The Peloponnesian War was a major event in the history of ancient Greece. It was a war primarily between the Athens-led Delian League and Sparta, leading the Peloponnesian League. Historical analysis of sources reveals that an earthquake in Sparta set off a chain of events that ultimately led to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War.
The earthquake that caused the Peloponnesian War
The earthquake in question occurred in 464 BCE. It struck Sparta, resulting in extensive damage and significant loss of life. According to ancient sources, the death toll was allegedly 20,000. Modern historians have noted that this is almost certainly exaggerated.
The appearance of such a high figure in ancient sources indicates that this was a devastating earthquake that severely impacted Sparta. It did not just affect Sparta, but it also affected other city-states in the region.
One particularly early source for this event is Thucydides, a Greek historian of the late-fifth century BCE. He wrote:
“The Lacedaemonians had once raised up some Helot suppliants from the temple of Poseidon at Taenarus, led them away and slain them; for which they believe the great earthquake at Sparta to have been a retribution.”
According to this, the Spartans believed that the earthquake was a divine punishment for taking some helot worshippers from the temple of Poseidon and killing them. We can see the logic in this conclusion since Poseidon was the god of earthquakes.
The aftermath of the earthquake
The physical damage and the deaths caused by the earthquake were not the only issues that the Spartans had to face. Due to the severe damage caused to Sparta, the helots took the opportunity to rebel.
The helots were primarily the native inhabitants of Messenia who had been conquered and enslaved by the Spartans. They were a peasant class whom the Spartans used as slaves. Therefore, they were eager to rid themselves of Spartan oppression.
During this helot revolt, the Spartans called on their allies for help. At this time, the Spartans were in an alliance with various other Greek city-states. It had not been long since the Persians, under Xerxes the Great, had attempted to conquer Greece. Hence, the Greeks were eager to protect each other due to the threat of this outside enemy.
The fateful dismissal of the Athenians
According to Thucydides, the Spartans were especially eager for the help of the powerful Athenians. In response to their request, Athens sent soldiers to help them, under the command of the military general Cimon. However, Thucydides goes on to explain:
“The Lacedaemonians… began to fear that if they remained, they might be tempted by the besieged in Ithome to attempt some political changes. They accordingly dismissed them alone of the allies, without declaring their suspicions, but merely saying that they had now no need of them.”
In other words, the Spartans worried that the helots might convince the Athenians to join them in their rebellion against a weakened Sparta. Consequently, the Spartans dismissed the Athenians under the pretext that their assistance was no longer required.
How this earthquake led to the Peloponnesian War
However, the Athenians saw through this pretense, according to Thucydides. He wrote:
“But the Athenians, aware that their dismissal did not proceed from the more honorable reason of the two, but from suspicions which had been conceived, went away deeply offended, and… the instant that they returned home they broke off the alliance which had been made against the Mede [the Persians], and allied themselves with Sparta’s enemy Argos.”
Thus, the Athenians ended their alliance with Sparta and positioned themselves as enemies of that city-state. Thucydides himself noted that this was the first open dispute between the Spartans and the Athenians.
The hostility between these two city-states grew until it soon erupted into the First Peloponnesian War in 460 BCE, which finally ended in 445 BCE. Conflict continued, with the Second Peloponnesian War (often referred to simply as the Peloponnesian War) breaking out in 431 BCE.
The dismissal of the Athenians during the aftermath of this earthquake ultimately led to the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars. If this earthquake had never happened, perhaps Athens and Sparta would have remained allies throughout the fifth century BCE.
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