The History of Athens, Greece Athens’ history dates back longer than any other European city. Located in Greece, Athens has been able to convert to the modern ways of the world while maintaining its ancient atmosphere. Athens is assumed to have begun as a small Neolithic hill-fort on top of Acropolis sometime in the third millennium BC, and the city today has come a long way by building a very successful society with over five million residents. In the beginning, the geographic location and climate played a role in why people chose to live here, but today people travel from all over the world to witness the rich history of the city for themselves. Over time, Athens contributed in huge ways to the world’s heritage, and it became the leading …show more content…
The Golden Age is proof that much more history has survived in Athens compared to any other Greek city-state, and it was during this period that Athens reached its climax of cultural and imperial achievements. Many successful events happened in this time period; such as, the building of the Parthenon and the creation of many famous sculptures and paintings. The unique culture of Athens made it the center of intellectual life. The Golden Age was not full of happy endings, but instead many fatal, bloody wars began raging throughout Greece. Until the Peloponnesian war, Athens continued to experience many cultural achievements. The Peloponnesian war started when Sparta and Athens became hostile with one another. Athens won the war after twenty-seven years of fighting and brought an end to the Golden Age. Many people probably wonder what would be the cause for the two major powers of Greece, Sparta and Athens, to become so hostile that it resulted in a bloody battle that lasted over two decades. Spartan leaders saw Athens as a threat due to the popularity and success of democracy in Athens and how it could interfere with Sparta’s conservative Oligarchy. The threat of Athens military power made Sparta fear that their state would lose its dominance. Sparta interfered and finally got what …show more content…
Athens attacked Sicily, but with the help of the Spartans, the Sicily city of Syracuse broke the blockade the Athenians had set up. The Spartans defeated the Athenian army and then destroyed them once they tried to retreat. Athens was now stuck in a political turmoil, and their democracy was overthrown by the oligarchical party. Due to several military victories, the Athenian navy found confidence in themselves and decided to begin working on restoring the democracy. Sparta offered to come to a peace agreement with Athens, but Athenian democratic leaders declined which lead to the war at sea to continue. In 404 BC the war finally ended with the Athenians surrendering and Sparta stripping them of their empire. Fortunately, Sparta did not destroy the city itself. Athens capitulated and their defeat resulted as the worst war so far in history, hurting Greece’s military strength. Thucydides who was an Athenian general during the war stated that the cause behind the war was human greed and desire for power, and he viewed the war as a complete disaster. Many people probably wonder how it was possible for Athens to still be a powerful city after all the devastation the city went through. Fortunately, all the events leading up to the loss to Sparta helped keep Athens history alive and the achievements of Athens in philosophy, drama, and art continued even after the city’s success faded. After a long
He witnessed the formation of Periclean democracy, including the institution of public pay for the democratic jury-courts. Athens also became the first organized global naval power worldwide. He witnessed the long war ending Athenian greatness. This knowledge is important because it suggests Socrates' spent his youth and early manhood during the divides of Post-war and Pre-war Europe. According to University Press, Inc., this was “The War fought between the two leading city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta. The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) took place between the Athenian empire and Peloponnesian league lead by the Spartans. The Peloponnesian league was a coalition of the Thebes, Corinth and Sparta. The war was divided into 3 phases: The Archidamian War, The Sicilian war and The Ionian or Decelean War phase. The war commenced on 4 April 431 B.C. when the Thebans launched a surprise attack on Plataea, who was a partner of Athens. The war ended on 25 April 404 B.C. when Athens
The Peloponnesian War pitted the Athenians against the Spartans. The Peloponnesians’ were an alliance of city-states controlled by Sparta. These two powerful city-states became locked in a struggle for dominance of the eastern Mediterranean area. The roots of the conflict and in particular this expedition is highly complex. As Thucydides says in his history of the war, the underlying cause was Spartan fear of Athens' expansive power. But, the triggering event was Athens' aggressive behavior towards Corinth, an ally of Sparta.
The Peloponnesian war was fought between the two city states in ancient Greece, being Athens and Sparta. These two cities had alliances that, between them, included close to every Greek city-state. The Peloponnesian war was inevitable because Athens was too hungry for power, and tried to take total control of Greece. Athens’s growth in military and economic power led to the beginning of a bloody war.
Throughout the Ancient Greek world, there have been many wars and standoffs. However, there has been only one which changed the course of Greek history forever; the Peloponnesian War. Caused by the growing tension between Athens and Sparta, it came and left, leaving only destruction in its wake. The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War caused the downfall of Greece, and the end of the Classical Age.
The Peloponnesian War: Athenian Victory American poet James A. Baldwin once said, "People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them." By this he means that people cannot escape history and that history is ultimately shaped by humans. In addition, history is a continuous cycle of repeated events, but what happens if one of those events never occurred? The ancient Athenians and the ancient Spartans fought for a total of twenty-seven years in the Peloponnesian War.
This assessment is accurate however there are other causes which led to conflict between Athens and the Spartans, which many historians have discussed the different causes of the Peloponnesian War, the two equal but different powers in control of Greece and the surrounding area. Athens with a democratic rule expanded by using the surrounding waterways for trade and developing a great navy. Sparta with an oligarchic rule settled in by developing a thriving agriculture community and a land based army. The balance of power leans towards Sparta and her allies. Sparta already feared
During the fifth century bc, Athens had war with Persians, the result of this war had make establishment of democracy to Geek. Acropolis of Athens is an important
The Peloponnesian War brought disease, destruction, famine, widespread civil wars, and a huge loss of life. The war was a complete catastrophe for Athens, who never fully regained their empire back. Sparta won the war, but they didn’t become a great city and a new empire was never built. Sparta attempted to lead the Greeks, but soon fell short and new leaders were called forth.
After holding back the second Persian invasion during the Greco-Persian war, the Spartan king Pausanias was disgraced, and Sparta withdrew from the war (Thuc.1.95). This allowed Athens to gain leadership in the war, and several years later, establish themselves as leaders within the Delian League (Holland 2005: 362). Throughout the age of the Pentecontaetia (period of fifty years), the League continued its attacks on the Persians. It is during this period that Athens established itself as an empire. As time wore on, the Athenian Empire became more and more powerful, and it is here that they made their first blunder, setting themselves up for a disadvantage in the Peloponnesian War: by extending its power and subjected most of her allies in the Delian
430, Athens offered peace and Sparta refused. Then, in late 429, .Athens won two important naval battles (Chalcis and Naupactus) and Sparta started to regret their refusal. A year later Spartans ally, Mitylene was being attacked and Sparta just left them to surrender. This was contradicted by Plataea, Athens' ally, surrendered because Thebes had completely destroyed their city and population. But, this did not stop Athens. They began to take the lead, yet only after a big loss. It seems the war was at a stalemate.
The Peloponnesian war (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens against the Peloponnesian led by Sparta. Thucydides famously claims that the war started “because the Spartans were afraid of further growth of Athenian power, seeing as they did have the greater part of Hellas was under the control of Athens”. The two main protagonists from opposing sides Lysander and Alcibiades had the most influential impact on the end of the war.
The 27-year Peloponnesian War, between Sparta and Athens demonstrated the difficulties of fighting battles at home and abroad. It is by far the most significant protracted war in Greek history where two powerful states had to modify their strategies as the war evolved over time. Both states suffered significant damage but Sparta’s ability to change their strategic approach and with the financial backing from Persia won the battle.
The Peloponnesian War was the turning point in Athenian hegemony in Ancient Greece. It was fought in 431 B.C. between the Delian League, led by Athens, and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. According to Thucydides, Athens’ imposing hegemonic status and its overwhelming quest for more power made the Peloponnesian War and Athens’s eventual fall from power inevitable. Despite the Athenians having a far more superior navy and being considerably wealthier, they were defeated and made subjects of Sparta. In this paper, I will discuss Thucydides’ and Socrates’ reasons for why
The last Olympic swimmer just touched the wall and the race has ended. Cameras are replaying every single movement from the race and a winner has been clearly decided. Just as these Olympic swimmers will gain a medal for placing, ancient Athens had numerous accomplishments of its own. Athens “prosperity … was due in large part to its stable and effective government” (SOURCE 1). When analyzing the history of ancient Athens, is easy to see how the accomplishments of a democracy, Greek philosophy, and Greek literature all shape Athens.
Greece’s Golden Age can be defined as a time of flourishing. There are many changes that occurred during this time that changed Athens for the better. Athens made the important decision of splitting itself from Sparta, who they constantly differed with. “It is from this split that the Athenian Empire was created” (Hunt 80). This split illustrates the certainty that the Athenians possessed in terms of creating a better nation. Athens developed an empire because democracy was expensive. In order for democracy to be created, you need an empire to raise money. The Athenian empire was well-known for its excellent trading along with the arts and sciences that developed during this time. When trade flourished, the polis grew which created