From 431BC to 404BC two of the world’s most formidable superpowers, Athens and Sparta, engaged in one of early history’s longest and most brutal wars, The Peloponnesian War. Though both superpowers were located within close geographical proximity to one another, they were anything but similar regarding their cultural, diplomatic, and philosophical viewpoints. These three factors and perhaps more culminated together to create a rift between the two city-states, causing tensions and a hegemonic fight for power and dominance over ancient Greece. The Peloponnesian War was elicited by prejudiced ethnocentrism and gross misappropriations of hegemonic viewpoints held by both the Spartan and Athenian superpowers of ancient Greece resulting in a war over territory and cultural supremacy.
On one side of the Peloponnesian War was Sparta, a militant state famed for its military prowess and it strict civilian lifestyle that promoted, “the general subordination at Sparta of the individual to the group” (1). This ideology may have given way to the crude manner that many Athenian citizens treated the Spartans, deeming them as foolish and unwise because of the way they let their leaders treat them in such a totalitarian state. Meanwhile, on the other hand, there was Athens, which preceded Sparta with a rich and inclusive democracy and massive cultural and philosophical advancements which are still spoken of to this day. This great honor of having one of the world’s oldest and most richly developed societies seemed to have given the Athenians an inflated ego and an ethnocentric viewpoint towards less free-spirited and more strict governments such as Sparta and could be a reason why they broke the thirty years truce. Whereas the seemingly untouchable military strength and societal secrecy of Sparta seemed to have made them the better world power in their eyes which could have also fueled their fire to stake their claim in the Mediterranean.
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The great Thucydides proclaimed in his History of the Peloponnesian War that it, “was begun by the Athenians and Peloponnesians by the dissolution of the thirty years' truce made after the conquest of Euboea,” (2) claiming that the cause of the war was due to a break in the thirty-year peace treaty that ruled over the land. However, according to The Plague of War: Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Ancient Greece, “the Athenians passed a decree against Megara [a Peloponnesian state], probably the last of several issued during the 430s. The decree was of a nature unprecedented in history: a peacetime embargo, barring the Megarians from trading in the Athenian city center and market-place known as the agora or in the ports of the Athenian empire,” (3) and this was in fact what and who sparked the start of the Peloponnesian War.
That being said, the Spartan’s fear of losing power over all that they had gained in their conquest of territory in the Mediterranean and the Middle East was a definite contribution toward the start of the Peloponnesian war. Secrecy and seclusion from strangers was key tactic practiced by the Spartans in their attempts to remain anonymous to the enemy were of utmost importance. The fact that everyone was an enemy to Sparta is what made them known for their military defense. The initial acts made by the Athenians and their victory over the Corinthian territory of Megara were what made the Spartans spring into action and finally take the offensive and take on Athens and their egocentric viewpoints due to the fact that the Spartans could not stand to lose in battle.
Though this may be true, it is widely debated that the ethnocentric viewpoints held by both the Spartans and the Athenians toward one another were a large part of the reason for the start of the Peloponnesian war. One famous Athenian philosopher named Thucydides was notorious for his critical statements of Sparta and it has been said that “No one in the antique world ever spoke as negatively about Sparta as Thucydides did” (4). One such statement made by Thucydides in reference to Spartans reads, “we congratulate you on your innocence but do not envy you your folly,” (5) in essence calling them dim-witted fools. Though the famed Greek writer Thucydides wrote such harsh words about the Spartans, the philosopher was also the one who wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War and wrote the powerful Funeral Oration of Pericles. When Thucydides wrote, “they joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure of their vengeance, and to let their wishes wait; and while committing to hope the uncertainty of final success, in the business before them they thought fit to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonor but met danger face to face, and after one brief moment, while at the summit of their fortune, escaped, not from their fear, but from their glory,” (6) in the Funeral Oration of Pericles, he was showcasing the might of the Athenians, their courage and their grace, a stark contrast to his criticisms of the “foolish” Sparta. Another writer who wrote about the Athenians and altered their image in the eyes of the public was Plutarch who wrote of the famous Pericles stating that “Pericles entertained an extraordinary esteem and admiration, and filling himself with this lofty and, as they call it, up-in-the-air sort of thought, derived hence not merely, as was natural, the elevation of purpose and dignity of language, raised far above the base and dishonest buffooneries of mob eloquence, but, besides this, a composure of countenance, and a serenity and calmness in all his movements, which no occurrence whilst he was speaking could disturb, a sustained and even tone of voice, and various other advantages of a similar kind, which produced the greatest effect on his hearers,” (7) clearly showing the nuances of the ways of an Athenian citizen, their low-lying flaws and their hidden attributes.
All things considered, it should be noted that both sides of the line were at fault and their prejudice toward one another is what ultimately sparked the start of the Peloponnesian War. The constant change of citizenry for both the Spartans and the Athenians due to their thirst for conquest through the ages resulting in a melting pot of people with clashing ideals, cultures, and norms was enough to catapult each hegemony into civil unrest let alone force them into the great war ahead. Ethnocentric comments made by prominent figures, as well as fear of higher power and authority, and some aggressive moves made by politicians are what fueled the start of one of the most famous wars in history.
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