Peloponnesian War

Glossary entry on the Peloponnesian War.

Timeline of major battles and treaties in the Peloponnesian War.

A look at the causes and sequences of events leading up to the Peloponnesian War.

Online primary and ancient secondary sources on the Peloponnesian War: Thucydides, Diodorus Siculus, Xenophon, Cornelius Nepos, Plutarch, and Aristophanes.

Basics on the Corinthian War.

Sparta created a confederacy of most of the Peloponnesian states. Sparta was in charge (hegemon) and they would supply troops. This is known as the Peloponnesian League.

When Athens surrendered at the end of the Peloponnesian War, democracy was replaced by the oligarchic rule of the Thirty Tyrants.

Alcibiades had it all: looks, charm, money, brains, good family. Amongst his many admirers was Socrates, and they each saved the other's life in battle. After the death of Cleon in 422, Alcibiades became the leading figure amongst those who wished to continue with the war, and was one of the prime instigators of the Sicilian Expedition (415).

The Archidamian War is the first ten years of the Peloponnesian War.

Led by Athens, several ancient Greek city-states joined together to form the Delian league.

The Peace of Nicias was a Peloponnesian War treaty between Sparta and Athens.

The Peloponnesian War is almost synonymous with Thucydides, the great Greek historian who described the war. If you're reading Thucydides on your own, you may appreciate the background information and interpretion of events supplied by these writers.

Spartan general Lysander put an end to the Peloponnesian War.

Aristophanes' comedy Lysistrata is based on the idea of the women of Greece getting together to hold a sex strike until their husbands from Athens and Sparta agree not to fight.

List of those Athenians who were ostracized. List includes Alcibiades.

Plutarch's biography of the Athenian leader turned traitor -- Alcibiades.

William Smith on the first period of the Peloponnesian War to the Peace of Nicias (431 - 421 B.C.).

William Smith on the Peloponnesian War, the period from the Peace of Nicias to the defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse (421- 413 B.C.).

William Smith on the third period of the Peloponnesian War, from the Sicilian Expedition to the end of the Peloponnesian War (413-404 B.C.).

Richard Crawley's English translation of "The History of the Peloponnesian War" written about 431 B.C. Discussion list.

Introduction, map, and relevant passages from Livy, Polybius, and Plutarch.

Maps of Greece and Corcyra Island, Overview of the Revolution, Thucydides on other revolutions during the war, Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning, Evidence of the Senses, Mechanistic Approach, Conclusions about Human Nature, and Comments on the paper by Ben Zarit.

Perseus Project English translation of Thucydides' Peloponnesian War.

English translation of Thucydides' The History of the Peloponnesian War, broken up into the 8 books.

Herodotus' account of Croesus' attack on Pteria.

Glossary entry on Pericles Funeral Oration.