The Peace of Antalcidas
Rung Eduard V.
The article is devoted to the interpretation of the evidence relating to the conclusion of the Peace of Antalcidas of 386 BC. This peace was a result of the political situation in the Eastern Mediterranean in the early 4th c. BC. It put an end to the Corinthian War and was also a kind of agreement between Greeks and Persians, under which the Persian King was not only a contracting party (as it was in the Peace of Callias and Spartan-Persian allied treaties), but established himself as the guarantor of the peace conditions proclaiming that he should wage the war against all disturbers of peace. How long did Persia dominate Greece in the period from the King’s Peace to the rise of Macedonia? It seems definite that the period of 386–380 BC was the culmination of the Persian influence upon Greek affairs. It is doubtless that the King’s influence upon the Greek affairs was maintained by Sparta’s dominant role in Greece. It was due to the position of the Spartans as the defenders (prostatai) of this peace, which was obtained by them because of their friendship with Persia. When Sparta lost its hegemony (after the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC), the King of Persia lost his dominance over Greek affairs.