Peloponnesian War What would you do to be the best? To be the most powerful? Athens
and Sparta are both extremely powerful Greek citystates. Athens excels in art, philosophy and literature, while Sparta focuses on a strong military and a simple, frugal lifestyle. Jealousy sparked between the rising powers of Athens, escalating in a bitter and destructive civil conflict that had been divided into three sections lasting three decades. The Spartans forced the
Athenians to unconditionally surrender. Sparta emerged victorious while
Athens was left in corruption, but neither Polis ever had the same strength they once had again. During the second year of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians experienced a major setback when a plague struck the city of Athens, who was then under the siege of Sparta. It is believed that ships from
North Africa entered though Piraeus, the city’s port and sole source of food and supplies, were the ones who brought the disease into Athens.
The plague greatly weakened Athens during the fight and was part of the reason Athens was defeated. Because of that, the plague killed one third of the population and the most popular and powerful Athenian leader,
Pericles. His death was disastrous for Athens. The strategies Pericles taught Athens were quickly abandoned and Athens grew weaker and weaker. Athens may have been weakened by the plague, but that didn't stop them from believing they were the best. Thucydides, a contemporary historian, believed that the war broke out because of Spartan fear of the rising power of Athens, whose empire and capital was growing more and more powerful because of the powerful leader Pericles. Athenians thought of themselves as the best citystate.
Athenians believed Athens truly had the best literature, the best poetry, the best drama and the best schools. They truly believed they were the leading citystate in Greece. However, Sparta was also a very powerful
