Peloponnesian War

431BCE-425BCE

The Plague

• According to Thucydides the plague started in Ethiopia and spread through Egypt and North Africa and then to Athens.

• Killed 1/3 of the Athenian people. • “As it devoured the flower of their manhood

and their strength”.

Riots

• Became indifferent to laws and religion.• The people lost faith in Pericles and deposed

him.• Investigated and fined, but soon returned to

power.

Death of Pericles

• Pericles dies of the plague. • Cleon (leather merchant), Lysicles (sheep dealer) and

Hyerboulus (lamp maker) all three wanted an aggressive war.• Wealthy classes:• Supported Nicas, a conservative land owner and slave dealer. • NO CONTINUITY!!!

Cleon

• Demagogue.• Involvement in-The Mytilenian Debate-the speech of the Spartan envoys during the

Pylos campaign-the debate on Pylos -the military campaign Deeply disliked by Thucydides

The Lesbian Uprising

• Independent ally of Athens. Provided ships.• Mytilene had intended to annex Lesbos, and

asked Sparta for help. • Eventually Athens besieged the city.• Envoys Mytilene convinced the P: to help the

Lesbians.

Appeal to Sparta

• “It is not in Attica, as some people think, that the war will be won or lost, but in the countries from which Attica gains her strength...you will be in a much better position for breaking the power of Athens by detaching her allies from her...” Thuycidides

Mytilenian Debate

• ‘the entire male population of Mytilene and to make slaves of the woman and children’.

Bibliography