The Peloponnesian War
WAR BETWEEN SPARTA AND ATHENS
Vs.
Three distinct wars over 55 years
 First: This is not the war we call “Peloponnesian,” and
this first war was suspended by the Thirty Years Peace of
445 (460-445).
 Second: The Archidamian War lasts for ten years and
concludes with the Peace of Nicias in 421 (431-421).
 Finally: The warfare passes to the island of Sicily in 420
and ends with Battle of Aegospotami in 404 (420-404).
 Phases Two and Three are what we call The
Peloponnesian War.
 We know a great deal about this war. It has always been
held to be important;
War Breaks Out
 The Athenians had
become an extremely
prosperous city-state.
 In 431 B.C.E. the Greek
city-states led by Sparta
attacked Athens
The Archidamian War
 Named for the Spartan king so prominent in the war.
 The Spartans and their allies had the usual strong
infantry and weak navy.
 Pericles, still the strategists in Athens, sought to offset
Spartan strength and capitalize on their weakness, and
save money.
 He allowed the Spartans to invade Attica while the
population stayed behind the elaborate wall system that
included Piraeus.
The Best laid plans
 But Pericles plan was spoiled by outbreak of a
plague of typhus, perhaps from a season of tick and
flea infestation in Italy and northern Greece along
the trade routes.
 The Athenians stayed inside their walls and
remained protected until the plague broke our
killing ¼ of the Athenian population including
Pericles.
The Plague
 “In general, there was no known cause, but people in
good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent
heat in the head and red and inflamed eyes, and
internally the throat and tongue were bleeding . . .
The body itself was not very hot, nor pale, but
reddish, livid and breaking out into all manner of
pustules and ulceratic wounds.”
The War Lasts Over 25 Years
 The war continued
despite the plague.
 Many Athenians were
lost and some
surrendered.
 Athens survived because
there fleet kept bringing
supplies to the city
unharmed (Sparta had
no Navy)
 Four great events marked the middle of this phase after
Pericles’ death:
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Spartan siege of Plataea, 429-427.
The revolt of Lesbos, 427.
Civil war in Corcyra and execution of the oligarchists, 427.
Athenian victory at Pylos and Sphacteria, 426-425.
 The end of this phase came with the Spartan victory in
Chalcidice, the Battle of Amphipolis, and deaths of Cleon
and Brasidas.
 The peace of Nicias (421) after a year’s truce concluded the
phase.
Transition to a new phase
 Allies of Sparta and Athens were discouraged by
provisions of the fifty-year truce.
 Hawkish factions also took over in both Sparta
and Athens.
 Alcibiades became strategos in Athens.
 He proposed a plan that would open the way for
a western Athenian empire with attendant wealth
and fame for him.
 Alcibiades and the war hawks to assist Sicilian
Egesta in their war with Selinus, ally of Syracuse,
which was a colony of Corinth.
Persia and Sparta
 Sparta took 8 years after the Sicily debacle to defeat
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Athens, and they needed financial help from the Persians.
The Persian heir apparent, Cyrus (not the Great), is sent
by his father Darius (a different one) to become the
satrap of Sardis, and allies with the Spartans.
Other Greeks were appalled by this alignment, and the
408 Olympics saw other cities protest the PersianSpartan alliance.
The Spartan admiral (Nauarch) Lysander defeated an
Athenian fleet under Alcibiades at Notion, off the Asia
Minor coast near Ephesus.
The Athenians exiled Alcibiades once and for all. He had
prepared for this possibility by provisioning a citadel
overlooking the Hellespont.
Spartan Victory
 After Sparta is victorious
they try to rule Greece
unsuccessfully.
End of Greece As We Know It
 The Spartan rule was
Alexander the Great
short and cruel.
 Eventually fighting
breaks out and the
Greek city-states are
invaded by the
Macedonians under
Phillip II (Father of
Alexander the Great)
Questions to Ponder
 Why do you think that Sparta was unable to
successfully rule over Greece?
 What could have Athens done differently so as not to
be conquered by Sparta?
Macedonia, Alexander the
Great, and the Hellenistic World
Greece & Rise of Macedon
 Aftermath of Peloponnesian War
Sparta installs Thirty Tyrants in Athens
(404-403 B.C.)
 Oligarchy overthrown, general amnesty
 Sparta attempts to control all of Greece
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Makes
alliance with Persia: Sparta has free
hand in Greece; Persia has authority over
Ionian cities
King’s Peace 386 B.C.
Rise of Thebes
 Thebes challenges Spartan hegemony

Defeats Sparta at Leuctra in 371 B.C.
Tactics
of Epaminondas
Sacred Band: 150 pairs
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Thebes invades Laconia, frees Helots
 Thebes emerges as leading military power
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Athens rebuilds military and naval power
Sparta and Athens challenge Thebes; defeated at Mantinea
in 362
Epaminondas
killed
The Rise of Macedon
 Philip II of Macedon (359-336 B.C.)
 Vying interests with Athens
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Seizes Amphipolis, gold mines make him rich and
independent
President of Delphic amphictyony
Philippics of Demosthenes
 Invasion of Greece (339 B.C.)
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Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.)
 League of Corinth (338 B.C.) unites Greece Philip
forbids war without permission

No tribute, but must support Macedon
The Rise of Macedonia and the Hellenistic World
 Philip II of Macedon (359-336 B.C.)
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Military innovations: combined arms
Conflict with Athens
Invasion of Greece (339 B.C.)
Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.)
League of Corinth (338 B.C.)
 Philip plans invasion of Persia
 Philip assassinated (336 B.C.)
 Alexander III (the Great) becomes king
The Macedonian Phalanx:
 Philip‘s innovation to overawe and dominate the
traditional Greek phalanx
 Use of the sarissa, the long spear, to present an
impenetrable front
 Use of cavalry to protect flanks
Macedonia
 Macedonians were culturally and ethnically related
to the Greeks

Actually looked upon as sort of “barbarian cousins” by the
Greeks of Athens, Sparta, etc.
 King Philip II of Macedonia
 Expanded his territory north to the Danube River and south
into the Greek peninsula
 Conquered all city-states except Sparta by 338 B.C.E.
 Killed while planning to attack Persia (336 B.C.E.)
Alexander the Great
 Tutored by the philosopher Aristotle
 Precarious position because his mother
was not Macedonian (making Alexander
half Macedonian), and his father took a
Macedonian as a new wife
 Wanted to conquer Persia like his father
 Wanted to spread Greek culture
throughout the world
Alexander the Great
 Philip was killed by companions of Alexander
 Alexander came to the throne at age 20 (336 B.C.E.
Alexander invades persia
 Upon his father’s death, Alexander moved quickly to take control and
assert his authority over the Greeks – he destroyed Thebes when it
rebelled against him
 Although Macedonian by birth, he had been trained by Aristotle and
embraced Greek culture – his personal hero was the mythical figure of
Achilles from Homer’s Iliad
 To unite the Greeks and further his own ambition, Alexander carried
forward his father’s plan for an invasion of the Persian Empire,
starting in 334 B.C.
 By 323 B.C., Alexander and his armies had conquered the entire
Persian Empire and had even marched into India
ALEXANDER BUILDS AN EMPIRE
ALEXANDER’S LEGEND & LEGACY
Alexander’s personal bravery and military tactics
resulted in successive defeats for Persia at Granicus
(334 B.C.), Issus (333 B.C.), and Gaugamela (331 B.C.)
Persian emperor Darius III fled the battlefield after
Gaugamela and was murdered by his own satraps
Alexander adopted Persian ways and sought to mix
Western and Eastern cultures to maintain his empire
He even sought to deify himself as “Zeus-Ammon”
and was probably megalomaniacal by the time of his
death in Babylon in 323 B.C. at the age of 32
Alexander the Great
 First put down local revolts, including destroying
Thebes
 Invasion of Persia and beyond
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35,000 troops
Granicus (334 B.C.E.)
Issus (333 B.C.E.)
Arbela (331 B.C.E.)
City-states along the Mediterranean
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Egypt
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Founded Alexandria
India
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Phoenician Tyre
Reached Indus River
Set up capital in Babylon (located in modern-day Iraq) in 324
B.C.E.
 Died of a fever in 323 B.C.E. at age 33
The Conquests of Alexander the Great
The birth of the hellenistic world
 After Alexander’s death, his generals (Ptolemy, Seleucus,
and Antigonus) divided his empire into three major parts
 Hellenistic culture – a blending of Greek (Hellenic) culture
with Persian, Egyptian, and Indian culture – was born
 Koine ( a Greek dialect) became the common language of
Hellenistic peoples in Greece, Egypt, and Southwest Asia
The three parts of
Alexander’s empire:
*Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt
*Seleucid dynasty in Asia
*Antigonid dynasty in Greece
and Macedonia
Hellenistic Kingdoms, ca. 240 B.C.
New dynasties ruled for hundreds of years until conquered by Rome
Alexander’s Impact on World History
 Spread Greek culture beyond the Greeks
 “Pan-Hellenism”
 Founded numerous cities
 Married a daughter of Darius
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Worshiped foreign gods and goddesses
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Encouraged his soldiers to take Persian wives
Recognized as foreign incarnations of Greek gods
Encouraged trade throughout his empire
Settled Greeks throughout his empire

Greek culture became “Hellenistic” as it spread and mingled
with other cultures
Alexandria, Egypt
 City in Egypt founded by, and named after,
Alexander the Great
 Ptolemy came to rule Egypt after Alexander’s death
 Ptolemies built a university in Alexandria – “Library
of Alexandria”
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Included 700,000 volumes written on papyrus
Center of research and scholarship
Hellenistic Science
 Many practical, useful inventions
 Euclid (lived circa 300 B.C.E.)
 Greek who lived and worked in Alexandria, Egypt
 “Father of Geometry”

Theorems in plane geometry (“Euclidean geometry”)
 Archimedes (circa 287 B.C.E.-circa 212 B.C.E.)
 Greek who lived and worked in Sicily
 Principle of specific gravity
 Law of floating bodies
 Used levers, pulleys, and screws to build things such as
catapults
Hellenistic Science
 Eratosthenes (circa 276 B.C.E.-circa 195 B.C.E.)
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Greek born in modern-day Libya
Geographer and librarian of Alexandria, Egypt
Closely determined the earth’s diameter
Measured earth’s distance from the sun with 99% accuracy
Used lines of longitude and latitude on a map
Believed earth is round

One could sail India by sailing west
 Aristarchus of Samos (310 B.C.E.-circa 230 B.C.E.)
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Heliocentric model – first to advocate that the earth revolves
around the sun
 Hipparchus (circa 190 B.C.E.-120 B.C.E.)
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Invented plane and spherical trigonometry
Predicted eclipses of the moon and sun
Greek Art
 Transition from classic style to Hellenistic
 Realism rather than idealism
 High level of skill in sculpture and architecture
 Advances in engineering and warfare
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Catapults and quinqueremes
Emergence of monarchies rather than democratic rule
Hellenistic Art and
Architecture
 Architecture
 Built many impressive public
buildings
 Baths, libraries, palaces,
theaters
 Pharos – lighthouse of
Alexandria – 400 feet high
 Art
 More lifelike – showed more
expression
 Action, grief, motion, pain
 The Death of Laocoon,
Winged Victory of
Samothrace, Venus de Milo
Venus De Milo
Statue of Athena
 Combines realism and
symbolic elements
 Religious function not art
Pythokritos, The
Winged Victory of
Samothrace (ca.
200 B.C.)
The Death of Laocoon
The Laocoon:
Roman copy of
a masterpiece
of Hellenistic
sculpture
Dying Celts:
Sculpture for the
King of Pergamun,
ca. 230 B.C.
Hellenistic Philosophy
 Cynics (Cynicism)
 Diogenes (412-323 B.C.E.)
 Hatred of power and worldly possessions
 Stoics (Stoicism)
 Zeno of Citium (334-262 B.C.E.)
 Acceptance, courage, patience
 Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 C.E.) was a Stoic
philosopher (wrote Confessions)
 Stoic belief in human brotherhood influenced Christianity
 Epicureans (Epicureanism)
 Epicurus (341-270 B.C.E.)
 No life after death
 Pleasure and pain measure what is good and bad
 Life is to be enjoyed, particularly by searching for knowledge
Hellenistic Literature
 Few Hellenistic works had enduring value
 Preserved classical Greek heritage
 Spread throughout Alexander’s former empire
 Particularly at Alexandria, Egypt
 Middle East kept and preserved Greek heritage during the fall
of Rome and Europe’s Dark Ages

Europeans rediscovered this Greek heritage during the Crusades
Hellenistic Culture in the Roman World
 Greek cities of southern Italy piqued Roman interest
in Greek culture

Many southern Italian, Sicilian, and other Mediterranean
cities which came under Roman control had been founded by
Greeks
 Romans spread Greek culture throughout their own
empire
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Much of Roman art generally copied Greek art
Hellenistic Civilization Declines
• Endured for approximately 300 years
• Wealth and power in the hands of a few
• Reliance on slavery
– Free persons could not find work
– Slave labor cheaper (in the short-term) than investments in
new inventions and technologies
– Slave revolts
• Continuous warfare among city-states
• Easy target for Roman conquest
Review Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Under what circumstances did Alexander the
Great come to the Macedonian throne?
Name at least three modern-day countries
which were conquered by Alexander the
Great.
What does the term Hellenistic mean?
Describe the work of a Hellenistic scientist or
mathematician.
Describe a Hellenistic philosophy.
What caused the fall of Hellenistic society?
Imagine that you are a Babylonian living
during the time of Alexander. How might you
view Alexander’s conquests? Would you
consider him “great”?
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
 1. Great Pyramid at Giza
 2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon
 3. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
 4. Statue of Zeus at Olympia
 5. Mausoleum at Halicanassus
 6. Colossus of Rhodes
 7. Lighthouse of Alexandria
Seven Wonders
Date of
of the Ancient
construction
World
Builder
Date of
destruction
Cause of
destruction
Great Pyramid
of Giza
2584–2561 BC Egyptians
Hanging
Gardens of
Babylon
Around 600 BC
Babylonians
(evident)
Temple of
Artemis at
Ephesus
356 BC (by
Arson by
c. 550 BC; and
Herostratus)
Lydians, Greeks
Herostratus,
again at 323 BC
AD 262 (by the
Plundering
Goths)
Statue of Zeus
at Olympia
466–456 BC
(Temple)
Greeks
435 BC (Statue)
Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus
Colossus of
Rhodes
Lighthouse of
Alexandria
Still in existence
After 1st
century BC
5th–6th
centuries AD
Earthquakes
Modern
location
Giza
Necropolis,
Egypt
Hillah, Babylon
Province, Iraq
or
Nineveh,
Nineveh
Province, Iraq
near Selçuk,
Izmir Province,
Turkey
Disassembled;
Olympia,
later destroyed
Greece
by fire
351 BC
Carians, Greeks by AD 1494
Earthquakes
Bodrum,
Turkey
292–280 BC
Greeks
226 BC
Earthquake
Rhodes, Greece
c. 280 BC
Ptolemaic
Egypt, Greeks
AD 1303–1480 Earthquake
Alexandria,
Egypt
The Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse at Alexandria