Peloponnesian War

American  

noun

1. a war between Athens and Sparta, 431–404 b.c., that resulted in the transfer of hegemony in Greece from Athens to Sparta.

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Peloponnesian War British  

noun

1. a war fought for supremacy in Greece from 431 to 404 _bc , in which Athens and her allies were defeated by the league centred on Sparta

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Peloponnesian War Cultural  

1. A long war between the Greek city-states of Athens (see also Athens) and Sparta in the fifth century b.c. Sparta won the war.

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The historian Thucydides fought in the Peloponnesian War and later wrote a remarkable history about it.

Example Sentences

While Herodotus suggests the workings of fate in the earlier Persian Wars by reporting multiple opinions, Thucydides, likely influenced by Sophist philosophy, stages Athens’s inner conflict during the Peloponnesian War through imaginary dialogues.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

Among other things, Spartan isolationism born of paranoia gave Athens free rein to throw its own weight around, leading to the Peloponnesian War.

From Slate • Jan. 16, 2024

Stop and chat with Paul, in other words, and you may walk away bruised of ego, wrinkled of nose and renewed in your determination to know as little as possible about the Peloponnesian War.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2023

It was based on the ancient historian’s observation that the real cause of the Peloponnesian War “was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta.”

From Seattle Times • Aug. 30, 2023

The Incorrigibles were excited to learn she was a history teacher and bombarded her with questions: Was it true that plague had determined the outcome of the Peloponnesian War?

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood