![[Media/Guerre_del_Peloponneso_431aC_mappa.svg.png]] In the last chapter, we discussed a broad swath of nearly a thousand years of history. As we move forward, the durations will become narrower because there's more to consider. In this chapter, we will cover about half a millennium, although we will also briefly mention a couple of events we talked about previously. As we discussed, the idea of the Axial Age was a bit vague and covered a broad timespan. There were a number of additional thinkers we did not discuss, and a number of contributions made in the period we'll cover this week will extend and elaborate on the "Axial" ideas. As we move through this chapter, we will address them as they arise in the chronology. ![[Media/Pelopennesian_War,_Walls_Protecting_the_City,_431_B.C..jpg]] I mentioned that after the settlement of Greek hostilities with Persia, jealousy and rivalry between Athens and Sparta erupted into the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). In the first decade of this long war, a Spartan hoplite army invaded Attica but was held back by Athens' defenses, especially fortifications called the Long Walls that linked the city with its port, Piraeus. In a second phase of the war, Athens attacked Syracuse, an ally of Sparta in Sicily, and lost much of its army and almost its entire navy. With the powerful Athenian navy out of the way, the Persians sensed an opportunity to recover Ionian territory off the coast of Anatolia and allied with Sparta against Athens. Persia helped Sparta build a fleet which controlled the Aegean Sea, and Athens capitulated in 404, losing its empire. Sparta imposed an oligarchic regime on Athens and its allies, known as the Thirty Tyrants. After ten years, the Athenians revolted in the lesser-known Corinthian War (394-386 BCE), and regained a measure of independence. ----- Next: [[7.2 - Thucydides]]