Corcyra and Corinth
The war between Corcyra and Corinth caused trouble in the peace and was one of the immediate causes of the end of the Thirty years peace and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. The quarrel was over the small distant land, Epidamus. Corcyra went to Athens to ask for help. Their argument was that there were three fleets worthy of mention in Greece: the Athenian fleet, the coryran fleet, and the Corinthian fleet; if the Corinthians get control of the coryran first Athens would see two of them become one, and it will have to fight against the Corcyraean and the Peloponnesian fleets at once; if Athens accepted the Corcyran request to join forces they would be able to fight the Peloponnesian with the help of the Corcyran fleet. The Corinthian counter-argument was: Although it says in the treaty that any unenrolled cities may join whichever side it likes, the clause is not meant for those who join one side with the intention of hurting the other.
The Athenian decision was to enter into an alliance that was defensive only (epimachia)instead of a full offensive and defensive commitment that was usual in a Greek alliance (symmachia) a proposal was made to. This was the first such relationship we hear of in Greek history. This decision lead to war with Corinthians.
The Battle of Sybota was one of the battles that spurred out of the conflict. The Athenians were forced to fight the Corinthians and that further hurt the peace.
Read more about this topic: Thirty Years' Peace
Famous quotes containing the word corinth:
“War wreaked on you his hideous ravishment;
We, we alone, Nereids inviolate,
Remain to weep, with the sea-birds to chant:
Corinth is lost, Corinth is desolate.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)