Peace and Conflict, 446-431BC (Greek 1.3)

Question 1

Why was the 30 year peace created?

Answer 1

After the events of 446, Athens had lost Megara, bur retained Euboea. Attica had been invaded (even if only briefly) by a Spartan-led force. After returnin from Euboea, Athens made a 30 years’ truce with Sparta and her allies
- In 446 Euboea and Megara both revolted from Athens
o Megara was lost
o Pericles subdued the Eoboean revolt

Question 2

Terms of 30 year peace?

Answer 2

1. It was to last 30 years (1.115)
2. Athens was to give up Nisaea and Pegae, the harbours traditionally belonging to Megara, together with Troezen and Achaea in the Peloponnese (1.115)
3. Each side was to keep the allies it possessed at the conclusion of the treaty (1.140)
4. If an ally revolted and joined the other alliance, the treaty was broken (1.35)
5. A list of the allies on each side was annexed to the treaty (inferred from 1.40)
6. Any neutral state not listed could ally itself with either side (1.35, 1.40)
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 (5.14)
8. Neither side was to make an armed attack on the other if either wished to go to arbitration (1.140, 7.18)
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 (1.67)

Question 3

What did the peace outline

Answer 3

The peace treaty clearly defined the areas of influence of both Athens and Sparta, acknowledging Athens dominance of the sea in general, and the Aegean and its islands/coastal settlements in particular. It also aimed to limit individual states’ ability to ‘jump ship’ and trigger conflicts, such as those caused by Megara in 460 and 446. It did not drastically alter the balance of power, and it aimed to prevent conflict via the arbitration clause. However, its sensible compromise would be undermined by the demands of Sparta’s allies (most notably Corinth) and internal divisions at Sparta.

Question 4

What did Thuycdides do with the sources?

Answer 4

In contrast to the Pentacontaetia, Thucydides’ account is now more developed. He was an Athenian general in 424 and lived to see the war through to its conclusion, although he did not live to complete his account of it, breaking off midway through the unrevised Book 8. He set out to write as carefully researched an account as he could, making his approach to historical writing more influential than Herodotus broad exploration of history, culture and ethnography. The notable exception is his treatment of speeches, which he admits reflect the thrust of what was/could have been said, rather than any sort of verbatim transcript.

Question 5

What was Thucydides write in the spirit of?

Answer 5

Greek Rationalism

Greek rationalism a modern term used to describe the movement in the sixth and fifth century Greek world which sought to find scientific explanations, based on reason, for the way the world worked

Question 6

Thucydides way of writing?

Answer 6

He was keen to apply the developments that were currently occurring in other fields of Greek intellectual life to his history, especially the spirit of scientific analysis that was developing in the fields of medicine, distinguishing outward symptoms from deeper underlying causes. He aimed to create a ‘possession for eternity’ that would allow later generations to understand the role of human nature and human decisions in the events described. In contrast to Herodotus, the divine or supernatural is largely absent from his account. However, he also contrasts with Herodotus in his reluctance to give a variety of views, favouring his own final assessment, and at times his focus on the Greek world alone feels a bit too narrow (although this might have been less true had he finished the final portion of his book

Question 7

Biases of Thucydides

Answer 7

Given that conflict between Athens and the Peloponnesian states occurred before and after the Peloponnesian War of 431-404, some have viewed it as a ‘creation’ of Thucydides. He also has his own biases; the aristocratic Pericles and Nicias receive the praise of the similary aristocratic Thucydides, whereas later, non-aristocratic politicians such as Kleon are criticised as vulgar and even dangerous.

Question 8

Examples of war breaking out

Answer 8

In 440 war broke out between two Athenian allies, Samos and Miletus, only 6 years into the 30 Year Peace. Samos was the more powerful state, contributing ships to the Athenian navy. Miletus therefore sought Athens’ aid. Athens replaced Samos’ oligarchic government with a democratic one and provided a garrison. The exiled Samian oligarchs appealed to Pissuthnes, the Persian satrap (provincial governor) to help them. With his assistance they expelled the Athenians. At the same time Byzantium defected from the League.

Question 9

Athenian reactions to the outbreaks of war

Answer 9

After two naval engagements and a nine month blockade of Samos, the Athenians, led by Pericles, defeated the Samians, who handed over their fleet, tore down their walls and paid a punitive tribute. Byzantium was also forced back into the league as a subject city. Forced to pay tribute (Thucydides 1.115-117, Plutarch Pericles 28.1-3)

Question 10

Who did Athens debate to Alliance with

Answer 10

Corcyra

Thucydides 1.40

which was then a neutral state, and received a Corinthian delegation which sought to dissuade them from doing so. Part of the Corinthian argument
hinged on the fact that when Samos had revolted from Athens in 440, the Peloponnesian
League had debated going to the aid of Samos. Corinth had sided with those who said
Athens had the right to control their own allies as they saw fi t. This opinion won the
argument and there was no Peloponnesian intervention.

Question 11

Why didn’t the Peloponesian’s invade

Answer 11

Later on, the Corinthians would claim that many wanted to prevent Athens from exerting its influence and involving itself in the dispute between Samos and Miletus. It seems that a number of Peloponnesian states had wanted to come to the aid of Samos, but Corinth had been one of the starts that prevented this course of action

Question 12

Peloponesian League intervention

Answer 12

This will be a key part of their later argument against Athens making an alliance with Corcyra. However, it is also significant since the way the Peloponnesian League was structured meant that if the other states were debating such a course of action, Sparta must have already decided to come to the aid of the Samians against Athens, only 6 years after concluding the 30 Year Peace, and were hoping to get their allies’ agreement.

Question 13

Context for going to war

Answer 13

In a number of places, Thucydides lists various events that provided the pretext for going to war, or which justified the actions of various states. However, he always returns to what he identifies as the true, underlying cause. This was that Sparta was afraid of the Athenians’ growing power and control of its empire.

Question 14

Where was Epidamnus and who was it associated with?

Answer 14

Epidamnus was a colony founded by Corcyra on the Adriatic coast of what is today Albania. Corcyra (Corfu) was itself a colony founded by Corinth.

Question 15

What happened in 435 in Epidamnus?

Answer 15

In 435 a local conflict led to the democrats in Epidamnous asking for help, firstly from the people of Corcyra, who refused to help them. They then approached the Corinthians, who were prepared to help them, despite being firmly oligarchic themselves.

Question 16

What happened off the coast of Corcyran? (Epidamnus)

Answer 16

This brought the Corcyrans and Corinthians to the brink of war, with a naval clash off the Corcyran coast leading to a Corinthian defeat and subsequent withdrawal.

Question 17

Who and why did Corcyran side with?

Answer 17

The Corinthians prepared for fresh hostilities in 433, prompting Corcyra to appeal to Athens for help. As an unattached state, it was free to pick a side under the terms of the 30 Year Peace. It was also a powerful naval power in its own right.

Question 18

Argument for their decision? (Corcyra with Athens)

Answer 18

They argued that war between Athens and Sparta was inevitable, and that Athens could not afford to allow the Corcyran navy to fall into the hands of their Peloponnesian rivals, who were about to become their enemies. Conversely, they could be a powerful aly to Athens in the coming conflict.

Question 19

Corinths response to Corcyra’s decisions to choose Athens

Answer 19

The Corinthians argued that although Corcyra was not bound by the terms of the 30 Year Peace, it was only approaching Athens to provoke them into war (Thucydides 1.40-41) with Corinth, rather than to preserve peace. They also pointed to the bonds of peace that now existed between Athens and Corinth as a result of the Peace, and now pointed out how influential they had been in preventing Sparta bringing her allies into the war between Athens and Samos.

Question 20

Who could Athens now blame

Answer 20

Athens decided to form an alliance with Corcyra (although it is worth noting that two successive assembly meetings seemed likely to provide two different decisions), albeit a defensive alliance only. While Athens was not liable to assist Corcyra in any hostile actions against Corinth, it was now inevitably bound to fight the Corinthians in defence of Corcyra. Corinth could therefore be presented as responsible for any resulting clash (Thucydides 1.44), since it had made the decision to attack Corcyra. After attacking Corcyra, the Corinthians were driven back by Athenian ships. However, they felt that they had been wronged by Athens since they had chosen to make a treaty with Corcyra without any compulsion, and had fought against them, despite the treaty being in place. Corcyra was left unharmed but this was the first comlaint (Thucydides 1.55)

Question 21

Where and what was Potidaea

Answer 21

Potidaea was a Corinthian colony on the Chalcidice peninsular (the three pronged promontory at the very top of the Aegean), but was a tribute paying member of the Athenian alliance. Thuycdides 1.56

Question 22

What were Corinths Motives

Answer 22

To seek revenge after Corcyra
Now felt hatred after first Peloponnesian War (Thuycdides 1.103)

Question 23

What was happening on Macedonia that helped cause the conflict

Answer 23

Perdiccas, the King of Macedonia, was also stirring up trouble in the north, trying to provoke Athens into a war against the Peloponnesians, because they had supported his brother in his claim to the throne. He was also hoping to detach various northern states that bordered his own to provide himself with a series of buffer states to strengthen his own position.

Question 24

What did Athens do?

Answer 24

Worried that Potidaea would revolt, the Athenians demanded that they pull down their fortifications, expel her Corinthian-sent magistrates and send hostages to Athens. In response to the machinations of Perdiccas, Athens also sent a sizeable military force to secure Potidaea. Thuycdides 1.56-58

Question 25

What did the Potidaeans do?

Answer 25

The Potidaeans sent representatives to Athens to complain about any changes to the status quo. They also sent representatives to the Spartan ephors (five chief magistrates). Although nothing was achieved at Athens, the ephors promised to attack Athens if it attacked Potidaea.

Question 26

What happened in Potidaea

Answer 26

When the Potidaeans did revolt, the Spartans did not come to their aid, suggesting that there was still not a majority in the Spartan assembly that wanted war. Corinth did send aid, while Athens sent more forces to strengthen its earlier contingent. The ongoing siege of Ppotidaea gave Corinth yet another cause for ill-felling towards Athens, since her troops were fighting on the side of the Potidaeans. Thuycdides 1.60-61 and 1.61

Question 27

What did the Megarian Decree do?

Answer 27

Exclude Megara from all Athenian ports and from the market of Athens itself

“In particular the delegates from Megara, after mentioning a number of other grievances, pointed out that, contrary to the terms of the treaty, they were excluded from all the ports in the Athenian empire and from the market of Athens itself.”

Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War 1.67

Question 28

What was the main thing that could have stopped war according to Thuycdides?

Answer 28

Revoked the Megarian Decree

“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.”

Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War 1.139

Question 29

Who opposed the Megarian decree?

Answer 29

Pericles

Thuycdides 1.140

Question 30

Why was Pericles against the Decree?

Answer 30

Plutarch gives a range of options, for his stubbornness. Were the Spartan demands a test, to see how easily Athens could be pushed around? Was it all down to some personal grudge on Pericles’ part? Had he proposed the decree to distract attention for the embezzlement of his friend Pheidias, the chief sculptor of the Parthenon? In contrast, the pro-Periclean Thucydides presents his strategy as that of a purposeful leader, who is clear about what lies in Athens’ best interests. He gives no suggestion that Pericles was opposed by some in Athens at this time.

Question 31

Whats another reason for the repulsion by Pericles (Megarian decree)

Answer 31

The most unusual account of the cause of the War was given by the comic poet Aristophanes in his play The Acharnians (produced in 425). This says that the Megarians ‘stole’ two prostitutes from Aspasia, Pericles’ Milesian mistress. The whole decree, and this the whole war, issued from Aspasia and Pericles’ desire to get revenge. This is perhaps unlikely as an actual cause of war, but very much in keeping with the earthy humour of Aristophanes’ plays, but what is striking is that, even when creating a bizarre situation for laughs, he firmly associates the decree and the ensuing war with Pericles.

Question 32

Pericles actions to prevent war

Answer 32

Was Pericles determined to provoke Sparta to war through this ‘game of chicken’? Plutarch reports a story that he was busily engaged in bribing the authorities at Sparta to buy himself time (he sent ten talents annually - Pericles 23.1-2), even though he knew war was almost certainly on the horizon. Was the Megarian decree in fact an attempt to punish a rival state for defecting from the Delian League and fighting with the hated Corinthians at Corcyra, but without declaring out-and-out war and invalidating the 30 Year Peace? These questions are difficult to answer on the basis of the evidence available to us, and seem to have been similarly difficult for the ancients themselves, as attested by Plutarch’s account.

According to this view it was the Spartan envoys that made a bigger deal of the decree than necessary when they stated that it was the chief point obstructing peace (Thucydides 1.139)

Question 33

What happened to Aegina in the First Peloponnesian war

Answer 33

Aegina had lost to Athens in the First Peloponnesian War and was a subject member of the Delian League.

Question 34

What did Aegina do?

Answer 34

Brought their complaints to Sparta

A brief reference in Thuc. 1.67 says that Aegina sided with Corinth when they complained to the Spartans because they ‘had not been given the independence promised them by the treaty.’

Question 35

What do we know about the Aegina case?

Answer 35

Little context is known about this, although it might be reasonable to view it as less important than the other, more prominently discussed reasons

Question 36

Where is it mentioned?

Answer 36

While not mentioned in his account of the outbreak of the War, the incident in the Ambracian Gulf is reported by Thuc. at 2.68.

Question 37

What happened in The Ambracian Gulf

Answer 37

A localised conflict pitted Ambracia, which had ties to Corinth, against Amphilochian Argos and Acaranania. The latter two appealed to Athens, which provided them with military assistance. Athens was once again interfering in the affairs of the Corinthians.

Question 38

What grievances did both sides have?

Answer 38

Both sides felt they had grievances against the other. Corinth led the Peloponnesian states to petition Sparta to lead them against Athens. Thucydides gives them a speech that offers a stinging rebuke of Spartan inaction, which they claim has allowed Athens to abuse its position of power, and make itself a threat to those states currently outside of their League.

Question 39

What is the Corinthian Complaint?

Answer 39

“When one is deprived of one’s liberty one is right in blaming not so much the man who puts the fetters on as the one who had the power to prevent him, but did not use it – especially when such a one rejoices in the glorious reputation of having been the liberator of Hellas.”
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War 1.69

Question 40

What did Athens do in response to the Corinthian Complaint?

Answer 40

In return the Athenians chose not to contest the accusations levelled against them by the Corinthians, but to defend their tight grip on their empire. They said that it was a ‘law of nature’ that the strong should be subservient to the week, that they had not set out intentionally to acquire their empire, but that it would be madness to throw it away now, and that others would doubtless have proved to be crueller overlords.

Question 41

What did Sparta do in response to the Corinthian Complaint?

Answer 41

The Spartans then debated the proposal of war. King Archidamus II pointed out a number of tactical criteria that would need to be fulfilled if Athens were to be defeated: the Peloponnesians would need a navy, they would need Persian support/money and Athens’ allies would need to rebel and abandon her. Thucydides makes Archidamus unusually (suspiciously?) prescient on this front…

Question 42

What did Sthenelaidas do?

Answer 42

Although he would be responsible for the conduct of any war that took place, the King had less effective political authority than the Ephors. One, Sthenelaidas delivered a blunt, no-nonsense speech calling for action, not debate. Although it was not the case that everyone was in favour of war at the start of the voting (conducted by shouting loudly), Sthenelaidas’ stage management of the process achieved a clear majority in favour of war. Thuycdides 1.86-88

Question 43

What did Corinth do?

Answer 43

This vote then had to be endorsed by the Peloponnesian allies. Again, Corinth took the lead, pointing out that Athens was able to be defeated and that there was a moral imperative to do so. Thuycdides 1.121-122

Question 44

What was Spartas final action?

Answer 44

Sparta delivered a final ultimatum to the Athenians. They said that they still desired peace and that this could be achieved if Athens agreed to the various Peloponnesian demands and ‘gave the Hellenes their freedom’. Athens’ rights to lead its League had been enshrined in the terms of the 30 Year Peace, so this last demand was not a return to some agreed ideal, but a ‘rolling back’ of the status quo guaranteed fourteen years earlier. Nonetheless the Spartan demands were intended to put the ball in the Athenian court and therefore attempt to lreave ultimate responsibility for peace or war with the Athenians.

Question 45

What was Athens’ response to this ultimatum?

Answer 45

Athens could not agree to these demands. Quite apart from the points she had made before the Spartan assembly, her revenues were intrinsically tied to the League. Pericles spoke in defiance of the Spartan ultimatum, and he was convinced that Athens, protected by its navy and the Long Walls and with its League behind it, could win against the Peloponnesians. Thuycdides 1.139-140