Greece on the Eve of the Peloponnesian War
The alliance system of 431 BC, with the Athenian maritime empire set against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League.
The map explains the shape of the war better than any narrative. Athens held the sea and the islands; Sparta held the land and the Peloponnese. Neither could reach the other's strength directly, so a conflict that both sides expected to be short became a twenty-seven-year attrition that drew in Persia and ended with Athens stripped of its fleet and its walls. Read the full story in our article on The Rivalry Shaping a World: Sparta and Athens Before the Peloponnesian War.
Public domain — source (Wikimedia Commons). Free to reuse under the stated licence.
