From B.c. 668, the close of the second Meesenian war, Sparta con tinued in a course of uninterrupted success, till she became supreme iu the Peloponneeus, and pre-eminent in all Greece. The old contest with Tegea was at last decided in her favour, about the year B.C. 545. (Herod., 1. 68.) Nearly at the sense time the contest with Argos, for the possession of the tract of land called Thyren, of which the Spartans had made themselves masters in the third generation after the conquest, was decided by a battle of 300 champions on each side, in which Argos lost the day, and Thyrea3 was won by the Spartans. (Herod., i. S2.) About B.C. 525, the Spartans were again in hostilities with Argos, and victorious over them in a decisive battle. At the instigation of the Delphian oracle they invaded Attica, under their king Cleomenes, for the purpose of expelling the usurper flipping, an object which they effected in B.C. 510. Five years afterwards they again appeared in Attica as the supporters of the aristocratic party headed by Is:igen-5 : they were led by Cleomenes; but the Spartan king, who had occupied the citadel, was obliged to capitulate, and submit to the terms dictated by the popular party at Athens. The expulsion of the Pisistratidre from Athens, and the aid furnished by the Athenians to some of the revolted subjects of Persia, gave occa sion to the Persian war. The battle of Marathon followed (n.c. 490), the honour of sharing in which the Spartans lost, from a superstitious regard to an ancient custom which forbade them to set out on an expedition before the moon was at the full. (Herod., vi. 100.) But ten years afterwards, when Xerxes invaded Greece, they fought against him, first at Thermopylae, then at Salamis, and lastly at Platrea. At Thermopylae, Leonidas, the Spartan king, with a handful of troops, long defied the boats of the enemy; and at last, after dismissing his allies, fell, with his 300 Spartan citizens, in obedience, as their epitaph recorded of them, to the laws of their country. At Salamis, the chief command on the Greek side was entrusted to the Spartan Bury blades, though the Lacedmmonians furnished only 16 ships, and the Athenians 180; and had not Themistocles interposed, Greece would have been ruined by his irresolute aud narrow-minded policy. At the battle of Plateca, n.c. 479, the Spartans were Present with a force of 5000 citizens, 5000 provincials, and 35,000 Helots; the chief com mand was in the hands of Pausanias, their general, and the valour and firmnesa of his troops mainly contributed to the success of the Grecian arms.
In the year C.C. 477 commenced what is called the Athenian ascen dency. The war was still caned on against Persia, in the Hellespont, and Off the coast of Asia Minor, by the confederates, under the com mand of the Spartan Pausanias; the Athenian admirals being Aristides and Cimon. Pausanias by his haughtiness and arrogance disgusted the allies, who, with the exception of Egina and the Poloponuesian states, called upon the Athenians to accept the supremacy in the alliance. (Thucyd., 1. 95.) In the mean time Pausanias was recalled, and another commander was sent out in his stead; but it was too late; the confederates refused to submit to his command, whereupon ho and his colleagues retired altogether from the conduct of the war, and left it to the Athenians.
The Spartans were on the eve of invading Attica as allies of the Thasiaos, when a domestic disaster occurred to preveut them. This was caused by a shock of an earthquake (n.c. 464), so violent that the whole of Laconia W/9 shaken by it, and, according to one account, only five houses were left standing in Sparta. The Helots, the
descendants of the conquered Alesennans, took advantage of this occurrence to rise against their oppressors, and, iu conjunction with some of the Periceci, occupied their former stronghold of Ithome. The Spartaos, not being very skilful as besiegers, solicited the assist ance of the Athenians, who sent Cimon with a force to help them. Their assistance however not proving so efficacious as was expected, the Spartans doubted their good faith, and dismissed them. The Athenians resented the affront by allying themselves with tho Argives, the old enemies of the Spartans, and shortly afterwards met them at Tanagra in &coda, as they were returning from an expedition into Doris, their mother country. A pitched battle was the consequence la which the Athenians were defeated with great loos (ac. 457). In a.c. 4SS the third Meesenian war was concluded by the surrender of Ithaca.. The jealousy and distrust between the two states led to the P elopoologian war, which lasted from ac. 431 for 27 years. The issue of this war is related in the article Arrtrvs (voL i. col. 637). It ended In the overthrow of Athena and the restoration of Sparta to the undis puted supremacy over the rest of Greece, after Athens had divided it with her for 73 years. One of Sparta'* moat valuable allies in the latter part of the war was the Persian Cyrus, and to show their grati tude to him, the Spartans furnished him with auxiliaries in his attempt to dethrone his brother Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. Cyrus failed; and the Ionian cities which had favoured him refused to submit to the satrap Thaaphernes, the successor of Cyrus in his pro siness. Being too weak to resist him, they applied to Sparta, who sent • considerable force to aid thins in asserting their independence. A reinforcement was afterwards (n.c. 396) sent out under the king Agesilans, with a view of anticipating a threatened invasion of Greece by the Persians. Ilia gumless.s against the Persians were so great as to entronrage him to form the design of overthrowing the Persian empire. But he was unexpectedly stopped in his preparations for this design. The satrap Tithmustes, unable to cope with him in the field, rent agents with a sum of money into Greece, raised a oonfecle racy against Sparta, which included amongst its members Thebes, Argo., Corinth, and Athens. War first broke out between Thebes and Sparta ; and the Laced.emonlans, having invaded Bcootia, were defeated at lIsliartus, n.c. 395, with the loss of their general Lysander, who was slain under the walls. Agesilaus was summoned home. But before he arrived another engagement was fought, "the great battle," that of Corinth (n.c. 394), in which the Lacedremonians gained the victory with a very trifling loos. This victory however was counter balanced by a naval defeat by the Athenians off Cnidus. An army of the confederates was again assembled on the plain of Coroneia, where Agesilana met them on his march homewards, and completely defeated them. The Spartan. however were dispirited by the defeat of a brigade of their heavy-armed infantry (the more) by the light-armed targeteers of 1phierates, an Athenian general ; and harassed by the descents on the Laconian coasts by Conon and Pharnabazns, they con sented to negotiate a peace in the eighth year of the war, under the mediation of the Persian king. The convention was known by the name of the peace of Antalcidas (n.c. 387) and was highly favourable to Sparta.