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The Athenian Globe tribune All the News Athenians Need to Know Tuesday, April 27, 404 BC Athens, Greece Athens Surrenders, Ending 27 Year War Victorious Spartans Order Destruction of Fleet and Walls By Georgienius Robinistocles The end of the long and bitter Peloponnesian War finally came today when the city of Athens surrendered to two Spartan kings, Agis and Pausanias. With a reported 100,000 citizens starving in the besieged city, officials felt they had no choice but to accept defeat. As one devastated elderly man reported, “I never thought we would come to this – our once glorious city brought to ruin. Pericles promised us so much 30 years ago, and now we have lost it all.” The terms of surrender were brutal. Athens had already lost more than 500 of its once proud ships, but the Spartans ordered the destruction of all of Athens’ ships. Athenians watched with great sadness today as the remainder of their fleet was set afire and burned in the Paierus Harbor. Angelina Thebesius recalled that her grandfather had been an oarsman on one of the triremes that had smashed the ships of the Persians in the Battle of Salamis. She cried as she watched the ships burn today and said, “My grandfather earned his rights as a citizen by rowing that ship; he would be devastated to know that the Spartans are making us give up our democracy too.” The victorious Spartans also decreed that the Long Walls which connect Athens to its port at the harbor must also be torn down. These walls are four miles long. Today, Thucydides reported, “The Peloponnesians with great zeal pulled down the Long Walls to the music of flute-girls, thinking that this day was the beginning of freedom for the Greeks.” Antony Greco, a survivor of the plague that killed 80,000 Athenians in the early years of the war, watched from the hilltop as the Spartans cheered the destruction. “I burned with fever then, and thought my heart would break as my family died around me. I fought side by side with my fellow hoplites. My heart broke again as my comrades fell in battle. But today, my heart breaks one more time for my city as it seems to die.” The Ruins of the Temple of Poseidon