Athens: A History by Robin Waterfield

Author:Robin Waterfield [Waterfield, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447207177
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War

In 446 Athens and Sparta entered into a thirty-year peace, which did nothing to stop each side developing its military potential. The final insults blew up in the 430s, with Corinth, Sparta’s greatest ally, usually the target of Athenian manoeuvring.

First, around 438 Athens entered into an alliance with the Akarnanians on the west coast of the mainland. But Corinth considered this coast to be Corinthian colonial territory, so although Athens was doing nothing literally against the terms of the peace accord, this was a slap in the face for Corinth, and an implicit threat.

Second, there was the Kerkyra affair. Kerkyra (modern Corfu) had been in dispute with its one-time mother city, Corinth, for some years of grim tension and occasional open warfare. Following a defeat in 435 by the island’s powerful fleet, Corinth prepared a huge avenging force. In desperation, in 433 Kerkyra called on Athens for help, noting the island’s strategic position on the way to southern Italy and Sicily – tempting Athenian ambitions westward – and arguing that war with the Peloponnesian League was already inevitable, so that it would make no difference if Athens alienated Corinth now. In response, the Corinthians issued a warning: Athenian support for Kerkyra would provoke the Peloponnesians beyond the point of no return.

The debate in the Athenian Assembly lasted two days, with the decision going first one way and then the other. Athens had not been particularly expansionist recently, preferring a strategy of preservation and judicious alliances abroad. But faced with the likelihood of war, the Athenians could not afford to let the Corinthian and Kerkyran fleets combine. In the end they voted, cautiously, to enter into a purely defensive alliance with Kerkyra: if the island was attacked they would come to its aid, and they sent a small contingent of ten ships to the island to fulfil this obligation. The Corinthians attacked. The Athenians held back from the engagement for as long as possible, but eventually felt compelled to prevent a massacre of the Kerkyrans. Even so, the Corinthians were successful at sea, and drove the Kerkyrans and Athenians on to land – but withdrew when a further twenty Athenian warships appeared on the horizon.

Third, there was the terrible business of Potidaia, a town on the west coast of Khalkidike, which was a tributary of Athens while retaining strong links with its mother city, Corinth. Athens had recently increased Potidaia’s tribute, and then in 432, worried about Corinthian intrigues in the area, she insisted that Potidaia break off relations with Corinth and demolish some of her defences. Potidaia tried to negotiate, but the Athenians sent a sizeable army into the area. This was again a slap in the face for Corinth; once a moderator of Spartan hostility towards Athens, Corinth was now herself consumed by unremitting hostility towards Athens, and threatened to leave the Peloponnesian League if Sparta failed to help. The Spartans promised Potidaia that they would send armed assistance, which arrived in the form of a largely Corinthian army.

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