The Peloponnesian War

The Golden Age of Greece was short lived. Athens and Sparta were both powerful poli, and each wanted to spread their way of life. Sparta attacked Athens in 431BC, beginning the brutal 27-year-long Peloponnesian War.

One out four people in Athens died shortly after the war began, but not because they were defeated in battle. When Sparta attacked, the Athenian people crowded behind the walls of the city. The cramped and dirty living conditions were an easy target for disease. A plague, or great sickness, spread through the city. Sickness claimed the life of Pericles, the leader of Athens. Once Pericles died, the people began to listen to demagogues. Demagogues were bad leaders who appealed to people's emotions rather than logic.

Sparta eventually defeated Athens by building blockade around the walls of the city. This is called a siege. The people of Athens could not leave to get supplies or food from the countryside. Faced with starvation, Athens surrendered to Sparta in 404BC.

The Peloponnesian robbed Athens of its Golden Age. Great thinkers and teachers lived in Athens during and after the war but the era of support for new ideas and the spirit of democracy had passed.