The period between B.C. 479 and 431, the year of the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, was the most brilliant in the history of Athens. The latter part of this period, called the age of Pericles, saw the complete democratization of the Athenian constitution. The Long Walls, con necting Athens with the port of Pincus, were now built, the city was beautified with many public buildings, the Propylna, the Parthenon, the Theseum, and others, and sculpture, art, and literature flourished. But irritation at the op pression of Athenian control, and the old spirit of independence, which always stood in the way of Greek unity, were silently at work; the height of Athenian power is marked by the battle of (Enophyta (n.c. 456) and the conquest of Ilmotia; in n.c. 447 Ihrotia revolted and the Athenians were defeated at Coronen. By the treaty which was then made, the Athenians en gaged not to interfere further in riceotian affairs, and by the Thirty Years' Truce, concluded two years later (me. 435), they acknowledged the leadership of Sparta in all Peloponnesian mat ters.
The situation of affairs in Greece at the time of which we are speaking was as follows: On one side was Athens, with her empire of subject and mostly discontented allies, comprising all the coast cities of Asia Minor as far south as Lycia, the cities along the Thracian and Chalcidian shores, and nearly all the islands of the 2Egean; and on the other, Sparta, with her voluntary con federacy of free and independent States, among which were numbered nearly all the States of the Peloponnesus, some in Northern Greece, and those of Italy and Sicily. Athens was a mari time power, with an efficient navy of 300 galleys; Sparta was preeminently a land power. Athens had a full treasury and a large annual revenue; Sparta was financially weak. Athens was demo cratic and progressive; Sparta was aristocratic and conservative. It was inevitable that the question of supremacy should at some time come to an issue between these two. The struggle was precipitated by the contentions between Corinth and her colony Corcyra, and the revolt of Poti dwa, from the Delian League. The war which now broke out in B.C. 431, which is known as the Peloponnesian War, lasted until B.C. 404, and resulted in the complete abasement of Athenian pride and the establishment of Spartan suprem acy. It may be divided into three periods: (1) from the beginning to the Peace of Nicias (B.C. 421) ; (2) from the Peace of Nicias to the Sicilian Expedition (B.C. 415) ; (3) from the Sicilian Expedition to the end (B.C. 404). The most important events of the first period were the surprise of PlatTa by the Thebans (B.C. 4311, the fall of Mitylene (B.c. 427), the capture of Plata by the Spartans (B.c. 427), the siege and capture of Sphacteria by the Athenians (B.C. 425), and the defeat of the Athenians by the Spartans at Amphipolis (B.c. 422). The Peace of Nicias, which was a peace in name but not in fact, left the two contending parties in prac tically the same relative position as before the war. In the second period there was more or less fighting between the different States of Greece, but no great battle. The ill-advised
Sicilian Expedition (B.c. 415-413) portended the ultimate result of the long contest; it left Athens broken and exhausted. The battle at the Argi nusn (B.c. 406) was an Athenian victory, but the capture of the Athenian ships. at iEgospotami in B.c. 405 put an end to the war. Athens sur rendered to the Spartan commander, Lysander, her walls were demolished, her ships were given up, she was deprived of her foreign possessions, and an oligarchical government was established in the city.
The body which was now set up at Athens con sisted of thirty members. and was known as the Thirty Tyrants. Similar bodies of ten were everywhere established by Lysander in the demo eraticaily ruled cities of Asia Minor and the isl ands. It soon became apparent, to those who had chafed under Athenian rule, that the rule of Sparta was destined to be much more harsh and oppressive than that of Athens had been. A change of feeling took place in many quarters. The Athenian exiles, joining under the lead of Thrasybulus, seized the fort of Phyle, a few miles north of Athens, entered the Piraeus, defeated in battle the forces of the Thirty, and secured the deposition of the Thirty and the appointment of a Council of Ten in their stead. These were later replaced by another board of ten, and a reconciliation was effected. The democracy was restored (B.c. 403) sixteen months after Ly sander had taken Athens.
The period of Spartan supremacy extended from the close of the Peloponnesian War to the battle of Leuctra, in B.c. 371. In B.C. 399 war broke out between Sparta and Persia, and in B.c. 397 Agesilaus, the King of Sparta, was sent to Asia to bring it to an end. He met with success and was about to carry the war into the interior of Asia, when be was called home to oppose a coalition of Greek States which had been formed against Sparta. The struggle that ensued is known as the Corinthian War. In B.C. 395 Ly sander was defeated and slain by the Thebans at Haliartus. The allies were defeated by Agesilaus at Coronea in B.C. 394, but in the same year the Lacednmonian fleet was defeated by Conon and Pharnabazus at Cnidus. Conon, returning to Athens, restored the fortifications of the Pi ncus and the Long Walls. The Corinthian War was continued in a petty way, and with varying fortune, until in B.c. 387 Sparta, through the me diation of Persia, imposed upon the Grecian States the disgraceful Peace of Antalcidas, in which the interests of the Asiatic Greeks were sacrificed. Five years later, in B.c. 382, Sparta treacherously seized the citadel of Thebes and overcame the Chalcidian city of Olynthus. Thebes was soon freed again by the Theban pa triot Pelopidas, and fighting was resumed be tween Athens, supporting Thebes, and Sparta, which was concluded in B.C. 371 by the Peace of Callias. Thebes refused to sign the treaty, and the Spartans invaded Bceotia. The issue was determined by the battle of Leuctra (B.c. 371), in which the Thebans, led by Epaminondas, thor oughly defeated the Spartans.