Dr. Roel Konijnendijk

So the Spartans reassert themselves on land and it becomes this war of attrition after that, where the allied states know that they shouldn't encounter the Spartans in land battles, sort of in the open, but they can support these sort of mercenary garrisons that they put in place in strategic places and that raid the countryside and win these sort of ambushes and minor battles against the sort of states that are trying to back the Spartans.

So on land, it grinds to a halt in this way.

And you see the Spartans as well sort of flailing about trying to find some weak spot in the alliance.

So they go and invade Akronania and they march into Thebes and all these kinds of things.

They're trying to find something that they can do to pry this alliance apart.

It doesn't really work.

But on land, they managed to hold their own because on land, they're just still a very powerful state and alliance.

On the sea, they get utterly defeated in the first battle.

It doesn't go well.

It doesn't go well.

The Battle of Knidos in 394, I mean, arguably one of the most decisive battles in Greek history because it just destroys, almost for good, the Spartan ambition to also rule the sea.

This is absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is a crucial moment.

So it's this Persian-funded, arguably just Persian fleet, because it's also commanded by the satrap Pharnabazos alongside the Athenian Conan, which allows the Athenians to say, like, actually, no, it was an Athenian fleet.

which, sure guys, but it just happens to be massively funded by the Persians.

But they destroy the Spartan fleet, and then obviously that creates a complete shift in the situation in the Aegean and Asia Minor, because once the Spartans don't have a fleet,

How are they going to protect any of the states in that area?

How are they going to exact money from them?

They can't.

They can't either do their duty as a hegemon or reap the benefits.