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The Changing of the Guard Turnar Kist Dr. Stuart HIS 480 December 15, 2015 KIST 1 Table of Contents Introduction 2 Background Greece 2-3 Causes 3-4 The War 4-6 Results 6-7 Decline of Athens 7-9 Decline of Sparta 9-12 Thebes 12- 14 Rise of Macedon 14-19 Conclusion 19-20 Bibliography 21-22 KIST 2 The Changing of the Guard From 431 to 404 BC, the Greek powers of Athens and Sparta battled to show superiority within Greece. Greece fought due to the protection of the great empire it had while Sparta was tired of being the second in command. Ultimately, Sparta won, but the question must be raised as to how Greece was changed after the Peloponnesian War. This paper argues that Greece was changed due to the Peloponnesian War because it led to Athens losing its great empire, the fall of Sparta, the rise of Alexander the Great with Macedon, and the rise of Thebes. Background Dating back to the first Persian War, before the power of Athens was truly realized, it was clear that there were two powers within Greece. Athens and Sparta coexisted, but had a deep hatred for each other throughout their histories. In Sparta, life was very different. The Spartans were a laconic people, which meant they did not use their words often, but when they did, they knew how to use them. The best example is from Herodotus’s Histories in which they were listening to some exiles from the island of Samos that were appealing to bring about their restoration, but the Spartans just replied that the speech was too long and too complex.1 For the Spartans, it was deeds, not words that counted, which explains why there is less written evidence for Spartan history compared to the Athenian history.2 Athens on the other hand was Democratic and was a political, philosophical, art, and architectural centre of the ancient world.3 They fought side by side against the Persians, and even had memorable battles such as the Battle of Marathon and the Battle of Thermopylae. These were fought separately from each other, but showed the ancient world how powerful they were respectively. The lowly Athenians that were known for art and philosophy had defeated the Persian, while the great and mighty Spartan warriors held off 1 George Rawlinson, trans., Histories of Herodotus, (Hertfordshire: Wordsworth, 1996) Paul Cartledge. Ancient Greece:A History in Eleven Cities, (Oxford: Oxford Press, 2009), 71. 3 Ibid., 91. 2 KIST 3 forces of 10,000 and more with just 300 men4. The first time in these battles that the hatred was starting to be seen was the Battle of Marathon. Sparta did not join to help Athens because of the excuse of being in a festival an out of this grew a sense of spite from Athens.5 The next stage in the development of fear was after Thermopylae and after the war had ended, the Athenians started the Delian League, which was stated to have been formed to stop the Persians from attacking again, when in reality it was to try and stop the Spartans from growing in their power.6 The Delian League led to the Athenians gaining tribute and allies in return for protection from Athens.7 The tribute gained went towards developing a strong naval power, the Parthenon and other advancements which led Athens to reaching its golden age under the rule of Pericles.8 In this golden age, Pericles reconstructed the walls that led to the Piraeus port.9 These walls, of course, would play a large role in the defense of Athens during the war with the Spartans since it was the way that the Athenians would guard themselves against the siege and destruction at the hands of the Spartans. Causes It is argued that the Peloponnesian War had a few primary causes. The primary cause was the Delian league.10 When the League’s treasury was transferred to Athens, the alliance had become an empire in all except the name. Over the next two decades, it began treating members as ruled subjects rather than partners, and fought several short wars to force members who wanted to leave the League to rejoin it.11 Then in 433 BC, Athens signed a treaty of mutual protection with Corcyra, a town with a major navy. The Spartans interpreted the move as an act 4 Rawlinson, Histories, 250. Ibid., 603. 6 Raphael Sealy, A History of the Greek City States: 700-338 BC, (Berkeley: University of California, 1976). 7 Ibid., 243. 8 Donald Kagor. Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy, (New York: Free Press, 1991). 9 Ibid., 156. 10 Ibid., 52. 11 Ibid., 53. 5 KIST 4 of provocation and then, a year later, Sparta cancelled its peace treaty with Athens.12 Then, in 433 BC, Theban soldiers tried to seize control of Potidaea only to be caught and imprisoned then put to death13. After message of this was heard in Athens, Athens declared war and got ready for the battle of a lifetime with the Spartans. The War Beginning in 431 BC, the Peloponnesian War would change the landscape of Greece as a whole forever. The causes vary, but after Athens violated the Thirty Years’ Treaty, Sparta and its allies accused them of aggression and they threatened war.14 Pericles advised not to back down, and the first bit of fighting would last 10 years and began with a Spartan invasion of Attica. 15 The Athenians and their allies were an empire that focused mainly along the island and coastal states, while Sparta was in charge of the land powers of central Greece and the Peloponnese, as well as Corinth.16 In other words, the Athenians were a much stronger naval force while the Spartans had the stronger army on land, and the Athenians were also much better prepared financially than their enemies, which was due to the regular tribute their received from their empire in the Delian league.17 Athens abandoned its countryside to the Spartan invaders in an attempt to refuse pitched battle with the Peloponnesian and Theban alliance.18 The strategy developed by Pericles depended on increased importation of food and material into the port at Piraeus, all the while sending out Athens’s magnificent fleet to stabilize its maritime empire and to prevent Peloponnesian infiltrations.19 Sparta found it strategy of ravaging the countryside ineffective as its hoplites in Attica could neither draw the Athenian army out nor reduce the 12 Ibid., 53. Ibid., 53. 14 Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities. 104. 15 Ibid., 104. 16 W. S. Ferguson, “Greek Imperialism,” The American Historical Review 23(1918): 765. 17 Ibid., 766. 18 Ibid., 766. 19 Ibid., 766. 13 KIST 5 city’s economy.20 Sparta’s best ally was the unforeseen outbreak of plague inside the cramped wall of Athens, which killed Pericles and nearly one quarter of the citizens.21 The reason the plague spread so quickly too was the fact that all of the Athenians were inside the walls and in close quarters together which led to easy spread of disease. It also did not help that people were dying in the water supplies and in the streets which led to the plague to go even further. This hurt the Athenian cause since it did kill their leader. For the first 10 years, it seemed as though the Athenians were in control as they were having decisive victories repeatedly while the Spartans fell behind.22 Ultimately this led to a truce between the two sides in 421 BC, but it would not last.23 The peace was destroyed in 415 BC, when the Athenians launched an assault against Sicily, and for the next 11 years, there was constant fighting between the two sides.24 The Sicilian campaign in Syracuse was a devastating one for her and her empire. Nearly forty thousand Athenian allies perished a thousand miles from Athens. The result was Sparta now systematically leading Attica with a permanent fort at Decelea to encourage desertions and local disruptions in commerce, all the while applying steady pressure to pry away tribute-paying Athenians and their allies in the Aegean, the lifeblood of the city and military reserves.25 After the slaughter of the Athenians while fighting in Sicily, the tide finally turned. By 411 BC, Athens was in turmoil as a whole. Democracy was being overthrown and the leaders were refusing Spartan peace offerings.26 After the disaster, Athens was unable to replace the troops and citizens from the plagues and the disaster at Sicily which led to the Athenian army and navy now being outnumbered by the combined alliance of Sparta, Thebes 20 Ibid., 767. Ibid., 767. 22 Martin Hammond, trans., The Peloponnesian War of Thucydides(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 203. 23 Ibid., 276. 24 Ibid., 332. 25 Ibid., 332. 26 Sarah Pomeroy. et al., Ancient Greece: A Political, Social and Cultural History ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 314. 21 KIST 6 and Syracuse.27 Persian subsidies to this coalition now surpassed the financial reserves of Athens and the end ultimately came in 405 BC when an Athenian fleet was destroyed at Aegospotami by a Spartan naval fleet under the charge of Lysander.28 Lysander did so by first attacking Athenian allies at their homes so as to weaken the defense that would have come to the aid of the Athenians.29 Lysander initially received the surrender of the entire fleet, except for twelve ships and the walls of Athens, so he threatened them until they gave in.30 after the final Athenian sea defeat off Aegospotami, the Long Walls down to the Piraeus were razed, and a Spartan garrison occupied the city.31 Nearly three decades of constant fighting left Athens bankrupt, exhausted and demoralized.32 Sparta and its allies were in no position to maintain an even hasher military hegemony over Greece.33 The war officially came to an end in 404 BC when the Athenians could no longer hold off the Spartan blockade and siege which starved them and this would result in the surrender of the great Athenian empire as it started its decline.34 Now that the war was over, the question remained of how it would affect the Greek empire and its surrounding area. Put quite simply it cause decline of two empires while it let others rise, just as the cycle of power would continue. Results Before examining how Greece changed after the war, it is important to see who benefitted the most immediately after. Immediately following the war, not only did Sparta benefit, but so did Persia. Persia actually fought in the war as a Spartan ally when Sparta wanted it to end. Ultimately they had three treaties within the war and all were dealing with how they 27 Ibid., 315. Ibid., 316. 29 Ian Scott-Kilvert, trans., The Rise and Fall of Athens by Plutarch (London: Penguin Books, 1960),294. 30 Ibid., 300-301. 31 Ibid., 316. 32 Ibid., 316. 33 Ibid., 316. 34 Ibid., 318. 28 KIST 7 would fight together to defeat the Athenian forces.35 Without the Persians and poor decision by Athens, Sparta would not have been able to win. It was much easier with the help of the allies and it also did not hurt when the Spartans were able to gain riches from an allied force. The only downside to the treaties with the Persians was the fact that the Spartans had to forfeit land to the Persians in payment for the assistance.36 Even after the war, the effect was seen. In 401, there was a request to Sparta for aid in collecting mercenary troops, and then in 394, a Persian General defeats a Spartan army which showed the end of their alliance and the rise of Persia once again.37 This rise to power though was crushed quickly by Alexander after he took power. Another result was the change in warfare in Greece. The Greek genius was freed to apply capital, technology, and manpower to war without ethical restraint, but in the process the old idea of a city-state was lost.38 Although there was little innovation in warfare during the war itself, there does appear to have been an increase in the use of light infantry and many of these would have been mercenary troops, hired from outer regions of Greece.39 The warfare did change though when Macedon took over because it led to the end of the hoplite era due Macedon being ruled by an autocratic king, and being a tribal kingdom that covered a large area.40 Decline of Athens After the defeat at the hands of the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, the once great power that Athens had would slip through its hands like grains of sand like the grains of sand on the beaches of Sicily. First, the immediate result of the war and its treaty must be examined. Athens had to tear down the Walls of the Piraeus, was only allowed to have 35 Ibid., 318. Ibid., 320. 37 Ibid., 320. 38 Ibid., 320. 39 Ibid., 320. 40 Ibid., 320. 36 KIST 8 12 ships and was now a junior ally of Sparta instead of a primary41. The first sign that Athens was on its way to decline was the increase in civil strife amongst its citizens. The poor were frustrated over how the wealthy held onto their land after the war while they lost all of theirs and this would result in riots and uprisings.42 Virtually all of Greece was in a frenzy after this, and people were trying to bring in Spartans and Athenians to calm it down, but it failed due to the fact that both sides were falling apart as well.43 The cause of all this was the pursuit of power from greed and personal ambition, which led to entrenchment and the lack of leadership desired to keep a polis running properly.44 The most notable proof that post-war strife was a reason for Athenian decline was when the Athenians needed a scapegoat and Socrates was picked to represent the frustration of the Athenians through being put to death as a traitor of the Athenian state.45 The main reason for this was the fact that he did not support the democratic government and was therefore seen as an enemy to the Athenian government, even though he did serve within the war and as the leader of the assembly.46 Ultimately, Socrates received the penalty of death for opposing the democracy of Athens and he took the blame for the horrendous defeat and strife that now occupied Athens.47 The second way that the decline of Athens was impacted by the Peloponnesian War was the economic decline that was caused by the war. Athens lost the war, and with it, her empire and the Delian League. This, however, was not the immediate worry of the Athenians when the war ended. Livestock and farms were destroyed all over the country 41 Ibid., 318. Ibid., 319. 43 Ibid., 320 44 Ibid., 320. 45 Ibid., 323. 46 Ibid., 324. 47 Ibid., 325. 42 KIST 9 side. Vineyards took several years before they would be able to produce a rich crop of grapes and olives trees were even harder and longer to grow back.48 Commerce by land was disrupted even further and so was commerce by sea.49 After losing everything, the Spartans took over many Greek city-states, including Athens. The Spartans put into place the thirty tyrants which would rule under the instruction of the Spartans.50The thirty were sympathetic to Sparta and were willing to sacrifice democracies. 51 They abolished the organs of a democratic government such as popular courts and appointed a new boule of five hundred antidemocratic citizens, and in worry of an uprising, they requested many troops to come defend them.52The thirty were luckily undone by their actions, but this was a complete demonstration as to how the Athenians had lost their government and many of their own people due to the defeat.53 After losing money and the war, the Macedonians also saw their opportunity and took it by taking over Athens under the reign of Philip, the father of Alexander the Great.54 Many Athenians wanted to change to Macedonian ways of life because they were tired of the way things were going in Athens, while many rose against the Macedonian forces, only to be crushed back down.55 Athens would be able to survive and even build its empire back up, but even then, it was not as great as it once was and the end was on its way for the great empire. Fall of Sparta 48 Cartledge, Ancient Greece, 101. Ibid., 102. 50 Pomeroy et al., Ancient Greece, 321. 51 Ibid., 321. 52 Ibid., 322. 53 Ibid., 322. 54 William Scott Ferguson, “Athens and Hellenism,” The American Historical Review 16 (1910): 5. 55 Ibid., 7. 49 KIST 10 After winning a great war, it would not have been guessed that the victory could have possibly led to the decline of Sparta, but it sadly did. After the victory, Lysander brought back a great wealth, consisting of large amounts of silver and gold money.56 The consequences are not entirely clear, but a strain was placed on the economy of Sparta, which had traditionally excluded coinage in the precious metals.57 In other words, Sparta was greedy and the greed would lead to the decline. The first reason for the fall of Sparta is the lack of success that the promised liberation had on the Greek populous. As seen, the implementation of the Thirty completed backfired in the quest for gaining love from the other Greek city-states. Many of the states wanted Athens to come back to power due to the lack of quality from the oligarchical system and the loss of traditional values and the democratic way of life which they were accustomed to.58 In less than a year, Greece was able to restore its democracy and get away from the Spartan rule.59 Sparta struggled during this time period because of the fact that they were built to fight. The Spartans were a war-like people and when war was not there to be fought, it meant that the Spartans did not know what to do.60 Athens did well because it was built to sustain an empire without fighting, while the Spartans were unable to handle the treasury and wealth that was gained.61 Sparta would end up trying to fight and this would lead to its decline. The domination of Sparta throughout Greece would not last long though. It was over so quickly that it was like Sparta never gained the power in the first place. Her violence against other city-states in Greece led to what was known as the Corinthian War.62 The Persian king eventually brought peace within 56 Sealey, A History of the Greek City States, 386. Ibid., 386. 58 H.T.F. Kitto, The Greeks (Middlesex: Pelican Books, 1960), 153. 59 Ibid., 153. 60 Ibid., 153. 61 Ibid., 154. 62 Ibid., 154. 57 KIST 11 Greece in 387 BC, but the Greeks were happy for the fact that they were back under Greek rule.63 Sparta ended up ceding her empire to Persian control while still being left to dominate Greece.64 In 371 BC though, the decline of Sparta finally hit a new low. An army of Thebans defeated the mighty Spartan warrior in a straight fight at Leuctra.65 This battle left the distribution of power between the leading Greek states unclear. Sparta lost control of its allies and would end up losing more battles in 369 BC. Luckily, the immediate effects were not truly seen, but would be seen later. The population started to dwindle as more people were going into the expanded Hellenistic Greece since the government was new and Alexander was winning in his campaigns, unlike the Spartans.66 Alexander was seen as a true leader, unlike the leaders of the Spartan forces that were being driven into the dirt after even losing to the Macedonians in campaign battles when trying to rise against them.67 The many uprisings and the many defeats that followed the win against Athens, proved that Sparta was unfit to have an empire and that they were unfit to rule, especially when they were not able to fight for power and flex their muscles against the other Greek states.68 The other reason for people leaving was because of the complete lack of rights the Spartan men and women had at the time.69 The loss of Spartans occurred so quickly that it is actually seen as the main reason as the defeat at the hands of the Thebans.70 The numbers declined so much so that a single defeat was enough to put an end to the Spartan supremacy. 63 Ibid., 154. Ibid., 154. 65 Ibid., 154. 66 Ibid., 155. 67 Ibid., 155. 68 Ibid., 155. 69 Ibid., 155. 70 Ibid., 155. 64 KIST 12 Sparta also failed because of the ideologies that Sparta consisted of. As a country that was depended on Helots to help the citizens, it became much harder to operate a functioning country when it was being torn apart from the inside.71 The Helots had to work and do the agriculture, but when many would escape and fight back, Sparta had to put more time and resources into doing it themselves. The Spartans, for the first time ever, had to truly police the Helots and ensure that peace and conformity stayed because they didn’t have the man power anymore to keep them under wraps.72 In doing so, the Spartans would wage war on the Helots yearly and this just led to a dwindling of numbers. The result of this was the Spartans realizing that their army could not be a proper full force without the Helots, but by this time it was too late.73 Sparta failed to produce enough numbers when it came to fighting the Thebans and it resulted in a terrible defeat and ultimately the fading away of the once great warrior people. They were no longer feared and no longer had the force they had, which resulted in the disappearance of the culture from the Greek mainstage. Thebes The fall of Sparta led to one big change in Greece as well, other than just the loss of the Greek superpower. Before examining the effects, it is important to look at the Theban history briefly. It was the birthplace of the god Dionysus and of Heracles and of King Oedipus.74 In history, they were seen as swine by the Athenians.75 Thebes also developed and controlled a flourishing federal state, which offered an original and alternative mode of political organization to the single polis.76 For some decades in the 4th, Thebes was actually the most powerful city in 71 Pomeroy et al, Ancient Greece, 317. Ibid., 317. 73 Ibid., 318. 74 Ancient Greece, 131. 75 Ibid., 132. 76 Ibid., 132. 72 KIST 13 mainland Greece and a forcing-house of the political transformation that eventuated through the reigns of the Macedonian kings Philip II and his son Alexander the Great.77 The fall also led to the rise of Theban hegemony which was especially demonstrated in the victory over Sparta. The battle of Leuctra left the distribution of power between the leading Greek states unclear. The Athenians tried to take advantage of this situation by calling a new peace conference, and envoys from the Greek city states gathered in Athens and swore to abide by the terms of common peace already accepted.78 The Spartans were opposed to the peace and sent a force to Arcadia.79 The Theban force arrived in 370 BC and easily defeated the Spartan tribes.80 This was the first Theban expedition to the Peloponnese and it achieved some changes which had lasting effects. First, it freed Messenia from Spartan control.81 Messenia was made into an independent and fully organized state, and although the Spartans continued to claim it until 330, they never in fact recovered it.82 The loss of Messenia was the crucial blow to Spartan power and the Spartans could no longer draw on the rich agricultural produce of the Messenian plain; so there was a drastic decline in the number of Spartan citizens could enjoy full civic rights and devote themselves to military exercises and the Spartan way of life.83 335 BC marked the endpoint of Thebes’s most brilliant four decades, the origins of which may be traced back to the mid-fifth century.84 Having recovered first from the humiliation of medism in 480 and then from the humiliation of occupation by Athens between 457 and 447, Thebes re-established federal state on new lines, with their own city clearly in the driving seat 77 Ibid., 132. Sealey, History of Greek city States, 423. 79 Ibid., 424. 80 Ibid., 424. 81 Ibid., 424. 82 Ibid., 424. 83 Ibid., 424. 84 Ancient Greece, 134. 78 KIST 14 from the start, that flourished down to 386. 85 During Philip’s reign Macedon was first unified, then began to urbanize and finally not only achieved control of all mainland Greece to its south, defeating the coalition of Athens and Thebes in 338 at the Battle of Chaeronea in Boeotia and neutralizing Sparta along the way, but also embarked on the conquest of Asia too.86 This was the death-knell of the traditional polis as a power-unit in Greek history, through there is later exceptions, such as the island-city of Rhodes, in the third and even the early second century.87 Although Thebes would be rebuilt after being destroyed in 335 BC by Alexander, it was on a much smaller scale, and though a comfortable place to live in under the Roman dispensation, it never returned to its Classical-era political and military significance.88 The Rise of Macedon After the Peloponnesian War ended, it seemed that Greece was on the decline, generally speaking. One polis that took advantage of this falling out was Macedon. Led by Philip II, the Macedonians started to gain territory around the Greek peninsula. Philip became the first foreign king to control the cities of mainland Greece, and these cities that he had arranged were to be his allies who shared in a common peace and acknowledged him as leader.89 He did not mean to stay and oppress the cities he occupied, but rather wanted to march with the Greeks against the Persians.90 Unfortunately, Philip was killed before this could come to fruition and it left Macedon in turmoil. The question was raised about who would take over and if he would be able to lead as well as Philip, but the answer came quickly after amidst the turmoil. His son, Alexander took the reins and made it his plan to bring greatness to Greece.91 Alexander loved 85 Ibid., 134. Ibid., 140. 87 Ibid., 141. 88 Ibid,, 141. 89 Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great: A Biography,(London: Allen Lane, 1973), 17. 90 Ibid., 17. 91 Ibid., 34. 86 KIST 15 Greek culture and this could be traced back to his tutoring at the hand of Aristotle when he was a young boy.92 Alexander actually believed that he was related to Hercules and Achilles and this was due to the teaching done by Aristotle.93 One major interest for Alexander, which is ironic based on the topic being discussed, was the difficulty of turning a militaristic state into a peaceful one.94 The example Aristotle was given was Sparta because once they established an empire, they began to decline.95 Alexander, the king, took over the throne at age 20, and his first act was to kill the man who murdered his father. After the death of Philip and this act, the Greek city states, including Athens, were swept into a frenzy of liberty and were talking of revolting.96 The Greeks rose in the hopes of getting rid of the Macedonian rule. King Darius of Persia sent large envoys to Greek cities with large bags of gold for the purpose of causing trouble to ruin the Greek alliance97. As soon as Alexander heard of this, he immediately put himself in charge of the army and entered Greece by force to fight for his right to the throne.98 His presence nipped the rebellions in the bud for the most part as many nations, including the Thessalians, recognized him as the true king.99 The Athenians, at news of Alexander marching towards them, decided against fighting, and decided to ask their ambassadors to request a pardon from him for their actions.100 Alexander pardoned the Athenians because of his affection he had for them due to Aristotle and his teachings.101 This event was also further proof of the decline of Athens since they did not stand up and fight for their rights and city back, but rather accepted that Alexander would have 92 Ibid., 56. Ulrich Wilcken, Alexander the Great, (Toronto: George J. Macleod, 1967), 64 94 Ibid., 64. 95 Ibid., 64. 96 Ibid., 65. 97 Ibid., 65. 98 Ibid., 65. 99 Ibid., 65. 100 Ibid., 65. 101 Ibid., 65. 93 KIST 16 defeated them. The people of Athens welcome Alexander with open arms and overwhelmed him with honours, even more numerous than those which they had bestowed unto Philip.102 One interesting thing to consider about his relationship with his father is that everything his dad did, Alexander felt the need to do better than. This is especially seen in the fact that Alexander had many more cities named after him and while his father was able to lead an army to the Hellespont, Alexander was able to cross it.103 In 334 BC, now that he was recognized as king, Alexander crossed the Hellespont that separated Europe and Asia in 334 BC.104 His biggest accomplishment was his defeat of Darius when he only lost 280 men, while killing as many as 70,000 Persians.105 The humour in this and the display of his power is seen when Darius offers to rule Persia together and ruling one half each, but Alexander responds by saying that he and Darius were not equals, and therefore had to be recognized as the one true king, and if Darius wanted to dispute claims to the throne, then he had to stand and fight for it.106 Next, Alexander wanted to eliminate the threat of Darius from the ocean so he and his men marched on the fortress of Tyre. At first, they were welcomed with open arms, but it became clear that they had no intention of submitting to his rule which was seen when they refused to allow Alexander to make offerings to Melkart, the god of the city.107 The siege then began in 332 BC in this area of now southern Lebanon.108 The siege would last seven months and it took many siege techniques and engineering innovations to conquer the city. Alexander kept marching until Egypt, had victories there and then went back to hunting Darius. When he finally caught up to him, Darius was dead so he sent him back to Persia for a proper 102 Ibid., 65. Ibid., 65. 104 Ibid., 66. 105 Ibid., 65. 106 Ibid., 65. 107 Ibid., 65 108 Ibid., 65 103 KIST 17 burial. Alexander’s troops thought that the campaign and adventure were over, but Alexander kept his men on the move reaching as far as the Beas River, but his men now viewed this as the end of the world so their urge to fight had disappeared.109 His men marched 11,250 miles in 8 years and killed at least 750,000 Asians.110 A soldier once said to Alexander, “Sir, if there is one thing above all others a successful man should know, it is when to stop.”111 The expedition ended a mere 600 miles from the ocean and then, on the way back, Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC.112 Throughout his time as ruler Alexander had many great impacts on the Greek world, but perhaps his biggest was bringing about the Hellenistic age. Coming from the Hellenic Age, which was classic Greece, Alexander led them to the Hellenistic Age, which meant Greek like. The Hellenistic age was the period between the death of Alexander and the conquest of Egypt by Rome in 30 BC. The Hellenistic style of life influenced Roman culture especially when it was building its empire.113 The Hellenistic Age also marked the transformation of Greek society from the localized and introverted city-states to an open, cosmopolitan, and at times exuberant culture that permeated the entire eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia.114 While the Hellenistic world incorporated a number of different people, Greek thinking, mores and way of life dominated the public affairs of the time.115 All aspects of the culture took more a Greek look to them, with the Greek language being established as the official language and this led to proper transformation of art and literature.116 Depictions of man in both art and literature revolved 109 Ibid., 65. Ibid., 65. 111 John Langhorne and William Langhorne, trans., Plutarch: Life of Alexander (New York: Applegate, 1874), 230. 112 Ibid., 270. 113 Athens and Hellenism, 4. 114 Bernard Bosanquet, A Moral from Athenian History, International Journal of Ethics, 9 (1898), 17. 115 Ibid., 17. 116 Ibid., 17. 110 KIST 18 around exuberant and often amusing themes that for the most part explored the daily life and the emotional world of humans, gods and heroes alike.117 The biggest change overall was the change to Alexandria as the centre of commerce and culture of the Hellenistic world under the Ptolemies.118 Within it, there was the tomb of Alexander the Great, the lighthouse of Alexandria and the famed Library of Alexandria that had aspirations to host the entire knowledge of the known world.119 The Hellenistic Age also became a time of substantial maturity of the sciences, specifically in geometry where Euclid’s elements became the standard all the way up to the 20th century CE, and the work of Archimedes became legendary.120 One very revolutionary thought within the Hellenistic World was that the world was a sphere and not flat as many believed.121 The Hellenistic Age ended because of the Romans though in 31 BCE. Rome had risen to power and by 200 BC occupied not only Italy, but also the entire coastal Adriatic Sea and Illyria.122 During the second Punic War, when Hannibal of Carthage managed to establish a successful campaign against the Romans in Italy, Philip V of Macedon allied with him and annexed Illyria, starting a series of wars with Rome that led to the eventual annexation of Greece by the Romans.123 In the end, the large part of the Hellenistic kingdoms disintegrated by constant incursions by tribes of the fringes, many parts were simply given to Rome through the will of past rules, and others won brief independence through revolution.124 Alexander also had many other major impacts which have been seen for quite a long time after. The first impact was the movement of Greeks abroad. This led to accelerated Greek conquest, a further spread of the Greek language, spread of Greek deities and cults, and the 117 Ibid., 18. Ibid., 18. 119 Ibid., 18. 120 Ibid., 18. 121 Ibid., 20. 122 Ibid., 21. 123 Ibid., 21. 124 Ibid., 23. 118 KIST 19 emergence of philosophy as a way of life.125 In doing this, the world was becoming more united under one language and way of life, which also led to the Greeks having positions of influence all around the Mediterranean to further spread Greek influence.126 The influence also led to the emergence of one world economically to make trade even easier since the same currency would be utilized throughout large regions.127 Alexander also led the world to a higher level of education and literacy in the regions which led to an easier spread of the ideas that were presented due to Alexander. Ironically, Alexander also led to an increase in individualism.128 This is ironic because Alexander led to people taking more pride in them, but also in being a member of the city state further. If it was not for the great influence Alexander had, it is hard to imagine many ideals and philosophies would have been able to succeed, especially in a world that would not have been united under one leader, one language, one system, one economy, and one power. Conclusion The Peloponnesian War was one that involved almost all of Greece and ultimately led to many shifts in the dynamics of Greek life. From 431 to 404 BC, the Greek powers of Athens and Sparta and their allies battled to show superiority within Greece. Greece fought due to the protection of the great empire it had while Sparta was tired of being the second in command. The question was raised as to how Greece changed after the Peloponnesian War. This paper argued that Greece changed after the Peloponnesian War leading because Athens lost its great empire and began to decline, the fall of Sparta, and the rise of Alexander the Great with Macedon. In 125 Ibid., 340. Ibid., 340. 127 Ibid., 341. 128 Ibid., 341. 126 KIST 20 other words, the mighty fell, the meek inherited the earth, and the changing of the guard was completed. KIST 21 Bibliography 1. Bosanquet, Bernard. "A Moral from Athenian History." International Journal of Ethics 9, no. 1 (October 1898). Journal 1. 2. Cartledge, Paul. Ancient Greece. N.p.: Oxford University, 2009. Book 1 3. Ferguson, William Scott. "Athens and Hellenism." The American Historical Review 16, no. 1 (October 1910). Journal 2 4. Forde, Steven. "Thucydides on the Causes of Athenian Imperialism." The American Political Science Review 80, no. 2 (June 1986). Journal 3 5. Hammond, Martin, trans. Thucydides- the Peloponnesian War. N.p.: Oxford, 2009. Primary Source 2 6. Kagor, Donald. Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy. N.p.: Free Press,1991. Book 2 7. Kitto, H.D.F. The Greeks. N.p.: Pelican, 1951. Book 3 8. Lane Fox, Robin. Alexander the Great. London: Dial, 1974. Print. Book 4 9. 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