Installed to govern were pro-Spartan Harmosts, all supported by a garrison of troops who served under the orders of Lysander. Discontent between Lysander’s Aristocratic tyranny of government and the imperialised Aegean states saw various acts of rebellions including the launch of Thrasybulus’ coup against the Thirty Tyrants, resulting in their overthrowing and re-instalment of democracy to Athens. This acts of rebellion resulted from Lysander’s oppressive foreign policy. Furthermore, the naivety of Lysander was highlighted in his involvement in Persian politics by backing the campaign of Cyrus to overthrow his brother Artaxerxes and seize the Persian thrown. This ineffectiveness of the campaign was twofold; it resulted in the lost of Persian subsides, which would now fund revolts by Thebes and Corinth against Sparta, and for a time broke allied ties between Sparta and Persia who had helped them ascend to Imperial
Persia was experiencing difficulties with Naxos between the democrats and oligarchs, the oligarchs fled to Miletus, where they asked Aristogoras for help to reinstate themselves in Naxos. Possibly seeking to further his own power and favour with Persian masters he insisted he suggest Naxos to be captured this would open way for Persian dominance over the Cyclades and across the Aegean. This back fired when 200 triremes and a force of Persians and Ionians failed to besiege Naxos. Aristogras feared Persian reprisals for the Naxos attack now sought to extricate himself from a difficult situation, he decided to lead a full scale Ionian Revolt.’ (Herodotus, Histories, Book V, 29-37 and 97-107) The Aid of Athens and Eretria sent ships and man to aid the Ionians under the command of Melanthius. The Athenians had some sympathy with the Ionians but were also concerned by the activities of a former Tyrant at the court of Darius, they also looked to establish trade within the Black Sea.
But all in all what most historians debate is not why Leonidas stayed but whether or not his decision to stay was the overall right choice. My perspective on the situation is that Leonidas’ decision to stay was not the right choice. I postulate this because the whole goal was to protect the pass so that the Persians could not reach Athens, but after the defeat of the Spartans the Persians pushed forward and burned Athens to the ground. So in essence the last stand of the Spartans was pointless because the Persians completed their goal of the ransacking of Athens. Themistocles was the true hero; he evacuated Athens before the Persians came and defeated the Persians in a naval battle at Salamis, which forced the Persians to flee back to Asia.
Therefrom, due to these important facts, the wise king Archidamus strongly encourages their population to postpone their attack and to prepare their army instead. In preparation for their postponed war, the Spartans must gather new allies and new resources. By doing so, they will establish a better position in countering their Athenians foes. (1.82) Moreover, King Archidamus argues that to abstain their attack and act cautious is not an act of cowardice, but an act of bravery. He agrees that they’re indeed slow, but their action is nothing but self control.
While his reforms were beneficial for society, people as a whole did not accept his changes, thus causing him to leave the state. Solon was born in 638 BC in Athens; belonging to the Eupatrids clan he was of very high importance. Solon was an Athenian statesmen and poet before he became archon. His poems were what got him his first appearance in the field of politics. During their conflict between Megara, Athens confidence in their troops was quickly deteriorating, when Solon - doing what he did best - cleverly tricked them into action through the use of his poems.
It was this delay that allowed Themistocles to persuade to the other military leaders to fight at Salamis which, according to Barry Strauss, was the turning point in the Persian wars. Although the Spartans were eventually beaten at Thermopylae, they reduced the number of Persian troops and delayed their invasion. It was Leonidas’ decision to stay and his valour to stay with his troops that allowed for the subsequent victory at Salamis, which led to the victory of the entire Persian
When the Theban-Athenian alliance was defeated by Macedon at the Battle of Chaeronea, Sparta was taken over. The Spartans refused, however, to attack the Persians with Alexander. Alexander died in Babylon before he could settle them. This triggered yet another Greek civil war which Sparta used to break from Thebes. The Romans then saw Sparta as a good conquest, and brought the Achaeans against the
One of the causes of these failures was that the discontent that prompted the people to initiate a revolution was in most cases of a local nature meaning that revolutionaries in different states would have had very little if not no incentive to come to each other’s aid. For example the temporary revolutionary government established in Bologna actually refused the Modenese revolutionaries pleas for help. This is hardly surprising when we consider how locally orientated the aims of the revolutionaries were, for example one of the main reasons for the attempted revolution in Sicily was to attain independence from Naples to which it had being forcibly united with in 1815, this was something that people outside of Sicily would have cared very little about if at all. Because of the fact that many of the
Socrates lived during the year of 404 B.C where Athens had surrendered its hegemony to Sparta, ending the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C), and Socrates’ associates Critias and Charmides, along with 28 other non-democratic Athenians, were installed as Athens’ new governors by the victorious Spartans. However, it was Meletus, the prosecutor, Anytus and Lycon who convicted Socrates of his alleged crime against the Athenian state as they perceived him to be a potential threat. In my understanding, the one of the reasons why Socrates was perceived to be a threat was due to a misunderstanding of his intentions. Athenians viewed Socrates as a ‘sophist’ and with having close ties with Critias and Charmides who overthrew Athenian democracy and who were a set of charlatans that appeared in Greece after the war that earned ample livelihood by imposing on public credulity: professing to
Also, the Greek campaign is a step toward returning art to other countries and families that the British Museum has illegally obtained. The British Government has become something of a “playground bully” in the art world. The time has come for the British Museum to return what belongs to the Greeks and bring an end to its self-seeking actions. In order to fully understand the situation with the marbles, a short history lesson is necessary. The most obvious place to start is Athens when the Parthenon