Tristan Hughes

What does the world look like?

How powerful is Sparta when they've just defeated the Athenians?

This is the Spartan Empire.

Does Persia keep funding the fleet, or do the Spartans, by taking over all of these former territories of the Athenians, now have the money from them to keep funding the fleet?

They've been backing the Spartans as it suits them in the Peloponnesian War, but as we'll see, the Persians will play their own game as we talk through the story of Sparta over the following decades.

What a narrative that is, the March of 10,000.

We'll put a link to that in the description.

And also, you mentioned earlier the Basavagus Postmaeus.

That's the last big naval clash, isn't it, where the Athenians are clearly defeated by the Spartans at sea.

But let's go back to the Spartans and how they deal with Athens in particular.

Because you mentioned earlier, is it the 30 tyrants you said?

Yeah.

So what is the 30 tyrants?

We've already mentioned how soon after there's that campaign where quite a few Spartans go eastwards with Cyrus, the March of 10,000.

We won't cover that in detail today because we've done that in the past.

But can you summarize then what happens with Sparta and its power, and I guess also its popularity amongst the Greeks in the decade or so following their great success defeating Athens?

Because it seems to go bad pretty quick.

And these have been former allies of Sparta during the Peloponnesian War, but now Athens is out of the picture.

They now see Sparta as the greatest threat to themselves, I guess.

They always are, aren't they?