10 Sparta after the Persian Wars

Between 477 and 461 B.C., Sparta withdrew from naval war against Persia. As a result, the Spartans’ history seems to have held little interest for Classical authors who were impressed by the success of Cimon’s victories. The scandals of 477/6 B.C. may have undermined Sparta’s reputation among its allies and encouraged challenges from rival Argos and the rebel perioikoi and helots of Messenia. Modern scholars have argued that because Spartan political and social institutions were flawed and regressive, the Spartans preferred isolation, lest their citizens be corrupted by overseas contacts. Yet these views rest on inferences drawn from Thucydides. The historian Diodorus Siculus, writing in the 1 st century B.C., recorded the debate and decision of the Spartans to declare war against Athens in 475 B.C. An elder noble, Hetoemaridas, dissuaded the assembly, on the grounds that Athens had not violated its oaths of alliance. While the Spartans were occupied with other issues, Athens began to expand, but that situation changed dramatically in 465 B.C. after Cimon’s victory at Eurymedon and a dispute with Thasos over silver mining rights. In 464 B.C., the Spartans were hardly in decline when they received the Thasians’ appeal for aid. It was Athenian actions in 462/461 B.C. that drove the Spartans to war.