Given the length and bitterness of the war, the Lacedaemonians offered the Athenians surprisingly lenient terms: Athens had to surrender its empire; to pull down the Long Walls which connected the city itself with its port, the
A History of Greece: 1300 to 30 BC, First Edition. Victor Parker.
© 2014 Victor Parker. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Peiraeus; to give up its fleet save for twelve ships; and to become a member of the Peloponnesian League with the obligation to follow “whithersoever the Lacedaemonians might lead.” Beyond that the Lacedaemonians inflicted no harm (Xen. Hell. II 2,20; Diod. XIV 3).
Far more harmful to Athens was the ensuing civil war. The democracy had spectacularly failed in the final years of the Peloponnesian War and, once again, an oligarchy replaced the failed democracy (Xen. Hell. II 3,2-3; Diod. XIV 4). Thirty men were elected to write a new oligarchic constitution, only - as had happened with the 400 under similar circumstances (see chap. 14) - once in power the 30 declined to give it up (Diod. l. c.; Xen. Hell. II 3,11). However Theramenes was one of the 30, and he convinced them to draw up a list of 3,000 who were supposed to assume power eventually (Xen. Hell. II 3,18). Working against Theramenes, however, was Critias, an extremist bent on vengeance against prominent democrats. Xenophon tells the dramatic story of the final showdown between the two when Critias surrounded the council chamber with armed assassins and stage-managed Theramenes’ execution (Xen. Hell. II 3,24-56; Diod. XIV 4-5). With the influential moderate Theramenes dead, nothing hindered Critias and his allies from inaugurating a reign of terror in which they had their political and private enemies murdered (Diod. IV 5; cf. Xen. Hell. II 3,17, 21, and 39, who improbably puts the reign of terror before Theramenes’ death). The terror, of course, speedily undermined the regime of the 30.
Meanwhile Thrasybulus, a distinguished commander from the final years of the Peloponnesian War, whom the 30 had exiled and who had been living in Thebes, returned to Attica with Boeotian assistance and established himself at a fortress near Athens called Phyle (Diod. XIV 32; Xen. Hell. II 4,2). Thrasybu-lus’ aim was the restoration of the democracy, and he rapidly collected some twelve hundred supporters. With these he carried out a daring night-time march to the Peiraeus which he seized. The 30 led out troops to retake the Peiraeus, but were defeated. Critias himself fell in the fighting (Xen. Hell. II 4,10-19; Diod. XIV 33). Shortly thereafter the 3,000 managed to depose the 30 who withdrew from Athens to Eleusis while the 3,000 took over in Athens itself (Diod. l. c.; Xen. Hell. II 4,23-24).
Three factions were now contending for power in Attica: the 30 (who held Eleusis); the 3,000 (who held Athens); and the democrats with Thrasybulus (who held the Peiraeus). Both the 30 and the 3,000 appealed to Sparta. In the end King Pausanias came and effected a settlement between the 3,000 and the democrats in the Peiraeus - a settlement which, surprisingly, saw the democrats enter Athens and re-establish the old democracy there. The 30 were allowed to continue ruling in Eleusis for the time being (Xen. Hell. II 4,28-43; Diod. l. c.).
On Xenophon’s presentation, Pausanias favored the democrats for the simple reason that he was locked in a bitter power struggle with Lysander, the victor of Aegospotami. Lysander wanted to keep some sort of an oligarchy in charge in Athens, therefore Pausanias saw to it that a democracy gained control. Yet purely pragmatic reasons for Pausanias’ support of the democracy existed - most prominently the inability of the 30 to govern Athens effectively. Moreover, Pausanias may have legitimately formed a dim assessment of the prospects of the 3,000 to do much better: both the 30 and the 3,000 had sent embassies to Sparta, and each embassy may well have made the case that the other government was illegitimate and inept too persuasively. Finally, while Pausanias was in Athens, the democrats in the Peiraeus, allegedly at his encouragement, sent their own embassy with proposals for peace - possibly this embassy simply made a rather better impression. The result, in any case, bore out Pausanias’ decision.
Pausanias’ settlement, however, had left the 30 still in Eleusis. A little later the restored democracy removed this last remnant of Athens’ second experiment with oligarchy. When the 30 attempted to raise an army of mercenaries, the democracy’s army marched out against them. When the generals of the 30 appeared at a conference for negotiations, they were seized and put to death; and their rule in Eleusis dissolved. A full amnesty was declared for any crimes committed during the three-way struggle for control of Athens, and the Athenians all took a simple oath to abide by this amnesty: “I will not remember” (Xen. Hell. II 4,43).
By now it was 401 BC; three years had passed since Athens had surrendered in the Peloponnesian War, thirty since the war had begun.
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