Download Peloponnesian War

Athenian
Spartan
The Peloponnesian War
Sparta attacks Athens
Athens controls sea (with Delian League)
Athens gets greedy, attacks Sicily & loses
Sparta has no Navy
Sparta gains Persians as allies
Sparta builds small navy
Sparta stops food from getting in Athens
Athenians hide inside walls
Eventually, Athens surrenders
Greek against Greek
Many Greeks resented Athenian domination.
Greek world split into rival camps.
oTo counter Delian League, Sparta and other
enemies of Athens, formed Peloponnesian League.
oSparta supports:
Oligarchies in Peloponnesian League
oAthens supports:
Democracies in Delian League
431 B.C.E. 27-year war broke out…engulfing all of Greece
The Peloponnesian War
Athens faced serious geographic disadvantage
from start.
o
When Sparta invaded Athens, Pericles allowed
people from countryside to move inside city.
Overcrowding led to plague killed a 1/4 - 1/3.
The Peloponnesian War
Internal struggles undermine Democratic
Athenian government.
Sparta allied w/ Persia (old enemy) vs.
Delian League.
Finally (404 B.C.), with help of Persian
navy, Spartans captured Athens and stripped
its fleet and empire.
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o
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4.5 - 5 years
defeat of Athens
debated
most often cited:
Influenza, Epidemic Typhus, Typhoid Fever,
Bubonic Plague, Smallpox and Measles
only description:
o Given nuances of translation, likely either:
 Bubonic Plague, Smallpox or Typhus
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25% of population
osmallpox and typhus
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o
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o
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o
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o
o
o
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oZOONOTIC
or
oVECTOR-BORNE
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o
Environmental/fomite
or
Persistence or adaptation to indolent transmission

SMALLPOX
TYPHUS
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o
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Sparta only Greek city without city wall:
o “Our men are our walls.”
Spartan Armor: Hoplites (Infantry):
o
o
o
o
Bronze, muscled breastplate
Helmet with cheek plates
Greaves and other shin armor
Bowl-shaped wood & bronze shield: ASPIS or HOPLON
 Very heavy: protected warrior from chin to knee.
 Most other Greek hoplites had family symbols on shield
 In contrast, the Spartans (starting in 420 BC) had Greek
letter Lambda on their shield, referring to their
homeland Lacedaemonia.
o Scarlet cape: to represent them as Spartans
 Though the cape was never worn in combat
Spartan Weapons
o Spartan’s Primary Weapon: DORY / DORU
o 7 to 9 feet (2.1 - 2.7 meters)
o Spear held one-handed, either over or underhand
o “Business end” bronze/iron curved leaf-shaped head
o Shaft: cornel wood, selected due to strength of wood
o Leather wrapped grip
o Butt of spear capped with spike
 Sauroter: Greek for ’lizard killer’.
 Multi-use: stand spear up, secondary weapon
Spartan’s Secondary Weapons: Xiphos & Kopis
o XIPHOS
o Short sword: typically only 12-18 inches
o Employed if spear useless or broken.
o Thrust through gaps in enemy shields, walls,
armor
 Groin, armpit and throat favorite targets
o In one account, Athenian asked Spartan why
sword so short…after short pause replied:
“It’s long enough to reach your heart.”
Spartan’s Secondary Weapons: Xiphos & Kopis
o KOPIS
 Dreaded alternative to xiphos
 Thick, curved iron sword
 Vicious hacking weapon: Used as an axe
 Nasty wounds compared to cleaner holes from
Dory/Xiphos
 Quintessential "bad guy" weapon in ancient
Greece.
 Athenian art frequently depicted Spartan
warriors with this weapon for that reason.
Bashing Shield: ASPIS/HOPLON
oMain purpose: defensive
oAlso used to bash opponents:
oTo stun, knock down or kill
oHeavy: 30 pounds
oWood with outer layer of bronze
Destruction of
Athenian Army
Syracuse
Overview
o Athenian Army city-state militia
o All able-bodied, adult, male citizen obliged to
serve
o Men ranked by wealth
o Service obligation reflected resources
o Shield design: either individually chosen or
representing clan, neighborhood, or tribe
Overview
cont.
o ~ one-third, mostly prosperous peasant-farmers,
rich enough to equip as hoplites:
 Heavy infantry
o Panoply: full set of arms and armor:
expensive
 Body-armor: bronze -- for those who afford it
 Most made do with the linen cuirass:
Stiff shirt, shoulder plates, many layers linen
glued together
 Leg, arm, and sometimes hand and foot guards
were very much the exception
Helmet:
o ‘Corinthian’ type
 Face enclosed by cheek-pieces and nose-guard
 Dyed horse-hair crest
 Head protection: leather lining or woolen cap
Greaves (optional):
o Muscled lower-leg guards of bronze
o Flexible enough to clip on and off
Weaponry similar to Spartans
Minor changes:
Spear Structure
Shield Weight/Design
Also, didn’t use the Kopis as much as Spartans
Spartans defeat
Athenians
Syracuse
Peloponnesian War
AFTERMATH
Peloponnesian War:

Athens’ Democratic government suffered:

Fighting continued to disrupt Greek world.
Sparta suffered defeat at hands of Thebes
Greece left vulnerable to invasion.
Cultural development halted.
Alcibiades returns
to Athens
Peloponnesian War
Death of
Alcibiades
Sparta Controls Greece
Sparta gets respect…seems to rule.
But other city-states gain control.
Greece left weak.
City-States fight, use up resources.
Greece conquered by Philip II.
From Macedon/Macedonia to the North.
Philip unites.
Son, Alexander, takes over…
Post-Peloponnesian War
 Spartan military dominance challenged by
Thebes (aided by Athens, Corinth, Argos):
o Corinthian War (395-387 BCE)
 Sparta achieves number of land victories
 Weakened by raiding on its coast
 Helots provoked to revolt
 After short truce, war flared again in all-out
battle for supremacy
Post-Peloponnesian War
 Spartans defeated in Battle of Lauctra
o Epaminondas of Thebes
 Great general and strategist
 His tactic: Echelon Formation
o Leading side loaded with best troops
o Very deep formation
o Allowed him to break the unbreakable
o Spartan hoplite line crumbled
Traditional
hoplite
order of battle
and advance.
Epaminondas's
strategy at
Leuctra.
The strong left
wing advanced
more than the
weaker right
wing.
The red blocks
show the
placement of
the elite troops
within each
phalanx.
 The Spartans suffered heavy losses
o up to 4000 hoplites
 Helots revolted
 Sparta never recovered from one-two punch
 Spartan citizenship dependent on blood lines
 No way to quickly regain manpower
 Spartan military entered long slow decline
 Eventually once cutting edge weapons/tactics eclipsed
 Sparta still continued as regional power for 200 yrs.
 Neither Philip II nor Alexander-the-Great
attempted to conquer Sparta
o Respecting Spartan military and not wanting to
risk potentially high losses