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| 3. The Decelean (Or Ionian) War |
| 413 |
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| The Sicilian defeat led to the overthrow of the popular party in Athens. A college of ten “deliberators” (probouloi) was instituted which replaced many of the former functions of the Areopagus Council. A 5 percent tariff in all the harbors of the Delian League replaced the tribute paid by the allies. Following the advice of Alcibiades, the Spartans seized the fortress of Decelea in Attica and kept a garrison there year-round, bringing Athenian agriculture to a virtual standstill. | 1 |
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| 412 |
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| Using the last 1,000 talents of their war reserve, the Athenians rebuilt the fleet they had lost in Sicily, but it lacked training. Alcibiades negotiated the Treaty of Miletus between the Spartans and Persians. The Spartans recognized the king's right to subjugate the Ionian cities in return for money with which to build a Peloponnesian fleet. This fleet was sent to stir up revolts along the Ionian coast and threaten Athens' grain shipments from Egypt and the Black Sea. | 2 |
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| 411 |
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| Alcibiades approached the Athenians, claiming he could obtain Persian support for them if the democracy was overthrown. Political clubs (hetairiai) took control of the government and instituted the oligarchy of the Four Hundred. The Athenian fleet at Samos refused to recognize the new government and elected its own generals: principally Thrasybulus and, remarkably, Alcibiades. When the Peloponnesians attacked Euboea, the oligarchy sent a small fleet which was defeated. When the oligarchs prepared to surrender to Sparta, they were overthrown and the democracy restored. | 3 |
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| 410 |
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| Alcibiades decisively defeated the Spartan fleet at the Battle of Cyzicus. The Spartans again offered peace and were again rejected. With more Persian money, the Peloponnesian fleet was rebuilt and put under the command of Lysander. | 4 |
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| 409 |
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| An Athenian expedition under Thrasyllus failed to take Ephesus. Sparta recovered Pylos. | 5 |
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| 408 |
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| Both Spartans and Athenians courted the Persians, who decided to back the Spartans decisively. The Athenians recovered Byzantium. | 6 |
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| 407 |
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| The Athenians lost the sea battles of Notium (after which Alcibiades left Athens) and Mytilene. | 7 |
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| 406 |
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| The Athenians managed to raise another fleet and won the Battle of Arginusae, but they put several of their victorious generals to death for not rescuing drowning sailors after the battle. | 8 |
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| 405 |
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| Lysander caught the Athenian fleet unawares and annihilated it in the Battle of Aegospotamai. He then sailed across the Aegean, replacing pro-Athenian democracies on the allied islands with oligarchies of Ten (decarchies) under a Spartan overseer (harmost). The Spartans then besieged Athens itself. | 9 |
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| 405 |
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| Dionysius I secured his election as one of the ten generals at Syracuse and then seized power as tyrant. He confiscated land from the oligarchs, distributed it to the poor, and enfranchised the serfs. | 10 |
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| 404 |
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| The Surrender of Athens. After holding out over the winter, Athens surrendered in 404. The Long Walls were dismantled to the sound of Spartan flutes. | 11 |
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