During the period of Greek history from the last years of the Persian Wars till the beginning of the First Peloponnesian War, the primacy of Sparta declined whileAthens was gaining increased influence in Greece. The Athenian, Thucydides (460-400 BC), one among few contemporary historians, left behind the most creditable records about this period. Although he did not give enough documentation

for many events he described, his Histories remained the main resource of the facts from that time. In consideration of the fact that he was an Athenian and a participant of the Athenian army, future historians could not entirely count upon his writing.

In the 480-479 BC there was great anxiety about the strength and magnitude of the Persian threat. Although the Greeks had managed to force Persians retreat from the Greek mainland, the danger of reconquest by the Persians was still present. In the battle of Plataea (479 BC), the Greeks, under the Spartan regent and general

Pausanians, obliterated the Persian army. The Greeks also won a naval victory at

Mycale. Although the war drugged on for many years, these two victories marked the end of the Persian

Taking all the evidence into account, it can be said that Thucydides was not entirely right in his explanation of the change in control in Greece after the Persian wars. Sparta did not part with her authority willingly but was forced into it by Athens' accession and other circumstances which prevented Sparta's further expansion for some time.

states centred on the two great powers of Athens and Sparta that was to have a profound effect on later Greek history.

In the 464 BC an earthquake struck Laconia. Sparta was seriously affected. More then 20000 people died. Helots tried to take advantage of the calamity, but Sparta's king Archidamus re-established the control in Laconia. Problems with Messenia continued. With all the military help from other allies in the Peloponnese and Athens, Sparta did not succeed to capture Mount Ithome.

According to Diodorus, there was a disagreement between young and old Spartans about the issue of the hegemony. The younger Spartans wanted Sparta to keep their military leadership and involve her forces into naval expeditions while the older Spartans were against it. Some Spartans were ready to start a war with Athens,

Sparta's ongoing need to keep her army at home most of the time to guard against helots' revolt also made prolonged overseas operations difficult to maintain. Athenians successfully took over the leadership and took in hand all important decisions about the war, quantity of money or number of ships that every country was

ally were ready to accept Sparta's leadership in their descents. This is how Sparta decided to give up her leading position. In the words of Thucydides," they feared that when their officers went overseas they would become corrupted, as they had seen happen in the case of Pausanias, and at the same time they no longer wanted to be

Athenians' leadership. The League consisted of almost every state with a navy, no matter how small, including many of the Aegean islands and some of the Ionian city-states in Asia Minor. Sparta's dominance and influence rapidly pared down.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1791
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)