Download The Spartan Hegemony

The Spartan Hegemony
404-371 B.C.
The Great Victory
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Some months after the
Battle at Aegospotami
Athens surrenders.
The Terms:
Demolish the Long Walls
Surrender all ships except 12
Accept the lead of Sparta
An oligarchic government by
30 men is put in place by
Lysander
Democracy is abolished
The Athenian Empire is
inherited by Sparta
The Protagonists
Lysander
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Probably from a family of Inferiors, of noble descent
but impoverished
Lover of prince Agesilaos (frequently Agesilaus)
Ambitious and Un-Spartan in some ways
He understood that the only way to defeat Athens
was to create a navy.
He created a bond with the Persian prince Cyrus,
son of king Darius II, who funded the Spartan fleet
He was power-hungry, but not enough to stage open
revolt against the Spartan constitution
Agesilaos II (401-360)
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A towering figure in Spartan history
He became king (Eurypontid dynasty) when Sparta was the ruler of the
Greek world, and shortly afterwards went to conquer Persia
He died in Egypt, aged 84, hiring out his services as a mercenary to
replenish the treasury of a broken and impoverished Sparta
Half-brother of king Agis II, unexpectedly became king, with Lysander’s
support, after the lawful heir Leotychidas was declared illegitimate
He had undergone the agoge despite his lame leg (birth defect), where
through relentless effort distinguished himself
Very popular among the men in the army, very influencial
Also very rigid, relentless in his hatred of Thebes, and very
conservative, he influenced many wrong decisions and is largely
responsible for the decline of Spartan power.
Pharnabazus / Tissaphernes
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Rival Persian Satraps of Asia Minor
Pharnabazus brings about the end of Spartan
Supremacy by funding the Athenian regeneration
effort in the 390’s.
Tissaphernes was devoted to Artaxerxes II, and a
sworn enemy of Sparta
He fell victim of queen Parysatis for his role in the
death of her favorite son Cyrus.
Both seriously impeded Spartan plans in Asia Minor
and her imperial ambitions through sharp diplomacy
and bribery.
Darius II and Cyrus the Younger
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Darius, maybe at the suggestion of his queen, Parysatis,
changed Persian policy towards Greek affairs.
The new policy was to fund the weaker side and keep them
fighting in a manner that served Persian interests
His heir Artaxerxes II successfully continued this policy.
His charismatic younger son Cyrus, funded Lysander to defeat
Athens , and then revolted against his brother king Artaxerxes
with help from Sparta and other Greek mercenaries (400 BC)
In the battle of Cunaxa Cyrus won but was killed.
The march of the mercenaries through Persia back to Greece
confirmed that it is possible to defeat Persia
The Perils of Athens
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The sounds of the flutes playing while Lysander’s
workers were demolishing the walls of Athens
haunted the Athenians for many years.
His puppet government exhibited such cruelty that
‘the Thirty’ came to be identified with pure evil in
Athenian memory
A resistance was staged by Thrasybulus from the
fortress of Phyle, which eventually led to civil war,
and the rebels prevailed.
Athenian Restoration
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Eventually the Agiad king
Pausanias, who disliked
Lysander and his tactics,
worked out a settlement.
The Spartans did not
intervene to support the
Thirty
The democracy was restored
in 403, and public life was
reorganized
The old enemy was back,
albeit diminished.
Spartan Government
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Sparta inherited the Athenian Empire, but very quickly proved to be
highly unsuitable for imperial leadership
Instead of the promised freedom, Sparta established oligarchic regimes
(boards of 10: decarchies).
Instead of the autonomy under Athenian rule, now the cities were
tightly controlled by Spartan garrisons (harmosts)
Instead of the rule of law under the Athenian empire, now they had the
temperamental rule of ill-suited Spartan officials, excessively prone to
bribery
Instead of fair commerce and free trade, 1000 talents from excessive
taxation were sent to Sparta only in the first year
Soon the days of Athenian rule were seen with nostalgia, and much
resentment arose against Sparta
Former allies like Thebes and Corinth created an alliance with Athens
The Campaign Against Persia
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After the return of the 10,000 a campaign
was staged against Persia
Agesilaos did well in Asia Minor, but Persian
diplomacy seized the initiative before he
could inflict serious damage to the empire.
They funded Athens and her allies to start
war on Sparta.
The Corinthian war (395-387) was an
indecisive conflict which damaged the Greek
world as a whole.
The Persian Empire
Ancient Corinth
Corinthian War
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The alliance of Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Argos and others remains
strong despite a number of setbacks by Spartan armies.
Initially funded by Persian money
A Persian fleet under the Athenian Conon destroys the Spartan navy off
Cnidos (394 BC)
Then proceeds to effectively end the Spartan Empire in the Aegean
Athens tries to regain some of her possessions
At land the Spartan army retains an advantage but does not succeed to
dominate
The Athenian Iphicrates using light troops succeeds in inflicting
casualties on Spartan troops, and reveals the flaws of the Spartan
phalanx.
This inconclusive warfare ends with the King’s peace in 387/6
Spartan power has diminished, and in the coming years Sparta is going
to serve as the police force of the Great King of Persia in Greece.