History of the Peloponnesian War

Chapter 5.3- Democracy and Greece’s Golden Age Pericles’ Plan for Athens: Pericles, a general, politician, and speaker, led Athens for the most part of its Golden Age. His goals were to strengthen Athenian democracy, hold and strengthen the empire, and glorify Athens. Pericles increased public officials who were paid salaries in order to achieve his first goal. During his rule, Pericles introduced direct democracy to Athens. To strengthen the Athenian empire, Athens needed a stronger navy.…

Greece, Athens and Sparta were bitter rivals. Athens’ power relied mainly on its navy while Sparta relied mainly on land power. The warriors of Sparta were the most powerful land army of the time. This rivalry both on land and at sea led to the Peloponnesian Wars in 431 BC. Brutal warfare ensued for twenty-seven years, eventually leading to the downfall of Athens. There are many theories as to the reason for Athens demise. One such theory would be the mysterious plague that ravaged the land…

War is one of the oldest traditions in human history that costs millions of innocent lives and destroys families across the globe. There must be a logical explanation for such a barbaric act; the justification for war must lie in human nature. War can stem from power, money, greed, justice, and these reasons have been justified in the past as being in the best interest of the group as a whole. Especially in the case of defending basic human rights, people are often persuaded to participate in…

arrived at the same conclusions upon hearing of the executions of many Athenian generals for which he expressed great sympathy for in his History of Greece. After biding his time in Athens during the third phase of the Peloponnesian War and likely serving in the cavalry during that time, in 401 BC, after the end of the War, Xenophon acquired a “taste for war…

and sad but the importance is that they stand as references to fifth century events. The Greeks were the first people to believe they could learn from past mistakes, creating “history.” These historians were Herodotus, the father of history, and Xenophon. Herodotus explained how the Greeks even came into the greatest war the world had known, becoming the first historian to use the historical method. Thucydides was a general who was exiled and became a historian. He wrote about free will and…

History of The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides and the Iliad by Homer are both timeless accounts of war that also analyze human nature. Both authors divulge their belief about what comprises human nature through the observation of war and its effect on morality. Homer and Thucydides agree that emotion, specifically compassion, is the key to a human life. However, the authors differ on their definition of compassion. Thucydides sees compassion as a natural emotion felt among equals while Homer…

During the time of the Peloponnesian War, there was much turmoil in the city states of Greece. The two Greek main powers of the time, Athens and Sparta, were caught in a power struggle to be the main polis in control of the region. The turmoil sprung from the mutual distrust between the army centered Spartans and the naval centered Athenians: neither one wanted to lose to the other (Cartwright). Both powers were reaching to expand their empires in order to have a greater chance at defeating one…

In the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides recreates Pericles’ well-known funeral oration that was given at the end of the first year of the war. Speeches such as Pericles’ were traditionally delivered to honor the fallen in Athen’s many wars and campaigns against other countries. Thucydides remarks on this tradition, claiming that, “[the chosen orator] makes an appropriate speech in praise of the dead.”(II,34). Pericles’ oration deviates from the typical formula of Athenian funeral…

mainly on its navy while Sparta relied mainly on land power. The warriors of Sparta were the most powerful land army of the time. This rivalry both on land and at sea led to the Peloponnesian Wars in 431 BC. This war lasted 27 years and was the cause of the fall of Athens. The two main factors that caused Athens to lose the war were the failure to capture Sicily in 415 BC and the mysterious plague that ravaged Athens in 430 BC. Approximately one third of the population of Athens was killed by…

In the narrative, The Histories, Xerxes Invades Greece, Herodotus, also known as the “father of history”, attempted to capture what a free society could achieve when they worked together in the form of the poleis. He did this by showing the differences between the Persian and Greek soldiers and their mindsets during the Persian War. Herodotus wrote this narrative after the Persian War was over and during the early years of the Peloponnesian War which was around 431 B.C.E. Herodotus believed…