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WorksheetsThe Peloponnesian League
Total questions: 34
Worksheet time: 24mins
What were the consequences of success for Lycurgus' reforms?
Sparta was practically the ruler of the Peloponnese.
"For it is about four hundred years or little more to the end of the war (Peloponnesian War 431-404BCE) that the Lacedaemonians have enjoyed the same system of government. Having become powerful because of this, they intervened in the affairs of other city-states." (Thucydides)
It was not uncommon for other city-states to ask Sparta for intervention in their own wars or local problems, due to the power Sparta had.
Sparta became the most advanced city-state in the whole of Greece.
"For it is about four hundred years or little more to the end of the war (Peloponnesian War 431-404BCE) that the Lacedaemonians have enjoyed the same system of government. Having become powerful because of this, they intervened in the affairs of other city-states." (Thucydides)
This quote would be best for:
The consequences of the success of Lycurgus' reforms.
The agoge
Sparta's improvement since the implementation of Lycurgus' reforms.
What caused the success of Sparta's "Great Rhetra" / Lycurgus' reforms?
While there was constant discontent against the system, the violence of the system kept the helots successfully suppressed and the citizens loyal to the state.
This meant that Sparta was the only city-state that could field a professional army, an exceptionally well-trained one at that.
The large amounts of lands and slaves allowed Sparta's Great Rhetra to actually function.
Sparta did not wish to form the Peloponnesian League.
True
False
How did the Peloponnesian League form?
1. Sparta acquired many allies throughout the Peloponnese in the 500s.
2. Sparta did this by intervening in various local issues or by making beneficial alliances with smaller city-states.
For example, Epidaurus joins the League for protection against their local enemy - Argos.
By 500BCE, the Peloponnesian League dominates the Peloponnese.
The Peloponnesian League was equally beneficial for all city-states involved.
True
False
What was the Peloponnesian League?
The Peloponnesian League was made up of all the Peloponnesian city-states.
Made up of all the Peloponnese city-states except those of Archaea and Argos.
A very loose alliance revolved around Sparta's authority over the Peloponnese.
Corinth was the most powerful member apart from Sparta, notable for her large navy.
What did the constitution look like for the Peloponnesian League?
Sparta dominated the decision-making process, being one 'chamber' whilst all the other allies made up the other.
Only Sparta could propose possible policies.
War between the allies (except Sparta) was allowed and not uncommon.
Sparta rarely intervened in the wars between members.
What did the benefits of the Peloponnesian League look like?
Despite having the best soldiers in Greece, Sparta only had a small number of them, and so armies of their Peloponnesian allies could boost their numbers significantly.
Sparta offered protection for the city-states in the Peloponnesian League and would aid them if they were at war.
Sparta was generally reluctant to send her armies far away from Laconia due to the risk of helot revolt ->
<- However the Peloponnesian allies could offer support against these revolts, or Sparta could send away smaller armies and rely on the numbers from their allies.
When was the Battle of the Champions?
(a)
A battle between Sparta and Argos over the plain of Thyrea, each side committing 300 soldiers:
(a)
The initial battle of the Battle of the Champions was inconclusive, and so both sides had to commit their entire armies, leading to a decisive Spartan victory.
True
False
What was the outcome of the Battle of the Champions?
Argos claimed the plain.
Sparta claimed the plain.
The victory by the Spartans further showed themselves as the master of war in Greece.
The victory by the Argives further showed themselves as the master of war in Greece.
What was the name of the tyrant who ruled over Athens at the end of the 5th century BCE? (Don't worry, just his first name - I won't make you attempt his last name. )
(a)
(a) at the end of the 5th century BCE was being ruled by the tyrant Hippias (of the Pisistratidae family) whose brother had been murdered and thus was embarking on a paranoid campaign of terror against his own city.
There were suspicions that Hippias was seeking an alliance with Persia to help maintain his tyranny within Athens.
True
False
"Hippius, their tyrant, was growing even more bitter in enmity towards against the Athenians." (Herodotus)
This quote is useful for:
Hippias' treatment of the Athenians
What led to the Athenians calling on the Spartans for help.
How Hippias had acted before his brother was murdered.
Herodotus says that the Alcemeonidae, an Athenian family banished by Hippias, attempted to force their way in and free Athens with the help of some other exiled Athenians. "There were not successful in their return and suffered instead a great reverse." (Herodotus)
This quote means:
The Athenians were unable to reclaim Athens
Whatever they planned backfired.
The exiled Athenians were successful in removing Hippias.
The exiled Athenians gained the Spartans help by bribing the Phythia (Oracle at Delphi) who told the Spartan's they needed to help the Athenians.
True
False
"These men, as the Athenians say, established themselves at Delphi and bribed the Pythian priestess to bid any Spartans who should come to inquire of her on a private or public account to set Athens free." (Herodotus)
This quote is useful for:
That even the representatives of the gods could be bribed.
How others took advantage of the Spartans reliance on their religion and oracles.
Shows another example of bribery as a way to solve war.
The Lacedaemonians on hearing the same command drove out Hippias and the sons of Pisistratus despite them being close friends - showing the Spartan belief in and reliance on the Oracle. "For the (a) 's will weighed with them more than the will of a man." (Herodotus)
When the sons of Pisistratus heard of the plan of the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, they enlisted the help of their allies the Thessalians, who brough a hundred horsemen.
True
False
The sons of Pisistratus and the Thessalians laid out a plan where:
They would burn the Lacedaemonians ships so that they could not escape.
They could ride over land and attack their enemy.
The plan was effective and Alcemeonidae and many Lacedaemonians were slain.
The survivors fled to their ships.
After the Lacedaemonians and Athenians were defeated once, how did they reassemble?
The bid together with the Corinthians and tripled the size of their army.
They sent an army by land to attack Athens, appointing one of their kings Cleomenes as general.
When this army broke into Attica, the Thessalian horsemen met them, but they were soundly defeated, and the survivors fled to Thessaly.
When Cleomenes and the Athenians came into Athens, they besieged the tyrant's family within the Pelasgic wall.
Herodotus says that the Lacedaemonians would only have besieged the Pisistratidid stronghold for a few days before leaving, because they had no intention to blockade it and the Pisitratidae were well-furnished with food and drink.
True
False
What brought at end to Hippias' besiegement?
The Spartans and Athenians managed to capture the Pisistratidae sons when they were being secretly taken from the country.
The tyrants agreed to leave on terms prescribed to them in return for their children.
One of Hippias' own family members killed Hippias in return that the rest of them should go free, to which the Athenians agreed.
Following the death of Hippias in Athens, the Spartans left. However not long later:
There was a conflict between the oligarchic and democratic (led by Cleisthenes) factions of Athens, the oligarchic faction asked for Cleomenes' help.
Cleomenes responded, however his small force got besieged at the Acropolis by almost the entire population and the Spartans negotiated a truce to leave.
This paved the way for Greece's first democracy. (Herodotus)
This interventionist policy in local city-state continues to grow in popularity throughout the Classical period, despite Sparta's failure here - Sparta goes on to support many other oligarchies that turn ally to Sparta, even within the Peloponnesian League.
When was the Battle of Sepeia?
(a)
At some point since 546BCE Argos reclaimed Thyrea. On advice of the Pythia, King Cleomenese I led an army to retake the plain in 494BCE, but was delayed when the omens advised against crossing the main river that led the Thyrea. (Herodotus)
What did Cleomenese do?
The Spartans marched inland, crossing where the river split into a delta and they were therefore not crossing the main river.
Instead, the Spartans went to the extreme length of marching all the way round, embarking on ships and sailing to the plain instead.
Cleomenese ignored the omens, and crossed at the main river anyway.
There are contradicting accounts of the Battle of Sepeia itself, but through some kind of trickery Cleomenes takes the Argive forces by complete surprise.
True
False
After the Battle of Sepeia, and a concluding victory for Sparta, Cleomenes let many of the Argive go, but half of the Argive citizen body had been killed in the battle.
True
False
What were the consequences of the Battle of Sepeia?
All those city-states in the Peloponnese that had not been allied to Sparta before allied with them, for fear of meeting the same fate as the Argives.
Argos suffered such catastrophic casualties that they were unable to truly contend for power in the Peloponnese with Sparta for generations.
Sparta was now the unquestioned master of the Peloponnese.
Cleomenes was popular when he came back from the Battle of Sepeia.
True
False
How did Cleomenes prove his innocence after the Battle of Sepeia?
Cleomenes response had been he thought the god's oracle to be fulfilled since he had taken down the temple of Argus, and did not want to make an attempt on the city before he "learned from the sacrifices whether the god would deliver it to him or withstand him." (Herodotus)
Cleomenes was shown, in a temple, when a flame burst from Hera's chest that he would not have taken Argos. "Its coming from the breast signified that he had done as much as the gods willed to happen." (Herodotus)
"This plea of his seemed to the Spartans to be credible and reasonable, and he far outdistanced the pursuit of his accusers." (Herodotus)
