Peloponnesian War
During the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), Samos took the side of Athens against Sparta, providing their port to the Athenian fleet. In the Delian League they held a position of special privilege and remained actively loyal to Athens until 440 when a dispute with Miletus, which the Athenians had decided against them, induced them to secede. With a fleet of sixty ships they held their own for some time against a large Athenian fleet led by Pericles himself, but after a protracted siege were forced to capitulate. It was punished, but Thucydides tells us not as harshly as other states which rebelled against Athens. Most in the past had been forced to pay tribute but Samos was only told to repay the damages that the rebellion cost the Athenians: 1,300 talents, to pay back in installments of 50 talents per annum.
At the end of the Peloponnesian War, Samos appears as one of the most loyal dependencies of Athens, serving as a base for the naval war against the Peloponnesians and as a temporary home of the Athenian democracy during the revolution of the Four Hundred at Athens (411 BC), and in the last stage of the war was rewarded with the Athenian franchise. This friendly attitude towards Athens was the result of a series of political revolutions which ended in the establishment of a democracy. After the downfall of Athens, Samos was besieged by Lysander and again placed under an oligarchy.
In 394 the withdrawal of the Spartan navy induced the island to declare its independence and reestablish a democracy, but by the peace of Antalcidas (387) it fell again under Persian dominion. It was recovered by the Athenians in 366 after a siege of eleven months, and received a strong body of military settlers, the cleruchs which proved vital in the Social War (357-355 BC). After the Lamian War (322), when Athens was deprived of Samos, the vicissitudes of the island can no longer be followed.
Read more about this topic: Samos Province, History, Early and Classical Antiquity
Other articles related to "peloponnesian war, war":
... The treaty brought an end to the conflict commonly known as the First Peloponnesian War, which had been raging since c.460 BC ... The purpose of the treaty was to prevent another outbreak of war ... It ended when the Spartans had declared war on the Athenians ...
... of a recovery as a result of the Corinthian War and continued to play an active role in Greek politics ...
... In 435 BC, Corinth and Corcyra went to war over Epidamnus ... The Corinthian war against the Corcycraeans was the first recorded naval war in history ... In 431 BC, one of the factors leading to the Peloponnesian War was the dispute between Corinth and Athens over the Corinthian colony of Corcyra (Corfu), which probably stemmed from the ...
... to Thucydides, occurred in Athens during the time of the Peloponnesian War in 427 B.C ... events that occurred over the course of the Peloponnesian War ... Debate is in book three of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, and reflects the increasing political and ethical confusion in Athens ...
Famous quotes containing the word war:
“No spoon has yet destroyed a mouth, but the knife of war cuts portions that are hard to swallow. Perhaps the big mouths of the privileged are able to cope with them, but they dull the teeth of the little people and ruin their stomachs.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)