The downfall of Athens marked the end of a golden age. The same unerring golden age that molded Athens into the imperial, powerful, and glorious Athens that many think of it as today. Much of Athens’ glory was earned through the unlikely defeat of a vast Persian army in the Persian war by badly outnumbered Greeks while much of its democratic and military strength was followed by the rule of Pericles, an Athenian statesman, orator, and general. The flourishing period in which he led Athens has been known as the Age of Pericles due to his influence, not only on Athens but on overall Greek history. The Age of Pericles lasted until his death and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War which can be marked as the very beginning of the city-state’s decline. The years of strength, glory, and peace were on the verge of a catastrophic decline that eventually led to the downfall. The End of this golden age was an outcome of multiple issues that Athens itself was a cause of as Athens’ dominance over Greece grew, the use of its power became more and more unfavorable. This unfavorable use of power was the stem of the political and social issues following it. The fall of Athens was imminent after these years of political, economic, and social decline that began with the revolt of the other city-states, continued with natural and economic disasters, and ended with the Peloponnesian War.
Political issues such as revolts against Athens’s Delian League were one of the early causes that led to the downfall of Athens. According to George Grote, “The Delian League was an alliance of Greek city-states led by Athens to liberate eastern Greek cities from Persian rule and as a defense to possible invasions and conquests from Persia” (Grote, 38). This alliance would slowly become so controlled by Athens that it later came to be known as the Athenian Empire. Athens became tyrannical in its control of the alliance. Athens did not approve of city-states leaving the alliance and began using the League’s funds for its own purposes. This lack of rights and say among the other city-states led to revolts. Athens responded to these revolts by military force and required tribute in various forms such as money, ships, and other materials. The city-states were not released from these requirements even after the cessation of hostilities. Despite these constant issues among the city-states not being a huge threat to the vast empire, they were enough to distract it from outside threats such as Spartans who were against the league; thus, these revolts were known as one of the early causes of the Athenian downfall.
Furthermore, as Pericles led Athens into the Peloponnesian War, economic and natural disasters arose and weakened the empire severely. As most men fought in wars and revolts, there were very few people making money and working which made it difficult for families economically as even after the men returned to their families, it would take time to stabilize themselves and their families. The deaths of these men would also result in their wives becoming economically unstable. This eventually resulted in an economic disaster that further weakened Athens. Further, in the war, a plague struck Athens. As Joshua Cole describes it in his book Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture, “The plague of Athens was a natural disaster and an epidemic that devastated the city-state of Athens during the Peloponnesian war when Athenian victory still seemed within reach” (Cole 52). It is believed to have entered Athens through Piraeus, the city's port and sole source of food and supplies. He also describes the cause as he writes, “The plague killed approximately 1/3 of the population. The sight of the burning funeral pyres of Athens caused the Spartans to withdraw their troops, being unwilling to risk contact with the diseased enemy” (Cole, 52). This allowed Athens to recover from the damage, but it was still far from what it was before the Plague due to the immense decline in population, hence less manpower. After the death of Pericles, Athens was led by many weak and incompetent leaders. It was not until later that Athens had recovered fully and was prepared to mount an offense against Sparta. Athens might have survived the economic and natural disasters, but it had weakened significantly from when it had started, and it only made it more difficult for Athens to survive the war.
As Athens continued to struggle through the debilitating incidents that arose consecutively, it was the Peloponnesian war that marked an end to Athens. A twenty-seven year on and off a war between two of the most powerful city-states in Greece. Initially, both city-states signed a truce to prevent the war, but as Athens attacked one of Sparta’s allies, a war broke out. After years of sieges and battles against Sparta and the recovery from the plague of Athens, Athens began an expedition known as the Syracuse Expedition in which they hoped to cut out Sparta’s food supply in Sicily. Donald Kagan describes this expedition as a disaster as he writes, “This soon turned out to be a disaster as they were heavily defeated at the battle of Syracuse due to the Spartan reinforcements that helped the Sicilians surround and annihilate the Athenians” (Kagan, The Fall of Athenian Empire 3). This immense defeat permanently weakened Athens even further and this time around, there was not enough time to recover. Spartans were fed up and formed an alliance with the Persians that they once fought together with Athens. According to George, “They offered Persians the Ionian city-states that were allies of Athens in exchange for a navy” (George 88). The navy helped the Spartans overcome the Athenians and the walls that surrounded Athens that were soon destroyed and conquered. These factors of the Peloponnesian war that contributed to the Spartans overcoming the Athenians and leaving Athens no possible way of restoring its pre-war prosperity ended the Athenian Empire also known as the fall of Athens.
Regardless of it being the most powerful city-state of its era, it fell due to internal weakness such as revolts among the empire, and natural disasters such as the plague and the Peloponnesian war which not only weakened Athens but the whole of Greece as Sparta was also exhausted from the war and did not remain the center of Greece for long. In Donald Kagan’s book The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, he describes this exhaustion in detail as he writes:
Continued Spartan ambitions in central and northern Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily once again dragged the city into another protracted conflict, the Corinthian Wars with Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Persia from 396 to 387 BCE. The result of the conflict was the ‘King’s Peace’ where Sparta ceded her empire to Persian control, but Sparta was left to dominate Greece. However, trying to crush Thebes, Sparta lost the crucial battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE against the brilliant Theban general Epaminondas. (Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War 63)
Perhaps Persia was the winner of the war and Macedonia in the long term which under Philip II destroyed and conquered the weakened Greek city-states.
Works Cited
Cole, Joshua, and Carol Symes. Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2017. Print.
Grote, George. A History of Greece. Murray, 2016. New York. Print.
Kagan, Donald. The Fall of the Athenian Empire. New York: Cornell University Press, 2013. Print.
Kagan, Donald. The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. New York: Cornell University Press, 2013. Print.