PERICLES- ATHENS/SPARTA RELATIONSHIP AND FOREIGN POLICY (2)

Question 1

What started The First Peloponnesian War? (3)

Answer 1

• In c461 BCE Corinth encroached on the territory of Megara - In retaliation, Megara left the Peloponnesian League and allied with Athens - Athens then helped Megara build long walls between the city and the port, Nisaea

Question 2

Why did Athens ally with Megara?

Answer 2

Because Athens feared a Spartan attack and Megara provided an obstacle to invasion by land

Question 3

What did Athens do with Aegina after its loss?

Answer 3

Athens incorporated the defeated Aegina into the Delian League and made it pay annual tribute

Question 4

What is a summary of the First Peloponnesian War?

Answer 4

It was essentially one long battle that Sparta was reluctantly drawn into due to the actions of Corinth and the tense relationship with Athens

Question 5

When was the Five Year’s Peace?

Answer 5

451-446 BCE

Question 6

What was the Five Year Peace Plan?

Answer 6

In 451 BCE Athens and Sparta agreed on a five year peace plan - Both sides immediately contradicted the agreement but the peace somehow held

Question 7

What occurred in 446 BCE?

Answer 7

• Euboea and Megara revolted against Athens - At the same time, Sparta briefly attacked Attica and then retreated

Question 8

How did Pericles increase the tempo of Athenian expansion? And why?

Answer 8

• Pericles sailed to Euboea with fifty ships and 5000 hoplites, turning it into an Athenian garrison - Plutarch says this was to show Athenian strength to the remaining allies

Question 9

When did Athens and Sparta sign a peace treaty? and what were the terms? (2)

Answer 9

446/5 BCE - Athens had to surrender Peloponnesian territories gained (mainly Nisea, Pagae, Troezen and Achaea) - Allies were forbidden from changing sides

Question 10

Why did Sparta wish for these terms?

Answer 10

• Athens had been expanding and Sparta desired its own sphere of influence to help protect itself from the Athenian expansion

Question 11

What was the difference in wealth between Athens and Sparta?

Answer 11

• Athens was wealthy and powerful and Pericles wished to continue the expansionist policy - Sparta however did not have the wealth to compete with Athenian expansion

Question 12

What occurred during the Revolt of Samos and why did it happen? (5)

Answer 12

• Samos was attempting to takeover Miletus - Miletus had lost both its navy and freedom after numerous revolts and asked Athens for help - Pericles took a fleet to Samos and took control - The Samians revolted once the Athenians left - Athens took a year to suppress the rebellions

Question 13

How did Pericles punish the Samians? (3)

Answer 13

• Pericles demolished the walls of the city - Imposed a heavy fine of 1400 talents - Confiscated its fleet

Question 14

When was Corcyra founded and by who?

Answer 14

Corcyra was founded by Corinth in 734 BCE

Question 15

What occurred post-confrontation between Corcyra and Corinth? (3)

Answer 15

• Corcyra began attacking Corinthian interests (trade, ports, etc.) - In retaliation, Corinth strengthened its fleet between 435 BCE and 433 BCE - Corcyra appealed to Athens for support

Question 16

When was Potidaea in revolt and why?

Answer 16

around 432 BCE because it’s tribute (as a colony of Athens) had been doubled to 15 talents per year

Question 17

What was the most serious of the provocations for war?

Answer 17

Megara

Question 18

What was the Megarian Decree and when was it implemented?

Answer 18

Implemented around the same time as the revolt of Potidaea - One of the preparations Pericles made anticipating war - The decree banned Megara from free trade in the harbours and marketplaces of the Athenian sphere of influence

Question 19

What was Corinth concerned about? Who did they blame for this?

Answer 19

Athenian expansions - They blamed Sparta for this and threatened to abandon the league unless Sparta declared war

Question 20

What was the Hellenic League?

Answer 20

The alliance of states which had managed to drive back the Persian invasion in 480-479BC

Question 21

What was the Peloponnesian League?

Answer 21

An alliance of city-states largely based in the Peloponnese peninsula of Southern Greece, led and controlled by Sparta

Question 22

What was the Delian League?

Answer 22

An alliance of Greek city-states that would give tributes to Athens each year to help protect against Persian attack

Question 23

What happened in 470BC, when Naxos attempted to leave the Delian League?

Answer 23

Athens besieged the island and forced them to come back into the alliance. This was the start of Athenian imperialism.

Question 24

What happened in/after the revolt of the island of Thasos in 465BC?

Answer 24

The Athenians sieged the island, took down their walls, fined them and forced them to pay a tribute. They appealed to the Spartans to help, and they would have, but they suffered an earthquake at that time, which gave their large helot population a chance to revolt.

Question 25

The Spartan Helot revolt - how did this affect Athens and Sparta's relationship?

Answer 25

The Athenians were first called in to help fight the helots, but when they got there, the Spartans refused their help as they suspected them of sympathising with the helots. Athens then left the Hellenic League, and allied with Sparta's rival, Argos

Question 26

What happened in 461 which made it so that the two leagues were at war with each other for the first time?

Answer 26

Two Spartan allies, Corinth and Megara, entered into a border war, and Megara joined the Delian League when faced with defeat.

Question 27

What two states fought a lot before the construction of Athens's Long Walls?

Answer 27

Athens and Corinth

Question 28

In what year were the Long Walls created?

Answer 28

458 (461-456) and then 440 BC

Question 29

What happened in 454/3BC that marked the beginning of the "Athenian Empire"?

Answer 29

The location of the treasury of the Delian League was moved to Athens

Question 30

What did Athens and Sparta agree to in 446BC?

Answer 30

The Thirty Year Peace, which also established which cities belonged to each side, and prevented cities from switching sides

Question 31

"The growing power of Athens, and the resultant fear...

Answer 31

made war inevitable." - Thucydides

Question 32

What were the four ways that Sparta believes Athens broke the conditions of the Thirty Years Peace?

Answer 32

- Athens allied with Corcyra in 433, a neutral state that had a large navy, but bad relations with Corinth. - In 432, Corinth was outraged at Athens' treatment of the colony of Potidaea, who they had been besieging for 3 years. - By 432 Aegina believed Athens had compromised its independence, contrary to the terms of the TYP - Athens implemented the Megarian Decree, which greatly harmed the Megarian economy

Question 33

"It is not easy to discover what the original reason was for the proposal being accepted...

Answer 33

but everyone blames Pericles for the fact that it was not overturned." - Plutarch

Question 34

Who was Aristophanes?

Answer 34

A comic playwright who lived and wrote during the Peloponnesian War

Question 35

How does Aristophanes describe the introduction of the Megarian Decree in his play "Acharnians"?

Answer 35

It was introduced by the Zeus-like Pericles after a dispute over prostitutes owned by Aspasia that were stolen by Megarians (getting revenge for another prostitute theft)

Question 36

What was Pericles' strategy for fighting with Sparta?

Answer 36

To move all the people of Attica into the Long Walls when threatened, so they could avoid conflict on land with the Spartans, and only fight them at sea, where Athens was stronger

Question 37

Why was Pericles criticised during the time spent in the Long Walls?

Answer 37

Because he would not allow his people to leave the walls to protect the crops that the Spartans were burning.

Question 38

When and why did the plague begin in Athens?

Answer 38

In the spring of 430, due to the massive overcrowding in the city

Question 39

What happened when Athens descended into lawlessness because of the plague?

Answer 39

Pericles tried to calm the people with a speech appealing to their patriotism, but he was removed as leader and issued a fine

Question 40

Why did Pericles return to power in Athens, and what did he do after returning?

Answer 40

The people reinstated him as they realised there was no one better to rule Athens, and he successfully appealed to the people to let his son with Aspasia be a citizen, going against his own citizenship laws.

Question 41

When and how did Pericles die?

Answer 41

He died in 429 due to the plague in Athens

Question 42

What happened after the death of Pericles in 429?

Answer 42

The position of power was filled with many, less able men, and Athens eventually suffered a terrible defeat in 404BC.