342 Peloponnesian War influence It is inaccurate to characterize Athens as being a democracy in the modern sense, but under Peisistratus some democratic elements were preserved and strengthened The economy was also improved, and coinage was introduced during this period His life and times are recorded in the Histories of Herodotus, which show him to be a man of resolve and resource See also Athenian predemocracy; Greek citystates Further reading: Andrewes, A “The Tyranny of Pisistratus.” In The Cambridge Ancient History, edited by John Boardman and N G L Hammond Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982; Cartledge, Paul, ed The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997; Herodotus The Histories Trans by Aubrey de Selincourt New York: Penguin Classics, 2003; Pomeroy, Sarah B., et al A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004 John Walsh Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War was a Greek conflict fought by the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, and the Athenian Empire The war lasted 27 years, from 431 to 404 b.c.e., with a six-year truce in the middle, and ended with an Athenian surrender The war involved much of the Mediterranean world, and large-scale campaigns and intense fighting took place from the coast of Asia Minor to Sicily and from the Hellespont and Thrace to Rhodes The conflict is often viewed as an archetypal case of warfare between a commercial democracy and an agricultural aristocracy and of warfare between maritime and continental superpowers Thucydides, an Athenian general and historian, documented the events of the conflict in his History of the Peloponnesian War It was, consequently, the first war in history to be recorded by an eyewitness and talented historian Historians posit multiple causes for the Peloponnesian War Thucydides argued that the underlying cause of the war was Sparta’s fear of growing Athenian power during the fifth century b.c.e This perspective is supported by the well-documented rise and power of Athens in the 50 years prior to the outbreak of the war After a coalition of Greek cities, which included both Athens and Sparta, defeated a Persian invasion of Greece, several of these states formed a more formal coalition called the Delian League in 478 b.c.e The purpose of the league was to enhance economic ties and establish a navy to deter further Persian aggression Athens was afforded leadership of the league, which gave it control over the league’s treasury Through a series of political maneuvers by Athens in the decades following the creation of the league, the coalition was transformed into an Athenian-dominated empire After 445 b.c.e the Athenian leader Pericles began consolidating Athenian resources and expanded the Athenian navy to such an extent that its power was without equal in Greece In 433 b.c.e Pericles forged an alliance with another strong naval power, Corcyra, which was the chief rival of Sparta’s ally Corinth These actions greatly enhanced Athenian power and, conversely, weakened the power of other Greek cities, particularly those who were members of Sparta’s Peloponnesian League Athenian naval dominance allowed them to control virtually all sea trade, which threatened the supply of food from Sicily to cities in the Peloponnese, including Sparta Furthermore, Athens boycotted cities that resisted its growing power, including Sparta’s ally Megara It was on these grounds that Corinth demanded that Sparta take up arms against the Athenian empire The appeal was backed by Megara—nearly ruined by Pericles’s economic boycott—and by Aegina, a reluctant member of the Athenian Empire The actual outbreak of fighting in 431 b.c.e sprung from Sparta’s desire to capitalize on a moment of Athenian weakness The city of Potidaea, a subject member of the Athenian empire, revolted in the spring of 432 b.c.e The rebel city held out until the winter of 430 b.c.e and its blockade by Athens meant a constant drain on Athenian naval and military resources Sparta’s leaders were so confident of a quick and easy victory over Athens that they refused an offer of arbitration made by Pericles Instead, Sparta issued an ultimatum that would have practically destroyed Athens’s imperial power Pericles urged his people to refuse, and Sparta declared war Hostilities began in 431 b.c.e with a Theban attack on Athens’s ally, Platea, and 80 days later by a Peloponnesian invasion of Attica Now capable of invading Attica through the Megarid, Sparta did so numerous times through 425 b.c.e Sparta only curtailed these attacks when Athens captured a number of Spartan hoplites and held them hostage At first, on Pericles’ advice, the Athenians employed a defensive strategy, taking refuge inside the walls surrounding the city and the port of Piraeus, and limiting offensive operations to brief cavalry missions, raids into the Peloponnese, and a series of invasions of the Megarid