The historian Thucydides described himself as a wealthy Athenian general whose exile to the Peloponnese allowed him to personally observe, from both the sides of the conflict, a comprehensive account of the Peloponnesian War. Book 1 in Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War” is dedicated to explaining over fifty years of the events and proceedings that led to the abandonment of the Thirty Year’s Peace and subsequent war. In Book 1 he identifies four main incidents, which I shall refer to as ‘grievances’, regarding the conduct of Athens towards both their Delian members and the Peloponnesian allies. Yet he also mentions what he deems to be a more ‘real’ truth than these four grievances that led to Sparta and the Peloponnese going to …show more content…
After the formation of the Hellenic League which successfully repelled Persia from Greece, the alliance broke up into two major forces. Thucydides claims “at the head of the one stood Athens, at the head of the other Lacedaemon, one the first naval, the other the first military power in Hellas.” (1.18) Athens and allies became the Delian League, which continued fighting in Asia Minor in order to conquer and liberate Persian controlled Greek states, and Sparta and allies formed the Peloponnesian League. However, once peace had been established with Persia in 449, the Delian League was reformed and Athens held hegemony over the allies and utilized them as tribute paying subjects. This caused many issues, with many allies attempting and failing to leave the league. Thucydides states that they had “deprived [their allies] of their ships, and imposed instead contributions in money.” (1.19) Greece was now divided between two major powers: the Dealian League which formed the Athenian empire and Sparta and the Peloponnesian allies. Up until this point, Sparta had maintained its hegemony and authority as the major power or empire of Greece. Naturally, the rapid expansion and power of the Athenian empire was a concerning threat and looming anxiety to their authority. Further alienating Sparta from Athens was their oppositional governmental ideologies of Athenian democracy and Spartan
When the Persian menace faded, some city-states attempted to leave the Delian league due to the exorbitant "membership fees," but Athens refused and attacked them. So, at the start of the Delian league, everything was bright and all the city-states were equal. After a while, all of the power and financial resources transferred to Athens, and the league was governed as if it were one of their manageable sponsors. All of this contributed to Athens becoming a powerful city-state and ushering in the Golden Age. The more powerful Athens became, the more enemies it
Athens experienced significant changes and developments during the 5th century BC as a result of the Persian Wars. The noticeable rise to power of Athens as being the hegemon of the Delian League, which was referred to as The Athenians and their Allies during the fifth century, sparked their control of the powerful Athenian Empire. Athens peak in political, economic and cultural concepts highlighted their dominance and growing influence over the Greek city-states, consequently resulting in their democratic reforms. The increased status of thetes had an impact on the modifications of the Athenian government systems. The influence of certain individuals, including, Solon, Cleisthene, Ephialtes and Pericles, introduced ostracism, redeveloped citizenship laws, and weakened the
Thucydides is the author of Peloponnesian War. The Peloponnesian War was a direct and indirect conflict between Sparta and Athens that lasted from 460-404 BCE. Thucydides fought for Athens during the Peloponnesian War and was later exiled by Athens. Thucydides was writing about something that he participated in and the Peloponnesian War became the first contemporary history. Thucydides also made use of eyewitness reports from people who were participants in the war.
While talking about the end of the Greek democracy, we have to talk about the Pericles, Thucydides, and "The Peloponnesian Wars". Ordinarily, Pericles was the famous Democratic leader of the Athens. He was also well known for this great speech. Regardless of being the famous leader, talented politicians like Pericles and Themistocles mostly dominated the Athenian politics in order to get supported on their own agenda and policies by the majority in the assembly.
Another thing that rose from Sparta were slaves. Since all of the men were gone fighting they didn’t have any men to do the jobs men would normally do. So they would bring in slaves which were called Helots. Helots were just soldiers from the Persians and other armies that the Spartans had taken and used as slaves. This began to bring conflict between the social classes of all Greek city-states because all the city-states began to have slaves.
Greece DBQ Theater, government, and religion were all essential parts of ancient Greek culture. A unique trait which all of these aspects of ancient Greek society shared was progression and development. Theater progressed from simply relaying stories to tackling controversial topics which sparked discussion. Government showed growth and progression in both Sparta and Athens. Sparta developed a militaristic society which eliminated socioeconomic inequality and Athens’s monarchy evolved into a free democracy where people’s voices were heard.
In 338 BCE, Philip’s army defeated the allied forces of Athens and Thebes in a battle at Chaeronea. This defeat forced Athens to enter into the so-called League of Corinth, ostensibly a pan-Hellenic alliance aimed at opposing the power of Persia, but actually an organization that gave Philip unprecedented authority over Greek
Athens dominated the Delian League so heavily that it eventually became known as the Athenian Empire. Each city-state participating in the Delian League had to agree to hold the same enemies and allies, as well as contribute to the treasury which was used to help develop the naval fleet led by Athens. The members of the Delian League all had a common aim, to protect themselves from the Persian Empire, and so they were able to band together under a uniting cause. The mountainous terrain of Ancient Greece had long separated the city states from each other, so the Delian League was significant because it helped ensure their cooperation despite their differences. The Delian League enjoyed military victories against their common enemies and had success in economics and politics.
The establishment of several leagues among the Greek city-states
The Persians were restricted in their field of effect and as a result direct conflicts between Persia and Greece ended. (sourcebooks.fordham.edu)1 According to (www.perseus.tufts.edu), Even though the Persian hub was not endangered by these hindrances, Persia came to a close to be a risk to Greeks for the subsequent fifty years. Athens in the meantime grew stouter from its part of the spoils apprehended from Persian settlements and the levies paid by its associates. By the mid of the fifth century .League
Ancient Greece, a thriving country consisting of nearly 100 city states from within. A gem of the Archaic and Classical Greek Era that we have come to discover. While the country thrived, they also had much tension from within caused by its two leading cities, Athens and Sparta. Athens, a democratic and well invested political city found apprehension with their neighboring municipality Sparta, a highly dense military society. Though the two cities shared several traits such as slavery and gradation systeming, they were separated by their political and economic differences.
In “The Greeks” the rise and fall of the Greek empire is detailed. In part one, the tyrant, Pisistratus, is introduced. It covers Athens economic progress and it’s improvement of social structure. After Pisistratus died in 527 BCE. his son, Hippias took over.
Athens organized a group of Greek city states into the Delian League and eventually lead and dominated all of the city states in the League. Athens’s military prowess allowed them to look down on the other members of the League and treat them as members of an empire instead of equals. This caused some to view them with hostility which sparked the conflicts between Athens and Sparta that lead to the Peloponnesian War. The direct democracy of Athens wasn’t actually as inclusive and steady as the statement at Pericles 's funeral state, “Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people (Doc C).” In fact, of the 450,000 citizens of Athens in 430 BC, only about 40,000 people had the power to vote.
Sparta vs. Athens To begin with, Athens and Sparta were both famous in antiquity for their legend, cultures and the character of the people. On the one hand, the two poleis share certain obvious affinities, such as language, geographical scope, a common Greek ancestry etc. On the other hand, they were polar opposites in many aspects, from social spheres, political structures, to military might, which I believe there are some hidden depths in these city-states. Hence, let’s look at how did their people obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community, and who held public office first.
History 1421 Week One Written Assignment University of the people Abstract This week, as a prompt for our written assignment we were given five questions relating to the text provided as week one’s reading material, “Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship” by Dr. Peter J. Brand; how did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community, who held public office, what rules governed the selection of public office holders, how were the two city-states similar in their governmental structures, and how did they differ.