Hellenistic refers to the
‘international’ period of Greek history, when much of the Mediterranean and
southwest Asia was under Greek rule.
The
Athenians lost the Peloponnesian War because the plague struck and wiped out at
least one third of its population. Their
ruler, Pericles, was killed by the plague.
Athens recovered, but was led by reckless politicians that refused to
accept Sparta’s offers of compromise.
Another reason Athens lost the war is because they lost two-thirds of
its fleet in a battle against Sparta’s ally.
Sparta got help from Persia, who was Athens’s biggest threat, to build a
bigger navy to challenge Athens’s small fleet.
The Spartans crushed the Athenians at the battle of Aegospotami. With their navy destroyed and needing to get
food supplies from overseas, the Athenians were starving so they surrendered.
In 359
B.C., King Philip the Second started to strengthen his army to take over
Greece.
No comments:
Post a Comment