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Quiz about The Origins of the Great Peloponnesian War
Quiz about The Origins of the Great Peloponnesian War

The Origins of the Great Peloponnesian War Quiz


The Great Peloponnesian War started with a series of mistakess and miscalculations by both the Spartan and Athenian Alliances. Take this quiz and see how much you know.

A multiple-choice quiz by Craterus. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Craterus
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
383,853
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
180
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Historians have come to call the Spartan Alliance and Athenian Alliance of the early to mid fifth century what respectively? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Under the leadership of Themistocles Athens became the greatest naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean but Cimon, his successor, pursued a pro-Sparta foreign policy. Around 464 BC, Athens reversed course and its foreign policy became anti-Spartan. Why? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. In 460 BC, the rivalry between Sparta and Athens and allies escalated into a war. What have historians traditionally called this conflict? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. One of the first mistakes by one side occurred in 435 BC when Democrats in Epidamnus, a coastal northwestern Greek city settled by the island of Corcyra, asked the Corcyreans for assistance in a war with various tribes and oligarchs attempting to seize power. The Cocyreans turned them down, so the Democrats turned for assistance, with success, from this great Greek city. Name the city. Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. After a series of successful naval battles with the Corinthians, the Corcyreans felt pressured by the greater resources of Corinth and turned to help from Athens in 433 BC. After a series of speeches at Athens, in which both sides pleaded their cases to the Athenian Assembly, Athens agreed to help the Corcyreans. What was the main reason the City of Pericles helped? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. What type of alliance did Athens make with Corcyra? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. The next flashpoint occurred in this Northeastern Greek city around 433-432 BC in the Thracian Chalcadice peninsula. What was the city? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. By now the conflict between Corinth and Athens had the full attention of Sparta and the rest of the Peloponnesian League and war was being debated in the Spartan Assembly. But first Athens issued the Megarian Decree. What was it? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. According to Thucydides, the conflicts over Corcyra, Potidaea and the Megaran Decree were all mere pretexts for the war between the Sparta Alliance and the Athenian Empire. What was the famous reason he gave for the Great Peloponnesian War? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. What event actually started hostilities between the Spartan and Athenian Alliances? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Historians have come to call the Spartan Alliance and Athenian Alliance of the early to mid fifth century what respectively?

Answer: The Peloponnesian League and the Delian League

The Peloponnesus was that part of Greece south of the Isthmus and had been dominated by Sparta for at least a 150 years. Thebes, north of the Isthmus, was also a member. The Delian League, which got its name from the island of Delos, had come into existence after the Second Persian War in 480-479 BC when Athens began defending the Greeks inhabiting the islands along the western coast of Asia Minor from the Persian Empire.
2. Under the leadership of Themistocles Athens became the greatest naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean but Cimon, his successor, pursued a pro-Sparta foreign policy. Around 464 BC, Athens reversed course and its foreign policy became anti-Spartan. Why?

Answer: Sparta dismissed Athenians who had come to help with a revolt.

In 464 BC Sparta suffered a major earthquake and the helots, Spartan slaves, took the opportunity to revolt. Sparta requested help under the old Hellenic Alliance and Athens sent men to help with a siege. Spartans soon realized that having Athenian Democrats help them put down a slave revolt was probably not smart. Sparta dismissed the Athenians summarily and without giving a good reason, humiliating them in the process. Cimon's policy was reversed and soon the two leading Greek powers were on a collision course.
3. In 460 BC, the rivalry between Sparta and Athens and allies escalated into a war. What have historians traditionally called this conflict?

Answer: The First Peloponnesian War

The First Peloponnesian War was no mean conflict; it ran from 460-445 BC, until the ratification of The Thirty Year Peace. It also set the stage, because of its unsatisfactory outcome for both sides, for the longer, "greater," war that would follow in 431 BC.
4. One of the first mistakes by one side occurred in 435 BC when Democrats in Epidamnus, a coastal northwestern Greek city settled by the island of Corcyra, asked the Corcyreans for assistance in a war with various tribes and oligarchs attempting to seize power. The Cocyreans turned them down, so the Democrats turned for assistance, with success, from this great Greek city. Name the city.

Answer: Corinth

Once Corcyra's long-time rival, Corinth, took sides in the Epidamnian conflict, Corcyra felt it needed to support the oligarchs. While Corcyra was neutral under the Thirty Year Peace, Corinth's involvement was very important due to its membership in the Peloponnesian League. Any member of that League threatened by a third party automatically concerned Sparta.
5. After a series of successful naval battles with the Corinthians, the Corcyreans felt pressured by the greater resources of Corinth and turned to help from Athens in 433 BC. After a series of speeches at Athens, in which both sides pleaded their cases to the Athenian Assembly, Athens agreed to help the Corcyreans. What was the main reason the City of Pericles helped?

Answer: Athens did not want Corcyra's 110 ships falling into the hands of a hostile power.

Athens by this point was the greatest naval power in Greece and had turned the Delian League into the Athenian Empire. Athens simply could not allow the Corcyrean fleet to fall into the hands of a member of the Peloponnesian League. Its Empire, spread among almost all the Greek Islands of the Aegean, depended on naval superiority.
6. What type of alliance did Athens make with Corcyra?

Answer: A defensive alliance

Athens did not want Sparta and the Peloponnesian League to come in on the side of Corinth. Historian Donald Kagan believes Pericles, by agreeing to a defensive alliance only, was diplomatically signaling to the Spartans that Athenian aims were limited.

But events would soon spiral further out of control. Corinthian ships would fight with Cocyrean ships, with some Athenian assistance, off Corcyra in 433 BC.
7. The next flashpoint occurred in this Northeastern Greek city around 433-432 BC in the Thracian Chalcadice peninsula. What was the city?

Answer: Potidaea

Potidaea was founded by Corinth but had been under Athenian control for some time. Athens suspected rebellion and demanded that Potidaea give hostages, tear down its walls and dismiss the Corinthian magistrates. Potidaea refused and Athens besieged the city. Corinth responded by sending some "volunteers." Any official Corinthian response would have meant it was in violation of the Thirty Year Peace.
8. By now the conflict between Corinth and Athens had the full attention of Sparta and the rest of the Peloponnesian League and war was being debated in the Spartan Assembly. But first Athens issued the Megarian Decree. What was it?

Answer: A decree prohibiting all Megarian ships from entering a port in the Athenian Empire.

While the exact date of the Megarian Decree is not known, it is generally taken to be the last straw. Megara was also a part of the Peloponnesian League, which naturally meant Spartan interests were involved. Sparta and the League declared war in 432 BC on Athens and her empire. Still, Sparta's King Archidamus was reluctant to the end and sought a way out. According to Thucydides, the King knew that Athen's money, empire and navy made it a formidable opponent, and that the war would be "passed on to their sons."
9. According to Thucydides, the conflicts over Corcyra, Potidaea and the Megaran Decree were all mere pretexts for the war between the Sparta Alliance and the Athenian Empire. What was the famous reason he gave for the Great Peloponnesian War?

Answer: Sparta's fear of the growth of Athens' power.

Sparta's way of life and political structure were predicated, in no small part, on its leadership of the Peloponnesian League. If Sparta had simply allowed Athens to infringe the perceived rights of Corinth and Megara, then its leadership of the League would have been called into question. Hence Sparta declared war, which meant war for the entire Greek world, from Asia Minor to Sicily.
10. What event actually started hostilities between the Spartan and Athenian Alliances?

Answer: A small Theban surprise attack on the small town of Plataea.

Thebes, another member of the Peloponnesian League, had been at odds with small Plataea-- which had long looked to Athens for protection-- since the last Persian War in 480-479 BC. Like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand prior to the First World War, this small sneak attack by 300 Theban soldiers set off larger actons. King Archidamus of Sparta, who had been playing for time in an attempt to avoid war, now invaded Attica and ravaged Athenian farms and homes in the country-side.

In turn Pericles sent out the fleet and attacked the coasts of the Peloponnesus.

The Great Peloponnesian War was on.
Source: Author Craterus

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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