The Classical era (Pelopenessian War) - Ancient Mediterranean History Midterm

The Peloponnesian War

Athens and Sparta were the main fighters (looked more like the Athenians and the Delian league, and Sparta and the Peloponnesian league, sparta says enough to Athenian rule and that is what starts the war)

Great War as a subject for great narrative

Trojan war: Homer, Persian Wars: Herodotus, Peloponnesian war: Thucydides

Delian league into empire in 3 steps

1. allies contribute money not ships (set up offer to pay money or ships, but since they didn’t want to build the ships themselves they just gave Athens the money, Athens is able to build up big military with the money)

2. allied victory at the battle of Eurymedon (472, big loss to Persians, forced allied states who wanted to leave to stay in)

3. transfer of league treasury to Athens (454, decided to put treasury in Athens allowing them to have full control of money)

Conquest of Messenia

Done by Sparta, claimed over half of agricultural produce from there and forced them to send over the grain, needed a new system to manage new land

Institutions of Spartan state

agoge (young boys at 7 are taken to learn poetry and mathematics, but mainly warfare, the kids that made it out got full spartan citizenship (they got land in Sparta and messenia), they raised themselves up to be a unit like an army even within society

Athenian features

democracy, proto capitalist, and has flourishing culture, huge navy

Spartan features

oligarchical, proto communist, and have a very cold culture centered around warfare, huge land army

Invasion of Sicily

Pericles want to fight a war of attrition, it was a disaster (Athenians lose to Spartans)

Sparta considers wiping Athenians off the map

decides against it because they were afraid of some other Greek states would retaliate