Peace of Nicias

Question 1

Alcibiades

Answer 1

Alcibiades was a new, young politician who orchestrated the failing of the Spartan embassy to Athens in 420 because he desired to increase his own political standing through conflict with the Spartans. After a subsequent Athenian embassy failed to achieve anything, he persuades the Athenians to enter into the quadruple alliance with Mantinea, Argos and Elis in 420. He is elected general in 419, but then not reelected in 418. In 418, he travels to the Peloponnese with 1000 hoplites and 300 cavalry even though he isn’t a general after the Argives had concluded their truce with the Spartans and persuades them to renew the fight with the Spartans, resulting in the defeat of the quadruple alliance in late 418.

Question 2

Hyperbolus

Answer 2

An upcoming Athenian politician who favored war with the Spartans. He calls an ostracism in 418-417 an in attempt to ostracize Nicias, but Nicias and Alcibiades end up cooperating and causing Hyperbolus to be ostracized instead.

Question 3

Orchomenus

Answer 3

The Polis which was taken and forced into alliance with the quadruple alliance in 418, forming the backdrop of the battle of Mantinea in 418.

Question 4

Agis

Answer 4

The Spartan King who negotiates with Thrasyllus in 418 and marches his troops home. In Sparta, he is severely fined and is threatened with the destruction of his house, making it up only with his victory over the quadruple alliance at the battle of Mantinea in 418.

Question 5

Thrasyllus

Answer 5

The Argive commander who, when the Spartan and Argive forces are ready to fight, calls negotiations with King Agis due to fear of them losing. Negotiating a truce and causing the Spartans to march home, he is nearly stoned to death by the people of Argos who believed he had the opportunity to defeat the Spartans.

Question 6

Epidarus

Answer 6

A polis near the Troizen which was continually invaded by Argos and the quadruple alliance in 420/419. Eventually, they receive a Spartan garrison of 300 hoplites and they successfully defend themselves against the Argives.

Question 7

Xenares

Answer 7

One of the Spartan Ephors elected in late 421 who was against the Peace of Nicias, assisting in turning away an Athenian embassy that aimed to negotiate in 421/420.

Question 8

Cleoboulos

Answer 8

One of the Spartan Ephors elected in late 421 who was against the Peace of Nicias, assisting in turning away an Athenian embassy that aimed to negotiate in 421/420.

Question 9

Argos

Answer 9

The longtime rival of Sparta whose truce with Sparta ended in 421. Argos decides to form a league with other Peloponnesians and eventually Athens, leading a number of expeditions into Epidarus in 420. Argos loses to the Spartans at the battle of Mantinea in 419, forcing her to sign a truce with Spartan and refrain from allying with the Athenians.

Question 10

Tegea

Answer 10

An important Polis and member of the Peloponnesian League which refuses to join the Argive coalition in 421 upon fear that the Spartans would quickly invade and destroy them owing to their close proximity. They assist the Spartans when they march out against Argos in early 419, and call on them to come to Mantinea in late 419 which results in the battle of Mantinea.

Question 11

Boeotia

Answer 11

A collection of politically unified Poleis that were allied to Sparta during the Archidamian war. The Boeotians refuse to give the fort of Panactum which they had captured back to the Athenians, and they only do so by forcing Sparta to enter into an independent alliance with them. When the Boeotians do hand back Panactum, they destroy the fort making it effectively useless to the Athenians.

Question 12

Megara

Answer 12

A key polis in the Peloponnese, which refuses to join the Argive alliance in 421 because they feared the radical nature of the Argive democracy.

Question 13

Chalcidice

Answer 13

A region near Thrace in which some states formerly in the Delian League had revolted from Athens due to the efforts of Brasidas in the late 420s. They enter in alliance with Argos in 421 after hearing the terms of the Peace of Nicias.

Question 14

Corinth

Answer 14

Corinth was outraged by the Peace of Nicias, none of her losses at the hands of the Athenians had been addressed including her loss of the naval bases at Anactorium and Sollium. Corinth spurs the Argives into forming their own independent alliance against Sparta, but after Tegea refuses to join the Corinthians become fearful, eventually siding with the Spartans and assisting them at the battle of Mantinea in 418.

Question 15

Elis

Answer 15

A key Peloponnesian polis which joined the Argives in 421, leaving the Peloponnesian League. The Elean contingent of 3000 hoplites leaves before the battle of Mantinea in 418 due to a dispute with Mantinea, and after the defeat Elis rejoins the Peloponnesian League.

Question 16

Mantinea

Answer 16

A key Peloponnesian polis which joined the Argives in 421, due to resentment against Sparta thinking that they would have to give back territorial gains they had achieved during the Archidamian war. After the battle of Mantinea which occurs near the city itself in 418, the Mantineans negotiated a separate truce with the Spartans and agreed to give back their contested territory.

Question 17

Sollium

Answer 17

A Corinthian port in Western Greece which had been captured by the Athenians during the Archidamian war. The Corinthians were enraged that it had not been given back to them under the terms of the Peace of Nicias.

Question 18

Anactorium

Answer 18

A Corinthian port in Western Greece which had been captured by the Athenians during the Archidamian war. The Corinthians were enraged that it had not been given back to them under the terms of the Peace of Nicias.

Question 19

Cythera

Answer 19

An island that the Athenians had captured in 424 which they used as a naval base to raid the Peloponnesian coast. It was meant to be given back to the Spartans under the Peace of Nicias, but the Athenians refused to do so since the Spartans did not restore Amphipolis or Panactum.

Question 20

Pylos

Answer 20

The naval and land fort that had been captured and built by the Athenians in 425, resulting them in capturing over 300 Spartan prisoners including 120 Spartiates. Pylos was meant to be given to the Spartans as per the Peace of Nicias but the Athenians refused to do so after the Spartans failed to give them Amphipolis and Panactum. The Athenians did remove their garrison of Messenian raiders that were stationed there, but reinstalled them in 419 by pressure of Argos.

Question 21

Nicias

Answer 21

An influential Athenian politician who had gained influence after the death of Cleon in 422. He was the chief negotiator of the Peace of Nicias of which bares his own name, but he lost popularity after his delegation to the Spartans achieved very little in 420.

Question 22

Pleistoanax

Answer 22

The Spartan King who was banished in 446 for allegedly accepting a bribe from Pericles to withdraw the Spartans from Attica. In 426 he returned to Sparta and wanted to establish peace between Athens and Sparta, negotiating with Nicias to do so during the Peace of Nicias.

Question 23

Panactum

Answer 23

An Athenian fort near the frontier of Boeotia that was seized by the Boeotians during the Archidamian war. In the terms of the Peace of Nicias, the fort was intended to be handed back to the Athenians, however the Boeotians refused to do so until the Spartans made an alliance with them. Even still, the Boeotians returned the fort to the Athenians completely destroyed and useless militarily.