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Spartan army invades Attica

431 BCE, Attica. An event.

Where and when

431 BCEAttica

2,455.9 years ago

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, Attica

King Archidamus leads the Spartans and their allies into the farmland around Athens while the Athenians stay behind their walls.

This was about eighty days after the Theban attempt upon Plataea, just in the middle of summer, when the corn was ripe, and Archidamus, son of Zeuxis, King of Lacedaemon, was in command.

Thucydides 2.19.1Translated by Richard Crawley (1874)Read the full passage (Thucydides 2.19.1, opens scaife.perseus.org)

Background: Peloponnesian War, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)

Why it matters

The invasion opened the first phase of the war, called the Archidamian War, and invading the land around Athens remained Sparta's strategy throughout that phase.

Based on Wikipedia: Peloponnesian War

The opening phase, called the Ten Years' War or the Archidamian War, began in 431 BC when the Spartan king Archidamus II invaded Attica with his army.

The Spartan strategy during the Archidamian War was to invade the land around Athens.

Wikipedia, Peloponnesian War (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-08-22. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 431 BCE, written later0.10000000000002274 years earlier Thucydides opens his history of the war Rests on this eventAlso about war and empire
  2. 431 BCE0.10000000000002274 years earlier Thebans attack Plataea and the war begins Also about war and empire
  3. 431 BCE0.10000000000002274 years earlier Medea on childbirth and battle Same years
  4. 431 BCE0.10000000000002274 years earlier Medea on the lot of women Same years
  5. 431 BCEThis momentSpartan army invades Attica
  6. set in 431/430 BCEDuring it Pericles on freedom in daily life Rests on this event
  7. 430 BCE, written later0.8999999999999773 years later Thucydides on the plague in Athens Rests on this event
  8. 430 BCE0.8999999999999773 years later Plague breaks out in Athens Same years
  9. 431/430 BCEDuring it Athens holds a public funeral for its first war dead Same years
  10. 429 BCE1.8999999999999773 years later Pericles dies Same years
  11. 416 BCE, written later14.899999999999977 years later The Athenian envoys to Melos on power Rests on this event

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