XII – PELASGIAN - AEOLIAN ATHENS

XII – PELASGIAN - AEOLIAN ATHENS

Attica is located south of Boeotia and it borders the Aegean Sea to its east, the Saronic Gulf to its south and the territory of Megara to its west. Athens, the City State, is located on the plains of Attica about 5 km away from the Saronic Gulf. Around Athens are the mountains Pentelikon to its northeast and Himet to its southeast, as well as a number of hills including Likabet, Pniks, Arie Coast, Coast of the Nymphs, Coast of the Muses, etc… The Rivers Eridan, Kefis and Ilis flow near Athens. Located in the centre of Athens, on the limestone plateau bank, was the Acropolis, a settlement established during the late Neolithic Sesklo and Dimini Culture period, especially common in Mycenaean Culture. The Acropolis was a sacred centre and in the thirteenth century BC was surrounded by large walls.

The Pelasgians of Athens and Attica

According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, I, 56, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) the first inhabitants of Attica and Athens were Pelasgians. The first Athenians had Pelasgian roots and those Pelasgians never left Athens or Attica. According to Herodotus and others such as Homer, Diodorus, Strabo who had written about them, all claim that the Pelasgians emerged from myth. However, history has almost forgotten the Pelasgians, particularly nineteenth century history, except for Fitboten who in 1862 gave birth to the “Pelasgiology”, a modern science about the Pelasgians. Thomson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 115, Athina, 1954) in his capital works on the prehistoric Aegean, has stated that the Pelasgians moved out of the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea Region around 3500 BC and went in opposite directions. The east wing, headed by king Titon, built the city Susa in Mesopotamia along with the famous Memnonion fortress, named after his son Memnon. Titon was married to Kiseia. The west wing, under the leadership of king Priam, Titon’s brother, took the Anatolian-Balkan route and settled on the lands of the Aegean basin, on the shores of Asia Minor, and the Balkans and the Aegean Islands Hia, Lezb, Imbro, Lemno and Samothrace .

In the Balkans the Pelasgians settled in Atos, Kis and the Thermaic Bay, Thessaly where they founded the Larissa fortress and Epirus where the famous Tesprotian Dodona shrine is located. When they were expelled from Epirus they settled in Thessaly and named their new homeland “Pelasgiotida”, a name that exists to this day. On the northeastern part of the Peloponnesus they were known as “Egialski” Pelasgians. The Pelasgian “Erihtonean Dynasty” appeared around the seventeenth century BC in Attica and Athens, which can be traced to 1044 BC. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, VIII, 44, Matica Srpska, Beograd, 1988), “... at the time when the Pelasgians lived in the country which is now called Hellada, the Athenians were Pelasgians and then they were called Kraneians and during king Kekrop’s rule they were called Kekropidi. Then when Erehtei assumed power the Athenians changed their name and, according to their chieftain Ion, son of Ksutov, who led the Athenians, received the name Ionians”.

Athens, the name of the city, was an antroponym and later became a theonym which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan Glossology. It was a two-part word which in the beginning sounded like “a-tana”, where the “a” in front was a negation as in “no” and “tana” meant “thanatos” meaning “dead” or “death”. So, in combination “a-tana” meant not dead meaning immortal, and finally Athena meant an immortal goddess. (Mpampiniotis, G,: Synhroni gramatiki tis koinis neas Elinikis, Athinai, p. 82, 1967.)

According to Thomson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 179, Athina, 1954), Athena as a goddess arrived in Attica from the north, through Thessaly and Boeotia. The carriers of the name were the Lapiti and the Minians. Again according to Thomson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 181, Athina, 1954), Kikrop was the first king of Attica who sprouted from the ground, like a man-serpent, born from the goddess Geia-gigenes, i.e. native, a true Pelasgian. Kikrop built the Acropolis Kekropia fortress, introduced monogamy, introduced the custom of burying the dead and created the “Pelasgian” writing letters. The first god to be introduced during his time was Poseidon, who with his trident created a salt lake at the Acropolis. The goddess Athena came after Poseidon and planted an olive tree and asked king Kikrop to support her claim to possess Attica.

In the dispute between Poseidon and Athena which then followed, Zeus appointed Kikrop and the ancient hero Kranai as judges. When Kikrop pointed out the benefits of having the olive tree, the advantage was given to Athena. Thomson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 184, Athina, 1954) believes this was a metaphor and awarding the goddess Athena the victory refers to awarding the matriarchy which ruled until then. When the Lapitian Bakhadi from Pannonia figured this out, in their next election they abolished the right of women to vote, so that the men won and introduced patriarchy. After that they abolished the custom of taking the maternal surname and instituted a rule that children be named after their fathers. They simultaneously abolished polygamy and accepted monogamy. All this, of course, took place gradually.

When Kranai replaced Kikrop on the Athenian throne, the inhabitants of this country became known as Kranaians and the Athenian Acropolis became known as Kranaia. After Kranai, Erehtei became king of Athens. Erehtei was Brut’s brother and belonged to the ancestors of the Eteobutadi Athenian aristocratic family. (Hesiodus, Fragmenta & Theogonia, p. 124.) During the Athenian – Eleusian war, the Athenian king Erehtei was killed by Eumolp, a Thracian hero who came to help Eleusin. Erehtei and his daughters received divine honours in Athens. The Erehteon Temple in the Athenian Acropolis was dedicated to them.

The Lapiti colonize Athens and Attica

The Eteobutadi were the true descendants of the Butadi, an early Athenian ecclesiastic tribe and an important branch of the Thessalian Lapiti. (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 183, Athina, 1954.) The Butadi were the flower of the Athenian aristocracy, an old, closed and conservative tribe with large and rich incomes and privileges. Their national symbol was the bull’s head with horns because their ethnic name originated from the word “vu” meaning “ox”, “bull” associated with the “Gerinovian cattle” of the Danube, from their former homeland in Pannonia.

The Pelasgians of Attica and Athens were peasants, farmers and pastoralists. When the Lapiti first settled in Athens and Attica, they were surrounded by antagonistic Pelasgians. However, the Lapiti who had a higher degree of culture and were more aggressive rapidly imposed their will on all sectors of life and became aristocrats and estate owners. The rich Lapiti were arrogant and flaunted their non-Attican origin, belittling the Pelasgians and refereeing them as “peasants”. This behaviour and their constant quarrels with them led the Pelasgian to rebel. The rebellion unfortunately was put down.

The Lapiti drive the Pelasgians out of Athens

Herodotus (Herodotus, History, VI, 136-138, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) quoting Hekatei (Hekatej 549-478), writer and geographer of Miletus, stated that the Athenian Lapiti expelled the Pelasgians as follows: “When the Athenians saw the lands located under Himet which were given to the Pelasgians as a reward for building a wall around the fortress, they were filled with envy. Before these lands were given to the Pelasgians they were thought to be poor and infertile, worth nothing. Then, after seeing how nicely the soil was worked they were gripped with jealousy and forced the Pelasgians out without giving them any reason…” The Athenians spoke of the Pelasgians as a kind of people who attacked their women, prepared revolts against them and were occasionally caught in these acts. Even though they had the right to kill them for committing such crimes, the Athenians chose to expel the Pelasgians out of the country. And as such the Pelasgians, being expelled from Athens and Attica, settled on other lands such as Lemno, an island north on the Aegean Sea, Kreston in Halkidiki and Plakei and Skilak in the Helespont.

After a while, the Pelasgians who lived in Lemno decided to pay the Athenians a visit. They went to Athens during the Athen’s festivities held in honour of Artemis of Brauron. During the ambush they captured many of their women and sailed with them to Lemno where they married them. Years later the Athenians took revenge on the Pelasgians. This took place during Miltiad’s time (son of Komon). The Pelasgians were obsessed with fighting and would not surrender and thus Lemno fell into the hands of the Athenians. (Herodotus, History, VI, 140, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.)

Also mentioned among the kings of Athens was Erihtonei, who had a son named Pandion with Praksitea and who instituted the Panateneia feast.

When Pandion became king of Athens he was the eighth of Erihtonei’s descendants in line to receive the throne. Pandion’s son was named “Egei”, who in mythology was known for having a conflict with Cretan king Minei, the Phoenician. The Cretan army placed a siege against Athens which devastated its crops and the people were dying of hunger. To save his subjects and the crops, Egei, on the advice of the Oracle, accepted Minei’s conditions for peace and made a commitment to Crete to send them seven boys and seven girls as food for the Minotaur; a monster with a human body and the head of a Bull. The Minotaur was the son of Poseidon’s bull and Minei’s wife Pasifia.

So in order to hide his wife’s great shame, Minei summoned the architect Daedalus, grandson of the Athenian king Erehtei, to build a labyrinth, a castle with numerous intricate passageways. Egei, the king of Athens, had a son with Etra named Tezei. Etra was the daughter of dynastic king Pitei from the Pelopidi Dynasty from Phrygia, i.e. Brigian from Macedonia. Tezei became one of the greatest heroes of Athens.

Tezei spent his childhood with his mother in the court of his grandfather Potei. When Tezei grew up he went to Athens to live with his father Egei but he did stay there for too long. When the time came for the Athenians to send the seven boys and seven girls to Crete, he decided to join them. Before the ship sailed, king Egei gave the helmsmen both black and white sails. The black sails usually indicated that it was a sad procession. He

then ordered the helmsmen to raise the sails according to the success of the mission. White sails meant a successful mission.

After the young Athenian children were delivered to Crete and after Tezei’s divine origin was confirmed by Minei, the king of Crete, our hero was received with the highest of honours. Then, during the festivities, Minei’s daughter Ariadna happened to notice Tezei and was enchanted by his divine magnificence. Figuring he was there to kill the Minotaur, she offered Tezei any assistance he might need provided he marry her and take her to Athens. Tezei accepted her offer. To navigate the labyrinth, Ariadna gave Tezei a reel of thread and told him to use it to find his way back out of the maze. Tezei was very strong and was able to subdue the Minotaur whom he then sacrificed as an offering to Poseidon. As soon as the deed was done, Tezei collected Ariadna and the children, boarded their ship and cast off on a voyage back home. On their way, Tezei got separated from Ariadna and, feeling sad and distracted, he forgot to hoist the white sails to indicate that his mission was a success.

Egei in the meantime sat by the sea, day after day, looking for the ship and eagerly waiting for his son to return. Then when he saw the ship with the black sails he was sure the mission had failed and his son and the children were killed. In despair Egei threw himself from Cape Sunion into the sea, which later was named “Egei” (Aegean) Sea after him.

After Egei’s death, Tezei inherited the throne of Athens and performed many heroic deeds, which according to mythology were almost as heroic as those of Hercules. Included among Tezei’s deeds were; his battle with the Amazon, his battle with the Palantidi rebels of Athens, his battle with the Kentauri, the abduction of the beautiful Helen and his descent into the underworld with his friend Piritoi, king of the Lapiti. In the mythical list of Athenian kings, Tezei is the tenth king of Athens. His rule preceded the Trojan War by a generation, i.e. 1220 BC, and along with Hercules, he is one of the most favourite characters in ancient art.

When, in 1104 BC, the Dorians conquered most of the Peloponnesus, particularly Laconia and Sparta, many Neleidi, Eolian descendants of Pannonia, fled Mesena and Pil and settled mostly in Athens, where their countrymen the Lapiti and their royal families ruled until 1044 BC. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, V, 65, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) and Pausanias (Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, II, 8, 18, (prev. Pasini: Vodič po Heladi,) Logos, Split, 1989), some Neleidi did survive the Hellenic infestation in Mesena.

Included among the closest relations of the Neleidi of Pil in Athens were the Kodridi, the Pizistratidi, the Alkomeonidi and the Paionidi.

The Kodridi received their name from mythical king Kodro of Athens, son of Melant. In mythology, Melant was a descendant of Nelei, son of Andropomp and Heniona. (Herodotus, History I, 147, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.) Melant was a ruler in Messenia in the Peloponnesus until the arrival of the Helens (Dorians) at which point he and some of his cronies fled to Attica where he became king of Athens, replacing the previous king Timet, brother-in-law of the Trojan king Priam. Timet was the last descendant of Tezei. In the war between the Athenians and the Phoenicians of Thebes, fought around the town Enoi in northeast Attica, neither side took victory so it was decided that the war be resolved with a duel between the kings. Timet, not feeling courageous enough to participate in the duel himself, announced that he would hand over the kingdom of Attica and Athens to whoever defeated the Theban king Ksant. Melant accepted the task, fought a fierce battle and defeated his opponent. In gratitude for the victory he delivered the Thebans and the Athenians chose Melant as their king. After Melant’s death, his son Kodro became king of Athens and ruled for twenty years. Kodro had two sons, Medont and Nelei. The legendary king Kodro died bravely fighting the Dorians who first penetrated Dorida and, when they failed, penetrated the Peloponnesus. Kodro was killed in front of the Athens city gate around 1091 or 1088 BC. Papastavrou (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 51, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972) believes he was killed in 1050 BC.

Kodro was succeeded by his elder son Medont. However, there was constant quarrel over the throne between the two brothers. Because of that and due to the constant and fiercer attacks from the Dorians, who eventually conquered the Peloponnesus, Dorida, Driopida, and Nelei, the younger brother, along with a large number of Athenians, Atticans and Peloponnesian refugees, fled their homes in 1044 BC and migrated to the western part of Asia Minor. There, these immigrants founded the “Seionian alliance” of twelve cities, with Milet as their capital. The kings of many of these cities, (Herodotus, History I, 147, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) came from Kodro’s descendants.

Kodro’s descendants, former Thessalians and Mesenians, together with the Achaeans and other natives laid the foundations for new conditions in the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea. They gave birth to a new culture and above all to the Paleo-Balkan language known as the Ionian dialect. They also transferred with them their Olympic gods and their epics. The Ionians-Neleidi (Iafoni or Semitic Iavani) first accepted the Phoenician letters between 900-700 BC. Here, the well-educated Talet (625-548 BC) made his claim that the foundation of all things is water. He explained many natural processes such as earthquakes, the movement of the sun, the eclipse of the sun etc. and, as the first philosopher of nature, clearly explained them as being natural i.e. non-divine. And so, in this “dark” historic era, new centres of civilization began to spring in Ionia in the south and in Aeolia in the north (the shores of Asia Minor), giving life to not only philosophy (in addition to Talet there were also Anaksimen, Anaksimander and Xenophon) but also art (ionic style), medicine (Hippocrates), history (Herodotus), literature (Homer, Hesiod) etc…

In order to develop trade, during the VIII and VII century BC, the Mileiti Aeolians of Asia Minor established colonies along the Aegean, Marmara and the Black Sea. Included among these colonies were Abid, Amis, Sinop, Trapezunt, Kerasunt, Lampasak, Ferint Parion, Fasid Theodosia, Dioskuria, Pantikap, Tsibi, Istar, Tomi (Constantsa), Odessa, Apollonia etc.., a total of about 75 cities or 90 commercial stations. The colonists secured not only trade in grain, wool, timber, leather and slaves with the Scythians and Babylon, but also the spread of culture and other values. These centres survived until the V and IV century BC.

Despite these migrations in the tenth century BC, many of the Kodridi, Medontidi, Neleidi, Pizistradi and Alkmeonidi, who decided to remain in Athens and Attica, survived and can be traced back to the IV century BC. Thomson, (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 126, Athina, 1954) quoting Peterson (Peterson, Questions de historia gentium Atticarum, Schleswing, 1880) stated that during that time Kodro’s genealogical tree encompassed 32 generations. Among the most significant figures were Solon and Plato.

Solon, who lived around 638-559 BC, was the son of Eksikestid from the Medont branch of the Kodridi family tree. He was one of seven Greek sages. He distinguished himself in trade and in the political struggles of Athens between the aristocrats and the people (demos). In 594/3 BC he became a legislator and reformer. His slave laws reached their peak during Pericles’s time and survived until Alexander the Greats’ time in Alexandria. They became the starting point in the historical development of the European countries.

According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History I, 29, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), after Solon implemented his laws he traveled around the world for ten years so that he could not be asked to repeal them. When he went to Sardis to visit king Croesus of Lydia, the king took Solon to his treasury and asked him who he considered to be the happiest person in the world. Solon replied: “... it is out of the question to even think of anyone or speak about them that they are blessed, let alone happy, before their death” because... “many people first received their happiness from god and after that god completely ruins them...” which actually happened to king Croesus.

While visiting Sardis, king Croesus asked Solon who were the most powerful among the Hellenes in order to win them as friends. Solon replied: “... The Lakedemonians and the Athenians were among the first. The Lakedemonians are of Doric origin and the Athenians of Ionic... The Athenians also have Pelasgian origins and the Lakedemonians are of Hellenic origin”. Herodotus (Herodotus, History II, 177, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) in the end concluded that Solon had taken his laws from the Egyptians and introduced them to Athens which because they were very beneficial, were still enforced.

Plato or Aristocles (427-347 BC) was the son of Ariton (from the Kodridi family tree) and Periktiona. Plato became a great philosopher and founder of the philosophical school - Academy of Athens. The core of his philosophy included teaching about ideas as absolute mental essences of the world, while “things of sense” represented only their “shadows”. The highest idea was the idea of good, which was only an idea of the divine; the greatest virtue was wisdom. The method of seeking truth, according to Plato, was the dialectic skill of comparing and analyzing. The most famous of Plato’s works were: “For the State”, “The Feast”, “Fedar”, “Sokrat’s defense”, “Menon”, “Simpozion”, “Timai” and others. Plato was a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. Plato’s Academy as a school of philosophy lasted until 529 AD when, as a pagan institution, it was quashed by Byzantine Emperor Justinian.

The next of kin to the Neleidi of Athens were the Pizistratidi. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History V, 65, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) the Pizistratidi were originally from Pil in the Peloponnesus. They were the descendants of king Nelei, belonging to the Kodro and Melant family tree, who had arrived in Athens earlier and established themselves as the royal families. The Neleidi were influential in shaping the social and socio-economic life in the so-called archaic period (VIII-VI century BC) and the age of the so-called classical Greek civilization. They contributed to the formation of the City States and their transition from royal rule to oligarchy and aristocracy, and from great Greek colonization and tyranny to democracy, as the peak of political life.

Pizistrat was the son of Hippocrates. He ruled Athens for seventeen years (560-543 BC), was elected tyrant three times and was exiled three times (sixteen years). Pizistrat was one of the most famous Athenian politicians to exist during the classical period. During his rule Athens was historically the most famous city in the region. (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 124, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972.) According to Aristotle (Aristotle, Politics, II, 7), Pizistrat “was a great humanist, compassionate, democratically ethical and a capable politician and military leader”. Pizistrat was the first person to collect, assemble and preserve the scattered works of Homer. He died in 528/7 BC. After his death, his son Hilei became ruler (arhont) of Athens. He was followed by his son Hiparh who ruled until 514 BC. Hiparh fell victim to an assassination attempt involving Sparta and Thucydides. Athens reached its pinnacle of fame and dominance in the Aegean Region during the time of the Pizistratidi and so did the so-called Greek civilization of the archaic period. The period of tyrant rule, however, also ended with the Pizistratidi when, with help from Helena of Sparta, the scene was changed when the Nelei family of Alkmeonidi came to power.

The Alkmenoidi were descendants of Alkmeon, grandson of Trasimed. Trasimed and his brother Antiloh followed their father Nestor, son of Nelei, to the Trojan War. Antiloh died in a battle while attempting to save his father’s life. He, along with Achilles and Patrokle, were buried at the Helispont. After the destruction of Troy, Trasimed happily returned to his native Pil. (Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey, II, IX, 80, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. MN Gjurigj)). Trasimed was Shiloh’s father and Alkmeon’s grandfather, ancestors of the Alkmeonidi Athenian family. He was buried in Pil. (Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, II, 18, IV, 36 (prev. Пасини: Guide Hellada), Logos, Split, 1989.) Alkmeon was the last living “arhont” of Athens in 757 BC. His descendants were: Megakle, Klisten Klinei, Pericles, Klinei II, Alkibiad, Klinei III and others. We have cited only a few of the most significant figures of this great fraternity.

Megakle was an Athenian politician and an arhont. He was known for destroying Klinei’s party in 612 BC. His grandson, also named Megakle, was Pizistrat’s opponent, while his great grandson was Alkibiad’s grandfather.

Klisten, son of Negakle and Agarista, was head of the Alkmeonidi in Athens. He carried out reorganization of the Athenian social system and strengthened democracy. However, the new democratic system in Athens began to stumble due to measures taken by conservative Hellenic Sparta, from which a military conflict arose. The crisis prompted an alliance between Athens and Persia which later led to the Greco-Persian Wars of 490 and 479 BC.

Among the most important Alkmeonidi people was Pericles (499-429 BC), son of Ksanth and Agristi. He was the greatest and most famous Athenian Democratic statesman and representative of the “golden age of Pericles” of the so-called classical Greek civilization. He became leader of the Democratic Party of Athens in 459 BC, held a high position in society and had the honour of being chief strategist of Athens. He ruled for twenty years during which he performed major democratic political and economic reforms. He was also a patron of philosophy and art. He renovated the Athenian Acropolis by adding a few new buildings such as the Pantheon, Propilei etc. He also helped prominent artists such as sculptors Fidei and Myron, painters Apolodor and Polignot, philosopher Anaksagor and others. He significantly expanded Athens’s influence over the Aegean Regions and founded Amphipolis in Macedonia. He died in Athens in 429 BC.

Alkibiad (450-404 BC), son of Klinei and relative of Pericles, was a well-known gifted Athenian citizen and student of Socrates. He was an Athenian general and statesman and later became Pericles’s successor. He was a representative of the new generation of sophists and an excellent speaker. He managed to persuade the Athenians to renew the war against Hellenic Sparta in 415 BC and so began the second war of Peloponnesus, which turned out to be fatal for Athens. Alkibiad fought in a war against Sicily and was sacked from his high position after being accused of insulting the gods. He fled to the Spartans who, thanks to him, defeated the Athenians. Later he was forgiven for his sins after which he returned to Athens in 408 BC and became a military commander. His life was ended in Asia Minor where he was killed by the Persians at the request of the Spartans. His betrayal of democratic Athens and his exodus to aristocratic Sparta and Persia was a typical example of the man’s consciousness at the time of the slave society collapse, just before the fall of Greece under Macedonian rule.

As can be seen there were political antagonisms between the Neleidi themselves and between the Neleidi and the Lapiti. For example, for political reasons, in 559 BC, Pizistrat exiled Miltiad, Kipsel’s son, to the Thracian Hersones. Kipsel was a descendant of the Thessalian Lapiti belonging to the family of king Kenei, first tyrant who ruled Corinth in the Peloponnesus, in 657 BC. Kipsel had two sons, Miltiad being one of them, who, while living in Thrace, became very rich. His nephew, also named Miltiad, was appointed Athenian supreme commander of the so-called Greek armed forces who fought against the Persians and won at the fields of Marathon in 490 BC. During this battle 6,400 Persians were killed with only 192 Greek casualties. This was considered a world-historic event in Europe, (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 184, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972) for which the Lapit, Miltiad, was credited for his strategic virtuosity.

Miltiad’s involvement in the Athenian wars included the alliance made after Salamis and the expulsion of the Persians. His son Kimon continued to contribute to Miltiad’s successes in the so-called “Greek world”. Unfortunately his successes created antagonism between the two dominant City States, Athens and Sparta. The Athenians being descendents of the Danube tribes and the Spartans being descendents of the Hellenic tribes did not help so, in the spring of 431 BC, war broke out which lasted for 27 years as described in detail by Thucydides. Athens was the head of the Athenian alliance, while the head of the Peloponnesian League was Hellenic Sparta. Their weaknesses were used by the Macedonians.