The Ancient Greeks Part 2

Formation of the Delian League• The Greeks decided to form an alliance to help fight off another attack by the Persians• Each city would donate money and the Athenians would manage the defense• The alliances money will be kept at a treasury on the island of Delos• The alliance became known as the Delian League

Formation of the Delian League

• By 454 BC is was obvious that the Persians were not coming back

• Athens moved the treasury to the city of Athens

• The Athenians used the treasury to rebuild their city, their navy and make the Delian league into their own personal empire

The Age of Pericles• Between 461 BC and

429 BC Athens flourished

• It became the most powerful polis

• Under the leadership of a statesman named Pericles, Athens came to dominate the Greek world

The Peloponnesian War

• Many of the Greek city states protest the rule of Athens and wanted to leave the Delian League

• Athens said once a member of the Delian League always a member of the League

• When the polis of Plataea tried to leave the League, Athens attacked the city

• Plataea looks to Sparta for help beginning the Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War

• A former Athenian general, Thucydides wrote a history the conflict call the Peloponnesian War

• Both sides, Athens and Sparta had a plan to win the war

Spartan Strategy

• Spartan would organize their allies and invade Attica and attack the city

• The Spartans would destroy the farm land and the country side forcing the Athenians to come out and fight

• The Spartan would have the advantage with their superior army and defeat the Athenians

Athenian Strategy

• Remain inside their protective walls• Re-supply their city using the Long Walls

to the port city of Piraeus and their navy• Let the Spartan wear themselves out

The Peloponnesian War

• Early stages of the war went in favor of Athens

• Sparta could not breach Athens’ walls• The city was well supplied by its’ navy via

the long walls• To many in the ancient world the Athenian

political system seems superior to the Spartan

432 BC

• In 432 BC disaster hit Athens• A devastating plague broke out in the city• The plague killed more than 1/3 of the

people of Athens• In 429 BC the plague even to the life of

Pericles

What was the Plague?• Typhus- bacterial infection spread through parasites• Smallpox-disease caused by a one of two types of

viruses• Bubonic plague- a very deadly disease caused by a

bacteria transmitted through parasites• Cholera- caused by the exposure of drinking water to

human and animal waste• Anthrax- Bacterial disease that affect both man and

animals. • Ebola- viral disease that is almost 100% fatal.

Transmitted through contact with body fluids, esp. from the open wounds of the victim

• Typus

• Smallpox

• Bubonic plague

• Cholera

• Anthrax

• Ebola

The Later Phase of the War

• Spartan change her strategy around 432 BC

• Spartan started attack Athens’ allies or helping them rebel

• Athens depended on her allies for supplies• Athens now found herself having to not

only fight Sparta but constantly re-conquering her allies

The End of the War

• By 405 BC Athens was worn out by the constant war

• Sparta had manage to help most of Athens’ allies escape fro her control

• At a place call Aegospotami Sparta destroyed Athens’ navy

• Without the navy, Athens’ was defeated

Results of the War

• Athens’ had to tear down her wall and the long wall

• Sparta took control of the Delian League• Sparta did not know how to manage the

league and it fell apart• The Greeks fell back to fighting amongst

themselves

Watch out!!!!!!

• While the Greeks are fighting amongst themselves, the fail to notice a new enemy from the North