The First Peloponnesian war Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cimon

Cimon's pro-Spartan tendencies didn't earn him a lot of friends among the anti-Spartan crowd in Athens, particularly Ephialtes and the Democrats who saw Cimon as the one person who stood in the way of their democratic constitutional reforms! Many Athenians regarded Sparta with jealousy and fear; Cimon's friendliness towards Athens' main enemy was just plain unnerving!

Answer: 464 BC

The earthquake that hit Sparta in 464 BC resulted in the Helots taking the opportunity to revolt, and Sparta was forced to call upon her allies, Athens included, for support. The Democratic politicians were against sending help, but of course Cimon stepped in to uphold his doctrine of the dual-leadership of Athens and Sparta and personally led a force of 4000 hoplites to Sparta's aid. (Dual leadership - Athens being mistress of the seas and acknowledging Sparta's command over the land!)

Answer: Thessaly and Argos

Sparta's rejection of Athenian help in their time of need deeply offended Athens and completely ruined Cimon's foreign policy based on friendliness towards the Lacdaemonians. As an act of revenge, Athens allied herself with two of Sparta's chief enemies, Argos and Thessaly! The formation of this new alliance is reflected in Aeschylus's trilogy on the murder of Agamemnon which he wrote at the time; this playwright had no doubt that Athens' future lay with Argos and not Sparta, and stressed the importance of a military alliance between Athens and Argos. (Have a look at his play, 'Euminides' if you're curious on his thoughts!)

Answer: 461 BC

Following the brush-off of Athenian help from the Spartans, Cimon had to take the blame. The democrats used this situation to succeed in his overthrow and in 461 BC he was ostracised (exiled) from Athens, thus paving the way for the radical democrats to introduce their new foreign policy 'which would soon lead to armed conflict with the Peloponnesians...' (Croix)

Answer: Megara

Megara entered an alliance with Athens because Megara was receiving no help from Sparta in her frontier-line dispute with Corinth. This was another opportunity for revenge on Sparta for the insult Athens had suffered - Athens built for Megara a double line of wall that connected Megara to Nisea; we know these walls as the Long Walls.

The historian Kagan believes that these two actions were an act of war against Sparta - taking in a previous ally of Sparta and then fortifying the entrance to central Greece were actions that Sparta could not tolerate or ignore! Athens knew this, but willed a fight on for the alliance with Megara was the perfect opportunity to begin a war under favourable conditions. War thus began, even though no formal declaration was made...

Answer: Corinth

Corinth had a bone to pick with Athens - before the outbreak of war in 459 BC when Megara entered her alliance with Athens, Megara's two harbours, Nisea and Pagae became Athens' property. Pagae was situated on the Corinthian gulf and was vital for Athens' connection with Naupactus. Naupactus had been taken from the Ozolian-Locrians by Athens and she 'thus gained a loyal stronghold in a place which dominated the Corinthian gulf.' (Ehrenburg.) Athens also used Naupactus as means by which to intercept and harass Corinthian Argosies sailing with merchandise to the West, and they had to compete with Athenian merchants when they got there. Corinth's vital interests as a trading and naval power were severely threatened by Athens' occupation of Naupactus and Megara, and it's an understatement to say that she hated Athens with a passion...!

Answer: Battle of Aegina and Battle of the Megarid

Athens' attempts to gain a foothold in the west of the Saronic sea was alarming and provoking to the Aeginetans who then joined the war against Athens, her old enemy and rival. She realised that if Corinth were to lose against Athens, then Athens would become 'sole mistress of the Saronic sea.' (Bury.) The Athenians were victorious in a naval battle against Aegina and laid siege upon the city which succeeded in 457 BC when Aegina was forced to surrender.

The Corinthians meanwhile had invaded Megara in the hope that Athens would raise the siege to fight them, but Athens was resourceful enough to gather an army of the too young and the too old who defeated the Corinthians in the Battle of the Megarid.

It was in this victorious state of mind that Athens set off to help the Egyptians rebel against the Persians, around 460 or 459 BC...

Answer: Phocis

The Phocians invaded Doris in 457 BC, which was the city believed by the Spartans to be it's mother city so they immediately sent help. Sparta had remained relatively quiet during all the fighting so far... (The historians Kagan and Hornblower believe that this showed her reluctancy to fight, although Ehrenberg suggests that her hesitancy was due to the nature of the Spartans, lack of determined leadership and differences in political opinions between the kings and Ephors!)Sparta sent 1500 hoplites and 10000 allies to Doris and easily crushed the Phocians.

They lingered in Boetia, revising the power of Thebes and the League and then forcing the other Boetian cities to join it. They also got in touch with some Athenian exiles who were willing to help Sparta in order to destroy democracy! (Thucydides.)

Answer: Battle of Tanagra and Battle of Oenophyta

The Spartans were unable to return safely home because the Athenians held the passes in the Megarid and their vessels were on watch on the seas. The Spartans decided to march straight towards Athens where the Long Walls were being built - a suggestion probably put forth by the Athenian exiles, who were always looking for an opportunity to destroy democracy (Bury) - but the Spartans only got as far as Tanagra where the Athenians met them with an army of 14000.

The Spartans were victorious when the Thassalian cavalry deserted Athens for Sparta during combat.

The victory wound up being useless for the Spartans though because the Spartan commander failed to make use of it and failed to follow it up! Instead, the Spartans marched back home, devastating the Megarid on the way. Within two months, the Athenians returned to Boetia and conquered it again in the Battle of Oenophyta in 457 BC. Athens thus became masters of most of central Greece. Around this time, she allied herself with Phocis and Locris then concentrated on the building of her Long walls which, when completed, made her invulnerable to Sparta!

Answer: Egypt

The Athenians had been trying to seize the 'White Castle' in Memphis, Egypt, which was where the Persian garrison had been holding out, since they first stepped in to help the Egyptians revolt, but they were driven out of Memphis and shut up in the island of Prosopitis by the Persians and they were blockaded for eighteen months.

The Greeks retreated to Byblos and finally marched to friendly Cyrene where they were finally able to get home. This defeat broke the chain of Athenian victories over Persia, caused great unrest in the Aegean and forced Athens away from expansion on the mainland...

Answer: Corinthian Gulf

Athens considered the Isthmus to be its greatest threat and Pericles' objection was to "convert the Corinthin Gulf into an Attic lake" (Bury) and as a result, hem in Corinth. The Athenian general Tolmides captured the colony belonging to Corinth, Chalcis and was followed up by Pericles who attempted to take Sicyon and Oeniadae on the Arcanian coast but failed to take them.

These campaigns were Athens' final military actions in Greece until 447 BC because she wished to concentrate her resources on fighting the Persians!

Answer: Cimon

Pericles specially recalled Cimon from exile in 451 BC to negotiate the five year truce between Athens and Sparta because Athens has reverted to a Cimonean foreign policy - "Peace with Sparta and war against the Persians." (Kagan) Athens was after some breathing space because the war so far had stretched Athens' resources enormously; as soon as the peace had been concluded, Athens was able to concentrate all of her resources into fighting Persia. Cimon himself led a force to Cyprus which was liberated, and then a siege at Citium followed where Cimon died of either wounds or disease.

Answer: Callias

Athens made peace with Persia in 449 BC because she was aware that she could not fight a war on two fronts - Persia agreed to not send any warships into the Aegean and Athens gave a pledge to secure the coastline of the Persian empire against attack. Athens came to an understanding with Artaxerxes and peace was maintained.

The negotiations were called the Peace of Callias, who was the main Greek embassador. (He was also the richest man in Athens and brother-in-law to Cimon!)

Answer: Delphi

The Phocians took control of Delphi and the Spartans sent an army to restore the temple and the city to its original masters. As soon as they had left however, the Athenians arrived and took Delphi, giving it back to the Phocians. (This fighting did not breach the five year truce because Athens and Sparta did not come into direct conflict.) Phocis deserted her alliance with Athens despite this!

Answer: There were Oligarchal uprisings in these states

Due to oligarchal parties at work in these states, Athens suffered a series of revolts in her empire - Boetia was the first to be seized by exiled oligarchs and Athens had to quickly intervene but she sent only a small force out. The Athenians were set upon by the exiles in Coronea and were defeated in 447 BC.

This defeat triggered a chain reaction in Athens' empire; the most alarming revolt was Megara - with the Athenian garrison in Megara killed, a Peloponnesian army was marching towards Attica. Athens realised that the five year truce had expired....

Answer: All of these points

Bury believes that the Spartans felt it useless to strike Athens, Ehrenberg believes the Spartans were to help Megara and avoid Athens and Kagan believes that the Spartans felt it costly to fight Athenian hoplites. Modern scholars only partly believe the theory that Pericles bribed the Spartan king. Really though, the Spartans' decision is a debatable subject!

Answer: Euboea

Pericles used the breathing space that he'd just acquired to reduce Euboea. Histiaea, a city on the island, was dealt with the most harshly because her resistance proved to be most stubborn and obstinate - the people in the city were driven out, the territory annexed by Athens and the new settlement of Oreus took the city's place.

The revolt of Euboea greatly alarmed Athens though; the degree of her alarm can be seen in the wide-spread reductions in tribute that she allowed to her subjects for fear that they would rebel like Euboea!

Answer: 446-45 BC

Peace was negotiated between Athens and Sparta between 446 and 445 BC. Athens wished to be at peace with Sparta for the five year truce had ended and she sought a more lasting peace because of the "extreme vulnerability that she found herself in during 446 BC." (Hornblower.) The revolt of Euboea had shaken Athens, and she knew that she could not afford to renew hostilities with Sparta under such conditions!

Answer: She had to give up all her possessions in the Peloponnese

Athens had to give up all her holdings in the Peloponnese. She had lost Boetia and lost Megara as well but still held her two ports, Nisea and Pagae, and since there was no mention of Naupactus it is assumed that Athens was allowed to keep that too. The loss of the Megarid was a serious blow to Athens because she was no longer invulnerable to attack from the Peloponnesians, and Athens realised that all her attempts to win a land-empire had ultimately failed and that she would have to concentrate on her naval empire again, just like before the war ...

Answer: Official recognition of the Athenian empire

In return for giving up her Peloponessian holdings, Athens got what summed up as official recognition of the Athenian empire, and strangely enough seemed happy enough with it! Bury believes that this was a humiliating peace for Athens which might never have happened if not for the alarm caused by the Peloponnesian invasion of Attica. Kagan believes that the treaty was the type where "both sides have been made aware of the costs and destruction of war and the virtues of peace." He also believes that the treaty aimed not at the destruction and humiliation of one side but at stability and security.

At any rate, the peace allowed both sides to recuperate, recover their power and prosper but suspicions were far from gone - many Athenians still dreamt of Athenian expansion and domination while many Spartans continued to fear these ambitions... and so thus the story ends. :)