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DEVASTATING FACTS ABOUT THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR YOU PROBABLY IGNORED

Added on: 12th Dec 2016

 

THE WAR TOOK ITS NAME FROM THE PENINSULA

AT THE TIP OF SOUTHERN GREECE, WHICH, TO

THIS DAY, IS CALLED THE PELOPONNESE. MANY

GREEK CITY-STATES, INCLUDING SPARTA, CORINTH

AND ARGOS, ARE SITUATED IN THIS REGION

Peloponnese

 

 

EVEN THOUGH THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR WAS

FOUGHT AMONG NUMEROUS GREEK CITY-STATES,

MOST PEOPLE KNOW IT AS A STRUGGLE FOR

DOMINATION AND POWER BETWEEN ATHENS,

WHICH LED THE DELIAN LEAGUE AND SPARTA,

WHICH LED THE PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE

Ancient Greek map

 

 

 

THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE WAS AT ITS PRIME JUST

BEFORE THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR STARTED.

MORE THAN 150 GREEK CITY-STATES THAT HAD

JOINED THE FIGHT AGAINST PERSIA WERE UNDER

ATHENIAN CONTROL

warriors

 

 

THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR WAS ACTUALLY TWO

SEPARATE WARS THAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN

431 BCE AND 404, WITH A SIX YEAR TRUCE IN BETWEEN

gathering

 

 

THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR IS

WITHOUT A DOUBT THE MOST POPULAR HISTORICAL

ACCOUNT OF THE WAR, WRITTEN BY ONE OF THE

FATHERS OF WESTERN HISTORY, THUCYDIDES.

THE FAMOUS ATHENIAN HISTORIAN ALSO

HAPPENED TO SERVE AS A GENERAL DURING THE WAR

Thucydides

 

 

ONE CAN ALSO FIND VALUABLE INFORMATION ABOUT

THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR IN THE HISTORIES BY

HERODOTUS AND THERE ARE REFERENCES TO

IT IN ARISTOPHANES’S COMEDIES, XENOPHON’S

HELLENICA AND IN THE ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION

BY AN ANONYMOUS STUDENT OF ARISTOTLE

building engraving

 

 

THE FIRST PELOPONNESIAN WAR IS ALSO KNOWN

AS THE ARCHIDAMIAN WAR, TAKING ITS NAME

FROM THE SPARTAN KING ARCHIDAMUS II

Archidamus II

 

 

THIS WAR LASTED TEN YEARS FROM 431 BCE TO 421.

IT WAS LESS INTENSE THAN THE SECOND WAR

AND WAS FOUGHT MAINLY BETWEEN ATHENS

AND CORINTH, AN ALLY OF SPARTA

Castle of Corinth

 

 

HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO MOST HISTORIANS

AND ACADEMICS, THERE WERE DEEPER ISSUES

MOTIVATING THE HOSTILITY BETWEEN ATHENS

AND SPARTA. THE SPARTAN LEADERS FEARED

THE ATHENIANS WOULD USE THEIR SUPERIORITY

IN LONG-DISTANCE OFFENSIVE WEAPONRY,

SUCH AS THE NAVAL FORCES OF THE DELIAN

LEAGUE, TO DESTROY SPARTAN CONTROL

OVER THE MEMBERS OF THE

PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE

Greek ship

 


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