Battle
Athens gathered a fleet of 30 ships and 1,000 hoplites under the overall command of Archestratus. [5] The Athenian force was originally meant to fight Perdiccas in Macedonia, but was diverted to Potidaea. The Potidaeans sent ambassadors to Athens and Sparta, and when negotiations broke down in Athens, Sparta promised to help Potidaea revolt through a pledge to invade Attica. [5] The Athenian fleet sailed for Potidaea, but when it arrived, Archestratus attacked the Macedonians instead, as the Potidaeans had already revolted and allied with Perdiccas. [6] Corinth sent 1,600 hoplites and 400 light troops to Potidaea as well, under the command of Aristeus, but as "volunteers," [7] thus hoping not to provoke a larger war. In response, Athens sent out another 2,000 hoplites and 40 more ships, under the command of Callias, son of Calliades. [8] [9] After some fighting against Perdiccas, the combined Athenian forces sailed to Potidaea and landed there. Perdiccas and 200 of his cavalry joined with Aristeus, and their combined army marched to Potidaea. [10]
In the ensuing battle, Aristeus' wing of Corinthian troops defeated a section of the Athenian line, but elsewhere the Athenians were victorious. Aristeus returned to Potidaea along the sea coast with some difficulty, hoping to avoid the main Athenian army. [10] A reserve force of Potidaeans, located in nearby Olynthus, attempted to relieve Aristeus, but they were also defeated. The Corinthians and Potidaeans lost about 300 men, and the Athenians about 150, including Callias; the Macedonian cavalry did not join the battle. [11]
The Athenians remained outside Potidaea for some time, and were reinforced by another 1,600 hoplites under the command of Phormio. Both sides built walls and counter-walls, and the Athenians succeeded in cutting off Potidaea from the sea with a naval blockade. During the blockade, representatives from Corinth, Athens and Sparta met in Sparta, resulting in a formal declaration of war. [12]
However, this siege, which lasted until 430/429 BC, seriously depleted the Athenian treasury, with as much as 420 talents per year required for the military activity. [13] This was not popular with the Athenians, and in combination with the plague that swept through Athens in the early 420s BC, made the continued leadership of Pericles untenable. The Periclean strategy of hiding behind the Long Walls and relying on the low cash reserves of the Peloponnesians was starting to become unfavourable to the greater Athenian consciousness. [14]
In several of Plato's dialogues (Charmides 153a-d, Apology (Plato) 28d), the philosopher Socrates is revealed to be a veteran of the Battle of Potidaea, where he saved the life of Alcibiades (Symposium 219e-221b).
The Peloponnesian War was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time, until the decisive intervention of the Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet, built with Persian subsidies, finally defeated Athens and started a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece.
Year 432 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Mamercus, Albinus and Medullinus. The denomination 432 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Pericles was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", but the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars or as late as the following century.
This article concerns the period 439 BC – 430 BC.
This article concerns the period 429 BC – 420 BC.
Brasidas was the most distinguished Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War. He died during the Second Battle of Amphipolis while winning one of his most spectacular victories.
The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The expedition ended in a devastating defeat for the Athenian forces, severely impacting Athens.
Perdiccas II was the king of Macedonia from 454 BC until his death in 413 BC. During the Peloponnesian War, he frequently switched sides between Sparta and Athens.
The Battle of Spartolos took place in 429 BC between Athens and the Chalcidian League and their allies, in the early part of the Peloponnesian War.
The Battle of Amphipolis was fought in 422 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. It was the culmination of events that began in 424 BC with the capture of Amphipolis by the Spartans.
The Battle of Sybota took place in 433 BC between Corcyra and Corinth. It was one of the immediate catalysts for the Peloponnesian War.
Phormio, the son of Asopius, was an Athenian general and admiral before and during the Peloponnesian War. A talented naval commander, Phormio commanded at several famous Athenian victories in 428 BC, and was honoured after his death with a statue on the acropolis and a state funeral. He is considered one of Athens' many great admirals, alongside Themistocles and Cimon.
Lacedaemonius was an Athenian general of the Philaid clan. He served Athens, notably in the naval Battle of Sybota against the Corinthians in 433 BC.
Pentecontaetia is the term used to refer to the period in Ancient Greek history between the defeat of the second Persian invasion of Greece at Plataea in 479 BC and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. The term originated with a scholiast commenting on Thucydides, who used it in their description of the period. The Pentecontaetia was marked by the rise of Athens as the dominant state in the Greek world and by the rise of Athenian democracy, a period also known as Golden Age of Athens. Since Thucydides focused his account on these developments, the term is generally used when discussing developments in and involving Athens.
The Samian War was an Ancient Greek military conflict between Athens and Samos. The war was initiated by Athens's intervention in a dispute between Samos and Miletus. When the Samians refused to break off their attacks on Miletus as ordered, the Athenians easily drove out the oligarchic government of Samos and installed a garrison in the city, but the oligarchs soon returned, with Persian support.
The First Peloponnesian War was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the Second Sacred War. There were several causes for the war including the building of the Athenian long walls, Megara's defection and the envy and concern felt by Sparta at the growth of the Athenian Empire.
The Thirty Years' Peace was a treaty signed between the ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in 446/445 BC. The treaty brought an end to the conflict commonly known as the First Peloponnesian War, which had been raging since c. 460 BC.
Archestratus was a general who in 432 BCE was sent by Athens to Potidaea, in which a revolt was brewing, to take Potidean hostages and demolish the city wall. It is possible this expedition included the general Alcibiades and philosopher Socrates.
Aristeus, son of Adeimantus, was a Corinthian general who commanded the expedition to Potidaea in 432 BC. After the Athenians broke a truce with the Corinthians at Sybota, his primary goal was to defend Potidaea from an Athenian attack. He then went on to defend the Corinthian colony from Athens during the Battle of Potidaea in 432 BC, until he was left with no option but to leave the colony with the Chalcidians. In 430 BC, he traveled to Thrace with Spartan envoys where they were discovered by Athenians and brought to Athens, by Athenian ambassadors, where they were promptly killed without a trial. After Aristeus' death, Athens seized Potidaea in 430/429 BC during the Peloponnesian War, the battles of Sybota and Potidaea being two main catalysts for the war.
The Affair of Epidamnus, also known as the Epidamnian Affair, is cited by the Ancient Greek historian Thucydides as one of the major immediate causes for the Peloponnesian War. The conflict began as a minor coup by a democratic faction of the city-state of Epidamnus, but eventually escalated into a major conflict between the cities of Athens and Corcyra on one side and the city of Corinth on the other. The culminating Battle of Sybota subsequently led to the Potidaean Affair and the Megarian Decree, both also major contributors to the final outbreak of hostilities between Athens and Sparta, beginning the Peloponnesian War.
