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The Peloponnesian War the Decline of the Polis

Explore the cultural changes in 5th-century Athens due to immense wealth, Periclean building programs, and Athenian tragedies. Uncover the rise and fall of Athens during the Peloponnesian War.

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The Peloponnesian War the Decline of the Polis

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  1. The Peloponnesian Warthe Decline of the Polis 431-380 BCE

  2. The Ancient Greeks • Dark Age: 1200-800 BCE • Archaic Age: 800-500 • Classical Age: 500-350 • Acharnians, 425 BCE • Clouds, 423 BCE • Lysistrata, 411 BCE • Hellenistic Age: 350-200

  3. Timeline for Decline of Athenian Power • 480 BCE Athens forms the Delian League and discovers silver nearby at Larium • 450: Pericles extends citizenship to lower class while restricting it to immigrants (metics) • 431-404: Athens squanders resources on lost war with Sparta • 399 Execution of Socrates • 390s through 340s BCE: Greece descends into internecine warfare

  4. How did great wealth change Athens in the fifth century BCE?

  5. How did Athens’ immense wealth change the city? • It brought dramatic cultural change over the course of a few decades. • It increased Athens’ position relative to other states in Greece. • It encouraged less altruistic members of society to run for public office. • It allowed many Athenians to live more comfortably.

  6. The Periclean Building Programs • Named after Pericles (c. 495-429 BCE), the Athenian general/statesman who championed the building program • Parthenon started in 447 BCE with money from the Delian league • Numerous temples built in the Parthenon complex as well as around Athens

  7. The Athenian Acropolis c. 430 BCE

  8. The Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, 448-432 BCE Concrete replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee's Centennial Park

  9. Map of Athensc . 430 BCE

  10. Acropolis from the Agora

  11. Theater at Delphi

  12. Aeschylus, Sophocles & Euripides

  13. Theater of Dionysus

  14. Discuss Athenian cultural development in the 400s. • How did tragedies advance the understanding of psychology? • How did the theater encourage the separation of Athenian and Spartan cultures? • How did the theater encourage other disciplines?

  15. Herodotus & Thucydides

  16. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

  17. Theater of Dionysus

  18. Discuss Lysistrata • How did the play depict the Spartans? • Women • Men • Was Lysistrata a radical? • How does this play reflect Athens’ situation in the war?

  19. How did Lysistrata begin? • With Lysistrata calling a meeting women to discuss ending the war • With Lysistrata packing her bags and leaving her husband • With a prophecy from the Delphic oracle that the women of Athens will end the war • With Pericles commending the women for supporting the war

  20. How did the play depict the male characters? • As suffering from severe discomfort due to unending erections • As level-headed individuals who sought to calm down the women • As great warriors and poets • All of the above • None of the above

  21. Which of the following was among the political reforms proposed by Lysistrata in the wool metaphor? • Expand voting right to women. • Expand voting right to friendly foreigners. • Temporarily place women on the Athenian Council of 400. • All of the above • None of the above.

  22. Why did Athens and Sparta go to war? • Cultural Differences • Political Rivalry • Economic opportunity • Incendiary events • Trade embargo enforcement • Confiscation of goods • Influence of Demagogues

  23. Spartan Women

  24. Spartan Culture and Architectural Styles

  25. Aeschylus, Sophocles & Euripides

  26. Gymnasia were schools that emphasized physical and intellectual development

  27. Military Might of Athens and Sparta at the Beginning of the War c. 330

  28. Course of the War

  29. Mediterranean Basin c. 350 BCE

  30. Overview • Our Sources for the War • Causes of War • The Course of the War • Obstacles to Athenian Empire • The Decline of the Polis

  31. Sources for Understanding the War • Thucydides (d. 400 BCE) • describes the war as a profound tragedy • blamed Athenian greed and influence of demagogues • huge impact on later historiography • Athenian documents • Greek theater and especially Aristophanes • Laws • archeology

  32. The Causes of War • Athenian hubris • expanding empire • increased building • need for tax revenues • Relations with other city states: Corinth & Megara • Rival alliances and treaties • Spartan fears of Athenian domination

  33. The Course of the War • Athenian strategy: • avoid pitched battles on land • use navy to raid enemy lands & deplete resources • win a war of attrition due to superior resources • Athens suffers disasters • plague from 430-426 • Sicily campaign of 415-413 • slave revolt 413 • losses at sea 406-4 • Final defeat and the imposition of tyranny of The Thirty

  34. Obstacles to the Athenian Empire • The Peloponnesian League • Loyalty of the Delian League • The Peloponnesian War • Athenian leaders • Impoverishment of the Thetes • Reliance on Mercenaries • Confused loyalties

  35. Spartan Victory • Sparta not equipped to assume Athens place as leading city-state • lack of diplomatic skills • laconic • proud • lack of governmental institutions • With Sparta’s failure to assume leadership, Greece experienced a period of sustained internecine warfare and political fragmentation

  36. Effects of War on Athens • The economy of Athens revives somewhat after the war but never regains its widespread opulence • it loses its empire and the revenue of empire • due to high mortality of men, many widows who never before worked are forced to seek low paying work • vineyards • wet nurses • weavers • day labor

  37. Effects of War on Athens • Militarization of society - holdings of small farmers destroyed; many families forced to resort to mercenary work for survival • decline of democracy - with a smaller portion of the population available for the leisure time demanded by Athenian public life, participatory democracy loses its constituency • the formation of a ruling elite - in the coming decades, Plato and other influential educators advocate for government controlled by a ruling elite (e.g. philosopher kings) • Search for scapegoats

  38. The Death of Socrates c. 400 BCE • Accused of • disbelief in Athenian gods • introducing new gods • corruption of the Athenian youth • Chose death rather than escape • Became a martyr and symbol of unflinching belief in ethical actions • represented in stories and artwork, particularly since the 18th century in the West • Plato is our most complete source about his teachings but it is difficult to separate Socrates beliefs from those of Plato

  39. Summary • The failure of Athens during the Peloponnesian War meant the failure of Greece to attain political unity • Although the fourth century was a period of continued achievement for Athens in philosophy, science, and performing arts, politically it was a period of fragmentation and war until the Macedonians unified the Greeks in the 330s

  40. How does the play depict the Spartans? • As a bunch of belligerent hotheads; even the women were mean • As fine physical specimens who speak in a rural dialect • As the natural leaders of the Greek world; they had a daunting & commanding presence • As sick and emaciated from the deprivations of war

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