Second Athenian League: Map & History
The Second Athenian League was a maritime confederation of Greek city-states that existed from 378 to 355 BC under the hegemony of Athens.
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Historiographical synthesis & structured realm registry
The Second Athenian League was a maritime confederation of Greek city-states that existed from 378 to 355 BC under the hegemony of Athens. It is sometimes referenced as the second Athenian Empire, despite operating as a confederation. The symmachia represented a partial revival of the Delian League, which had been disbanded in 404 BC following the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. The new League was centered in the Aegean and included over 60 states, among which were Kos, Mytilene, Rhodes, and Byzantium. It was primarily formed as a defensive alliance against Sparta and secondly the Persian Empire. The new League's main objective was to preserve peace in Greece and counterbalance Sparta's growing hegemony and aggression. The League largely revived Athenian influence in the Greek world, reestablishing it as the strongest naval power in the eastern Mediterranean. This time, Athens made conscious efforts to avoid the strict terms that had eventually rendered the previous Delian League unpopular. The alliance lasted until 355 BC, when most of the allied cities became independent following the Social War that broke out in 357 BC.
Modern Countries Once Part of Second Athenian League
At its mapped extent, Second Athenian League covered territory in 1 present-day country. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
States and Provinces
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Second Athenian League's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Second Athenian League in Depth
Later history and disintegration
After Sparta's defeat in 371 BC, Thebes seceded from the League and was able to violate the terms of the Peace of Antalcidas with impunity. Later, a series of revolts rocked the league, culminating with the Social War (357–355 BC) in which the states of Chios, Rhodes, Kos, and Byzantium went to war against Athens. This war ended in the disintegration of the Second Athenian League.
Origins
The formation of the League was stimulated by three major events that caused relations between Athens and Sparta to deteriorate. The first event was Spartan intervention in a factional conflict within Thebes. In 382 BC, Sparta sent a force led by the general Eudamidas and his brother Phoebidas to combat the expansion of Olynthus in Chalkidiki, northern Greece. On the way to Olynthus Phoebidas stopped near Thebes, where the two polemarchs Ismenias and Leontiades were locked in a power struggle for control of Thebes. Ismenias was pro-democracy and anti-Sparta so Leontiades convinced Phoebidas, who is described by Xenophon as driven by desire to perform good deeds but lacking in reasoning capacity, that it would be in Sparta's interest to help him take control of Thebes.
Background
In 478 BC, Athens founded the Delian League to counter Persian influence during the Greco-Persian Wars. Athenian leadership became solidified over the next few decades, with many historians considering the league to be an Athenian Empire, especially after the treasury was moved from Delos to Athens in 454 BC. This league fought against the Peloponnesian League, dominated by Sparta, in the Peloponnesian War, which lasted from 431 to 404 BC. It ended after a siege of Athens in 404 BC, when Athens and Sparta struck a peace deal establishing Spartan hegemony over the Greek world. The Corinthians and Thebans, both Spartan allies, wanted to destroy Athens and enslave its citizens instead of a more lenient peace deal.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Second Athenian League (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Second Athenian League: Key Facts
| Founded | 377 BCE |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 355 BCE |
Facts from Wikidata Q2338980 (CC0).
Second Athenian League Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 35,039 km² in 358 BCE.
Second Athenian League: Frequently Asked Questions
When did Second Athenian League exist?
Second Athenian League is dated to 366 BCE – 338 BCE, in the Classical Antiquity era.
How large was Second Athenian League at its peak?
At its peak in 358 BC Second Athenian League covered about 35,039 km².