THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
The supremacy over the other states of Greece which Athens attained after the Persian War, and maintained during the Age of Pericles, with her constant prosperity and unparalleled growth, raised up jealousy and hatred against her, and during that brilliant period were sown the seeds of a civil warfare which was destined to destroy the power and splendor of Greece. After the death of Pericles, Athens had trusted to unworthy demagogues, of whom the most notorious was Cleon.
The other leading state of Greece was Sparta, and there was a general gravitation in the different cities to these two centers of Grecian life, those in which democratic sentiments prevailed looking to Athens for leadership, the rest (those in which the aristocratic or oligarchical element prevailed) regarding themselves as the natural allies of Sparta. The conflict between these two opposing principles, democracy and oligarchy, broke out in 431 B. C., and is known as the Peloponnesian War. Athens was the stronger by sea, Sparta by land.
| Pinakotheka, or Museum of Pictures. | Propylæa, or Porch. | Nike Apteros. | Parthenon, or Temple of Athena Parthenos. |
THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS AS IT APPEARED DURING THE AGE OF PERICLES
Pericles, with the sculptor Phidias, covered the Acropolis with a mass of beautiful buildings, making it the glory of Athens, if not of the whole ancient world. No finer structure has ever been known than the Parthenon. It is to be seen on the highest point of the Acropolis, on the right hand of the picture.
CHIEF LEADERS IN
THE WAR