
He encouraged artists and writers to praise Athens and commissioned beautiful monuments
and buildings with the Allies money. He was also very interested in science and encouraged
its development. Imposing temples and landmarks were erected during his time in power,
including the Temple of Athena Nike , the Erechtheion, and the the Parthenon (symbol of
Athens), on the Acropolis. During the Golden Age of Athens, 250,000 people lived in the
city.

The fifth century is also significant because of the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian
War (Athens and Sparta).

In 499 BC, Athens was involved in a series of battles against Persia called the Greco-Persian
Wars. The Athenian army defeated the Persian king Darius I in 490 B.C. in the Battle of
Marathon under the command of Miltiades. The soldier Philippides became famous during
this battle for his race to tell Athens of the victory. This led to the creation of the marathon
race.

During the second battle, the son of king Darius I, Xerxes I, attacked Athens and destroyed
the Acropolis, but were defeated once more at the Battle of Salamis in 480.

At that time, Athens was a maritime power and it used this power to form an alliance that
neutralized the Spartan hegemony. During this prosperous period, the political leaders were
always from the wealthy families.

Athens and Persia went to war once more in 468 B.C. in the Battle of Eurymedon, and Persia
was defeated again.

After its victory, Athens became even more powerful and imposed its dominion over the other
Greek cities (“polis” in Greek). This displeased the rest of the cities and finally led the city of
Samos to revolt in 440, followed by Thebes, Megara and Corinth. Eventually, the potent
Sparta rebelled, and this led to the Peloponnesian War (431 – 401 B.C.).

After many years of war, Athens was defeated by Sparta and was further weakened by the
outbreak of the plague, which arose with the overcrowding of the city. One-third of the
population was killed by the epidemic, including Pericles.
After the Peloponnesian War, the democratic state of Athens was overruled by an oligarchy in
favour of Sparta called The Thirty Tyrants, which only lasted eight years until democracy was
restored.

During the Corinthian War (395 – 387 BC), Sparta’s previous allies fought along Athens
against Sparta, establishing the Second Athenian League. Athens then turned against Thebes
along side Sparta.

During the fourth century, Athens suffered a social, cultural and political decadence,
weakened by the war. Many citizens lost their wealth and the statesman Eubulus organized
new public holidays to appease the common people.

During this period, the kingdom of Macedon became more and more important and finally
defeated Athens and other Greek cities at the Battle of Chaeronea, dissolving Athens
independence.

Hellenistic Athens
Philip II of Macedon was replaced by Alexander the Great, creating one of the largest empires
of the ancient world. After his death, in 323 B.C., and until the Roman Republic conquered
Greece is known as Hellenistic Greece. During this period, Athens was the focus of the arts
and sciences.

Roman Athens
Athens and the rest of the peninsula was conquered by Rome in 146 BCE. In 88, Athens
joined forces with Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, revolted against Rome, which led the
Roman army to sack the city under the instructions of the ruthless Roman stateman Sulla.
They destroyed numerous monuments and killed thousands of citizens.

Despite this, Athens continued to be the intellectual hub of the period and although Rome
now controlled the city, Athens was declared a free city. During the following three centuries,
it was the cultural capital of the world attracting people from all over the world to its schools.

Athens like Rome was invaded by the Barbarians; in 253 by the Goths and in 267 by the
Herules. Finally, the city was plundered by Visigoths in 396.

In 395 Athens came under the rule of the Byzantine Empire.

In 529 Justinian I closed the schools and the temples were transformed into churches. Athens
was the centre of the pagan rebellion against Christianism and the last non-Christian ruler of
the Roman Empire, Julian the Apostate, settled in Athens.

Medieval Period
Athens declined when the Byzantine Empire became Christian. Several centuries later, the
city was plundered by the Normans who had conquered Sicily and the south of Italy.

Athens prospered during the eleventh and twelfth century and many of the Byzantine
churches were built during this period. However, in 1204 the Crusaders conquered Athens
after occupying the Byzantine Empire and less than two centuries later, in 1456, it was
occupied by the Ottoman Turks. The city’s churches were transformed into mosques.

Modern history
The Venetians conquered Athens from the Ottoman Empire in 1687. During the conflict for
the control of the city, the Parthenon was accidently blown up and severely damaged. The
building was then further sacked by the Venetians until they retreated a year later and was
once again under Turkish dominion.

The city, much reduced, since the rule of the Ottoman Empire revolted in 1822, but it was
once again captured by the Ottoman Turks. The Ottomans finally left Athens in 1833.

In 1832, the Great Powers that was made up by United Kingdom, Russian Empire and France
founded an independent state of Greece. The appointed king was son of Ludwig II of
Bavaria, king Othon of Greece. On 18 September 1835, Athens was elected capital of the
country and numerous public buildings were constructed during this period.

After World War I, Greece, administered by Prime Minister Eleftherios Kyriakou, was
promised new territory in Ottoman Turkey by some of the western Allies. This led to the
Greco-Turkish War between 1919 and 1922.

The Turkish crushed the Greeks in Smyrna and as a result, the Greek and Turkish decided to
exchange their population, forcing thousands of Greeks living in Turkey to move back to
Greece and becoming refugees and vice versa. Most Greek citizens returned to Athens,
creating a havoc in the city.
The 25 March 1924, after a turbulent past, the Republic was proclaimed. In 1936 Ioannis
Metaxas became dictator of Greece until his death in 1941.

Although Metaxas applauded some of Mussolini’s ideals, he remained neutral when World
War II broke out. The city was shortly afterwards occupied by the Italian troops, but were
pushed out by the Greeks. In 1941, the German troops invaded Greece until 1944.

After the Second World War, many of the country’s rural population moved to Athens and the
city grew rapidly.

In 1946, a civil war broke out between Left-wing supporters and the conservative
government, supported by the British and the Americans. The conservatives eventually won.

In 1967 several colonels organized a coup d’état and enforced a dictatorship which ended in
1974.

In 1981, Greece became a member state of the European Union and in 2001, adopted the Euro
as its official currency. Becoming a member state and the 2004 Olympic Games led to a great
reform of the city and its main buildings.

Currently the city is the political, economical and cultural hub of Greece and one of the most
popular tourist destinations.

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archon, Greek Archōn, in ancient Greece, the chief magistrate or magistrates in
many city-states. The office became prominent in the Archaic period, when the kings
(basileis) were being superseded by aristocrats.

At Athens the list of annual archons begins with 682 BC. By the middle of the 7th
century BC, executive power was in the hands of nine archons, who shared the
religious, military, and judicial functions once discharged by the king alone. The
archon proper was the principal civil and judicial officer and may have presided over
both Boule (Greek boulē, council) and Ecclesia (Greek ekklēsia, assembly);
as eponymous archon, he gave his name to his year of office.

Next came the polemarch, commander in war and judge in litigation involving
foreigners. Third, the kingship survived in the basileus, who, as chief religious officer,
presided over the Areopagus (aristocratic council) when it sat as a homicide court.
Lastly there were six thesmotetai (“determiners of custom”), who dealt with
miscellaneous judicial problems.

The potential power of the archons placed them under a variety of restrictions. Before
entering office they had to undergo an examination (dokimasia) by the Boule and
the law courts of birth qualifications, physical fitness, treatment of parents, and
military activity; at the end of their term, they underwent an examination (euthyna)
of their conduct, especially financial, while in office. Membership was originally open
only to nobles by birth (eupatrids or eupatridai), who served as archons for life. The
term of office was eventually reduced to 10 years, then to a single year, after which,
since they could not be reelected, the archons became life members of the Areopagus.
The eupatrid monopoly was broken c. 594 BC, when Solon made the top or top two
property classes eligible for office.

Under the Cleisthenic constitution (508–c. 487), archons were elected directly by the
Ecclesia; later they were chosen by lot from 500 previously elected candidates. Until
457 the office was still restricted to the top two classes. Then eligibility was first
extended to the third property class; finally the fourth class was admitted in fact,
though theoretically ineligible.

In the 5th century the authority of the archons declined. The polemarch lost his army
command to 10 tribal commanders (stratēgoi), who also replaced the archons in the
administrative sphere. The archons thus became primarily judicial officers. By the
mid-5th century they no longer gave their own judgments but merely conducted
preliminary inquiries (anakrisis), then brought the case before a jury, presiding over
the hearing, but with no responsibility for directing the jury on matters of law.

The Reforms of Cleisthenes - the tribes

 Athenian citizen
storming the
Acropolis, from
The Greeks
documentary

The 'democratic' reforms of Cleisthenes were a highly complicated revision of tribal

and religious associations that had endured for centuries. Above all else, they were
an attempt to make the different factions and regions of Athens into one people,
with a popular assembly, and the necessary institutions to make that assembly
work.

Cleisthenes accomplished this by reorganizing the four tribal groups all Athenians
belonged to. Though he didn't abolish the old tribes, he divided them into 10 new
groups, called phyle, each of which adopted a mythological hero as its patron and
founder.

Next he revised the way neighborhoods were organized, creating local councils
called demes which consisted of either several small hamlets, a village, or a city
district. Like the reorganization of the tribes, these demes were a modification of
older community organizations, but each now had a local assembly and a leader
resembling a mayor.

Finally, in order to encourage unity between the different parts of Attica - the city of
Athens, the inland farms and the coastal villages - Cleisthenes ensured that each of
the 10 tribes were composed of two demes from each of these three areas (a total
of six demes per tribe). This must have required some sophisticated reorganization
since the demes varied greatly in size (between 100 and 1000 citizens) and each of
the tribes needed to be roughly the same size (about 3,500 citizens each).

Cleisthenes and the 10 Tribes of Athens

By

N.S. Gill

Updated on November 20, 2019

Solon, a wise man, poet, and leader, made some necessary changes in the
government of Athens, but he also created problems that needed fixing.
Cleisthenes' reforms were instrumental in converting earlier democratic
tendencies into a governmental democracy.
In the 7th century B.C., economic crises coupled with the start of the age of
tyranny elsewhere in Greece, beginning in c. 650 with Cypselus of Corinth, led
to unrest in Athens. In the final quarter of the century, the Draconian law code
was so severe that the word 'draconian' was named after the man who wrote
the laws. At the start of the next century, in 594 B.C., Solon was appointed sole
archon to avert catastrophe in Athens.

Solon's Modest Social Reforms

While Solon enacted compromises and democratic reforms, he kept the social
organization of Attica and the Athenians, the clans and tribes. Following the
end of his archonship, political factions and conflict developed. One side, the
men of the Coast (consisting mainly of the middle classes and peasants),
favored his reforms. The other side, the men of the Plain (consisting mainly
of Eupatrids 'nobles'), favored restoration of an aristocratic government.
The Tyranny of Pisistratus (aka Peisistratos)
Pisistratus (6th C. to 528/7 B.C.*) took advantage of the unrest. He wrested
control of the Acropolis in Athens by means of a coup in 561/0, but the major
clans soon deposed him. That was only his first attempt. Backed by a foreign
army and the new Hill party (composed of men not included in either the Plain
or Coast parties), Pisistratus took control of Attica as a constitutional tyrant (c.
546).

Pisistratus encouraged cultural and religious activities. He improved the Great

Panathenaia, which had been reorganized in 566/5, adding athletic contests to
the festival in honor of the city's patron goddess Athena. He built a statue to
Athena on the Acropolis and minted the first silver Athena owl coins.
Pisistratus publicly identified himself with Heracles and especially with the
help Heracles received from Athena.

Pisistratus is credited with bringing rural festivals honoring the god of

revelry, Dionysus, into the city, thereby creating the extremely popular Great
Dionysia or the City Dionysia, the festival known for the great dramatic
competitions. Pisistratus included tragedy (then a new literary form) in the
festival, along with a new theater, as well as the theatrical competitions. He
gave a prize to the 1st writer of tragedies, Thespis (c. 534 B.C.).

While first-generation tyrants were generally benign, their successors tended

to be more like what we envision tyrants to be. Pisistratus' sons, Hipparchus
and Hippias, followed their father to power, although there is debate as to who
and how the succession was ordered:

"Pisistratus died at an advanced age in possession of the tyranny, and then, not, as is the
common opinion, Hipparchus, but Hippias (who was the eldest of his sons) succeeded to his
power."
Thucydides Book VI Jowett translation

Hipparchus favored the cult of Hermes, a god associated with small

tradesmen, placing Hermes along the roads. This is a significant detail because
Thucydides uses it as a point of comparison between leaders in connection
with the mutilation of the herms attributed to Alcibiades at the time of
the Peloponnesian War.

"They did not investigate the character of the informers, but in their suspicious mood
listened to all manner of statements, and seized and imprisoned some of the most
respectable citizens on the evidence of wretches; they thought it better to sift the matter and
discover the truth; and they would not allow even a man of good character, against whom
an accusation was brought, to escape without a thorough investigation, merely because the
informer was a rogue. For the people, who had heard by tradition that the tyranny of
Pisistratus and his sons ended in great oppression...."
Thucydides Book VI Jowett translation

Hipparchus may have lusted after Harmodius:

"Now the attempt of Aristogiton and Harmodius arose out of a love affair....
Harmodius was in the flower of youth, and Aristogiton, a citizen of the middle class,
became his lover. Hipparchus made an attempt to gain the affections of Harmodius, but he
would not listen to him, and told Aristogiton. The latter was naturally tormented at the
idea, and fearing that Hipparchus who was powerful would resort to violence, at once
formed such a plot as a man in his station might for the overthrow of the tyranny.
Meanwhile Hipparchus made another attempt; he had no better success, and thereupon he
determined, not indeed to take any violent step, but to insult Harmodius in some secret
place, so that his motive could not be suspected.
Ibid.
However, the passion was not returned, so he humiliated Harmodius.
Harmodius and his friend Aristogiton, the men who are renowned for freeing
Athens of its tyrants, then assassinated Hipparchus. They weren't alone in
defending Athens against tyrants. In Herodotus, Volume 3, William Beloe says
Hippias tried to get a courtesan named Leaena to reveal the name of
Hipparchus' accomplices, but she bit off her own tongue so as not to answer.
Hippias' own rule was considered despotic and he was exiled in 511/510.

The exiled Alcmaeonids wanted to return to Athens, but couldn't, so long as

the Pisistratids were in power. By taking advantage of Hippias' growing
unpopularity, and by gaining the support of the Delphic oracle, the
Alcmaeonids forced the Pisistratids to leave Attica.

Cleisthenes vs. Isagoras

Back in Athens, the Eupatrid Alcmaeonids, led by Cleisthenes (c. 570 - c. 508
B.C.), allied with the mostly non-aristocratic Coast party. The Plain and Hill
parties favored Cleisthenes' rival, Isagoras, from another Eupatrid family.
Isagoras appeared to have the numbers and the upper hand until Cleisthenes
promised citizenship to those men who had been excluded from it.
Cleisthenes and the 10 Tribes of Athens
Cleisthenes won the bid for power. When he became the chief magistrate, he
had to face the problems Solon had created 50 years earlier through his
compromising democratic reforms, foremost among which was the allegiance
of citizens to their clans. In order to break such loyalties, Cleisthenes divided
the 140-200 demes (natural divisions of Attica) into 3 regions: city, coast, and
inland. In each of the 3 regions, the demes were divided into 10 groups
called trittyes. Each trittys was called by the name of its chief deme. He then
disposed of the 4 birth-based tribes and created 10 new ones composed of
one trittys from each of the 3 regions. The 10 new tribes were named after
local heroes:

 Erechthesis
 Aegeis
 Pandianis
 Leontis
 Acamantis
 Oeneis
 Cecropis
 Hippothontis
 Aeantis
 Antiochis.

The Council of 500

The Areopagus and archons continued, but Cleisthenes modified Solon's
Council of 400 based on the 4 tribes. Cleisthenes changed it to a Council of 500
to which

 Each tribe contributed 50 members.

 Each deme contributed a number proportional to its size. Over time,
each member came to be chosen by lot from those citizens who were at
least 30-years old and approved by the outgoing council.
 Instead of having the unwieldy 500 sitting day after day for the year of
their office, each tribe sat on the administrative and executive council for
1/10 of the year.

These groups of 50 men were called prytanies. The Council could not declare
war. Declaring war and vetoing recommendations of the Council were
responsibilities of the Assembly of all citizens.

Cleisthenes reformed the military, as well. Each tribe was required to supply a
hoplite regiment and a squadron of horsemen. A general from each tribe
commanded these soldiers.

Ostraka and Ostracism

Information on the reforms of Cleisthenes is available through Herodotus
(Books 5 and 6) and Aristotle (Athenian Constitution and Politics). The latter
claims that Cleisthenes was also responsible for the institution of ostracism,
which allowed the citizens to get rid of a fellow citizen whom they feared was
getting too powerful, temporarily. The word ostracism comes from ostraka,
the word for the potsherds on which the citizens wrote the name of their
candidates for the 10-year exile.
The 10 Tribes of Athens
Tribes Trittyes Trittyes Trittyes
Coast City Plain
1 #1 #1 #1
Erechthesis Coast City Plain
2 #2 #2 #2
Aegeis Coast City Plain
3 #3 #3 #3
Pandianis Coast City Plain
4 #4 #4 #4
Leontis Coast City Plain
5 #5 #5 #5
Acamantis Coast City Plain
6 #6 #6 #6
Oeneis Coast City Plain
7 #7 #7 #7
Cecropis Coast City Plain
8 #8 #8 #8
HippothontisCoast City Plain
9 #9 #9 #9
Aeantis Coast City Plain
10 #10 #10 #10
Antiochis Coast City Plain
*'Aristotle' Athenaion politeia 17-18 says Pisistratus grew old and ill while in
office, and died 33 years from his first time as tyrant.
Sources
 J.B. Bury: A History of Greece
 (pages.ancientsites.com/~Epistate_Philemon/newspaper/cleis.html)
 Cleisthenes Recalled
 (www.pagesz.net/~stevek/ancient/lecture6b.html) The Athenian
Origins of Direct Democracy
 (www.alamut.com/subj/artiface/deadMedia/agoraMuseum.html)
Technology of Ancient Democracy
  Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC: A Source-Based Approach, by Terry Buckley
(2010)
 "The Career of Peisistratos Son of Hippias," by Michael F.
Arnush; Hesperia Vol. 64, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1995), pp. 135-162.

Archon
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Archon (disambiguation).
Archon (Greek: ἄρχων, romanized: árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, árchontes) is a Greek word
that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the
masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, meaning "to be first, to rule",
derived from the same root as words such as monarch and hierarchy.

Ancient Greece[edit]
In the early literary period of ancient Greece the chief magistrates of various Greek
city states were called archontes.[1] The term was also used throughout Greek history
in a more general sense, ranging from "club leader" to "master of the tables"
at syssitia to "Roman governor".[citation needed]
In Athens, a system of three concurrent archons evolved, the three office holders
being known as archon eponymos (ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος), the polemarch (πολέμαρχος),
and the archon basileus (ἄρχων βασιλεύς).[1] According to Aristotle's Constitution of
the Athenians, the power of the king first devolved to the archons, and these offices
were filled from the aristocracy by elections every ten years. During this period the
archon eponymos was the chief magistrate, the polemarch was the head of the
armed forces, and the archon basileus was responsible for the civic religious
arrangements. After 683 BC the offices were held for only a single year, and the year
was named after the archon eponymos. (Many ancient calendar systems did not
number their years consecutively.) Although the process of the next transition is
unclear, after 487 BC the archonships were assigned by lot to any citizen and the
polemarch's military duties were taken over by a new class of generals known
as strategoi. The polemarch thereafter had only minor religious duties. The archon
eponymos remained the titular head of state under democracy, though of much
reduced political importance. The archons were assisted by "junior archons",
called thesmothetai (pl. of thesmothetēs). After 487 BC ex-archons were
automatically enrolled as life members of the Areopagus, though that assembly was
no longer extremely important politically at that time.[2]
Under the Athenian constitution, archons were also in charge of organizing festivals
by bringing together poets, playwrights, actors, and city-appointed choregoi (wealthy
citizen patrons). The archon would begin this process months in advance of a festival
by selecting a chorus of three playwrights based on descriptions of the projected
plays. Each playwright would be assigned a choregos, also selected by the archon,
from among the wealthy citizens who would pay all the expenses of costumes,
masks, and training the chorus. The archon also assigned each playwright a principal
actor (the protagonist), as well as a second and third actor. The City Dionysia, an
ancient dramatic festival held in March in which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama
originated, was under the direction of one of the principal magistrates, the archon
eponymos.

Byzantine Empire[edit]
Byzantine historians usually described foreign rulers as archontes.[3] The rulers of
the Bulgars themselves, along with their own titles, often bear the title archon placed
by God in inscriptions in Greek.
Inside Byzantium, the term could be used to refer to any powerful noble or magnate,
but in a technical sense, it was applied to a class of provincial governors. In the 8th
and 9th centuries, these were the governors of some of the more peripheral
provinces, inferior in status to
the themata: Dalmatia, Cephalonia, Crete and Cyprus. Archontes were also placed in
charge of various naval bases and trade stations, as well as semi-
autonomous Slavic-inhabited areas (sclaviniae) under Byzantine sovereignty. In the
10th–12th centuries, archontes are also mentioned as the governors of specific
cities. The area of an archon's jurisdiction was called an archontia (ἀρχοντία).[4] The
title was also used for the holders of several financial posts, such as the head of
the mint (ἄρχων τῆς χαραγῆς), as well as directors of the imperial workshops,
arsenals, etc.[5]
The title of megas archon ("grand archon") is also attested, as a translation of
foreign titles such as "grand prince". In the mid-13th century, it was established as a
special court rank, held by the highest-ranking official of the emperor's company. It
existed throughout the Palaiologan period, but did not have any specific functions.[6]

Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of

Constantinople[edit]
Main article: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
From time to time, laity of the Orthodox Church in communion with the Patriarch of
Constantinople have been granted the title of archon to honor their service to Church
administration. In 1963, archons in the United States were organized into a service
society, the Order of St. Andrew. This archon status is not part of the Church
hierarchy and is purely honorary.
An archon is an honoree by His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, for his
outstanding service to the Church, and a well-known, distinguished, and well-
respected leader of the Orthodox Church (at large).
It is the sworn oath of the archon to defend and promote the Orthodox Church faith
and tradition. His main concern is to protect and promote the Holy Patriarchate and
 its mission. He is also concerned with human rights and the well-being and general
welfare of the Church.
As it is a significant religious position, the faith and dedication of a candidate for the
role are extensively reviewed during consideration; the candidate should have
demonstrated commitment for the betterment of the Church, Parish-Diocese,
Archdiocese and the community as a whole.

Other uses[edit]
"Archon" is used in Modern Greek colloquially, as άρχοντας (archontas), for someone
that holds a form of status or power,[7] and the Arab-speaking Copts use it in church
parlance as a title for a leading member of the laity.[citation needed] Archon was the title
of Great Officers of Sicily.[8] It can also be used as a title in fraternities and sororities.
[citation needed]

In Gnostic religious traditions, the term archon generally refers to a group of seven
supernatural beings, associated with the seven classical planets and considered to
be responsible for the creation of the physical world.

See also[edit]

Look up archon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

 Philosophy portal

 Exousiastes

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Mitchell 1911, p. 444.
2. ^ Mitchell 1911, p. 445.
3. ^ Aksum: an African civilisation of late antiquity By Stuart C. Munro-Hay Page 145 ISBN 0-7486-
0209-7
4. ^ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press. p. 160. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
5. ^ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press. pp. 160–161. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
6. ^ Bartusis, Mark C. (1997), The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204-1453, University of
Pennsylvania Press, p. 382, ISBN 0-8122-1620-2
7. ^ "Άρχοντας - SLANG.gr". www.slang.gr. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
8. ^ Siragusa, Giovanni Battista (1885). Il regno di Guglielmo i in Sicilia (in Italian). tip. dello
"Statuto,".

Sources[edit]
 A Greek-English Lexicon (aka Liddell and Scott), ISBN 0-19-864226-1
 The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, ISBN 0-19-866121-5.
 Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
 Mitchell, John Malcolm (1911). "Archon" . In Chisholm, Hugh
(ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
pp. 444–445. This contains a detailed account of the evolution of the Greek
office, and the qualifications required. Authorities cited:
o G. Gilbert, Constitutional Antiquities (Eng. trans., 1895)
o Eduard Meyer's Geschichte des Alterthums, ii. sect. 228
o A. H. J. Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History (1895)
o J. W. Headlam, On Election by Lot in Athens (Camb., 1891)

Ionia - 1050 B.C. - 334 B.C.

Ionia, in ancient geography, was the name given to a portion of the W. coast
of Asia Minor, adjoining the Aegean Sea and bounded on the E. by Lydia. It
consisted of a narrow strip of land near the coast, which together with the
adjacent islands was occupied by immigrant Greeks of the Ionic race, and
thus distinguished from the interior district, inhabited by the Lydians. As early
as the 13th century BC the seafaring people of the Aegean sea who set sail
from the Greek mainland colonized the early settlements of this region. The
area was previously occupied by Lelegs and Carians who were later driven
out by the Ionians. The Ionians were the next to come into Anatolia from the
Greek mainland after the Aeolians. Ionians from Attica settled this district of
Asia Minor about BC 1050. It extended from the river Hermus along the
shore of the /Egean Sea to Miletus, but its southern limits varied at different
times.

According to the Greek legend, the lonians were led by the sons of Codrus,
the king of Athens. According to Herodotus, lonia had the finest climate in
the world. A brilliant civilization was developed here that perpetuated and
expanded the Greek literature, philosophy and science. It is generally
accepted that the poet Homer was an Ionian. Thales was another famous
ancient philosopher who was also from lonia. He made an accurate
prediction of a solar eclipse in 585 BC. The standard of living in lonia was
probably the highest of all the peoples living in Anatolia at that time.
According to the universal Greek tradition, the cities of Ionia were founded by
emigrants from the other side of the Aegean, and their settlement was
connected with the legendary history of the Ionic race in Attica, by the
statement that the colonists were led by Neleus and Androclus, sons of
Codrus, the last king of Athens. In accordance with this view the "Ionic
migration," as it was called by later chronologers, was dated by them one
hundred and forty years after the Trojan war, or sixty years after the return of
the Heraclidae into the Peloponnese. Without assigning any definite date,
research has tended to support the popular Greek idea that Ionia received its
main Greek element rather late - after the descent of the Dorians, and,
therefore, after any part of the Aegean period. It is not probable that all the
Greek colonists were of the not numerous Ionian race.

Herodotus relates (i. 146) that they comprised settlers from many different
tribes and cities of Greece (a fact indicated also by the local traditions of the
cities), and that they intermarried with the native races. A striking proof of
this was the fact that so late as the time of the historian distinct dialects were
spoken by the inhabitants of different cities within the limits of so restricted
an area. E. Curtius supposed that the population of this part of Asia was
aboriginally of Ionic race and that the settlers from Greece found the country
in the possession of a kindred people. The last contention is probably true;
but the kinship was certainly more distant than that between two branches of
one Ionian stock.

The cities called Ionian in historical times were twelve in number, - an

arrangement copied as it was supposed from the constitution of the Ionian
cities in Greece which had originally occupied the territory in the north of the
Peloponnese subsequently held by the Achaeans. These were (from south
to north) -Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos,
Erythrae, Clazomenae and Phocaea, together with Samos and Chios.
Smyrna, originally an Aeolic colony, was afterwards occupied by Ionians
from Colophon, and became an Ionian city,- an event which had taken place
before the time of Herodotus. But at what period it was admitted as a
member of the league there is no information. These cities unquestionably
formed a kind of league, of which participation in the Pan-Ionic festival was
the distinguishing characteristic. This festival took place on the north slope of
Mt. Mycale in a shrine called the Panionium. But like the Amphictyonic
league in Greece, the Ionic was rather of a sacred than a political character;
every city enjoyed absolute autonomy, and, though common interests often
united them for a common political object, they never formed a real
confederacy like that of the Achaeans or Boeotians. The advice of Thales of
Miletus to combine in a political union was rejected.

Ionia was of small extent, not exceeding 90 geographical miles in length from
N. to S., with a breadth varying from 20 to 30 m., but to this must be added
the peninsula of Mimas, together with the two large islands. So intricate is
the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at nearly four
times the direct distance. A great part of this area was, moreover, occupied
by mountains. Of these the most lofty and striking were Mimas and Corycus,
in the peninsula which stands out to the west, facing the island of Chios;
Sipylus, to the north of Smyrna; Corax, extending to the south-west from the
Gulf of Smyrna, and descending to the sea between Lebedus and Teos; and
the strongly marked range of Mycale, a continuation of Messogis in the
interior, which forms the bold headland of Trogilium or Mycale, opposite
Samos. None of these mountains attains a height of more than 4000 ft.

The district comprised three extremely fertile valleys formed by the outflow of
three rivers, among the most considerable in Asia Minor: the Hermus in the
north, flowing into the Gulf of Smyrna, though at some distance from the city
of that name; the Cayster, which flowed under the walls of Ephesus; and the
Maeander, which in ancient times discharged its waters into the deep gulf
that once bathed the walls of Miletus, but which has been gradually filled up
by this river's deposits. With the advantage of a peculiarly fine climate, for
which this part of Asia Minor has been famous in all ages, Ionia enjoyed the
reputation in ancient times of being the most fertile of all the rich provinces of
Asia Minor; and even in modern times, though very imperfectly cultivated, it
produces abundance of fruit of all kinds, and the raisins and figs of Smyrna
supply almost all the markets of Europe.

The colonies naturally became prosperous. Miletus especially was at an

early period one of the most important commercial cities of Greece; and in its
turn became the parent of numerous other colonies, which extended all
around the shores of the Euxine and the Propontis from Abydus and Cyzicus
to Trapezus and Panticapaeum. Phocaea was one of the first Greek cities
whose mariners explored the shores of the western Mediterranean.
Ephesus, though it did not send out any colonies of importance, from an
early period became a flourishing city and attained to a position
corresponding in some measure to that of Smyrna at the present day.

The first event in the history of Ionia of which there is any trustworthy
account is the inroad of the Cimmerians, who ravaged a great part of Asia
Minor, including Lydia, and sacked Magnesia on tne Maeander, but were
foiled in their attack upon Ephesus. This event may be referred to the middle
of the 7th century BC. About 700 B.C. Gyges, first Mermnad king of Lydia,
invaded the territories of Smyrna and Miletus, and is said to have taken
Colophon as his son Ardys did Priene. But it was not till the reign of Croesus
(560-545 B.C.) that the cities of Ionia successively fell under Lydian rale.

The defeat of Croesus by Cyrus was followed by the conquest of all the
Ionian cities. These became subject to the Persian monarchy with the other
Greek cities of Asia. In this position they enjoyed a considerable amount of
autonomy, but were for the most part subject to local despots, most of whom
were creatures of the Persian king. It was at the instigation of one of these
despots, Histiaeus of Miletus, that in about 500 B.C. the principal cities broke
out into insurrection against Persia. They were at first assisted by the
Athenians, with whose aid they penetrated into the interior and burnt Sardis,
an event which ultimately led to the Persian invasion of Greece. But the fleet
of the Ionians was defeated off the island of Lade, and the destruction of
Miletus after a protracted siege was followed by the reconquest of all the
Asiatic Greeks, insular as well as continental.
The victories of the Greeks during the great Persian war had the effect of
enfranchizing their kinsmen on the other side of the Aegean; and the battle
of Mycale (479 B.C.), in which the defeat of the Persians was in great
measure owing to the Ionians, secured their emancipation. They henceforth
became the dependent allies of Athens , though still retaining their
autonomy, which they preserved until the peace of Antalcidas in 387 B.C.
once more placed them as well as the other Greek cities in Asia under the
nominal dominion of Persia. They appear, however, to have retained a
considerable amount of freedom until the invasion of Asia Minor by
Alexander the Great. After the battle of the Granicus most of the Ionian cities
submitted to the conqueror. Miletus, which alone held out, was reduced after
a long siege (334 B.C.). From this time they passed under the dominion of
the successive Macedonian rulers of Asia, but continued, with the exception
of Miletus, to enjoy great prosperity both under these Greek dynasties and
after they became part of the Roman province of Asia.

Ionia laid the world under its debt not only by giving birth to a long roll of
distinguished men of letters and science (see Ionian School Of Philosophy),
but by originating the distinct school of art which prepared the way for the
brilliant artistic development of Athens in the 5th century. This school
flourished in the 8th, 7th and 6th centuries, and is distinguished by the
fineness of workmanship and minuteness of detail with which it treated
subjects, inspired always to some extent by non-Greek models. Naturalism is
progressively obvious in its treatment, e.g. of the human figure, but to the
end it is still subservient to convention.

It has been thought that the Ionian migration from Greece carried with it
some part of a population which retained the artistic traditions of the
"Mycenaean" civilization, and so caused the birth of the Ionic school; but
whether this was so or not, it is certain that from the 8th century onwards we
find the true spirit of Hellenic art, stimulated by commercial intercourse with
eastern civilizations, working out its development chiefly in Ionia and its
neighbouring isles. The great names of this school are Theodorus and
Rhoecus of Samos; Bathycles of Magnesia on the Maeander; Glaucus,
Melas, Micciades, Archermus, Bupalus and Athenis of Chios.

Ionia is unrelated to the Ionian Islands, the modern collective name for the
Greek islands of Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Santa Maura, Ithaca, Cythera
(Cerigo) and Paxo, with their minor dependencies. The islands of the Ionian
sea stretch along the western coast of the central part of the Greek mainland
and further to the south along the western coast of the Peloponnese. These
seven islands are often described also as the Heptanesus ("Seven Islands
"), but they have no real geographical unity. The history of the name "Ionian"
in this connexion is obscure, but it is probably due to ancient settlements of
Ionian colonists on the coasts and islands.
History[edit]
Main article: History of Athens

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Athens.

The oldest known human presence in Athens is the Cave of Schist, which has been dated to
between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE.[7] Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least
5,000 years (3000 BCE).[33][34] By 1400 BCE, the settlement had become an important centre of
the Mycenaean civilization, and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress, whose
remains can be recognised from sections of the characteristic Cyclopean walls.[35] Unlike other
Mycenaean centers, such as Mycenae and Pylos, it is not known whether Athens suffered
destruction in about 1200 BCE, an event often attributed to a Dorian invasion, and the Athenians
always maintained that they were pure Ionians with no Dorian element. However, Athens, like
many other Bronze Age settlements, went into economic decline for around 150 years afterwards.
[citation needed]

Iron Age burials, in the Kerameikos and other locations, are often richly provided for and
demonstrate that from 900 BCE onwards Athens was one of the leading centres of trade and
prosperity in the region.[36] The leading position of Athens may well have resulted from its central
location in the Greek world, its secure stronghold on the Acropolis and its access to the sea,
which gave it a natural advantage over inland rivals such as Thebes and Sparta.[citation needed]

Delian League, under the leadership of Athens before the Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE

By the sixth century BCE, widespread social unrest led to the reforms of Solon. These would
pave the way for the eventual introduction of democracy by Cleisthenes in 508 BCE. Athens had
by this time become a significant naval power with a large fleet, and helped the rebellion of the
Ionian cities against Persian rule. In the ensuing Greco-Persian Wars Athens, together with
Sparta, led the coalition of Greek states that would eventually repel the Persians, defeating them
decisively at Marathon in 490 BCE, and crucially at Salamis in 480 BCE. However, this did not
prevent Athens from being captured and sacked twice by the Persians within one year, after a
heroic but ultimately failed resistance at Thermopylae by Spartans and other Greeks led by King
Leonidas,[37] after both Boeotia and Attica fell to the Persians.
The decades that followed became known as the Golden Age of Athenian democracy, during
which time Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece, with its cultural achievements
laying the foundations for Western civilization.[citation needed] The
playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides flourished in Athens during this time, as did the
historians Herodotus and Thucydides, the physician Hippocrates, and the philosopher Socrates.
Guided by Pericles, who promoted the arts and fostered democracy, Athens embarked on an
ambitious building program that saw the construction of the Acropolis of Athens (including
the Parthenon), as well as empire-building via the Delian League. Originally intended as an
association of Greek city-states to continue the fight against the Persians, the league soon turned
into a vehicle for Athens's own imperial ambitions. The resulting tensions brought about
the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE), in which Athens was defeated by its rival Sparta.[citation needed]
By the mid-4th century BCE, the northern Greek kingdom of Macedon was becoming dominant in
Athenian affairs. In 338 BCE the armies of Philip II defeated an alliance of some of the Greek city-
states including Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea, effectively ending Athenian
independence. Later, under Rome, Athens was given the status of a free city because of its
widely admired schools. In the second century AD, The Roman emperor Hadrian, himself an
Athenian citizen,[38] ordered the construction of a library, a gymnasium, an aqueduct which is still
in use, several temples and sanctuaries, a bridge and financed the completion of the Temple of
Olympian Zeus.
By the end of Late Antiquity, Athens had shrunk due to sacks by the Herulians, Visigoths,
and Early Slavs which caused massive destruction in the city. In this era, the first Christian
churches were built in Athens, and the Parthenon and other temples were converted into
churches.[citation needed] Athens expanded its settlement in the second half of the Middle Byzantine
Period, in the ninth to tenth centuries AD, and was relatively prosperous during the Crusades,
benefiting from Italian trade. After the Fourth Crusade the Duchy of Athens was established. In
1458, it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and entered a long period of decline.[citation needed]
Following the Greek War of Independence and the establishment of the Greek Kingdom, Athens
was chosen as the capital of the newly independent Greek state in 1834, largely because of
historical and sentimental reasons.[citation needed] At the time, after the extensive destruction it had
suffered during the war of independence, it was reduced to a town of about 4,000 people (less
than half its earlier population) in a loose swarm of houses along the foot of the Acropolis. The
first King of Greece, Otto of Bavaria, commissioned the architects Stamatios
Kleanthis and Eduard Schaubert to design a modern city plan fit for the capital of a state.[citation needed]

https://www.worldhistory.org/Athens/

Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the
country in the popular imagination, and not without cause. It not only has its iconic
ruins and the famous port of Piraeus but, thanks to ancient writers, its history is
better documented than most other ancient Greek city-states.

The city began as a small community of the Mycenaean Civilization (c. 1700-1100
BCE) and grew into a city that, at its height, was associated with the development of
democracy, philosophy, science, mathematics, drama and literature, art, and many
other aspects of world culture and civilization including the Olympic Games. The
city was burned in the Persian invasion of 480 BCE, rebuilt by the
statesman Pericles (l. 495-429 BCE), and became the superpower of the ancient world
through its formidable military and wealth.

It fell to Sparta after the Second Peloponnesian War (413-404 BCE) but again revived
to assume a significant position of leadership among the city-states even after it was
conquered by Philip II of Macedon (r. 359-336 BCE) in 338 BCE following his victory
at the Battle of Chaeronea. The city was taken as a province of Rome after the Battle
of Actium in 31 BCE and became a favorite of a number of Roman emperors,
especially Hadrian (r. 117-138 CE) who contributed funds and building projects to
beautify it. Paul the Apostle is depicted in the Book of Acts as preaching to the
Athenians, and it would later develop into an important center of Christian theology.

After Greece was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1458, Athens entered a long
period of decline which was only reversed in the 19th century after the country won
its independence from the Turks in 1821. Recognizing the importance of the past in
maintaining national identity, the government focused on efforts to restore and
preserve monuments and temples like the Parthenon as well as ancient locales like
the agora. Today, Athens is the capital of Greece and among the most often visited
and highly regarded cultural centers in the world.

Early Settlement & Legend

THE ATHENIANS HELD TO CUSTOMS THEY
FELT WERE MORE ANCIENT & THEREFORE
SUPERIOR TO THOSE OF THEIR NEIGHBORS.
Evidence of human habitation on the Acropolis and, below, in the area around the
agora, dates back to the Neolithic Period with a more advanced culture developing
clearly c. 5000 BCE and, probably, as early as 7000 BCE. According to legend, the
Athenian King Cecrops wanted the city named for himself but the gods, seeing how
beautiful it was, felt it deserved an immortal name. A contest was held among the
gods on the Acropolis, with Cecrops and the citizenry looking on, to determine
which deity would win the honor.

Poseidon struck a rock with his trident, and as water gushed forth, he assured the
people that now they would never suffer drought. Athena was next in line and
dropped a seed into the earth which sprouted swiftly as an olive tree. The people
thought the olive tree more valuable than the water (as, according to some versions
of the story, the water was salty, as was Poseidon's realm), and Athena was chosen as
patron and the city named for her. According to scholar Robin Waterfield:

This myth may reveal long-forgotten historical events. The ancient Greek name for
Athens is a plural word, because once there were several villages which came
together under the auspices of the goddess Athena – “the communities of Athena” –
as it were. If the chief deity of one of these original villages was Poseidon, the myth
reflects his losing out to Athena. (36)
The myth was also used, later, to justify the second-class status of
Athenian women since it was the women of Athens who chose Athena’s gift over
Poseidon’s and, so this justification goes, to turn away Poseidon’s wrath from the
city, women’s names were not recorded on birth records as mothers (the woman’s
father’s name was given) and women were denied a political voice and civic rights
outside of their participation in religious activities.

As the soil was not conducive to large-scale agricultural programs, Athens turned
to trade for its livelihood and mainly to sea trade through its port at Piraeus. The
early Mycenaean period saw massive fortresses rise all over Greece, and Athens was
no exception. The remains of a Mycenaean palace can still be seen today on the
Acropolis in the present day. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (8th century BCE) portray
the Mycenaeans as great warriors and seafaring people trading widely throughout
the Aegean and the Mediterranean region, and this became a point of pride for the
Athenians who considered themselves direct descendants of the great Homeric
heroes.

Around 1200 BCE the Sea Peoples invaded the Greek archipelago of the Aegean
from the south while, simultaneously, the Dorians came down from the north into
mainland Greece. While the Sea Peoples made definite incursions into Attica (the
mainland region surrounding Athens) the Dorians bypassed the city, allowing the
Mycenaean culture to survive (although, like the rest of Greece, there seems to have
been an economic and cultural downturn following these invasions during
the Bronze Age Collapse). The Athenians, afterward, claimed for themselves a
special status in that they spoke Ionian, instead of Doric, Greek and held to customs
they felt were more ancient and therefore superior to those of their neighbors.

Solon & the Law

The wealthy aristocrats held control of both the land and the Greek government,
and, in time, poorer landowners became enslaved (or nearly so) through debt to the
wealthier citizens. Further, there was a perceived lack of consistency among the other
laws of the city. The first series of laws written to address these problems were
provided by the statesman Draco (also given as Dracon/Drakon) c. 621 BCE but were
considered too severe (the penalty for most infractions was death), and so the great
lawgiver Solon (l. c. 630 - c. 560 BCE) was called upon to modify and revise them.
Solon, though an aristocrat himself, created a series of laws which equalized the
political power of the citizenry and, in so doing, provided the groundwork
for Athenian democracy c. 594 BCE.
Solon

Kpjas (Public Domain)

Solon also devoted considerable effort to making the policies of Athens not only just
but profitable. He legalized prostitution in ancient Athens and taxed both
individual prostitutes and brothels. As Athens was a popular and profitable trade
center, many young men arrived in the city and sought the services of prostitutes
while young Athenian males, who usually did not marry until after the age of 30,
were provided with the means to gain sexual experience without running the risk of
enraging the father and male relatives of a virgin female through pre-marital sex. By
encouraging young men to visit prostitutes, Solon diffused one source of blood feuds
in the city since young women of good families were understood to be off-limits to
any males except the one chosen to be her husband.
After Solon resigned from public office, various factional leaders sought to seize
power, and the ultimate victor, Peisistratus (d. c. 528 BCE), recognized the value of
Solon's revisions and kept them, in a modified form, throughout his reign as a
benevolent tyrant. His son, Hippias (r c. 528-510 BCE) continued his policies as co-
ruler with his brother Hipparchus (r. c. 528-514 BCE) until Hipparchus was
assassinated over a love affair in 514 BCE.

The Tyrannicides & Democracy

ONLY UPPER-CLASS MALE CITIZENS HAD A
POLITICAL VOICE, DISENFRANCHISING
WOMEN, FOREIGNERS, & THE MANY SLAVES
WHO MADE UP A LARGE PART OF ATHENS’
POPULATION.
Hipparchus was attracted to a young man named Harmodios, but his advances were
rejected because Harmodios was already involved with another man, Aristogeiton.
Hipparchus did not take the rejection well and so removed Harmodios’ sister from
her highly visible and prestigious position among the women of Athena's cult who
participated in the Panathenaic Festival honoring the goddess. As scholar Sarah B.
Pomeroy notes, "to prevent a candidate from participating in this event was to cast
aspersions on her reputation" (76). Hipparchus’ removal of the girl was tantamount
to claiming she was not a virgin and so insulting both her and her family. Harmodius
and Aristogeiton murdered Hipparchus during the festival, were caught afterwards,
and executed.

After this, Hippias became increasingly paranoid and erratic in his reign which
culminated in the Athenian Revolt of 510 BCE which was actually a military action
by Sparta under their king Cleomenes I (r. c. 519 - c. 490 BCE) who was invited by the
Athenians to rid them of Hippias. Afterwards, the Athenians, not wanting to be
obliged to Sparta, rewrote their history casting Harmodios and Aristogeiton as "the
tyrannicides" who had struck the first blow for freedom and restored the democratic
ideals of the city. Actually, they had done neither; they were simply avenging a
personal insult.
Caryatids of the Erechtheion

Dennis Jarvis (CC BY-NC-SA)

In the aftermath of the coup, and after settling affairs with various factions, the
statesman Cleisthenes (l. 6th century BCE) was appointed to reform the government
and the laws and, c. 507 BCE, he instituted a new form of government which today is
recognized as democracy. Cleisthenes is regarded as the "Father of Athenian
Democracy", but this form of government was significantly different from how
democracy is understood in the present day. In Athenian democracy, only upper-
class male citizens had a political voice, disenfranchising women, foreigners, and, of
course, the many slaves who made up a large part of Athens’ population.
Even so, this new form of government involved the citizenry directly in political
decisions, and even those who were not allowed to vote understood that decisions
were being made now by a majority of informed citizens rather than a tyrant.
Athenian democracy would provide the stability necessary to make Athens the
cultural and intellectual center of the ancient world; a reputation that lasts even into
the modern age. Waterfield comments:

The pride that followed from widespread involvement in public life gave Athenians the
energy to develop their city both internally and in relation to their neighbors. (62)

Believing themselves descended from great heroes, and with heroes in their midst
like the tyrannicides, the Athenians understood they now had the best form of
government which they should encourage elsewhere; so they decided to incite the
Greek communities of Asia Minor, then under the control of the
Persian Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) to revolt.

The Persian Wars

The Persian Empire at this time was led by the emperor Darius I (the Great, r. 522-
486 BCE) who quickly crushed the rebellion and then sent a force against Athens.
The Persians were defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, losing over 6,000
men to the brilliant tactics of the Athenian general Miltiades (l. 554-489 BCE) whose
losses numbered only 192 soldiers. The Persian military was considered invincible at
this time and so this victory increased the Athenians’ already high opinion of
themselves.

In 480 BCE, however, Darius I’s son and successor, Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BCE)
assembled the largest army mustered in the world up to that time and launched an
invasion of Greece, with Athens as the primary target, to avenge the insult to his
father. His forces were held at Thermopylae by the Spartan king Leonidas (d. 480
BCE) and his famous 300 warriors but, after defeating and killing them, Greece lay
open for conquest.
Battle of Salamis, 480 BCE

Ancient Warfare Magazine / Karwansaray Publishers (Copyright)

The Persian navy was defeated by the Athenian-led forces at the Battle of Salamis,
however, when the Athenian general Themistocles (l. 524-460 BCE) outmaneuvered
and outfought them, and this defeat was followed by the land battles of Plataea and
Mycale in 479 BCE which drove the Persians from Greece and established Athens as
a superpower. Waterfield notes:

This was Athens’ finest hour. Themistocles was the acknowledged savior of Greece,
and the city expressly waved the banner of panhellenism, both by expressing what
was common to all Greeks and by continuing the fight against the Persians. From
obscure origins, a small and impoverished city had risen to power and prominence.
(72)

Under Pericles, Athens formed the Delian League, ostensibly to create a cohesive
Greek network among city-states to ward off further Persian attacks. The other city-
states paid into the treasury of the Delian League and Athens agreed to protect them
against Persian aggression in return. Pericles used the money from the league to
beautify and fortify Athens and, under his leadership, the city grew so powerful that
the Athenian Empire could effectively dictate the laws, customs, and trade of all its
neighbors in Attica and the islands of the Aegean.
The Golden Age
Under Pericles, Athens entered its golden age and great thinkers, writers, and artists
flourished in the city. Herodotus (l. c. 484-425/423 BCE), the "father of history", lived
and wrote in Athens. Socrates (l. c. 470/469-399 BCE), the "father of philosophy",
taught in the marketplace. Hippocrates (l. c. 460-370 BCE), 'the father of medicine',
practiced there. Phidias (l. 480-430 BCE) created his great works of Greek
sculpture for the Parthenon on the Acropolis and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, one
of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.

The Greek City-states c. 500 BCE

Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-SA)

Democritus (l. c. 460 - c. 370 BCE) envisioned an atomic universe. Aeschylus (l. c. 525
- c. 456 BCE) Euripides (l. c. 484-407 BCE), Aristophanes (l. c. 460 - c. 380 BCE)
and Sophocles (l. 496 - c. 406 BCE) made Greek drama, both comedy and tragedy,
famous, and the lyric poet Pindar (l. c. 518 - c. 448 BCE) another important figure
of Greek literature, wrote his Odes. This legacy would continue as Plato (l. 428/427-
348/347 BCE) would found his Academy outside the walls of Athens in 385 BCE and,
later, Aristotle (l. 384-322 BCE) would establish his school of the Lyceum in the city
center.

The might of the Athenian Empire encouraged an arrogance in the policymakers of

the day which grew intolerable to its neighbors. When Athens sent troops to help
Sparta put down a Helot rebellion, the Spartans refused the gesture and sent the
Athenian force back home in dishonor, thus provoking a war which had long been
brewing. Later, when Athens sent their fleet to help defend its ally Corcyra (Corfu)
against a Corinthian invasion during the Battle of Sybota in 433 BCE, their action was
interpreted by Sparta as aggression instead of assistance, as Corinth was an ally of
Sparta.

Conclusion
The First Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta (though
involving, directly or indirectly, all of Greece) ended in a truce between the parties
involved, but Athens was defeated in the Second Peloponnesian War and fell from its
height of power. The empire and the city’s wealth gone, the walls destroyed, only its
reputation as a great seat of learning, Greek philosophy and culture prevented the
sack of the city and the enslavement of the populace. Athens struggled to throw off
this condition as a subject state, and with some success, until they were defeated in
338 BCE by the Macedonian forces under Philip II at Chaeronea.

Athens was then subject to Macedonian rule until their defeat by the Romans in 197
BCE at the Battle of Cynoscephalae after which Greece was methodically conquered
by the Roman Empire. It is a tribute to the enduring reputation of Athens as a
cultural center that the Roman general Sulla, who sacked the city in 87-86 BCE,
slaughtered the people, destroyed the agora, and burned the port of Piraeus, always
maintained his innocence, claiming he had ordered his men to treat the city well and
they simply had failed to heed him.

Facade, Library of Hadrian, Athens

Mark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA)

According to the biblical Book of Acts, Saint Paul preached to the Athenians at the
Areopagus (the hill of Mars), praising their interest in religion and telling them
about the new god Jesus Christ. After the rise of Christianity following its adoption
by the Roman Empire, Athens became an important center for the new faith and, in
the 6th century CE, pagan schools were closed and temples either destroyed or
converted into churches.

The city was sacked by a number of so-called "barbarian tribes" in Late Antiquity up
through the Middle Ages until it was established as the Crusader State of the Duchy
of Athens (1205-1458) after the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204). Athens did well during
this period until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1458. The Ottoman
Turks had no respect for the ancient city, and it steadily declined under their control.

After Greece won its independence from the Turks in 1821, Athens again revived just
as it had done many times in the past. Restoration and preservation efforts became a
priority of the new government, and the city was restored to some semblance of its
ancient grandeur. In the present day, the name of Athens still conjures to the mind
images of the classical world and the heights of intellectual and poetic creativity,
while the Parthenon on the Acropolis continues to symbolize the golden age of
ancient Greece and the best of what it stood for.

Peloponnesian War
73 languages
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Athenian War" redirects here. For the earlier war beginning in 460 BC, see First
Peloponnesian War.
For the book by the Greek historian Thucydides, see History of the Peloponnesian War.

Peloponnesian War
 The Peloponnesian war alliances at 431 BC. Orange: Athenian Empire and Allies;

Green: Spartan Confederacy

Date 431 – April 25, 404 BC

Location Mainland Greece, Asia Minor, Sicily

Result Peloponnesian League victory

 Thirty Tyrants installed in Athens

 Spartan hegemony
Territorial Dissolution of the Delian League;
changes Spartan hegemony over Athens and its allies

Belligerents

Delian League (led by Athens) Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta)

Supported by:

Achaemenid Empire

Commanders and leaders

Pericles (died in 429 BC) Archidamus II

 Cleon † Brasidas †

Nicias Lysander

Alcibiades (in exile) Alcibiades (in exile)

Demosthenes

Casualties and losses

At least 18,070 soldiers[1] unknown

unknown number of civilian casualties.

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Peloponnesian War

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Greek wars of the 5th century BC

The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought
between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek
world. The war remained undecided for a long time, until the decisive intervention of
the Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet, built
with Persian subsidies, finally defeated Athens and started a period of Spartan
hegemony over Greece.
Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. The first phase (431–
421 BC) was named the Ten Years War, or the Archidamian War, after the Spartan
king Archidamus II, who launched several invasions of Attica with the
full hoplite army of the Peloponnesian League, the alliance network dominated by
Sparta (then known as Lacedaemon). However, the Long Walls of Athens rendered
this strategy ineffective, while the superior navy of the Delian League (Athens'
alliance) raided the Peloponnesian coast to trigger rebellions within Sparta. The
precarious Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 BC and lasted until 413 BC. Several
proxy battles took place during this period, notably the battle of Mantinea in 418 BC,
won by Sparta against an ad-hoc alliance of Elis, Mantinea (both former Spartan
allies), Argos, and Athens. The main event was nevertheless the Sicilian Expedition,
between 415 and 413 BC, during which Athens lost almost all its navy in the
attempted capture of Syracuse, an ally of Sparta.
The Sicilian disaster prompted the third phase of the war (413–404 BC), named the
Decelean War, or the Ionian War, when the Persian Empire supported Sparta in
order to recover the suzerainty of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, incorporated into the
Delian League at the end of the Persian Wars. With Persian money, Sparta built a
massive fleet under the leadership of Lysander, who won a streak of decisive
victories in the Aegean Sea, notably at Aegospotamos, in 405 BC. Athens capitulated
the following year and lost all its empire. Lysander imposed puppet oligarchies on the
former members of the Delian League, including Athens, where the regime was
known as the Thirty Tyrants. The Peloponnesian War was followed ten years later by
the Corinthian War (394–386 BC), which, although it ended inconclusively, helped
Athens regain its independence from Sparta.
The Peloponnesian War reshaped the ancient Greek world. On the level of
international relations, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece prior to the war's
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
was completely devastated and never regained its pre-war prosperity.[2][3] 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 war a common occurrence in the Greek world. Ancient Greek warfare,
meanwhile, originally a limited and formalized form of conflict, was transformed into
an all-out struggle between city-states, complete with atrocities on a large scale.
Shattering religious and cultural taboos, devastating vast swathes of countryside, and
destroying whole cities, the Peloponnesian War marked the dramatic end to the fifth
century BC and the golden age of Greece.[4]

Historic sources

Eight bookes of the Peloponnesian Warre written by Thucydides the sonne of Olorus. Interpreted with faith
and diligence immediately out of the Greeke by Thomas Hobbes secretary to ye late Earle of
Deuonshire. (Houghton Library)
The main historical source for most of the war is the detailed account in The History
of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. He states that he began writing his history
as soon as the war broke out and took his information from first-hand accounts,
including events he witnessed himself. An Athenian who fought in the early part of
the war, Thucydides was exiled in 423 BC and settled in the Peloponnese, where he
spent the rest of the war collecting sources and writing his history. Scholars regard
Thucydides as reliable and neutral between the two sides.[5] A partial exception are
the lengthy speeches he reports, which Thucydides admits are not accurate records
of what was said, but his interpretation of the general arguments presented.[6] The
narrative begins several years before the war, explaining why it began, then reports
events year-by-year. The main limitation of Thucydides' work is that it is incomplete:
the text ends abruptly in 411 BC, seven years before the conclusion of the war.
The account was continued by Xenophon, a younger contemporary, in the first book
of his Hellenica. This directly follows Thucydides' final sentence and provides a
similar record, on the topics of the war's conclusion and aftermath. Born in Athens,
Xenophon spent his military career as a mercenary, fighting in the Persian
Empire and for Sparta in Asia Minor, Thrace and Greece. Exiled from Athens for
these actions, he retired to live in Sparta, where he wrote Hellenica around 40 years
after the war had ended. His account is generally considered favourable to Sparta. [7]
A briefer account of the whole war is provided by the Sicilian historian Diodorus
Siculus in books 12 and 13 of his Bibliotheca historica. Written in the first century BC,
these books appear to be based heavily (possibly entirely) upon an earlier universal
history by Ephorus, written in the century after the war, which is now lost.
The Roman-Greek historian Plutarch wrote biographies of four of the major
commanders in the war (Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades and Lysander) in his Parallel
Lives. Plutarch's focus was on the character and morality of these men, but he does
provide some details on the progress of the war that are not recorded elsewhere.
Written in the first century AD, Plutarch based his work on earlier accounts which are
now lost.
More limited information on the war is derived from epigraphy and archaeology, such
as the walls of Amphipolis and grave of Brasidas, excavated in the 20th century.
Some buildings and artworks produced during the war have survived, such as
the Erechtheion temple and Grave Stele of Hegeso, both in Athens; these provide no
information on military activity but do reflect civilian life during the war. Several plays
by the Athenian Aristophanes were written and set during the war
(particularly Peace and Lysistrata), but these are works of comedic fiction with little
historical value.

Prelude
Fragment of the Athenian Tribute List, 425–424 BC.

Thucydides summarised the situation before the war as: "The growth of the power of
Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war
inevitable."[8] The nearly 50 years before the War had been marked by the
development of Athens as a major power in the Mediterranean world. Its empire
began as a small group of city-states, called the Delian League – from the island
of Delos, on which they kept their treasury – that formed to ensure that the Greco-
Persian Wars were over. After defeating the Second Persian invasion of Greece in
the year 480 BC, Athens led the coalition of Greek city-states that continued the
Greco-Persian Wars with attacks on Persian territories in the Aegean and Ionia. What
ensued was a period which Thucydides called the Pentecontaetia, in which Athens
increasingly became an empire,[9] carrying out an aggressive war against Persia and
increasingly dominating other city-states. Athens brought under its control all of
Greece except for Sparta and its allies, ushering in a period now called the Athenian
Empire. By mid-century, the Persians had been driven out of the Aegean and had
ceded control of vast territories to Athens. Athens had greatly increased its own
power; a number of its formerly independent allies were reduced, over the course of
the century, to the status of tribute-paying subject states of the Delian League. This
tribute was used to fund a powerful fleet and, after the middle of the century, massive
public works in Athens, causing resentment.[10]
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 sent ambassadors to persuade Athens not to reconstruct their walls, but was
rebuffed. Without the walls, Athens would have been defenseless against a land
attack and subject to Spartan control.[11] According to Thucydides, although the
Spartans took no action then, they "secretly felt aggrieved".[12] 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 did this out of fear
that the Athenians would switch sides and support the helots; the offended Athenians
repudiated their alliance with Sparta.[13] 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.[14]
In 459 BC, there was a war between Spartan allies Megara and Corinth, which were
neighbors of Athens. Athens took advantage of the war to make an alliance with
Megara, giving Athens a critical foothold on the Isthmus of Corinth. A 15-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 only Megara but also Boeotia. But at
its end, a massive Spartan invasion of Attica forced Athens to cede the lands it had
won on the Greek mainland, and Athens and Sparta recognized each other's right to
control their respective alliance systems.[15] The war was officially ended by the Thirty
Years' Peace, signed in the winter of 446/5 BC.[16]
Breakdown of peace

The Delian League in 431 BC

The Thirty Years' Peace was first tested in 440 BC, when Athens's powerful
ally Samos rebelled from its alliance with Athens. The rebels quickly secured the
support of a Persian satrap, and Athens faced the prospect of revolts throughout its
empire. The Spartans, whose intervention would have been the trigger for a massive
war to determine the fate of the empire, called a congress of their allies to discuss
the possibility of war with Athens. Sparta's powerful ally Corinth was notably opposed
to intervention, and the congress voted against war with Athens. The Athenians
crushed the revolt, and peace was maintained.[17]
The more immediate events that led to war involved Athens and Corinth. After a
defeat by their colony of Corcyra, a sea power that was not allied to either Sparta or
Athens, Corinth began to build an allied naval force. Alarmed, Corcyra sought
alliance with Athens. Athens discussed with both Corcyra and Corinth, and made a
defensive alliance with Corcyra. At the Battle of Sybota, a small contingent of
Athenian ships played a critical role in preventing a Corinthian fleet from capturing
Corcyra. In order to uphold the Thirty Years' Peace, the Athenians were instructed
not to intervene in the battle unless it was clear that Corinth would invade Corcyra.
However, the Athenian ships participated in the battle, and the arrival of additional
Athenian triremes was enough to dissuade the Corinthians from exploiting their
victory, thus sparing much of the routed Corcyrean and Athenian fleet.[18]
Following this, Athens instructed Potidaea in the peninsula of Chalkidiki, a tributary
ally of Athens but a colony of Corinth, to tear down its walls, send hostages to
Athens, dismiss the Corinthian magistrates from office, and refuse the magistrates
that Corinth would send in the future.[19] Outraged, the Corinthians encouraged
Potidaea to revolt and assured them that they would ally with them should they revolt
from Athens. During the subsequent Battle of Potidaea, the Corinthians unofficially
aided Potidaea by sneaking contingents of men into the besieged city to help defend
it. This directly violated the Thirty Years' Peace, which stipulated that the Delian
League and the Peloponnesian League would respect each other's autonomy and
internal affairs.

Battle of Potidaea (432 BC): Athenians against Corinthians. Scene of Socrates saving Alcibiades. 18th
century engraving.

A further provocation was Athens in 433/2 BC imposing trade sanctions on Megarian

citizens (once more a Spartan ally after the First Peloponnesian War). It was alleged
that the Megarians had desecrated the Hiera Orgas. These sanctions, known as
the Megarian decree, were largely ignored by Thucydides, but some modern
economic historians have noted that forbidding Megara to trade with the prosperous
Athenian empire would have been disastrous for the Megarans, and so have
considered the sanctions a contributing causing of the war.[20] Historians who attribute
responsibility for the war to Athens cite this event as the main cause.[21]
At the request of Corinth, the Spartans summoned members of the Peloponnesian
League to Sparta in 432 BC, especially those who had grievances with Athens, to
make their complaints to the Spartan assembly. This debate was also attended by an
uninvited delegation from Athens, which also asked to speak, and became the scene
of a debate between the Athenians and the Corinthians. Thucydides reports that the
Corinthians condemned Sparta's inactivity until then, warning Sparta that if it
remained passive, it would soon be outflanked and without allies.[22] In response, the
Athenians reminded the Spartans of Athens's record of military success and
opposition to Persia, warned them of confronting such a powerful state, and
encouraged Sparta to seek arbitration as provided by the Thirty Years' Peace. [23] The
Spartan king Archidamus II spoke against the war, but the opinion of the hawkish
ephor Sthenelaidas prevailed in the Spartan ecclesia.[24] A majority of the Spartan
assembly voted to declare that the Athenians had broken the peace, essentially
declaring war.[25]

The "Archidamian War" (431–421 BC)

The walls surrounding Athens

The first years of the Peloponnesian war are known as the Archidamian War (431–
421 BC), after Sparta's king Archidamus II.
Sparta and its allies, except for Corinth, were almost exclusively land-based, and
able summon large armies which were nearly unbeatable (thanks to the
legendary Spartan forces). The Athenian Empire, although based in the peninsula of
Attica, spread out across the islands of the Aegean Sea; Athens drew its immense
wealth from tribute paid by these islands. Athens maintained its empire through naval
power. Thus, the two powers were relatively unable to fight decisive battles.
The Spartan strategy during the Archidamian War was to invade the land around
Athens. While this invasion deprived Athenians of the productive land around their
city, Athens maintained access to the sea, and did not suffer much. Many of the
citizens of Attica abandoned their farms and moved inside the Long Walls, which
connected Athens to its port of Piraeus. At the end of the first year of the war,
Pericles gave his famous Funeral Oration (431 BC).
The Spartans also occupied Attica for periods of only three weeks at a time; in the
tradition of earlier hoplite warfare, the soldiers were expected to go home to
participate in the harvest. Moreover, Spartan slaves, known as helots, needed to be
kept under control, and could not be left unsupervised for long. The longest Spartan
invasion, in 430 BC, lasted just 40 days.
Bust of Pericles

The Athenian strategy was initially guided by the strategos, or general, Pericles, who
advised the Athenians to avoid open battle with the far more numerous and better
trained Spartan hoplites, relying instead on the fleet. The Athenian fleet, the
dominant Greek naval force, went on the offensive, winning at Naupactus. In 430
BC, an outbreak of a plague hit Athens. The plague ravaged the densely packed city,
and in the long run, was a significant cause of its final defeat. The plague wiped out
over 30,000 citizens, sailors and soldiers, including Pericles and his sons. Roughly
one-third to two-thirds of the Athenian population died. Athenian manpower was
correspondingly drastically reduced and even foreign mercenaries refused to hire
themselves out to a city riddled with plague. The fear of plague was so widespread
that the Spartan invasion of Attica was abandoned, their troops being unwilling to risk
contact with the diseased enemy.
After the death of Pericles, the Athenians turned somewhat against his conservative,
defensive strategy and to the more aggressive strategy of bringing the war to Sparta
and its allies. Rising to particular importance in Athenian democracy at this time
was Cleon, a leader of the hawkish elements of the Athenian democracy. Led
militarily by a clever new general Demosthenes (not to be confused with the later
Athenian orator Demosthenes), the Athenians managed some successes as they
continued their naval raids on the Peloponnese. Athens stretched their military
activities into Boeotia and Aetolia, quelled the Mytilenean revolt and began fortifying
posts around the Peloponnese. One of these posts was near Pylos on a tiny island
called Sphacteria, where the first war turned in Athens's favor. The post off Pylos
exploited Sparta's dependence on the helots, slaves who worked the fields while its
citizens trained to be soldiers. The Pylos post began attracting helot runaways. In
addition, the fear of a revolt of helots emboldened by the nearby Athenians drove the
Spartans to attack the post. Demosthenes outmaneuvered the Spartans in the Battle
of Pylos in 425 BC and trapped a group of Spartan soldiers on Sphacteria as he
waited for them to surrender. But weeks later he proved unable to finish them off.
Instead, the inexperienced Cleon boasted in the Assembly that he could end the
affair, and did win a great victory at the Battle of Sphacteria. In a shocking turn of
events, 300 Spartan hoplites encircled by Athenian forces surrendered. The Spartan
image of invincibility took significant damage. The Athenians jailed Sphacterian
hostages in Athens and resolved to execute the captured Spartans if a
Peloponnesian army invades Attica again.
After these battles, the Spartan general Brasidas raised an army of allies and helots
and marched the length of Greece to the Athenian colony of Amphipolis in Thrace.
Amphipolis controlled several nearby silver mines whose that supplied much of the
Athenian war fund. A force led by Thucydides was dispatched but arrived too late to
stop Brasidas capturing Amphipolis; Thucydides was exiled for this, and, as a result,
had conversations with both sides of the war which inspired him to record its history.
Both Brasidas and Cleon were killed in Athenian efforts to retake Amphipolis
(see Battle of Amphipolis). The Spartans and Athenians agreed to exchange the
hostages for the towns captured by Brasidas, and signed a truce.

Peace of Nicias (421 BC)

Main article: Peace of Nicias

With the death of Cleon and Brasidas, both zealous war hawks for their nations, the
Peace of Nicias was able to last six years. However, it was a time of constant
skirmishes in and around the Peloponnese. While the Spartans refrained from action
themselves, some of their allies began to talk of revolt. They were supported in this
by Argos, a powerful Peloponnesian state that had remained independent of
Lacedaemon. With the support of the Athenians, the Argives forged a coalition of
democratic states in the Peloponnese, including the powerful states
of Mantinea and Elis. Early Spartan attempts to break up the coalition failed, and the
leadership of the Spartan king Agis was called into question. Emboldened, the
Argives and their allies, with the support of a small Athenian force under Alcibiades,
moved to seize the city of Tegea, near Sparta.
The Battle of Mantinea was the largest land battle within Greece during the
Peloponnesian War. The Lacedaemonians, with their neighbors the Tegeans, faced
the combined armies of Argos, Athens, Mantinea, and Arcadia. In the battle, the
allied coalition scored early successes, but failed to capitalize on them, which
allowed the Spartan elite forces to defeat them. The result was a complete victory for
the Spartans, which rescued their city from the brink of strategic defeat. The
democratic alliance was broken up, and most of its members were reincorporated
into the Peloponnesian League. With its victory at Mantinea, Sparta pulled itself back
from the brink of utter defeat, and re-established its hegemony throughout the
Peloponnese.
In the summer of 416 BC, during a truce with Sparta, Athens invaded the neutral
island of Melos, and demanded that Melos ally with them against Sparta, or be
destroyed. The Melians rejected this, so the Athenian army laid siege to their city and
eventually captured it in the winter. After the city's fall, the Athenians executed all the
adult men,[26] and sold the women and children into slavery.[27]
Sicilian Expedition (415–413 BC)
Main article: Sicilian Expedition

Destruction of the Athenian army at Syracuse.

In the 17th year of the war, word came to Athens that one of their distant allies
in Sicily was under attack from Syracuse, the main city of Sicily. The people of
Syracuse were ethnically Dorian (as were the Spartans), while the Athenians, and
their ally in Sicilia, were Ionian.
The Athenians felt obliged to help their ally. They also held visions, rallied on
by Alcibiades, who ultimately led an expedition, of conquering all of Sicily. Syracuse
was not much smaller than Athens, and conquering all of Sicily would bring Athens
immense resources. In the final preparations for departure, the hermai (religious
statues) of Athens were mutilated by unknown persons, and Alcibiades was charged
with religious crimes. Alcibiades demanded that he be put on trial at once, so that he
can defend himself before the expedition. However, the Athenians allowed Alcibiades
to go on the expedition without being tried (many believed in order to better plot
against him). After arriving in Sicily, Alcibiades was recalled to Athens for trial.
Fearing that he would be unjustly condemned, Alcibiades defected to Sparta
and Nicias was placed in charge of the mission. After his defection, Alcibiades
claimed to the Spartans that the Athenians planned to use Sicily as a springboard for
the conquest of all of Italy and Carthage, and to use the resources and soldiers from
these new conquests to conquer the Peloponnese.
Sicily and the Peloponnesian War

The Athenian force consisted of over 100 ships and some 5,000 infantry and light-
armored troops. Cavalry was limited to about 30 horses, which proved to be no
match for the large and highly trained Syracusan cavalry. Upon landing in Sicily,
several cities immediately joined the Athenian cause. But instead of attacking, Nicias
procrastinated and the campaigning season of 415 BC ended with Syracuse scarcely
damaged. With winter approaching, the Athenians withdrew into their quarters and
spent the winter gathering allies. The delay allowed Syracuse to request help from
Sparta, who sent their general Gylippus to Sicily with reinforcements. Upon arriving,
he raised a force from several Sicilian cities, and went to the relief of Syracuse. He
took command of the Syracusan troops, and in a series of battles defeated the
Athenian forces, and prevented them from invading the city.
Nicias then sent word to Athens asking for reinforcements. Demosthenes was
chosen and led another fleet to Sicily, joining his forces with those of Nicias. More
battles ensued and again, the Syracusans and their allies defeated the Athenians.
Demosthenes argued for a retreat to Athens, but Nicias at first refused. After
additional setbacks, Nicias seemed to agree to a retreat until a bad omen, in the form
of a lunar eclipse, delayed withdrawal. The delay was costly and forced the
Athenians into a major sea battle in the Great Harbor of Syracuse. The Athenians
were thoroughly defeated. Nicias and Demosthenes marched their remaining forces
inland in search of friendly allies. The Syracusan cavalry rode them down
mercilessly, eventually killing or enslaving all who were left of the mighty Athenian
fleet.

The Second War (413–404 BC)

The key actions of each phase

The Lacedaemonians were not content with simply sending aid to Sicily; they also
resolved to take the war to the Athenians. On the advice of Alcibiades, they
fortified Decelea, near Athens, and prevented the Athenians from making use of their
land year round. The fortification of Decelea prevented overland supplies to Athens,
and forced all supplies to be brought in by sea at greater expense. Perhaps worst of
all, the nearby silver mines were totally disrupted, with as many as 20,000 Athenian
slaves freed by the Spartan hoplites at Decelea. With the treasury and emergency
reserve of 1,000 talents dwindling, the Athenians were forced to demand even more
tribute from her subject allies, further increasing tensions and the threat of rebellion
within the Empire.
Corinth, Sparta, and others in the Peloponnesian League sent more reinforcements
to Syracuse, to drive off the Athenians; but instead of withdrawing, the Athenians
sent another hundred ships and another 5,000 troops to Sicily. Under Gylippus, the
Syracusans and their allies decisively defeated the Athenians on land; and Gylippus
encouraged the Syracusans to build a navy, which defeated the Athenian fleet when
they tried to withdraw. The Athenian army tried to withdraw overland to friendlier
Sicilian cities, but was divided and defeated. The entire Athenian fleet was destroyed,
and virtually the entire Athenian army was sold into slavery.
Following the defeat of the Athenians in Sicily, it was widely believed that the end of
the Athenian Empire was at hand. Their treasury was nearly empty, its docks were
depleted, and many of the Athenian youth were dead or imprisoned in a foreign land.
Athens recovers

The triumphal return of Alcibiades to Athens in 407 BC.

After the destruction of the Sicilian Expedition, Lacedaemon encouraged the revolt of
Athens's tributary allies, and indeed, much of Ionia rose in revolt. The Syracusans
sent their fleet to the Peloponnesians, and the Persians decided to support the
Spartans with money and ships. Revolt and faction threatened in Athens itself.
The Athenians managed to survive for several reasons. First, their foes lacked
initiative. Corinth and Syracuse were slow to bring their fleets into the Aegean, and
Sparta's other allies were also slow to furnish troops or ships. The Ionian states that
rebelled expected protection, and many rejoined the Athenian side. The Persians
were slow to send promised funds and ships, frustrating battle plans.
At the start of the war, the Athenians had prudently put aside some money and 100
ships that were to be used only as a last resort.
These ships were then released, and served as the core of the Athenians' fleet
throughout the rest of the war. An oligarchical revolution occurred in Athens, in which
a group of 400 seized power. Peace with Sparta might have been possible, but the
Athenian fleet, now based on the island of Samos, refused the change. In 411 BC,
this fleet engaged the Spartans at the Battle of Syme. The fleet appointed Alcibiades
their leader, and continued the war in Athens's name. Their opposition led to the
reinstitution of a democratic government in Athens within two years.
Encounter between Cyrus the Younger (left), Achaemenid satrap of Asia Minor and son of Darius II, and
Spartan general Lysander (right), in Sardis. The encounter was related by Xenophon.[28] Francesco Antonio
Grue (1618–1673).

Alcibiades, while condemned as a traitor, still carried weight in Athens. He prevented

the Athenian fleet from attacking Athens; instead, he helped restore democracy by
more subtle pressure. He also persuaded the Athenian fleet to attack the Spartans at
the battle of Cyzicus in 410. In the battle, the Athenians obliterated the Spartan fleet,
and succeeded in re-establishing the financial basis of the Athenian Empire.
Between 410 and 406, Athens won a continuous string of victories, and eventually
recovered large portions of its empire. All of this was due, in no small part, to
Alcibiades.
Achaemenid's support for Sparta (414–404 BC)
From 414 BC, Darius II, ruler of the Achaemenid Empire had started to resent
increasing Athenian power in the Aegean. He had his satrap Tissaphernes make
alliance with Sparta against Athens. In 412 BC this led to the Persian reconquest of
most of Ionia.[29] Tissaphernes also helped fund the Peloponnesian fleet.[30][31]
Facing the resurgence of Athens, from 408 BC, Darius II decided to continue the war
against Athens and give stronger support to the Spartans. He sent his son Cyrus the
Younger into Asia Minor as satrap of Lydia, Phrygia Major and Cappadocia, and
general commander (Karanos, κἀρανος) of the Persian troops.[32] There, Cyrus allied
with the Spartan general Lysander. In him, Cyrus found a man willing to help him
become king, just as Lysander himself hoped to become absolute ruler of Greece by
the aid of the Persian prince. Thus, Cyrus put all his means at the disposal of
Lysander in the Peloponnesian War. When Cyrus was recalled to Susa by his dying
father Darius, he gave Lysander the revenues from all of his cities of Asia Minor.[33][34][35]
Cyrus the Younger would later obtain the support of the Spartans in return, after
having asked them "to show themselves as good friend to him, as he had been to
them during their war against Athens", when he led his own expedition to Susa in 401
BC in order to topple his brother, Artaxerxes II.[36]

The Athenian Defeat

Lysander outside the walls of Athens; 19th century lithograph

The faction hostile to Alcibiades triumphed in Athens following a minor Spartan

victory by their skillful general Lysander at the naval battle of Notium in 406 BC.
Alcibiades was not re-elected general by the Athenians and he exiled himself from
the city. He would never again lead Athenians in battle. Athens won the naval battle
of Arginusae. The Spartan fleet under Callicratidas lost 70 ships and the Athenians
lost 25 ships. But, due to bad weather, the Athenians were unable to rescue their
stranded crews or finish off the Spartan fleet. Despite their victory, these failures
caused outrage in Athens and led to a controversial trial. The trial resulted in the
execution of six of Athens's top naval commanders. Athens's naval supremacy would
now be challenged without several of its most able military leaders and a
demoralized navy.

The Spartan general Lysander has the walls of Athens demolished in 404 BC, as a result of the Athenian
defeat in the Peloponnesian War.
In 404 BC, the Athenian General Alcibiades, exiled in the Achaemenid Empire province of Hellespontine
Phrygia, was assassinated by Persian soldiers, who may have been following the orders of
Satrap Pharnabazus II, at the instigation of Sparta's Lysander.[37][38][39] La mort d'Alcibiade. Philippe Chéry,
1791. Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Rochelle.

Unlike some of his predecessors, the new Spartan general, Lysander, was not a
member of the Spartan royal families and was also formidable in naval strategy; he
was an artful diplomat, who had even cultivated good personal relationships with the
Achaemenid prince Cyrus the Younger, son of Emperor Darius II. Seizing its
opportunity, the Spartan fleet sailed at once to the Dardanelles, the source of
Athens's grain. Threatened with starvation, the Athenian fleet had no choice but to
follow. Through cunning strategy, Lysander totally defeated the Athenian fleet, in 405
BC, at the Battle of Aegospotami, destroying 168 ships. Only 12 Athenian ships
escaped, and several of these sailed to Cyprus, carrying
the strategos (general) Conon, who was anxious not to face the judgment of
the Assembly.
Facing starvation and disease from the prolonged siege, Athens surrendered in 404
BC, and its allies soon surrendered as well. The democrats at Samos, loyal to the
bitter last, held on slightly longer, and were allowed to flee with their lives. The
surrender stripped Athens of its walls, its fleet, and all of its overseas possessions.
Corinth and Thebes demanded that Athens should be destroyed and all its citizens
should be enslaved. However, the Spartans announced their 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.[40]

Aftermath
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 its tribute revenues for itself; Sparta's allies, who had
made greater sacrifices in the war than had Sparta, got nothing.[29]
For a short time, Athens was ruled by the Thirty Tyrants, a reactionary regime set up
by Sparta. In 403 BC, the oligarchs were overthrown and a democracy was restored
by Thrasybulus.
Although the hegemony of Athens was broken, the Attic city completed the recovery
of its autonomy in the Corinthian War and continued to play an active role in Greek
politics. Sparta was later defeated by Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. A
few decades later, the rivalry between Athens and Sparta ended when Macedonia
became the most powerful entity in Greece and Philip II of Macedon unified all of
the Greek world except Sparta, which was later subjugated by Philip's
son Alexander in 331 BC.[41]
A symbolic peace treaty was signed by the mayors of
modern Athens and Sparta 2,500 years after the war ended, on March 12, 1996.[42]

Citations
1. ^ Barry Strauss: Athens After the Peloponnesian War: Class, Faction and Policy 403–386 B.C.,
New York 2014, p. 80.
2. ^ Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 488.
3. ^ Fine, The Ancient Greeks, 528–33.
4. ^ Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, Introduction xxiii–xxiv.
5. ^ Morley 2021, page 43, "widespread conviction that Thucydides was an especially reliable,
objective, and trustworthy reporter of information".
6. ^ Morley 2021, page 43, "Even more problematic are the speeches that he put into the mouths of
important individuals, while admitting the impossibility of recording them verbatim".
7. ^ Gatto, Martina. "Review of: Xenophon and Sparta". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. ISSN 1055-
7660. several deceptive passages in the Hellenika benefit the Spartans' reputation
8. ^ "Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Book 1, chapter 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu.
Retrieved 2023-03-10.
9. ^ Fine, The Ancient Greeks, 371
10. ^ Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 8
11. ^ "Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, THE FIRST BOOK, chapter
89". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
12. ^ "Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, THE FIRST BOOK, chapter
92". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
13. ^ "Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, THE FIRST BOOK, chapter
102". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
14. ^ "Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, THE FIRST BOOK, chapter
103". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
15. ^ Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 16–18
16. ^ In the Hellenic calendar, years ended at midsummer; as a result, some events cannot be dated
to a specific year of the modern calendar.[clarification needed]
17. ^ Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 23–24
18. ^ Thucydides, Book I, 49–50
19. ^ "Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Book 1, chapter 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu.
Retrieved 2023-03-10.
20. ^ Fine, The Ancient Greeks, 454–56
21. ^ Buckley Aspects of Greek History, 319–22
22. ^ "Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, THE FIRST BOOK, chapter
68". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
23. ^ "Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, THE FIRST BOOK, chapter
73". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
24. ^ Ste. Croix, Origins of the Peloponnesian War, p. 201.
25. ^ Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 45.
26. ^ Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, 116
27. ^ Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War.
28. ^ Rollin, Charles (1851). The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians,
Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Grecians, and Macedonians. W. Tegg and Company. p. 110.
29. ^ Jump up to:a b Bury, J. B.; Meiggs, Russell (1956). A history of Greece to the death of Alexander
the Great. London: Macmillan. pp. 397, 540.
30. ^ "The winter following Tissaphernes put Iasus in a state of defence, and passing on to Miletus
distributed a month's pay to all the ships as he had promised at Lacedaemon, at the rate of an
Attic drachma a day for each man." in Perseus Under Philologic: Thuc. 8.29.1.
31. ^ Harrison, Cynthia (2002). "Numismatic Problems in the Achaemenid West: The Undue Modern
Influence of 'Tissaphernes'". Numismatic Problems in the Achaemenid West: The Undue Modern
 Influence of 'Tissapherness'. pp. 301–19. doi:10.1163/9789004350908_018. ISBN 978-90-04-
35090-8.
32. ^ Mitchell, John Malcolm (1911). "Peloponnesian War" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia
Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 71–76, see page 75. the whole
position was changed by the appointment of Cyrus the Younger as satrap of Lydia, Greater
Phrygia and Cappadocia. His arrival coincided with the appointment of Lysander (c. Dec. 408) as
Spartan admiral
33. ^ "He then assigned to Lysander all the tribute which came in from his cities and belonged to him
personally, and gave him also the balance he had on hand; and, after reminding Lysander how
good a friend he was both to the Lacedaemonian state and to him personally, he set out on the
journey to his father." in Xenophon, Hellenica 2.1.14
34. ^ "Anabasis, by Xenophon". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
35. ^ Plutarch, 46-120?. "Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and
Romans". http://www.gutenberg.orgfiles/674/674.txt. Retrieved 2023-03-10. {{cite
web}}: External link in |website= (help)
36. ^ Brownson, Carlson L. (Carleton Lewis) (1886). Xenophon;. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard
University Press. pp. I-2–22.
37. ^ "Isocrates, To Demonicus, section 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
38. ^ "Perseus Digital Library". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
39. ^ "Plutarch, Aristides, chapter 1, section 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
40. ^ Xenophon, Hellenica, 2.2.20,404/3
41. ^ Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (2010). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. John Wiley &
Sons. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-4051-7936-2.
42. ^ "Athens, Sparta sign peace pact". United Press International. March 12, 1996.

General and cited references

Classical authors
 Aristophanes, Lysistrata.
 Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica.
 Herodotus, Histories.
 Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Moralia.
 Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War.
 Xenophon, Hellenica.
 Plutarch, Parallel Lives (Pericles, Alcibiades, Lysander).
Modern authors
 Bagnall, Nigel. The Peloponnesian War: Athens, Sparta, And The Struggle For Greece.
New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-312-34215-2).
 Cawkwell, George. Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War. London: Routledge, 1997
(hardcover, ISBN 0-415-16430-3; paperback, ISBN 0-415-16552-0).
 Hanson, Victor Davis. A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the
Peloponnesian War. New York: Random House, 2005 (hardcover, ISBN 1-4000-6095-8);
New York: Random House, 2006 (paperback, ISBN 0-8129-6970-7).
 Heftner, Herbert. Der oligarchische Umsturz des Jahres 411 v. Chr. und die Herrschaft
der Vierhundert in Athen: Quellenkritische und historische Untersuchungen. Frankfurt am
Main: Peter Lang, 2001 (ISBN 3-631-37970-6).
 Hutchinson, Godfrey. Attrition: Aspects of Command in the Peloponnesian War. Stroud,
Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus Publishing, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 1-86227-323-5).
 Kagan, Donald:
o The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969
(hardcover, ISBN 0-8014-0501-7); 1989 (paperback, ISBN 0-8014-9556-3).
 o The Archidamian War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974
(hardcover, ISBN 0-8014-0889-X); 1990 (paperback, ISBN 0-8014-9714-0).
o The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
1981 (hardcover, ISBN 0-8014-1367-2); 1991 (paperback, ISBN 0-8014-9940-2).
o The Fall of the Athenian Empire. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1987
(hardcover, ISBN 0-8014-1935-2); 1991 (paperback, ISBN 0-8014-9984-4).
o The Peloponnesian War. New York: Viking, 2003 (hardcover, ISBN 0-670-03211-5);
New York: Penguin, 2004 (paperback, ISBN 0-14-200437-5); a one-volume version
of his earlier tetralogy.
 Kallet, Lisa. Money and the Corrosion of Power in Thucydides: The Sicilian Expedition
and its Aftermath. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001 (hardcover, ISBN 0-520-
22984-3).
 Kirshner, Jonathan. 2018. "Handle Him with Care: The Importance of Getting Thucydides
Right." Security Studies.
 Krentz, Peter. The Thirty at Athens. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982
(hardcover, ISBN 0-8014-1450-4).
 Morley, Neville (13 September 2021). "Thucydides Legacy in Grand Strategy". In
Balzacq, Thierry; Krebs, Ronald R. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Grand Strategy.
Oxford University Press. pp. 41–56. ISBN 978-0-19-257662-0.
 G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, The Origins of the Peloponnesian War, London, Duckworth,
1972. ISBN 0-7156-0640-9
 The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, edited
by Robert B. Strassler. New York: The Free Press, 1996 (hardcover, ISBN 0-684-82815-
4); 1998 (paperback, ISBN 0-684-82790-5).
 Roberts, Jennifer T. The Plague of War: Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Ancient
Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017 (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-19-999664-3

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peloponnesian War.

 Mitchell, John Malcolm (1911). "Peloponnesian War" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21

(11th ed.). pp. 71–76.
 LibriVox: The History of the Peloponnesian War (Public Domain Audiobooks in the US –
20:57:23 hours, at least 603.7 MB)
 Richard Crawley, The History of the Peloponnesian War (translation of Thukydides's
books – in Project Gutenberg)
 Peloponnesian war
 Peloponnesian war on Lycurgus.org (archived 29 August 2016)