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Historical Period

Twenty-seven years of war between Athens and Sparta, from the plague of Athens and Sicily to the fall of the city.

Use the timeline below to navigate through major events and milestones.

Peloponnesian War · 431–404 BC
Athens against Sparta

The Peloponnesian War

From the first Spartan invasions of Attica and the plague that carried off Pericles, through the fragile Peace of Nicias and the catastrophe of the Sicilian Expedition, to the Persian-funded fleets that finally starved Athens into surrender. Slide across twenty-seven years in which the two great powers of Greece tore the Greek world apart — and the age of Athenian glory came to an end.

431 BC
The Archidamian War
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431 BC

The Archidamian War
  • Military

    War divides the Greek world

    Pericles, the leader of Athens
    Via Wikimedia Commons

    Sparta and its allies invade Attica; Pericles withdraws Athens behind its Long Walls.

10 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 431 BC

Full Chronicle

The Peloponnesian War

From the first Spartan invasions of Attica and the plague that carried off Pericles, through the fragile Peace of Nicias and the catastrophe of the Sicilian Expedition, to the Persian-funded fleets that finally starved Athens into surrender. Slide across twenty-seven years in which the two great powers of Greece tore the Greek world apart — and the age of Athenian glory came to an end.

  1. The Archidamian War

    • War divides the Greek world

      Sparta and its allies invade Attica; Pericles withdraws Athens behind its Long Walls.

  2. The Archidamian War

    • The plague of Athens

      A devastating plague sweeps the crowded city, and in 429 it claims Pericles himself.

  3. The Archidamian War

    • Triumph at Pylos

      Athens traps a force of Spartans on the island of Sphacteria and takes them prisoner.

  4. The Archidamian War

    • Cleon and Brasidas fall at Amphipolis

      The two most aggressive leaders die in battle at Amphipolis, clearing the way for peace.

  5. The Peace of Nicias

    • The Peace of Nicias

      A fifty-year peace is sworn, but it settles nothing and soon frays.

  6. The Sicilian Expedition

    • Athens sails for Sicily

      Persuaded by Alcibiades, Athens sends a vast expedition against distant Syracuse.

  7. The Sicilian Expedition

    • Catastrophe at Syracuse

      The entire Athenian expedition is destroyed at Syracuse — fleet, army and all.

  8. The War in the Aegean

    • Persia backs Sparta; oligarchy in Athens

      Sparta gains Persian gold to build a fleet, while a coup briefly overthrows Athenian democracy.

  9. The Fall of Athens

    • Disaster at Aegospotami

      The Spartan admiral Lysander destroys the Athenian fleet on the beach at Aegospotami.

  10. The Fall of Athens

    • Athens surrenders

      Starved into submission, Athens yields; its walls are torn down and its empire dissolved.