ANTAL'CIDAS, a Spartan politician, who made himself conspicuous in a very perilous crisis of the history of his nation by the skillful character of his policy. Some time after the Peloponnesian war, it seemed as if Athens were destined to regain the supremacy she had lost. The Greek states rallied round her; while Conon, an able and vigilant Athen ian admiral, and his ally, Pharnabazus, the Persian, were everywhere victorious in their naval encounters with the Spartan fleet. It became necessary, therefore, that communi cations should be entered into with the Persian king, from whom the confederate Greeks drew their chief resources. A. was chosen ambassador to Tiribazus, satrap of Western Asia. On hearing this, the Athenians grew alarmed, and sent Conon to frustrate the schemes of the former; but Tiribazus took A.'s part, and the result was, that Conon was thrown into prison, and A. secretly received money to enable Sparta to continue the war. At first, Artaxerxes, the Persian monarch, was dissatisfied with the conduct of his satrap, recalled him, and put Struthas, a friend of Athens, in his place; but through a complication of circumstances, which it is unnecessary to mention. A. was subsequently completely successful in securing the goodwill of Artaxerxes. He was now appointed admiral of the Spartan fleet, and assisted by Tiribazus, Ariobarzanes, etc., swept the seas
until Athens became desirous of peace. For various reasons, so was Argos and Sparta herself. Tiribazus therefore assembled deputies from the Greek states, and, in the name of his master Artaxerxes, read the famous declaration or treaty of peace, to which all the members present agreed, and which is known in history under the name of "the peace of Antalcidas," as being the result of the latter's able diplomacy. Its three great points were as follows: 1. That all the Greek towns on the mainland of Asia Minor, together with the islands Clazomene and Cyprus, should remain under the pro tection of Persian king. 2. That all other Greek towns, large and small, should be independent; but that the islands of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros should belong to Athens. 3. That war should be declared against whatever state refused to accept these points. After this peace, the history of becomes doubtful and obscure. He seems to have lost favor with the Persians, and Plutarch even leads us to suppose that, sickened by misfortune and the loss of reputation, he voluntarily starved himself to death; but this story is not credited by scholars, both on account of its intrinsic improb ability and its apparent disagreement with the statements of other writers.