Final Years of Greek Independence
The Thirty Tyrants were overthrown within a year, but Sparta made no further attempts to dominate the Athenian government. A Spartan campaign against the Persian Empire ended in 387 B.C. with a peace agreement that surrendered all the Greek cities in Asia Minor to Persian rule. Sparta's tyranny on the Greek mainland caused many uprisings. In 371 B.C. Thebes defeated Sparta at Leuctra, permanently ending Spartan dominance. Thebes then extended its power into Thessaly, Macedonia, and the Peloponnesus. The Spartans were again defeated at Mantinea in 362, but the great Theban general, Epaminondas, who led the Thebans in all their victories, perished in the battle. With his death, Theban supremacy was ended.
Fighting among Greek city-states continued after the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). The three biggest city-states were Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. Athens and its allies extended along the Aegean coast and to some Aegean islands. Sparta and its allies lay in the northern and southern areas of the Peloponnesus peninsula. Lands allied with Thebes covered most of present-day Greece, part of the Peloponnesus peninsula, and some coastal areas of Asia Minor. Macedonia and the island of Crete contained smaller city-states. Sparta's domination ended in 371 B.C., after which time Thebes briefly held power. Athens regained much of its vigor and its commerce. Although no longer politically dominant, it still led Greece in culture and learning. The great philosopher Socrates lived during this time, and the era that followed his-death in 399 B.C. continued in brilliant philosophical achievement under first Plato and later his pupil Aristotle. The historian Xenophon, like Plato a pupil of Socrates, wrote a history of this period.
Dionysius the Elder, ruler of Syracuse, went to war against the Carthaginians, and gained control of most of Sicily and part of Italy. His empire became the largest and strongest in Europe. In his third war with Carthage (383–378 B.C.) he lost much territory, and his death in 367 ended the imperial ambitions of Syracuse.
