Athens in Defeat
Towards the end of the Peloponnesian wars, a brief revolution (411) had brought an oligarchy to power in Athens – the rule of the 400. It lasted two years before internal divisions and mutiny in the fleet restored the democracy.
Now, after the war, Sparta imposed another oligarchic government. She also dismantled the Long Walls which encircled the city and her port, reduced her fleet to twelve galleys, for local patrol work, and bound Athens to her with an alliance that effectively turned her into a Spartan subject. This was in fact a great deal better than some of Sparta’s allies had been urging her to do, which was to wipe Athens off the face of the map and sell her people into slavery.
The rule of the oligarchs, or “Thirty Tyrants” as they were called, soon degenerated into a reign of terror. The next year (403) this provoked the inevitable revolution to restore democracy. Surprisingly, the Spartans allowed this.
Gradually economic conditions improved, and a degree of normality returned to life for Athenians. A blot on the record of this restored democracy was the trial and (reluctant and somewhat accidental) execution of Socrates, but otherwise the Athenians conducted their public life with a businesslike moderation.
The most exciting adventures for an Athenian in fact happened hundreds of miles away where the soldier Xenophon found himself and 10,000 mercenary companions stranded in the middle of the huge Persian empire on the wrong side of a civil war. He later wrote up the story of how this force fought its way through enemy-held territory and even more hostile terrain to reach the sea and freedom; a tale that was an immediate best-seller and has been widely read in the West ever since.
Sparta in Victory
In the wider world, Sparta, the victor in the Peloponnesian war, was soon more unpopular than Athens had ever been. She had set up oligarchies (“Boards of Ten”) to govern Athens’ former allies, and these quickly provoked their populations into revolt, just as at Athens.
This, and the jealousy of other leading Greek states (duly inflamed by Persian diplomacy and gold), led her to find herself at war as early as 395 with a coalition which included Argos (her traditional enemy in the Peloponnese), Corinth, Thebes and Athens.
This war checked her power for a time, and enabled Athens to rebuild her Long Walls as well as to start re-building her fleet. The Persian king, preoccupied as he was by revolts closer to home, had come to the conclusion that his empire’s interests could best be served by peace on its western border. He therefore brought the war to an end by proposing to all the leading Greek states that, in exchange for the Ionian cities once again coming under Persian rule, she would leave the mainland states in peace, and that they in turn should respect the independence of each other.
For their own different reasons the leading states agreed to this, and the King’s Peace, as it was called, came into being in 387 BC.
Sparta was in fact the chief beneficiary of this Peace. She set about bringing her own allies under stricter control, and, posing as the champion of the “independence” clauses of the Peace, marched north, sacked the city of Olynthos and dissolved its growing League (382). In the course of this adventure a Theban oligarchic faction opened the city to a Spartan garrison, who then remained there to guaranty the rule of the new pro-Spartan regime. These events marked the high point of Spartan power.
The Rising Power of Thebes
In 379 the Thebans expelled the Spartan garrison and re-imposed their rule in Boiotia. Sparta could not stand by and let this happen, and invaded Boiotia on an annual basis for several years.
The Spartans were keen to avoid the heavy losses even a victorious battle might bring (they number of full Spartan citizens, the core of her army, had been declining for more than a century), so they achieved very little besides actually strengthening the control Thebes had over her neighbours.
Eventually the Spartans did confront the Thebans in a set battle, at Leuktra (371), Due to the inspired generalship of the Theban commander, Epaminondas, the Spartans lost heavily; hundreds of their precious Spartiates were killed, and the myth of Spartan invincibility was gone. The following year, on the invitation of the Arcadians, Sparta’s hereditary enemies, Epaminondas marched into the Peloponnese and liberated Messenia and fortified their fortress of Ithome. He failed to take Sparta itself, and many of Sparta’s allies, and even her helots, stood by her.
Over the next few years the power of Thebes was felt throughout Greece, provoking Athens, Sparta and some smaller cities to ally against her. Finally, in 362, at the battle of Leuctra, her leader Epaminondas was killed and her forces fought to a draw. This effectively checked her expansion.
Athenian Renaissance
Meanwhile, the power of Athens had been on the increase again, and fear of Spartan and a renascent Persian naval power had caused her to form, and her former allies to join, a new League. At one point it included seventy states. However, the Athenians’ uncontrollably imperialistic tendencies caused leading states to secede from it in 357/355.
Athens was thereafter never able to recover anything like her former greatness. Her cultural life continued unabated, however; this was the age of Plato, and his foundation of the Academy, which was to remain the most revered institute of higher education throughout the rest of ancient history; the age too of Praxiteles, for some art historians the greatest of Greek sculptors.
By now, however, events were taking place in the north that would dim for ever the independent life of the city-states of ancient Greece. Macedonia, under its shrewd king Philip II, was expanding, and increasingly involving itself with the affairs of its southern neighbours.
Macedon
Macedon was a kingdom to the north of Greece. Indeed, the Macedonians themselves claimed to be Greeks, but Athenians and others regarded them as at least semi-barbaric.
Perhaps due to its location far from the main currents of Greek life, she had retained more primitive political institutions than her southern neighbours: she was still ruled by powerful kings, served by a traditional landed nobility.
Macedonia lay wide open to attacks from Thracians and Illyrians to the north and west, and the early fourth century saw the Macedonians fighting on all fronts against Thracians, Illyrians and also Greeks. When the capable young king Philip II came to power in 359 BC he had to spend several years securing the frontiers, by a mix of war and diplomacy.
In the course of these wars he re-organized his army and turned it into the finest military force in Greece. By the 340s he was able to go over to the offensive. He expanded his frontiers in all directions, including subduing the Greek cities on the coast. He then interfered in the quarrels of the northern Greek states and by 340 Macedonia was the strongest power in Thessaly.
Independence Lost
At this the southern Greek cities grew alarmed, and Athens forged an alliance against Philip which was joined by most of the leading states including Thebes, Corinth and Megara.
The two sides met at the battle of Chaironea in 338 BC. Philip was victorious – thanks in great part to a dashing cavalry charge led by his son, Alexander. This battle effectively ended the independence of the Greek city-states. At a congress the following year Philip formed a League of all the states of Greece, with himself as Captain-General. He was about to lead it on a campaign against Persia when he was assassinated, to be succeeded by his young son, Alexander.
Article © TimeMaps 2007.
Last updated: 13th August 2007
