Greek Political Disunity

In the same period that Plato and Aristotle were developing their philosophies as guides to life, the Greek city-states were in a constant state of war. Sparta, Thebes, and Athens competed to dominate Greece in this period. None succeeded. Their endless fighting weakened their morale and their finances.

Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos formed an anti-Spartan coalition, but the Spartans checkmated the alliance by negotiating with the Persian king. Betraying their traditional claim to defend Greek freedom, the Spartans acknowledged the Persian ruler’s right to control the Greek city-states of Anatolia—in return for permission to wage war in Greece without Persian interference. This agreement of 386 B.C.E., called the King’s Peace, sold out the Greeks of Anatolia, returning them to submission to the Persian Empire. Athens rebuilt its navy, again becoming the leader of a naval alliance. In the 370s B.C.E., Thebes attacked Sparta and freed many helots to weaken the enemy. The Theban success alarmed the Athenians, who allied with their hated enemies, the Spartans. The allied armies confronted the Thebans in the battle of Mantinea in the Peloponnese in 362 B.C.E. Thebes won the battle but lost the war when its best general was killed and no capable replacement could be found. This stalemate left the Greek city-states disunited and weak. By the 350s B.C.E., no Greek city-state controlled anything except its own territory. By failing to cooperate with one another, the Greeks opened the way for the rise of a new power—the kingdom of Macedonia.