Peloponnesian League

Definition

The Peloponnesian League (c. 550 BCE - c. 366 BCE) was a loose confederation of Greek city-states led by Sparta. The League was the oldest and longest-lasting political association in the ancient Greek world. For Sparta, the League gave it protection from uprisings within its own borders and eventually secured its dominance in the region and later, following victory in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE, the whole of Greece. Then, coming up against a rampant Thebes and their brilliant general Epaminondas, Sparta was defeated at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE. Without its dominant leader the League dissolved shortly thereafter.

More about: Peloponnesian League

Timeline

  • c. 550 BCE - c. 366 BCE
    Peloponnesian League alliance between Sparta, Corinth, Elis and Tegea which establishes Spartan hegemony over the Peloponnese.
  • 494 BCE - 493 BCE
    Spartan forces under Cleomenes I attack the city of Argos.
  • 494 BCE - 493 BCE
    Telesilla of Argos defends her city against the Spartan forces with an army of women.
  • c. 490 BCE
    Leonidas beomes one of Sparta's two kings.
  • Aug 480 BCE
    Battle of Thermopylae. 300 Spartans under King Leonidas and other Greek allies hold back the Persians led by Xerxes I for three days but are defeated.
  • 479 BCE
    Xerxes' Persian forces are defeated by Greek forces at Plataea effectively ending Persia's imperial ambitions in Greece.
  • 478 BCE
    Sparta withdraws from alliance against Persia.
  • 464 BCE - 463 BCE
    Earthquake in Sparta, followed by slave revolt. Surrender of Thasos.
  • 460 BCE - 445 BCE
    First Peloponnesian War.
  • 432 BCE
    Sparta declares that Athens has broken the Thirty Year Peace and prepares for war.
  • 431 BCE - 404 BCE
    The 2nd Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League) which involved all of Greece.
  • 429 BCE
    Peloponnesian forces led by Sparta begin the siege of Plataea.
  • 427 BCE
    Plataea finally falls to the Spartans after a two year siege.
  • 424 BCE
    Spartan Brasidas' campaign in Thrace.
  • 424 BCE
    Spartan general Brasidas takes Amphipolis, Thucydides failed to prevent this and is exiled.
  • 424 BCE
    A force of Athenian peltasts defeat Spartan hoplites on Sphaktria in the Peloponnese.
  • 422 BCE
    Spartan general Brasidas employs Myrkinian and Chalkidian peltasts to defeat a force of Athenian hoplites at Amphipolis.
  • 421 BCE
    Spartan soldiers return from campaigning Thrace, some as Neodamodeis.
  • 420 BCE
    Sparta is excluded from the Olympic Games for breaking the ekecheiria or sacred truce.
  • 418 BCE
    Sparta, led by Agis II, defeats Argos and her allies at the battle of Mantinaea.
  • 413 BCE
    On the advice of Alcibiades the Spartans take over the Athenian-held fort of Dekeleia.
  • 412 BCE
    Sparta allies with Persia.
  • 410 BCE
    Alcibiades leads the Athenian fleet to victory over Sparta at Cyzicus.
  • c. 407 BCE
    The Athenian fleet is defeated by Lysander of Sparta at Notium.
  • 404 BCE
    Spartan general Lysander attacks the Athenian port of Piraeus destroying parts of the Long Wall fortifications.
  • c. 398 BCE
    Xenophon works as mercenary for Sparta.
  • 395 BCE - 386 BCE
    The Corinthian Wars between Sparta and an alliance of Athens, Corinth, Argos, Boeotia and Thebes.
  • 394 BCE
    Spartan king Agesilaus II defeats a Theban coalition at the battle of Coronea.
  • 390 BCE
    Athenian leader Iphikrates employs peltasts to defeat Spartan hoplites at Lechaion near Corinth.
  • 387 BCE
    Sparta attacks the Athenian port of Piraeus.
  • 382 BCE - 379 BCE
    Sparta establishes a garrison at Thebes.
  • 378 BCE - 377 BCE
    Spartan king Agesilaus II campaigns in Boeotia.
  • 377 BCE - 355 BCE
    The Cycladic city states join Athens in the Second Athenian League against Sparta .
  • 375 BCE
    Thebes defeats Sparta at the Battle of Tegyra.
  • 371 BCE
    Thebes, led by Epaminondas, defeats Sparta in the Battle of Leuctra.
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