Pericles However, following Pericles’ death in 429 b.c.e and the failed Mytilenean revolt in 427 b.c.e., Athens adopted a more offensive strategy This included establishing bases on the Peloponnesian coast Athens also attempted to force Boeotia’s surrender through a pair of elaborate invasions, the second of which ended in a stunning defeat at Delium in 424 b.c.e The Spartans marched overland to Chalcidice and, through persuasion and threats, convinced a number of Athens’s allies to join the Spartan cause Brasidas’s own death in battle outside Amphipolis in 422 b.c.e and that of the Athenian demagogue Cleon led to the conclusion of a temporary peace The peace was unsatisfactory to many of Sparta’s allies, and the Athenian Alcibiades created an antiSpartan coalition in the Peloponnese At the Battle of Mantineia in 418 b.c.e the Spartans were victorious With Sparta’s position in the Peloponnese once more secure, Alcibiades turned elsewhere for a field in which to exercise his talents, and in 415 b.c.e Athens sent an expedition to Sicily, where he served as one of three commanders Historians believe it was either a preemptive strike to prevent Syracuse from conquering the island and providing military aid to the Spartan-led coalition in the Peloponnese, or simply to bolster a long-held Athenian interest in the island Regardless, the expedition ended in disaster in 413 b.c.e During the siege Alcibiades was recalled to Athens to face charges of sacrilege but fled to Sparta rather than stand trial In the meantime, mainland Greece had once more slipped into open warfare The Athenians raided the Peloponnese, while the Spartans invaded Attica in 413 b.c.e and seized a strategically important base at Decelea in the foothills north of Athens However, the loss of so many Athenian ships and trained crews in Sicily changed the nature of the war The Spartans understood that the way to defeat Athens at sea was to win control of the Hellespont and Propontis, thus choking off essential supplies to the struggling city By 411 b.c.e the conflict became increasingly focused on that area of Greece Athens was hampered by internal problems, culminating in the overthrow of the democracy in June 411 b.c.e The oligarchs who seized power were unable to reconcile the Athenian fleet at Samos to their rule, and in September they were overthrown Initially, only a limited form of democracy was restored, but the victory near Cyzicus in 410 b.c.e led to the restoration of the old system Alcibiades returned to Athens by way of Persia, and was elected once again as commander of the Athenian forces He arrived in time to take part in the victory off Abydos and another near Cyzicus the subsequent 343 year Following additional success in the north, such as the recovery of Byzantium in 408 b.c.e., Alcibiades returned to Athens in triumph in 407 b.c.e and was awarded supreme command of the Athenian navy on the west coast of Asia Minor Lysander successfully attacked one of Alcibiades’ subordinates while the Athenian commander was absent The furious Athenians dismissed Alcibiades, who fled to Thrace Lysander ultimately achieved a victory at Aegospotami in 405 b.c.e As a result, while Athens valiantly held out until the spring of 404 b.c.e., it succumbed to economic starvation imposed by overwhelming Spartan forces and surrendered Ultimately, despite some daring strategies, the Peloponnesian War was a war of resources The Spartans were victorious because Persian gold enabled them to build more ships and to purchase more mercenaries than Athens could However, Sparta also understood from the outset that Athens, as a maritime power that depended on port trade, would have to be defeated at sea Conversely, the Athenians not appear to have understood that Sparta, as a land power, could only be defeated on land See also Greek city-states; Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon; Persian invasions Further reading: Hanson, Victor Davis A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War Toronto, Canada: Random House, 2005; ——— The Wars of the Ancient Greeks London: Cassell, 1999; Kagan, Donald The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969; ——— The Peloponnesian War New York: Penguin Group, 2003; Keegan, John A History of Warfare Toronto, Canada: Random House, 1993; Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War New York: Penguin Books, 1972 Scott Fitzsimmons Pericles (495–429 b.c.e.) Athenian politician Pericles was the most important statesman and politician of classical Athens He was a son of Xanthippus, a Persian War–era general and politician, and Agariste of the prominent but allegedly cursed Alcmaeonids The rationalist philosopher, Anaxagoras, intellectually influenced him He was a friend of the sculptor, Phidias, to whom he entrusted supervision of the construction of the Parthenon