Peloponne'sian league Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
... league The earliest and longest-lived Greek alliance, dating from the reign of Cleomenes I (sixth century bc ) when Sparta negotiated treaties with Peloponnesian states whereby she could expect the support of all members in war if a majority vote favoured such a course, each state having one vote. Chilon , one of the Seven Sages , is credited with its creation. The term is modern; ancient authors would refer to ‘the Spartans and their allies’. The league was dissolved in 366 bc...
Chīlon Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...Sages of Greece. He was said to have ‘yoked the ephors alongside the kings’, a reference to the oaths exchanged each month between the two kings and the ephors to respect each others' powers. He may have helped to extend Spartan influence through the establishment of the Peloponnesian league . After his death he was worshipped in Sparta as a...
Dē'lian League Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...the treasury for league funds (removed to Athens in 454 bc ). Some states with strong navies, e.g. Chios, Samos, and Lesbos, contributed ships; the remainder paid tribute (money). At first the league undertook military operations against the Persians, thereby extending Greek control along the whole coast of Asia Minor, but its character changed to become an alliance of cities controlled by Athens, i.e. her empire. With the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War ( 404 ) the league came to an end. (For the Second Athenian League see Athens 4...
Potidae'a Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...) on the western prong of Chalcidice in north-east Greece for the purpose of trade with Macedonia. It joined the (Athenian) Delian League , but the fact that Corinth supplied its annual chief magistrate meant that it was inevitably involved in any hostility between Athens and Corinth. It revolted from Athens in 432 bc after an increase of its tribute but was retaken in 430 after a siege ( see Peloponnesian War ). Athenian cleruchs held it until 404 when it passed to the Chalcidians. It was recovered by Athens in 363 , but in 356 fell into...
Pentēkontaĕ'tia Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...In Greek history, the ‘Period of fifty years’ (roughly) between the end of the Persian and the beginning of the Peloponnesian Wars ( 479–431 bc ). It was described (but not so called) by the historian Thucydides (1.89–118), with some omissions and some doubtful chronology. This was the period in which Athens developed her empire ( see Athens 3 and Delian League ) and produced some of her greatest works of art and literature. It was the age of the statesman Pericles, the tragedians Aeschylus and (for the first half of their productive lives)...
Me'gara Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...in the poems of the Megarian poet Theognis (but see the discussion of dates for that poet). It lost its western region to Corinth and Salamis to Athens. Shortly before 500 bc it joined the Peloponnesian league and was active in the Persian Wars. After these ended, the Megarians, having become involved in boundary disputes with Corinth, left their Peloponnesian allies and placed themselves under Athenian protection ( 460 ); the Athenians then sent an occupying garrison. After the Athenian defeat by the Boeotians at Coronea in 447 , the Megarians revolted...
Pe'riclēs (c.495–429 bc) Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...policy was developed under his guidance, and the Delian League , created to keep the Persians out of Greece, was converted into an Athenian empire. Also attributed to Pericles is the introduction of jury pay ( see juries ) and the law restricting Athenian citizenship to those whose mothers as well as fathers were Athenian citizens ( see marriage law ). Athens' imperialism brought her into conflict with Sparta, which was involved in hostilities against Athens from 460 to 446 ( see Peloponnesian War, First ). The Thirty Years' Peace which followed gave...
Aegī'na Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...The Aeginetan navy fought well on the Greek side in the Persian Wars, but hostility to Athens continued. In 458 / 7 Aegina was decisively defeated by Athens and compelled to join the Delian League despite being Dorian rather than Ionian, paying a heavy annual tribute of 30 talents ( see Peloponnesian War, First ). In 431 , at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians evicted the Aeginetans from the island on the pretext that they had helped foment the war, and installed Athenian cleruchs in their place. The exiles were restored by ...
Epamino'ndas (d. 362 bc) Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...and making Epaminondas famous. He invaded the Peloponnese in 370 to help the Arcadians throw off Spartan control ( see Megalopolis ), and he established the independence of Messenia . He invaded again in 369 and in 366 , when he put an end to Sparta's 300-year-old Peloponnesian league, and in 364 he even challenged Athens' naval supremacy at sea. In 362 he invaded the Peloponnese once more in order to reassert Theban influence there, but this time the Thebans found themselves fighting former allies, like the Athenians, now in alliance with Sparta....
Lesbos Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
... bc , a generation after Sappho) seems to allude to the island in a way which suggests that it was already known for the practice of female homosexuality, to which it has given its name ( see lesbianism ). Lesbos formed part of the Delian League , but Mytilene revolted from Athens in 428 bc during the Peloponnesian War. Methymna did not support the revolt, which was subdued by an Athenian expedition in 427 . Under the influence of Cleon the assembly at Athens voted that the whole population of Mytilene should be put to death or enslaved. On the...
Sāmos Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...world. Samos was famous for its navy, metalwork, and woollen products. It joined the Delian League , revolted from Athens in 441 bc , and was reduced by Pericles himself. During the oligarchic revolution of the Four Hundred in 411 , the Athenian fleet was stationed at Samos, and the island was the centre of the democratic movement which overthrew the oligarchy. Alone among the subject allies of Athens Samos did not revolt at the end of the Peloponnesian War , for which the Samians were rewarded with Athenian citizenship; but the city was reduced by...
Cīmon (c.510–c.450 bc) Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...Delian League . In 475 he conquered the island of Scyros, drove out the pirates, and brought back in triumph to Athens what were supposed to be the bones of the Athenian hero Theseus who was said to be buried there. Cimon's greatest military achievement was the defeat of the Persian fleet at the mouth of the Eurymedon, perhaps in 466 . It is possible that at this time he tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a peace with Persia ( see Callias ). Subsequently he reduced Thasos in 463 after a two-year siege when that island revolted from the Delian League....
Rhodes Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...colonized by Dorian Greeks who founded three city-states, Iālysus, Lindus, and Camīrus. During the fifth century bc Rhodes had been a member of the Delian League , paying tribute to Athens, but in 412 bc the island defected to the Peloponnesians. Its three cities amalgamated in 408 bc into one state with a new federal capital which took its name from the island. It joined the Second Athenian League but again revolted in 357 bc ; granted independence it came under Carian domination. During the later part of the fourth century it was a considerable...
Sacred Wars Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...intervened to restore the sanctuary to the Delphians, and Athens under Pericles reinstated Phocis. It is not known when Delphi was once again liberated, but under the terms of the Peace of Nicias between Athens and Sparta its independence was guaranteed ( 421 bc ; see Peloponnesian War ). The Third Sacred War ( 355–352 bc ) was touched off when Thebes, then in control of the amphictyony, persuaded it to impose a heavy fine on the Phocians for cultivating the Crisaean plain ( see above). The Phocians refused to pay and seized Delphi ( 356 ); in 355 ...
Clē'on (d. 422 bc) Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
... ( Klĕōn ) ( d. 422 bc ) Athenian politician prominent during the first part of the Peloponnesian War , the son of a rich tanner. He was perhaps involved in attacks on Pericles in 431 and 430 . After Pericles' death in 429 he succeeded him as the most influential politician of his day. In 427 he proposed the decree (carried but rescinded the following day) to execute all the men of Mitylene after the suppression of its revolt. He favoured the ruthless pursuit of victory in the war, by any means so long as it brought power, glory, and wealth...
Thūcy'didēs Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...enemy of Pericles, whose use of tribute money from the Delian League for building-works in Athens he attacked. He was ostracized in perhaps 443 bc but presumably returned after the statutory ten years. In his old age he was prosecuted in a manner condemned by Aristophanes. He is mentioned by Pindar as a famous trainer of wrestlers. The historian Thucydides (2) was probably of the same family. 2. Greek historian, author of the (apparently incomplete) History of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, 431–404 bc , in eight books. 1. ...
Diony'sia Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...of the god) leading up to the sacrifices and libations poured by the ten strategoi in the precinct of Dionysus' temple. The procession included the choregoi ( see choregia ) of the various dramatic performances, dressed in their robes. Except for the period of the Peloponnesian War the festival seems to have lasted for five days, when five comedies were performed, one on each afternoon, preceded on two days by dithyrambic competitions and on three days by tragedies and satyr plays, the activities beginning at daybreak. During the war, to save expense...
Sparta Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
..., and Sparta no longer took the lead in Greek affairs. This was partly as a result of the rise in importance of Athens ( see Delian League ); also, Sparta suffered a devastating earthquake in 464 and a war ( 464–460 ) caused by a revolt of the helots. Jealousy and fear of Athenian expansion twice brought about war between Athens and Sparta: in 460–446 ( see Peloponnesian War, First ); and in 431–404 (the Peloponnesian War ). 4. The defeat of Athens in 404 left Sparta supreme in Greece, but her falling citizen population (the reasons for which have...
Corinth Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...With the growth of Athenian imperialism in the second half of the fifth century ( see Athens 3 ) relations with the Athenians deteriorated, and disputes between Athens and Corinth over Corcyra and Potidaea (another Corinthian colony) contributed to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431 . Corinthians were among the most active and persistent opponents of Athens throughout the war and joined in the successful defence of their colony Syracuse. After the war, however, Corinth joined Athens, Argos, and Boeotia to make war against the tyrannical rule...
Athens Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (3 ed.)
...the so-called First Peloponnesian War c .460–446 . Aegina fell to Athens after a long blockade ( 457–456 ), but the Thirty Years Peace made with Sparta in 446 ended Athens' ten-year control of Boeotia when the Athenians were defeated at Coronea by a Boeotian rising in that year. The Delian League was being turned into an empire, by land as well as by sea; this was the period in which the first cleruchies were established. Sparta, and not only Sparta, felt threatened by Athenian expansion in the early 430s, and the Second Peloponnesian War broke out in ...
