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The impact of the war between Athens and Sparta across the course of ancient history and the shaping of Greek philosophy and drama. Includes an account of the trial and execution of Socrates.
List of contents
- List of Maps and Images
- A Note on Sources
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Setting the Stage
- Chapter 2: The Greek States at War and Peace
- Chapter 3: Sparta Provoked, Athens Intransigent
- Chapter 4: The War Begins
- Chapter 5: The Plague of War
- Chapter 6: New Challenges and New Leaders
- Chapter 7: The Fortunes of War
- Chapter 8: War Throughout the Mainland, and the Call of the West
- Chapter 9: Moving Towards Peace
- Chapter 10: The Peace that Was Not Peace
- Chapter 11: An Invitation and Two Scandals
- Chapter 12: Deliverance for Syracuse
- Chapter 13: The Empire Strikes Back
- Chapter 14: Dramatic Developments for the Athenians
- Chapter 15: Alcibiades, Cyrus, and Lysander
- Chapter 16: A Seeming Victory
- Chapter 17: Athens After the Amnesty
- Chapter 18: The Greek States in a Changing World
- Chapter 19: Continuing Warfare in an Age of Reflection
- Chapter 20: The End for Sparta
- Chapter 21: War Without Victory
- Cast of Characters
- Bibliography
About the author
Jennifer T. Roberts is Professor of Classics and History at the City College of New York and the City University of New York Graduate Center. She is the author of Athens on Trial: The Anti-Democratic Tradition in Western Thought and Herodotus: A Very Short Introduction, and editor (with Walter Blanco) of the Norton Critical Editions of Herodotus' The Histories and Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War.
Summary
In 431 BC, the long simmering rivalry between the city-states of Athens and Sparta erupted into open warfare, and for more than a generation the two were locked in a life-and-death struggle. The war embroiled the entire Greek world, provoking years of butchery previously unparalleled in ancient Greece. Whole cities were exterminated, their men killed, their women and children enslaved. While the war is commonly believed to have ended with the capture of the Athenian navy in 405 and the subsequent starvation of Athens, fighting in Greece would continue for several decades. Sparta's authority was challenged in the so-called Corinthian War (395-387) when Persian gold helped unite Athens with Sparta's former allies. The war did not truly end until, in 371, Thebes' crack infantry resoundingly defeated Sparta at Leuctra, forever shattering the myth of Spartan military supremacy.
Jennifer Roberts' rich narrative of this famous conflict is the first general history to tell the whole story, from the war's origins down to Sparta's defeat at Leuctra. In her masterful account, this long and bloody war affected every area of life in Athens, exacerbated divisions between rich and poor in Sparta, and sparked civil strife throughout the Greek world. Yet despite the biting sorrows the fighting occasioned, it remains a gripping saga of plots and counter-plots, murders and lies, thrilling sea chases and desperate overland marches, missed opportunities and last-minute reprieves, and, as the war's first historian Thucydides had hoped, lessons for a less bellicose future. In addition, Roberts considers the impact of the war on Greece's cultural life, including the great masterworks of tragedy and comedy performed at this time and, most infamously, the trial and execution of Socrates. A fast-paced narrative of one of antiquity's most famous clashes, The Plague of War is a must-read for history enthusiasts of all ages.
Additional text
Jennifer Roberts recreates the agony of Athens and Sparta with a deft hand and a knowing eye. She tells the story of the war that ruined Greece in all its power and pathos. This is a learned, sympathetic and readable account.
