The Ancient Greeks Sparta Versus Athens

With the Persian threat contained the Greeks of the second half of the 5th century BC should have been secure. Athens under Pericles began an ambitious building programme which saw the construction of the Parthenon on the Acropolis. It was the age of the great Greek dramatists. But the simmering rivalry of Sparta and Athens, with their very different political systems, would lead to open conflict. We have a full account of the Pelopennesian War from the eye witness Thucydides. Meanwhile in Athens itself the  self proclaimed gadfly, Socrates, was raising fundamental issues that many found both uncomfortable and subversive. This course will examine in detail the decades from 440-400BC.