BC470-451 Pericles and Ephialtes of Athens

In the twenty years from 470-451 BC Pericles (pictured) and Ephialtes led Athens at the time of the war between Athens and Sparta in 458 BC.

After the Greek victory at the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC, the Persians were no longer a threat and the other Greek states were no longer willing to submit to Athenian leadership. Naxos tried to secede from the Delian League, but was forced to submit.

After the fall of the conservative politician Cimon in 461 BC, the new Athenian leaders, Pericles and Ephialtes, clashed with Sparta and in 458 BC war broke out.

The war was inconclusive but did lead to a truce lasting 30 years between the Delian League (led by Athens) and the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) which enabled the Greeks to fight another battle with the Persians -- a sea battle off Salamis in Cyprus.

BC450-431 Golden Age of Athens

In the twenty years from 450-431 BC the known world was experiencing a golden age. In Athens, the glorious Parthenon (pictured) was being built on the Acropolis; the reformation of Israel led by the Jewish scribes Nehemiah and Ezra was taking place; the Sabines, like other neighboring indigenous tribes, were being absorbed into the superior immigrant Roman culture; and one of the Sabine families -- the Attus Clausus -- later evolved into one of Rome's elite families, the Roman Gens Claudian.
In Rome, the 'struggle of the orders' produced the Law of the Twelve Tables in 450 BC, which simply formalized and codified Roman law and its constitution. The Romans, however, saw it as a victory for the rights of the citizen for it gave them an instrument to know where they stood as far as the law is concerned.

Rome, of course, was founded by colonists from Greece and the Middle East, and there was little ethnic division between the three centers of learning -- Athens, Rome and Jerusalem. The Italian Peninsula, 2,450 years ago, was the New World for the Greeks and the people of the Middle East, and the successful colonization of Rome was, essentially, a success for Greece in the same way as the successful colonization of America later became a success for England.

In Rome, the territory between the Tiber and Anio was constantly pressured by the indigenous Sabine tribes. Unlike the American Indians, the Sabines were likely to have had fair complexions and hair similar to the ferocious Northern Celtic tribes who had yet to make an impact on history. Naturally, the indigenous tribes of the Italian Peninsula resented their lands being colonized by foreigners and their women being abducted, and fighting broke out.

After a major victory for Rome in 449 BC the Sabines -- like other neighboring Italian tribes -- were absorbed into Roman culture in the same way that all indigenous populations are eventually absorbed (or annihilated) by superior invading colonists, at all times in history.

In fact, one of the Sabine tribes was so zealously allied with Rome that it sought and gained permission to move its entire population onto Roman territory and become Roman in all respects. Among these new Romans was the Attus Clausus family -- later the Roman Gens Claudian family -- which became one of Rome's elite families, producing emperors and statesmen.

Back in those days they didn't have any rules forbidding 'foreigners' becoming emperors and in 445 BC, the Romans even gave plebeians the right to marry patricians. Considering that a king of England, Edward VIII, was forced to abdicate his throne in 1936 over a marriage with a commoner, the Romans were far more enlightened 2,450 years ago.

Also, just like all colonies rebel against their mother countries at all times in history, the Greek colonies were forever fighting for trading rights, if not outright independence, from the home country.

Corinth and one of its colonies, Corfu, got into a dispute in which Athens intervened and soon after, Corinth and Athens argued over control of Potidaea

Athens sieged Potidaea and issued a series of economic decrees known as the Megarian Decrees that placed economic sanctions on the Megarian people. We are still placing economic sanctions on nations we don't get along with, so nothing has changed!

Athens was accused by the Peloponnesian allies (sort of like a Greek United Nations) of violating the Thirty Years Peace and Sparta -- the main rival of Athens -- formally declared war on Athens in 431 BC.

The Peloponnesian War would last 27 years, and it all started over a Corinthian colony that had nothing to do with either Athens or Sparta. So much for allies and treaties -- they get nations into all sorts of trouble. An old treaty with Poland, for instance, forced Great Britain to declare war on Germany in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland.

In stark contrast to today, Israel was a peaceful nation 2,450 years ago. In 444 BC, the reformation of Israel was led by the Jewish scribes Nehemiah and Ezra and Ezra was particularly instrumental in instituting synagogue and prayer services. He canonized the Torah by reading it publicly to the Great Assembly that he set up in Jerusalem

Peloponnesian Allies

2,450 years ago the human family in the known world was experiencing a golden age. In Athens, the glorious Parthenon was being built on the Acropolis; the reformation of Israel led by the Jewish scribes Nehemiah and Ezra was taking place; the Sabines, like other neighboring indigenous tribes, were being absorbed into the superior immigrant Roman culture; and one of the Sabine families -- the Attus Clausus -- later evolved into one of Rome's elite families, the Roman Gens Claudian.

Rome, of course, was founded by colonists from Greece and the Middle East, and there was little ethnic division between the three centers of learning -- Athens, Rome and Jerusalem. The Italian Peninsula, 2,450 years ago, was the New World for the Greeks and the people of the Middle East, and the successful colonization of Rome was, essentially, a success for Greece in the same way as the successful colonization of America later became a success for England.

In Rome, the territory between the Tiber and Anio was constantly pressured by the indigenous Sabine tribes. Unlike the American Indians, the Sabines were likely to have had fair complexions and hair similar to the ferocious Northern Celtic tribes who had yet to make an impact on history. Naturally, the indigenous tribes of the Italian Peninsula resented their lands being colonized by foreigners and their women being abducted, and fighting broke out.

After a major victory for Rome in 449 BC the Sabines -- like other neighboring Italian tribes -- were absorbed into Roman culture in the same way that all indigenous populations are eventually absorbed (or annihilated) by superior invading colonists, at all times in history.

In fact, one of the Sabine tribes was so zealously allied with Rome that it sought and gained permission to move its entire population onto Roman territory and become Roman in all respects. Among these new Romans was the Attus Clausus family -- later the Roman Gens Claudian family -- which became one of Rome's elite families, producing emperors and statesmen.

Back in those days they didn't have any rules forbidding 'foreigners' becoming emperors and in 445 BC, the Romans even gave plebeians the right to marry patricians. Considering that a king of England, Edward VIII, was forced to abdicate his throne in 1936 over a marriage with a commoner, the Romans were far more enlightened 2,450 years ago.

Also, just like all colonies rebel against their mother countries at all times in history, the Greek colonies were forever fighting for trading rights, if not outright independence, from the home country.

Corinth and one of its colonies, Corfu, got into a dispute in which Athens intervened and soon after, Corinth and Athens argued over control of Potidaea

Athens sieged Potidaea and issued a series of economic decrees known as the Megarian Decrees that placed economic sanctions on the Megarian people. We are still placing economic sanctions on nations we don't get along with, so nothing has changed!

Athens was accused by the Peloponnesian allies (sort of like a Greek United Nations) of violating the Thirty Years Peace and Sparta -- the main rival of Athens -- formally declared war on Athens in 431 BC.

The Peloponnesian War would last 27 years, and it all started over a Corinthian colony that had nothing to do with either Athens or Sparta. So much for allies and treaties -- they get nations into all sorts of trouble. An old treaty with Poland, for instance, forced Great Britain to declare war on Germany in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland.

In stark contrast to today, Israel was a peaceful nation 2,450 years ago. In 444 BC, the reformation of Israel was led by the Jewish scribes Nehemiah and Ezra and Ezra was particularly instrumental in instituting synagogue and prayer services. He canonized the Torah by reading it publicly to the Great Assembly that he set up in Jerusalem

This article first appeared as the sabines and the roman immigrants

BC430-411 Alcibiades of Athens

In the twenty years from 430-411 BC Alcibiades (pictured) came back to power in Athens.

The Peloponnesian War continued between Athens and Sparta. The war was initially caused by a dispute between Corinth and its colony Corfu in which Athens intervened.

Soon after, Corinth and Athens argued over control of Potidaea.

Athens sieged Potidaea and issued a series of economic decrees known as the "Megarian Decrees" that placed economic sanctions on the Megarian people. Athens was accused by the Peloponnesian allies of violating the Thirty Years Peace and Sparta formally declared war.

The war would last 27 years, partly because Athens was a naval power and Sparta was a land power and both found it difficult to meet in battle. Sparta's initial strategy was to invade Attica, but the Athenians were able to retreat behind their walls. An outbreak of plague in Athens during the Spartan siege caused heavy losses, including Pericles.

At the same time, the Athenian fleet landed troops in the Peloponnese, winning battles at Naupactus (429 BC) and Pylos (425 BC). But neither side had a decisive victory and a moderate Athenian leader, Nicias, concluded the Peace of Nicias in 421 BC.

In 418 BC, however, hostility between Sparta and the Athenian ally, Argos, led to a resumption of fighting and at Mantinea Sparta defeated the combined armies of Athens and her allies.

The Athenian war party, led by Alcibiades, came back to power in Athens and in 415 BC Alcibiades persuaded the Athenian Assembly to launch a major expedition against Syracuse, a Peloponnesian ally in Sicily.

Though Nicias was a skeptic about the Sicilian Expedition, he joined Alcibiades to lead the expedition. However, after Alcibiades had accusations made about him he left the expedition and fled to Sparta where he persuaded the Spartans to send aid to Syracuse in Sicily. As a result of Alcibiades' actions, the whole expeditionary force was lost and Nicias was executed by his captors.

Nevertheless, Alcibiades rejoined the Athenian side towards the end of the Peloponnesian War.

BC390-371 Celtic Gaul Conquests

In the twenty years from 390-371 BC the Celtic Gauls crossed the Alps into Italy, defeated the Roman army and burned Rome to the ground in 387 BC.

The Gauls were a Celtic people of Europe, nomadic and war-like, who did not wish to settle in Italy. Instead, they were interested only in amassing wealth. They looted Rome and then demanded a tribute.

The Romans both feared and marvelled at the Gauls. They described them as being tall, with rippling muscles, white skin and blond hair which they accentuated by washing their hair with lime and pulling it back from the forehead. Their men and women wear bracelets, heavy necklaces (torcs), rings, and even corselets, of gold. Their clothing is striking -- shirts which have been dyed and embroidered in varied colors -- and breeches. They wear striped coats in which are set checks, close together and of varied hues -- tartan plaid.

The Gauls had a 'levity of character' that makes them look insufferable when victorious, but scared out of their wits when defeated. Their speech is harsh and they converse with few words and in riddles, hinting darkly at things for the most part and using one word when they mean another. And, they drink to excess.

After the Gauls had collected their tribute, they returned home to central Europe leaving Rome vulnerable to all the tribes it had previously conquered.

Various Italian states tried to take advantage of Rome's demise by attacking the razed city, but the Romans resiliently asserted themselves and began rebuilding the region.

In Greece, Lysander of Sparta had been killed in the early years of the Corinthian War, but the war continued until 387 BC under the Spartan king Agesilaus II.

Thebes had been taken by Sparta and a pro-Spartan puppet government kept the Thebans in check. Exiles from the previous government regrouped at Athens and prepared to retake their city. Epaminondas, who had been overlooked by the Spartans as nothing more than a philosopher, prepared the young men of Thebes for a coup. In 379 BC a small group of exiles, led by Pelopidas, infiltrated the city with Epaminondas's aid and assassinated the leaders of the pro-Spartan government.

When news of the coup reached Sparta, an army under Agesilaus was sent but the Thebans refused to meet them. Instead, they occupied a stronghold outside the city and the Spartans departed after ravaging the countryside.

The Thebans then reconstituted their old Boeotian confederacy in a new, democratic form and the Spartans invaded three times over the next seven years. The Boeotians held them off, and the advantage was furthered when, in 375 BC, an outnumbered force of Boeotians under Pelopidas cut their way through the heart of a Spartan phalanx during the Battle of Tegyra.

Although Sparta remained the supreme land power in Greece, the Boeotians had arrived as a politically cohesive power and Pelopidas had arrived as a major political leader in Thebes.

By 371 BC Epaminondas was a Boeotarch leading the Boeotian delegation to a peace conference held at Sparta. There, Epaminondas caused a drastic break with Sparta when he insisted on signing not for the Thebans alone, but for all the Boeotians.

King Agesilaus II of Sparta refused to allow this and struck the Thebans from the peace document. Epaminondas returned to Thebes, and both sides marshaled for war.

BC370-351 Epaminondas of Thebes

In the twenty years from 370-351 BC Thebes came to prominence with the victories of Pelopidas and the philosopher general Epaminondas (pictured) over Sparta.

Although Sparta remained the supreme land power in Greece, the Thebans had reconstituted their old Boeotian confederacy and war was declared when Sparta refused to acknowledge a Theban delegation's right to sign on behalf of the confederacy.

The Theban generals Epaminondas and Pelopidas won a decisive victory at Leuctra (371 BC) which ended Spartan supremacy.

While Thebes enjoyed dominance, it was short-lived because in the meantime Athens was fast recovering its former power and Macedon was about to enter Greek politics.

When Epaminondas died after a mortal would at Mantinea in 362 BC, news of his death on the battlefield passed from soldier to soldier and hostilities immediately ceased -- a testament to his centrality to the war effort.

With his dying words, Epaminondas is said to have advised the Thebans to make peace, as there was no one left to lead them but his successors then blundered into an ineffectual ten-year war with Phocis which eventually drew them into asking for help from Philip II of Macedon.

On a more pleasant note, in 370 BC the first encyclopedia was compiled by Speusippus, a nephew of Plato.

In Rome, the previous defeat by the Gauls led to a weakened city that needed time to rebuild, regroup and recover while fighting back more Gaul raiding parties.

During this period the plebeians demanded further rights and in 367 BC the first plebeian consul was elected.

The Licinian-Sextian laws demanded that at least one consul be a plebeian, and after the completion of the term of consular office the consul would become a member of the Senate. When the plebeians gained full access to the office of the consul, the patrician hold on the Senate had, in part, been broken.