Pausanias Analysis

Passage 3.7.11

← 3.7.10 3.8.1 →

Passage 3.7.11: Sthenelaidas instigates the Peloponnesian War

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

οὐ μὴν τὸν πόλεμόν γε τὸν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων γενέσθαι συνέσπευσεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐς ὅσον δυνάμεως ἧκε, διαμεῖναί σφισιν ἔπρασσε τὰς σπονδάς. Σθενελαΐδας δὲ ἔς τε ἄλλα ὢν οὐκ ἀδύνατος ἐν Λακεδαίμονι καὶ ἐφορεύων ἐν τῷ τότε τοῦ πολέμου μάλιστα ἐγένετο αἴτιος· καὶ ὁ πόλεμος οὗτος εὖ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἔτι βεβηκυῖαν διέσεισεν ἐκ βάθρων, καὶ ὕστερον Φίλιππος ὁ Ἀμύντου σαθρὰν ἤδη καὶ οὐ παντάπασιν ὑγιῆ προσκατήρειψεν αὐτήν.

English Translation

However, Archidamus did not at all hasten the outbreak of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians. Indeed, as far as lay within his power, he endeavored to prolong the truce between them. It was rather Sthenelaidas, a man influential in Sparta in other respects also, who, serving as ephor at that time, was primarily responsible for bringing about the war; and this conflict deeply unsettled Greece, which was already standing on shaky ground, and later Philip, son of Amyntas, found it weakened and not entirely sound, and finally brought it utterly to ruin.

Proper Nouns

Sthenelaidas (Σθενελαΐδας) person
Philip (Φίλιππος) person
Amyntas (Ἄμυντας) person
Lacedaemon (Λακεδαίμων) place Q5690 Pleiades
Peloponnese (Πελοπόννησος) place Q78967
Athens (Ἀθῆναι) place Q844930
Hellas (Ἑλλάς) place Q7798
← 3.7.10 3.8.1 →