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The Peloponnesian Wars

• Message 1. 

  Posted by dwrmatt (U1984005) on Monday, 14th November 2005

  The real winners of the war were the Thebans, the real losers the Corinthians. Discuss
  
  This was a essay title our ancient history lecturer was thinking of setting us back in my salad days as an undergrad. The discussion about the 2nd Athenian league reminded me of it - especially the seizing of the Cadmeia. Anyone any thoughts on the title?
  
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by lolbeeble (U1662865) on Wednesday, 16th November 2005

  If anything the greatest beneficiary was Tissephernes and other dynasts and tyrants throughout the Greek world who could exploit lots of well trained soldiers and sailors now that peace was declared. As for losers, the Persian Royal family spring to mind as Darius II died not long after the triumph of brokering peace between Athens and Sparta and their fortunes never looked as strong again.
  
  Corinth’s aim of protecting the traditional obligations expected from her daughter colonies certainly was not met as Sparta took their place and started demanding military levies in order to justify their role as Guardians of the King’s Peace by constantly being at war with somebody. Rome had a similar problem. As such Lysander seems to have managed to circumvent Sparta’s dilema of composing armies to send outside the Peloponnese and project Spartan hegemony while maintaining sufficient strength at home to cow the helots in the event of an uprising.
  
  Thebes and Corinth didn’t get Athens’ destruction as they requested. Thebes did get the removal of Athenian influence supporting regimes hostile to her interests. However it does seem to be looking at events with the benefit of knowing what happened from 371 and Leuctra and one can see that Spartans were as interested in spreading their influence over Northern Greece in opposition to Theban claims of Boiotian leadership. Athens had similar problems with this claim leading to Sparta and the Second Delian league conspiring not to record Thebes as natural leader of Boiotia after the warfare of the 370s. A strong Thebes was not on Sparta’s agenda hence Athens was garrisoned instead and the thirty tyrants were installed. Platea still existed for that matter.
  
  Boiotia does seem to have been more densely populated at the turn of the third century BC than before the war’s onset when Thebes failed to hold down Platea, having been settled by refugees from Attica as well as other parts of the Aegean affected by the conflict. Thebes’ position looks all the more blessed in the light of the decline of the traditional powers’ populations after years of military service far from home. Boiotian communities could afford to do this as there were few advantages to being a member of the polity other than participation in local government thus there was no issue about enrolling immigrants on the citizen lists. Perhaps more crucially they automatically qualified for the citizen army and produced sons to do the same. Compare this to Athens or Sparta where citizenship had become restricted on account of benefits that came with it.
  
  There again this was just the raw materials for Theban dominance and the advantages were not immediately apparent. One might note that large numbers of adult male Athenians and Spartans continued to leave their communities for long periods. Their prolonged involvment in the upheavals following Darius II death such as the seccession of Egypt, the march of the ten thousand followed by the revolt of the Satraps meant the traditional powers’ citizen bodies hardly had chance to enjoy a peace inspired baby boom, an indication of their poverty as much as anything. One might argue that regular Spartan jaunts through Boiotia and onto Southern Thessaly, not to mention the garrisoning of the Kadmos, helped Thebans get an idea of Spartan military techniques leading to the formation of their own full time military, the Sacred Band as well placing them on the left rather than right of the line at Leuctra to face the Spartiae directly.
  
  The population boom may have provided Thebes with an advantage over Athens and Sparta but like them she could not hold down her hegemony as engaging in long protracted wars such as against Phokis. Despite the professionalism of the Sacred band the rest of the army was made of citizens leading to the same demographic problems Athens and Sparta had faced. Dynasts like Philip II with control of entirely professional armies didn’t have to worry about being home for the harvest.
  

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  Posted by lolbeeble (U1662865) on Friday, 18th November 2005

  Drat, Kadmeia not Kadmos, that was who it was named after...

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