Archidamian War

The Archidamian War was the opening phase of the Peloponnesian War, named after the Spartan king Archidamus II. Sparta repeatedly invaded Attica, while Athens relied on its walls, fleet and empire. The period included the plague in Athens, raids on enemy territory, shifting morale and repeated attempts to force a negotiated settlement.

This phase matters because it established the strategic pattern of the wider war. Athens could not easily defeat Sparta on land, while Sparta struggled to break Athenian power at sea. The plague that killed Pericles also changed the city’s political and emotional landscape.

Thucydides’ The History of the Peloponnesian War is the most important surviving account of this phase because it directly covers the Archidamian War, the plague, Pylos and Sphacteria, Brasidas and Amphipolis. Later-Athenian novels should not be linked to this opening phase merely because they depict the Peloponnesian War more generally.