The Peloponnesian War the Decline of the Polis
BCE Greek Hoplites Greek Trireme The Silver Mines at Lavrium increased Athenian Wealth and Prestige Shortly After the War The Periclean Building Programs
Named after Pericles (c BCE), the Athenian general/statesman who championed the building program Parthenon started in 447 BCE with money from the Delian league Numerous temples built in the Parthenon complex as well as around Athens The Athenian Acropolis c. 430BCE The Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, 448-432 BCE
Concrete replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee's Centennial Park Map ofAthens c BCE Acropolis from the Agora Herodotus & Thucydides Aeschylus, Sophocles & Euripides Socrates, Plato, Aristotle Gymnasia Spartan Women Spartan Culture and Architectural Styles Theater of Dionysus Theater at Delphi Is this play a demonstration of Aristophanes feminist sympathies?
How does this play reflect Athens situation in the war? Does this play reflect a right wing agenda? How does the play begin? With Lysistrata calling a meeting of women to discuss ending the war With Lysistrata packing her bags and leaving her husband With a prophecy from the Delphic oracle that the women of Athens will end the war With Pericles commending the women for supporting the war How does the play depict the Spartans?
As a bunch of belligerent hotheads; even the women were mean As fine physical specimens who speak in a rural dialect As the natural leaders of the Greek world; they had a daunting & commanding presence As sick and emaciated from the deprivations of war What were the conditions surrounding the production of Lysistrata?
Athens had won the war Athens and Sparta has just concluded the Peace of Nikias Athens had just concluded an alliance with Persia Athens had recently suffered a humiliating defeat at Syracuse Why did Athens and Sparta go to war?
Cultural Differences Political Rivalry Economic opportunity Incendiary events Trade embargo enforcement Confiscation of goods Influence of Demagogues Military Might of Athens and Sparta at the Beginning of the War c. 330 Course of the War Mediterranean Basin c. 350 BCE Overview Our Sources for the War Causes of War The Course of the War
Obstacles to Athenian Empire The Decline of the Polis Sources for Understanding the War
Thucydides (d. 400 BCE) describes the war as a profound tragedy blamed Athenian greed and influence of demagogues huge impact on later historiography Athenian documents Greek theater and especially Aristophanes Laws archeology The Causes of War Athenian hubris
expanding empire increased building need for tax revenues Relations with other city states: Corinth & Megara Rival alliances and treaties Spartan fears of Athenian domination The Course of the War Athenian strategy: Athens suffers disasters
avoid pitched battles on land use navy to raid enemy lands & deplete resources win a war of attrition due to superior resources Athens suffers disasters plague from Sicily campaign of slave revolt 413 losses at sea 406-4 Final defeat and the imposition of tyranny of The Thirty Obstacles to the Athenian Empire
The Peloponnesian League Loyalty of the Delian League The Peloponnesian War Athenian leaders Impoverishment of the Thetes Reliance on Mercenaries Confused loyalties Spartan Victory Sparta not equipped to assume Athens place as leading city-state lack of diplomatic skills laconic proud lack of governmental institutions With Spartas failure to assume leadership, Greece experienced a period of sustained internecine warfare and political fragmentation Effects of War on Athens
The economy of Athens revives somewhat after the war but never regains its widespread opulence it loses its empire and the revenue of empire due to high mortality of men, many widows who never before worked are forced to seek low paying work vineyards wet nurses weavers day labor Effects of War on Athens
Militarization of society - holdings of small farmers destroyed; many families forced to resort to mercenary work for survival decline of democracy - with a smaller portion of the population available for the leisure time demanded by Athenian public life, participatory democracy loses its constituency the formation of a ruling elite - in the coming decades, Plato and other influential educators advocate for government controlled by a ruling elite (e.g. philosopher kings) Search for scapegoats The Death of Socrates c. 400 BCE
Accused of disbelief in Athenian gods introducing new gods corruption of the Athenian youth Chose death rather than escape Became a martyr and symbol of unflinching belief in ethical actions represented in stories and artwork, particularly since the 18th century in the West Plato is our most complete source about his teachings but it is difficult to separate Socrates beliefs from those of Plato Summary The failure of Athens during the Peloponnesian War meant the failure of Greece to attain political unity Although the fourth century was a period of continued achievement for Athens in philosophy, science, and performing arts, politically it was a period of fragmentation and war until the Macedonians unified the Greeks in the 330s