Peace and Conflict, 446-431 BC

Question 1

What agreement was made between the Spartans and Athenians in 446BC?

Answer 1

A thirty year peace.

Question 2

What were the terms of this peace, according to Thucydides?

Answer 2

1) It was to last 30 years,
2) Athens was to give up Nisaea and Pegae, harbours traditionally belonging to Megara, together with Troezen and Achaea in the Peloponnese,
3) Each side was to keep the allies it possessed at the conclusion of the treaty,
4) If an ally revolted and joined the other alliance, the treaty was broken,
5) A list of allies on each side was annexed to the treaty,
6) Any neutral state not listed could not ally itself with either side,
7) Argos was specifically excluded from the treaty, but was permitted to be at peace with Athens. It was already at peace with Sparta because of the thirty year truce established in 451-450 BC,
8) Neither side was to make an armed attack on the other if either wished to go to arbitration,
9) There may have been a clause pertaining to Aegina because of a later complaint that they were wronged by a treaty. However, it is unclear if this refers to the 30 year peace or another treaty with Athens.

Question 3

What did the treaty define?

Answer 3

Areas of interest: Athens hegemony over the Aegean sea and its allies.

Question 4

What happened in 440 BC?

Answer 4

Athens’ allies Samos and Miletus were at war, Miletus sought Athenian intervention, resulting in Samos’ oligarchy being replaced with a democracy and an athenian garrison.

Question 5

Who did the Samian Oligarchs turn to as a result?

Answer 5

The Persian Satrap of Lydia, Pissuthnes, and with their help, the oligarchs ejected the Athenian garrison.

Question 6

What followed the ejection of the Athenian garrison on Samos?

Answer 6

a naval encounter and two sieges, nine months later the Samians surrendered, handed over their fleet and were required to pay tribute to Athens from then on (Thucydides 1.115-117). This is the last event in Thucydides’ Pentecontaetia.

Question 7

Who did the Athenians consider an alliance with as a result?

Answer 7

Corcyra, a neutral state, however, Corcyra received a Corinthian delegation urging them not to do so.

Question 8

What does Thucydides list as the reason for war between Sparta and Athens in 431BC?

Answer 8

Spartan fear of growing Athenian Power.

Question 9

What two events does Thucydides explain as causes of complaint?

Answer 9

The events at Epidamnus-Corcyra and those at Potidaea.

Question 10

Who was Epidamnus a colony of?

Answer 10

Corcyra, itself a colony of Corinth.

Question 11

What happened in 435 BC in Epidamnus?

Answer 11

A local conflict leading to the democratic party there asking Corcyra for aid. When they did not receive any, they sent requests for aid to Corinth. The Corinthians were happy to interfere. As a result there was a siege and a naval battle off Leucimme on Corcyra. Where the Corcyraeans defeated the Corinthians. The Corinthians prepared for renewed attacks, and in 433 BC Corcyra appealed to Athends for help. They were free to do so as they were a neutral state and thus didn’t break the 30 year peace.

Question 12

How did Athens respond to the requests for aid from Corcyra?

Answer 12

Decided to ally with them but only in a limited defensive manner. They would engage to stop the Corinthians from landing on the island of Corcyra, but that was all.

Question 13

What happened in September 433 BC?

Answer 13

The Corinthians engaged the Corcyraeans in a naval battle at Sybota. When the Corinthians looked to be gaining the upper-hand, the Athenian ships engaged and turned back the Corinthians. Corcyra was left unharmed, but this was the first complaint from the Peloponnesian side.

Question 14

Who was Potidaea a subject state of? and who was it a colony of?

Answer 14

Athens, and a colony of Corinth - from which it still received three annual magistrates.

Question 15

What were the Corinthians looking for after the events of Epidamnus-Corcyra?

Answer 15

An opportunity to retaliate against Athens, they now felt a deep hatred.

Question 16

What did the Athenians do in response to this Corinthian hatred?

Answer 16

Ordered the Potidaeans to tear down their defenses in early 432 BC, as they feared a revolt.

Question 17

How did Potidaea respond to this?

Answer 17

Sent an embassy to the Spartans, where the Ephors agreed to invade Attica if Potidaea was attacked. This agreement was not fulfilled, as the ephors must have been unable to persuade the assembly.

Question 18

What happened when the Potidaeans revolted?

Answer 18

The Corinthians sent an army to support them, Athens responded by sending several contigents. The situation deteriorated and the city was besieged. The siege would last for three years and this formed the second Corinthian complaint against Athens.

Question 19

What complaint does Thucydides give one sentence to?

Answer 19

Megara

Question 20

What does Thucydides say on the Megarian decree?

Answer 20

‘But the chief point and the one that they made most clear was that war could be avoided if Athens would revoke the Megarian decree which excluded the Megarians from all ports in the Athenian empire and from the market in Attica itself.’ (The History of the Peloponnesian War 1,139)

Question 21

Who does Plutarch put the blame of the war on and why?

Answer 21

Pericles - refused to revoke the decree.

Question 22

What was the formal reason for the Megarian decree?

Answer 22

Plutarch reports that it was because the Megarians had profaned sacred land and had then killed an Athenian envoy sent to complain about this.

Question 23

What other factors could have cause the Megarian decree?

Answer 23

1) Could have been a punitive action because Megara changed sides at the end of the first Peloponnesian war,
2) Eight megarian ships sailed with the Corinthian fleet at Leucimme, and twelve at Sybota; may have been a punishment for siding with Corinth,
3) Or a deterrent aimed at dissuading other states from siding militarily with Corinth.

Question 24

Why was the Megarian decree so problematic for Megara?

Answer 24

Attica was Megara’s chief market that it relied upon economically, additionally the Megarians engaged in sea-borne trade and relied on the markets of the Athenian empire. The decree had crippled the Megarians capacity economically.

Question 25

Who did Aegina side with?

Answer 25

Corinth when they brought complaints to Sparta; they had been denied independence in contravention of a treaty. Aegina had been defeated in the first Peloponnesian war and was now a subject of Athens.

Question 26

What was the final complaint to the Corinthians?

Answer 26

The Ambracian Gulf - a local conflict had occurred between three local communities: Ambracia, who had Corinthian connections, Amphilocian, and the Acarnanians. The Amphilocians and the Acarnanians received Athenian military aid, Corinth saw this as another example of Athens meddling with their political affairs.

Question 27

What happened in 432 BC relating to the Peloponnesian allies?

Answer 27

Corinth urged those who felt wronged by Athens to petition Sparta, Corinth turned on Sparta as hegemon for ineffectually standing up to Athenian expansion.

Question 28

Who else was allowed to speak at the Corinthian complaint? and what did they say?

Answer 28

An Athenian delegation - maintained, rather than defend their actions against the complaints, through a speech a defense of imperialism.

Question 29

What did the Spartans decide upon?

Answer 29

King Archidamus II, responsible for prosecuting this war, cautioned against hasty action; his argument relying on Sparta’s inability to defeat Athens. They lacked the navy and wealth to pay for one, additionally, they did not have the resources of empire that Athens possessed.

Question 30

What three things did Archidamus II identify as necessary to defeat Athens, according to Thucydides?

Answer 30

1) Athens’ allies had to be in revolt,
2) Sparta would need a navy rivalling that of Athens,
3) They would need to Persian support - if only to pay for their navy.

Question 31

Who opposed Archidamus that year?

Answer 31

The Ephor Sthenelaidas, who advocated for immediate action in a nationalistic speech.

Question 32

What was decided upon in the second assembly, made up of the Peloponnesian allies?

Answer 32

1) The Corinthians re-iterated their complaints and pointed to the Athenian ability to cripple their economies as they did to Megara,
2) The Second assembly decided upon war.

Question 33

What was the final Spartan peace offering?

Answer 33

Athens would have peace if they granted the Greeks their freedom; would require Athens to renounce their empire, would also be at odds with the thirty year peace. The Athenians couldn’t accept these terms, Pericles strongly opposed them; believing Athens would win a war.