'''''''''''''''

1. The Peloponnesian War
During the 5th
Century Athens and Sparta were the two strongest city
states of Greece, and all other cities were either allies of Sparta or Athens
(500-400 B.C.). Athens and Sparta were agricultural economies, and their
main exports were wine and oil olive.
The development of pottery allowed the storage and export of wine and
olive oil with the usage of amphorae, in order to import goods from the
fertile lands of the Nile (Egypt) and Mesopotamia (Persia).
At the following map you can see Athens and Sparta and their allies a few
years before the Peloponnesian War broke out (431-404 B.C.).

2. Map Athens (orange) and Sparta (Purple)
Sparta was controlling Peloponnese, while Athens’ soil was not very
good for agriculture, and Athens became a naval power which was
looking for colonies in order to find fertile lands to increase her oil, wine
and grain production.
When the Persians invaded Greece (500-480 B.C.) the Athenians and the
Spartans jointly fought the Persians, even though they were bitter
enemies.
After the Greco-Persian Wars, Athens became a great naval power which
dominated trade in the Aegean Sea. Both the Spartans and the Persians
were very unhappy with the rising power of Athens. The Spartans

3. believed that sooner or later the Athenians would turn against Sparta in
order to take control of the Peloponnesian agricultural production. The
Persians were unhappy because the Athenians, with their great naval
power, were controlling East Aegean Sea and were blocking Persia’s way
to the Aegean Sea.
As a result the Peloponnesian War broke out, and the Spartans allied with
the Persians against the Athenians, putting the Athenian Empire in the
middle (431-404 B.C.).
Map Athens (red) – Sparta (red) – Persia (yellow)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War#/media/File:Pelop_war
_en.png
During the Peloponnesian War the Athenians tried to take control of
Sicily (Italy) in order to increase their farming lands and production,
because they thought it would give them an advantage in the
Peloponnesian War. The Spartans again allied with Syracuse against
Athens, and the expedition became a Waterloo for the Athenians.

4. The Athenians were finally defeated in the Peloponnesian War, but
neither the Athenians nor the Spartans ever recovered from this war. As a
result Macedonia rose to power a few years later, and the great Greek
King Alexander the Great finally managed to unite all Greeks, and he led
the Greek army victoriously to Persia and Egypt. Under Alexander the
Great both the Nile (Egypt) and the Mesopotamia (Persia) came under
Greek control (330-320 B.C.).
Map The Empire of Alexander the Great
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#/media/File:Macedon
Empire.jpg
Image Peloponnesian War

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War
Article

6. “The treaties between Persia and Sparta”
In the first phase of the Peloponnesian War, the Archidamian War, the
Spartans had been unable to achieve their aim: dissolving the Delian
League. However, after the catastrophic losses that Athens had suffered
during the Sicilian Expedition, the balance of power had changed and
Sparta renewed the war: the Decelean or Ionian War. Moreover,
the Athenians had supported a rebel in the Persian Empire, Amorges, an
act that broke the (tacit or official) agreement between
the Achaemenid king and the Delian League not to interfere in each
other's sphere of influence. So, Sparta and Persia shared a dislike of
Athens and had something to offer to each other. In 412, they concluded
an agreement, which was later revised.
It was not certain that the new alliance would bring down Athens. In the
mid-fifth century, it had survived a war against an identical coalition.
However, after the losses of the Sicilian Expedition, things might be
different. Still, Athens held out for seven more years.
The Athenian historian Thucydides (c.460-c.395) has included the three
versions of the treaty in the eighth book of his History of the
Peloponnesian War, which was translated by Richard Crawley.
First treaty (412)
The Spartans and their allies made a treaty with the King
and Tissaphernes [the satrap of Lydia] upon the terms following:
Whatever country or cities the King has, or the King's ancestors had, shall
be the king's: and whatever came in to the Athenians from these cities,
either money or any other thing, the King and the Spartans and their allies
shall jointly hinder the Athenians from receiving either money or any
other thing.
The war with the Athenians shall be carried on jointly by the King and by
the Spartans and their allies: and it shall not be lawful to make peace with

7. the Athenians except both agree, the King on his side and the Spartans
and their allies on theirs.
If any revolt from the King, they shall be the enemies of the Spartans and
their allies.note And if any revolt from the Spartans and their allies, they
shall be the enemies of the King in like manner.
This was outrageous. The treaty stated that Sparta surrendered all of
Greece outside the Peloponnese. The Persian king Cyrus the Great had
subdued all "Yaunâ" living in Asia (ca.545), Darius I the Great had
conquered Thrace and Macedonia (c.512), to which king Xerxes had
briefly added Thessaly, Boeotia, and Attica in 480-479. The Spartan
government was unable to accept this treaty, because it had started the
war "to liberate Greece". Therefore, the Spartans kept the treaty secret
and sent Therimenes to ask for a revision.
Second treaty (winter 412/411)
The convention of the Spartans and the allies with King Darius [II
Nothus] and the sons of the King,note and with Tissaphernes for a treaty
and friendship, as follows:
Neither the Spartans nor the allies of the Spartans shall make war against
or otherwise injure any country or cities that belong to King Darius or did
belong to his father or to his ancestors; neither shall the Spartans nor the
allies of the Spartans exact tribute from such cities. Neither shall King
Darius nor any of the subjects of the King make war against or otherwise
injure the Spartans or their allies.
If the Spartans or their allies should require any assistance from the King,
or the King from the Spartans or their allies, whatever they both agree
upon they shall be right in doing.
Both shall carry on jointly the war against the Athenians and their allies:
and if they make peace, both shall do so jointly.

8. The expense of all troops in the King's country, sent for by the King, shall
be borne by the King.
If any of the states comprised in this convention with the King attack the
King's country, the rest shall stop them and aid the King to the best of
their power. And if any in the King's country or in the countries under the
King's rule attack the country of the Spartans or their allies, the King
shall stop it and help them to the best of his power.
The revised treaty can be seen as a clarification of the terms of the first
treaty. The line "whatever country or cities the King has shall be the
king's", which may have been a conventional Persian expression, was
replaced by an expression that sounded better to Greek ears: neither side
would injure each other's possessions. The Persians also explained that
they would pay Spartan troops in Asia, something that may have gone
without saying in the first treaty, because the Persian king was supposed
to give presents to anyone who had done him a service. Persia's demand
that Sparta would help to punish rebels could be dropped from the treaty,
because Amorges, who was the most important rebel, had by now been
eliminated.
On the other hand, the Spartans clarified their intentions. The first treaty
had said that the allies would prevent Athens from collecting tribute; now
it was stated that Sparta was not supposed to do this either. In other
words, the Persian negotiators obtained a guarantee that Sparta would not
found an empire.
So, the revised treaty was not a big improvement of Sparta's position, and
it is not surprising that the Spartan ambassador Therimenes disappears
from history. The Spartans were not happy with his results.
Third treaty (late spring 411)
In the thirteenth year of the reign of Darius,note while Alexippidas was
ephor at Sparta, a convention was concluded in the plain of

9. the Meander by the Spartans and their allies with Tissaphernes,
Hieramenes, and the sons of Pharnaces, concerning the affairs of the King
and of the Spartans and their allies.
The country of the King in Asia shall be the King's, and the King shall
treat his own country as he pleases.
The Spartans and their allies shall not invade or injure the King's country:
neither shall the King invade or injure that of the Spartans or of their
allies. If any of the Spartans or of their allies invade or injure the King's
country, the Spartans and their allies shall prevent it: and if any from the
King's country invade or injure the country of the Spartans or of their
allies, the King shall prevent it.
Tissaphernes shall provide pay for the ships now present, according to the
agreement, until the arrival of the King's vessels: but after the arrival of
the King's vessels the Spartans and their allies may pay their own ships if
they wish it. If, however, they choose to receive the pay from
Tissaphernes, Tissaphernes shall furnish it: and the Spartans and their
allies shall repay him at the end of the war such moneys as they shall
have received.
After the vessels have arrived, the ships of the Spartans and of their allies
and those of the King shall carry on the war jointly, according as
Tissaphernes and the Spartans and their allies shall think best. If they
wish to make peace with the Athenians, they shall make peace also
jointly.
The first article was the same as in the first treaty: "the country of the
King shall be the King's". It is clear that the Persians used the opportunity
to use their own formula again. However, the Spartan negotiator, Lichas,
obtained a concession: the King's country was described as "Asia".
Darius accepted that he would not recover Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly,
Boeotia, and Attica. Another interesting novelty is that the Persians

10. promised to send a fleet; in return, to Spartans gave up all claims for the
freedom of the Greek towns in Asia.
For the Spartans, this was a highly embarrassing treaty: they gave up their
role as liberators of Greece. But they had no alternative. The Sicilian
disaster had offered them a great opportunity, but Athens had not
collapsed. Sparta now needed Persia, but after the elimination of
Amorges, the great king no longer needed Sparta, so he could demand
anything he he wanted.
In the end, both parties decided to ignore the treaty. The Persian navy
never reached the Aegean, and the Spartans felt free to make peace offers
to Athens without consulting king Darius. It was only after Tissaphernes
had been replaced by Darius' son Cyrus that Persia really started to
support Sparta. It is possible that Cyrus, who did not like the idea that his
brother Artaxerxes would succeed to the throne, was already planning a
revolt. Unlike Darius and Tissaphernes, he needed something that only
Sparta could offer: mercenaries for a march to the Persian heartland.
This page was created in 2005; last modified on 17 July 2016.
http://www.livius.org/sources/content/thucydides/the-treaties-between-
persia-and-sparta/