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Peloponnesian War
431–404 BC· War· Europe
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
A 27-year war between Athens and its sea empire and Sparta with its land-based allies, ending in Athens' defeat.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Athens had the navy and money; Sparta had the best army. Pericles kept Athenians behind their walls while the fleet raided, but a plague that broke out in 430 BC killed perhaps a quarter of the city, including Pericles. After a truce, Athens sent a huge expedition to Sicily in 415 BC; it was destroyed by 413. With Persian gold, Sparta built a fleet, and Lysander's victory at Aegospotami in 405 BC cut Athens' grain route, forcing surrender in 404.
Why it matters
It ended Athens' golden age, exhausted the Greek city-states, and drew Persia back into Greek affairs, opening the way for Macedon's rise.
How we know
Thucydides, an Athenian general who wrote a careful history as it unfolded, continued by Xenophon, plus inscriptions such as the Athenian tribute lists.
Still debated
Thucydides blamed Sparta's fear of rising Athenian power; others stress specific disputes. Whether this 'Thucydides Trap' applies to rivals like the US and China is debated.
Connections (4)
▸Greco-Persian Wars built the Athenian empire that triggered Peloponnesian WarMostly agreed
The connection
To keep fighting Persia, Greek cities formed the Delian League under Athens in 478 BC. Athens turned it into an empire, collecting tribute and moving the treasury to Athens. Thucydides wrote that the growth of Athenian power, and the fear it caused in Sparta, made war inevitable.
When and how
The Aegean world, 478–431 BC; Athens and its allies against Sparta and its Peloponnesian League.
How sure are we?
Thucydides' account of the fifty years between the wars, and Athenian tribute lists carved in stone on the Acropolis.
Debates and open questions
How oppressive Athens' rule over its allies really was, and whether ordinary citizens of allied cities resented or welcomed it, are debated.
▸Peloponnesian War weakened the Greek cities before Conquests of Alexander the GreatMostly agreed
The connection
The war drained Athens and Sparta and was followed by decades of further Greek infighting, with Persia funding different sides. Divided, exhausted Greek cities could not stop Philip II of Macedon, who won at Chaeronea in 338 BC and left Alexander control of Greece and a ready army.
When and how
Greece, 404–338 BC: Spartan and then Theban dominance, ending with Philip II's victory at Chaeronea, Boeotia.
How sure are we?
Xenophon's Hellenica, Demosthenes' speeches warning against Philip, and Diodorus' history trace the decline and Macedon's rise.
Debates and open questions
Historians debate whether Macedon's rise owed more to Greek weakness or to Philip's own military and diplomatic skill.
▸Trireme and the ramming warship fought the naval campaigns of the Peloponnesian WarWell documented
The connection
Athens's fleet of about 300 triremes let it supply itself by sea and raid Spartan territory while avoiding Sparta's army. Sparta won only after building its own fleet with Persian money; Lysander destroyed the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BC, and Athens was starved into surrender.
When and how
Aegean, Ionian and Sicilian seas, 431–404 BC; key sea fights include Syracuse (413 BC), Arginusae (406 BC) and Aegospotami (405 BC).
How we know
Thucydides, an Athenian general who wrote a detailed contemporary history, and Xenophon's continuation of it.
Debates and open questions
Historians debate whether Athens could have won by sticking to Pericles's cautious sea strategy instead of launching the disastrous Sicilian expedition.
▸Ancient ciphers (Spartan scytale, Caesar cipher) carried Spartan scytale messages in the Peloponnesian WarDebated
The connection
Spartan authorities sent orders to commanders abroad on a scytale: a leather strip wound on a staff and written on, readable when wound on a matching staff. Plutarch says such a message recalled the admiral Lysander soon after the war ended.
When and how
Sparta, 5th century BC. Thucydides mentions a scytale recalling the regent Pausanias around 470 BC; Plutarch's Lysander story dates to about 404–403 BC.
How sure are we?
References in Thucydides, Xenophon and Plutarch show the scytale was a real Spartan tool for official messages.
Debates and open questions
Whether it hid content as a cipher or simply authenticated official orders is debated; the earliest sources never describe it as secret.