The Peloponnesian War

Table Of Contents

The Peloponnesian WarIntroduction

Part One. The Road To War

Chapter One: The Great Rivalry (479-439*)
Sparta and Its Alliance
Athens and Its Empire
Athens Against Sparta
The Thirty Years’ Peace
Threats to Peace: Thurii
The Samian Rebellion

Chapter Two: “A Quarrel in a Far-away Country” (436-433)
Epidamnus
Corinth

Chapter Three: Enter Athens (433-432)
The Battle of Sybota
Potidaea
The Megarian Decree

Chapter Four: The Decisions for War (432)
Sparta Chooses War
The Athenian Decision For War

Part Two. Pericles’ War

Chapter Five: War Aims and Resources (432-431)

Sparta
Athens

Chapter Six: The Theban Attack on Plataea (431)
The Spartan Invasion of Attica
Attacks on Pericles
The Athenian Response
Pericles’ Funeral Oration
The War’s First Year: An Accounting

Chapter Seven: The Plague (430-429)
Epidaurus
The Plague in Athens
Pericles Under Fire
Peace Negotiations
Pericles Condemned
The Spartans Go to Sea
Potidaea Recaptured

Chapter Eight: Pericles’ Last Days (429)
Sparta Attacks Plataea
Spartan Action in the Northwest
Enter Phormio
The Spartans Attack Piraeus
The Death of Pericles

Chapter Nine: Rebellion in the Empire (428-427)
The “New Politicians” in Athens
Conspiracy on Lesbos
Athens Reacts
Mytilene Appeals To The Peloponnesians
The Siege of Mytilene
Sparta Acts On Land and Sea
The Fate of Mytilene
The Mytilene Debate: Cleon Versus Diodotus

Chapter Ten: Terror and Adventure (427)
The Fate of Plataea
Civil War at Corcyra
First Athenian Expedition to Sicily

Part Three. New Strategies

Chapter Eleven: Demosthenes and the New Strategy (426)

The Spartans in Central Greece
Athenian Initiatives
Demosthenes’ Aetolian Campaign
The Spartans Attack The Northwest

Chapter Twelve: Pylos and Sphacteria (425)
Athens’ Western Commitments
Demosthenes’ Plan: The Fort at Pylos
The Spartans on Sphacteria
The Athenian Naval Victory
Sparta’s Peace Offer
Cleon Against Nicias
The Spartan Surrender on Sphacteria

Chapter Thirteen: Athens on the Offensive: Megara and Delium (424)
Cythera and Thyrea
Disappointment in Sicily
The Assault on Megara
Athens’ Boeotian Invasion
Delium

Chapter Fourteen: Brasidas’ Thracian Campaign (424-423)
The Capture of Amphipolis
Thucydides at Amphipolis
Truce
Nicias’ Expedition to Thrace

Chapter Fifteen: The Coming of Peace (422-421)
Cleon in Command
The Battle of Amphipolis
The Death of Brasidas and Cleon
The Coming of Peace
The Peace of Nicias

Part Four. The False Peace

Chapter Sixteen: The Peace Unravels (421-420)

A Troubled Peace
The Spartan-Anthenian Alliance
The Argive League
Sparta’s Problems
The Corinthians’ Mysterious Policy
The Boeotians

Chapter Seventeen: The Alliance of Athens and Argos (420-418)
The Athenian Breach with Sparta
Spartan Humilations
Alcibiades in the Peloponnesus
The Spartans Against Argos
Confrontation in the Argive Plain

Chapter Eighteen: The Battle of Mantinea (418)
Agis’ March to Tegea
To Force a Battle
The Allied Army Moves
The Battle
Politics Intervene
The Meaning of Mantinea

Chapter Nineteen: After Mantinea: Politics and Policy at Sparta and Athens (418-416)
Democracy Restored to Argos
Politics at Athens
Ostracism of Hyperbolus
The Athenian Conquest of Melos
Nicias Against Alicibiades

Part Five. The Disaster in Sicily

Chapter Twenty: The Decision (416-415)

Athens’ Sicilian Connections
The Debate in Athens
The Debate to Reconsider

Chapter Twenty-One: The Home Front and the First Campaigns (415)
Sacrilege
Witch Hunt
Athenian Strategy
The Summer Campaign of 415
The Flight of Alcibiades

Chapter Twenty-Two: The First Attack on Syracuse (415)
The Athenians at Syracuse
Syracusan Resistance
Alcibiades At Sparta

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Siege of Syracuse (414)
The Illness of Nicias and the Death of Lamachus
Athens Breaks the Treaty
Help Arrives at Syracuse
Nicias Moves to Plemmyrium
Nicias’ Letter to Athens
The Athenian Response

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Besiegers Besieged (414-413)
Sparta Takes the Offensive
The Fort at Decelea
Reinforcements for Both Sides
The Capture of Plemmyrium
The Battle in the Great Harbor
The Second Athenian Armada: Demosthenes’ Plan
The Night Attack on Epipolae
Retreat or Remain?
Eclipse

Chapter Twenty-Five: Defeat and Destruction (413)
The Final Naval Battle
The Final Retreat
The Fate of the Athenians
A Judgment on Nicias

Part Six. Revolutions in the Empire and in Athens

Chapter Twenty-Six: After the Disaster (413-412)

The Probouloi
Spartan Ambitions
Agis in Command
Persian Initiatives
The Spartans Chooses Chios
Alcibiades Intervenes
Tissaphernes’ Draft Treaty

Chapter Twenty-Seven: War in the Aegean (412-411)
Athens Fight Back
Decision At Miletus
Alcibiades Joins the Persians
A New Spartan Agreement with Persia
A New Spartan Strategy
Rebellion at Rhodes
The Importance of Euboea
A New Treaty With Persia
The Spartans in the Hellespont

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Revolutionary Movement (411)
The Aristocratic Tradition
Democracy and the War
Thraysybulus and the Moderates
The Real Oligarchs
Phrynichus Against Alcibiades

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Coup (411)
Peisander’s Mission to Athens
The Oligarchs’ Breach with Alcibiades
Divisions Among the Plotters
The Democracy Overthrown
The Oligarchic Leaders

Chapter Thirty: The Four Hundred in Power (411)
The Democracy at Samos
Pharnabazus and the Hellespont
Alcibiades Recalled

Chapter Thirty-One: The Five Thousand (411)
Dissent Within the Four Hundred
The Oligarchic Plot to Betray Athens
The Threat to Euboea
The Fall of the Four Hundred
The Constitution of The Five Thousand
The Five Thousand in Action

Chapter Thirty-Two: War in the Hellespont (411-410)
The Phantom Phoenician Fleet
The Battle of Cynossema
The Battle of Abydos
The Battle of Cyzicus

Part Seven. The Fall Of Athens

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Restoration (410-409)

Sparta’s Peace Offer
Democracy Restored
The War Resumed

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Return of Alcibiades (409-408)
Athens Attempts to Clear the Straits
Athenian Negotiations with Persia
Alcibiades Returns

Chapter Thirty-Five: Cyrus, Lysander, and the Fall of Alcibiades (408-406)
Prince Cyrus Replaces Tissaphernes
The Emergence of Lysander
The Collaboration of Cyrus and Lysander
The Battle of Notium
The Fall of Alcibiades

Chapter Thirty-Six: Arginusae (406)
The New Navarch
Conon Trapped at Mytilene
Athens Rebuilds a Navy
The Battle of Arginusae
Rescue and Recovery
The Trial of the Generals

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Fall of Athens (405-404)
Another Spartan Peace Offer
The Return of Lysander
The Battle of Aegospotami
The Results of the Battle
The Fate of Athens
Theramenes Negotiates a Peace

Conclusion

Sources for the History of the Peloponnesian War
Index