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Period: 400 to Jan 1, 600
Peloponnesian League
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405
naval victory at aegospotami
Two accounts of the battle of Aegospotami exist. Diodorus Siculus relates that the Athenian general in command on the fifth day at Sestos, Philocles, sailed out with thirty ships, ordering the rest to follow him. Donald Kagan has argued that the Athenian strategy, if this account is accurate, must have been to draw the Peloponnesians into an attack on the small force so that the larger force following could surprise them. In the event, the small force was immediately defeated. -
411
Third treaty
In the thirteenth year of the reign of Darius,[3] while Alexippidas was ephor at Sparta, a convention was concluded in the plain of the Meander by the Spartans and their allies with Tissaphernes, Hieramenes, and the sons of Pharnaces, concerning the affairs of the King and of the Spartans and their allies.
The country of the King in Asia shall be the King's, and the King shall treat his own country as he pleases.
The Spartans and their allies shall not invade or injure the King's country. -
412
Second treaty
The convention of the Spartans and the allies with King Darius and the sons of the King.
Neither the Spartans nor the allies of the Spartans shall make war against or otherwise injure any country or cities that belong to King .
if sparta or the king need assistance they will be given assistance.
Both shall carry on jointly the war against the Athenians and their allies: and if they make peace, both shall do so jointly. -
412
First treaty
the Spartans and their allies made a treaty with the King and Tissaphernes
Whatever country or cities the King has, or the King's ancestors had, shall be the king's
The war with the Athenians shall be carried on jointly by the King and by the Spartans and their allies
If any revolt from the King, they shall be the enemies of the Spartans and their allies. -
415
The Sicilian Campaign
In 415 BC the Athenian assembly, led by Alcibiades, voted to invade Sicily. The city-state of Segesta had promised huge financial aid in return for assistance against its enemy Selinus. With a foothold in Sicily the Athenians would also gain a tactically advantageous position from which to attack Sparta, if war broke out between the two great powers once more. -
421
The Peace of Nicias
In March 421, the Peace of Nicias was signed, which marked the end of the Archidamian War. It is called after the Athenian negotiator Nicias; no doubt, the Spartans had another name for the document. Its main point was that Athens and Sparta would keep what they had, although there were some adjustments: Sparta would return Amphipolis to Athens, and the Athenians would give up the occupation of Pylos. -
Period: 425 to 426
Pylos/Sphacteria
site of a small but important battle during the Peloponnesian War (431-404), during which the Athenian general Demosthenes and the statesman Cleon captured 292 Spartan soldiers, including 120 elite Spartiates (425 BCE) -
Period: 427 to 476
Archidamus II
Archidamus was one of the kings of Sparta in the years preceding the Peloponnesian War. His coolness and presence of mind are said to have saved the Spartan state from destruction on the occasion of the great earthquake of 464 BC, but this story must be regarded as at least doubtful. In 446 BC he agreed with Pericles on the Thirty Years' Peace between Athens and Sparta, bringing an end to the First Peloponnesian War, which had been raging since c. 460 BC. -
430
invasion of attica
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 periods of time. The longest Spartan invasion, in 430 BC, lasted just forty days. -
432
Sthenelaidas
Sthenelaidas was a Spartan who held the office of ephor in 432 BC, and, in the congress of the Lacedaemonians and their allies at Sparta in that year, vehemently and successfully urged the assembly to declare war with Athens. The speech which Thucydides puts into his mouth on this occasion is strongly marked by the characteristics of Spartan eloquence: brevity and simplicity. He was the father of the Spartan general Alcamenes -
464
464 BC Sparta earthquake
The Sparta earthquake of 464 BC destroyed much of Sparta, a city-state of ancient Greece. Historical sources suggest that the death toll may have been as high as 20,000, although modern scholars suggest that this figure is likely an exaggeration. The earthquake sparked a revolt of the helots, the slave class of Spartan society -
464
helot revolt
According to Thucydides, the helots and perioeci of Thouria and Aithaia took advantage of the earthquake to revolt and establish a position on Ithome -
Period: 470 to 520
regent Pausanias
was a Spartan general of the 5th century BC. Pausanias was responsible for the Greek victory over Mardonius and the Persians at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, and was the leader of the Hellenic League created to resist Persian aggression during the Greco-Persian Wars. -
Period: 500 to 570
Cleisthenes
He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508/7 BC. For these accomplishments, historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy." He was the maternal grandson of the tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon, as the younger son of the latter's daughter Agariste and her husband Megacles. Also, he was credited for increasing power of assembly and he also broke up power of nobility for Athens. -
marathon
The name Marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon -
bettle of Thermopylae
Thermopylae is primarily known for the battle that took place there in 480 BC, in which an outnumbered Greek force probably of seven thousand (including the famous 300 Spartans, 500 warriors from Tegea, 500 from Mantinea, 120 from Arcadian Orchomenos, 1000 from the rest of Arcadia, 200 from Phlius, 80 from Mycenae, 700 Corinthians, 400 Thebans, 1000 Phocians and the Opuntian Locrians ) held off a substantially larger force of Persians estimated in the range 70,000-300,000 under Xerxes. -
Battle of Plataea
In 479 BC Plataea was the site of the final battle that repelled the second Persian invasion of Greece. According to Herodotus, the Spartan general Pausanias led an allied Greek defense against Mardonius' Persian forces. Although they were vastly outnumbered, the Greeks were able to kill Mardonius; his death precipitated the Persian rout that followed. Accounts vary, but there is general agreement that the battle resulted in a significant number of Persian dead, -
Battle of Mantinea
he Battle of Mantinea of 418 BC was a significant engagement in the Peloponnesian War. Sparta and its allies defeated an army led by Argos and Athens. -
revolt of the peloponnnesian league
This unity did not survive when the danger had passed. The Spartan leader Pausanias was incapable of keeping the allies together, so that the Hellenic League fell apart in a restored Peloponnesian League and the Delian League, which was under Athenian leadership. -
Period: to 515
Demaratus
Demaratus was a king of Sparta from 515 until 491 BC, of the Eurypontid line, successor to his father Ariston. As king, he is known chiefly for his opposition to the other, co-ruling Spartan king, Cleomenes I -
Period: to 460
Hippias
Hippias of Elis was a Greek Sophist, and a contemporary of Socrates. With an assurance characteristic of the later sophists, he claimed to be regarded as an authority on all subjects, and lectured on poetry, grammar, history, politics, mathematics, and much else. Most of our knowledge of him is derived from Plato, who characterizes him as vain and arrogant. -
Period: to
Hellenic league
The association of Greek city states against the Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars of the 5th century BC -
Period: to 545
Leonidas I
Leonidas I also known as Leonidas the Brave was a Greek hero-king of Sparta, the 17th of the Agiad line, third son of King Anaxandridas II of Sparta[2], who was believed to be a descendant of Herakles, possessing much of the latter's strength and bravery. Leonidas I is notable for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae. -
Period: to 545
Leotychidas
was a ruler of Sparta 491 BC-476 BC. He led Spartan forces during the Persian Wars from 490 BC to 478 BC. He is not to be confused with another Eurypontid Leotychides, the (allegedly illegitimate) son of Agis II. -
Period: to 500
Cleomenes
Cleomenes or Kleomene died c. 489 BC was an Agiad King of Sparta in the late 6th and early 5th centuries BC. During his reign, which started around 520 BC, he pursued an adventurous and at times unscrupulous foreign policy aimed at crushing Argos and extending Sparta's influence both inside and outside the Peloponnese.