by Joshua J. Mark
published on 06 July 2021
by Joshua J. Mark
published on 06 July 2021
Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the country in the popular imagination, and not without cause. It not only has its iconic ruins and the famous port of Piraeus but, thanks to ancient writers, its history is better documented than most other ancient Greek city-states.
The city began as a small community of the Mycenaean Civilization (c. 1700-1100 BCE) and grew into a city that, at its height, was associated with the development of democracy, philosophy, science, mathematics, drama and literature, art, and many other aspects of world culture and civilization including the Olympic Games. The city was burned in the Persian invasion of 480 BCE, rebuilt by the statesman Pericles (l. 495-429 BCE), and became the superpower of the ancient world through its formidable military and wealth.
Athens and Sparta had cooperated during the Persian War, but relations between these two most powerful states in mainland Greece deteriorated in the decades following the Greek victories of 479 B.C. The deterioration had progressed to open hostilities by the middle of the century. The peace struck in 446/4451 formally ended the fighting, supposedly for thirty years. New disagreements that arose in the 430s over how each of the two states should treat the allies of the other2 led to the collapse of the peace, however. When negotiations to settle the disagreements collapsed, the result was the devastating war of twenty-seven years that modern historians call the Peloponnesian War after the location of Sparta and most of its allies in the Peloponnese, the large peninsula that forms the southernmost part of mainland Greece. The war dragged on from 431 to 404 B.C. and engulfed almost the entire Greek world. This bitter conflict, extraordinary in Greek classical history for its protracted length, wreaked havoc on the social and political harmony of Athens, its economic strength, and the day-to-day existence of many of its citizens. The severe pressures that the war brought to bear on Athens were expressed most prominently in the comedies produced by Aristophanes3 on the Athenian dramatic stage during the war years.
by Mark Cartwright
published on 28 May 2013
Sparta was one of the most important city-states in ancient Greece and was famous for its military prowess. The professional and well-trained Spartan hoplites with their distinctive red cloaks and long hair were probably the best and most feared fighters in Greece, fighting with distinction at key battles against the Persian army at Thermopylae and Plataea in the 5th century BCE.
The city of Sparta was also in constant rivalry with the other major Greek cities of Athens and Corinth and became involved in two protracted and hugely damaging conflicts, the Peloponnesian Wars of the mid- to late-5th century BCE and the Corinthian Wars of in the early 4th century BCE.
UPDATED: | ORIGINAL:
Sparta was a warrior society in ancient Greece that reached the height of its power after defeating rival city-state Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). Spartan culture was centered on loyalty to the state and military service. Spartan boys entered a rigorous state-sponsored education, military training and socialization program. Known as the Agoge, the system emphasized duty, discipline and endurance. Although Spartan women were not active in the military, they were educated and enjoyed more status and freedom than other Greek women.