Sparta and Persia strike up an alliance in 413

The reaction of the Athenians to the Sicilian defeat was to look for scapegoats. Spartan forces now occupied Attica and over the next few years more than twenty thousand slaves defected to the enemy side. The last of the Athenian cavalry was in bad shape, only a few triremes remained in the docks, and the walls had to guarded night and day by older men and youths. But the Athenians still refused to give up.

The assembly passed a series of austerity measures and proposed the building of a new fleet. They also set up a new body of ten probouloi, older men who would prevent hasty or rash decisions being pushed through the popular assembly.

Nevertheless with Athens now at it weakest ebb, many of its former colonies and allies were defecting to the Spartan cause. Persia, the old enemy, had even struck up a series of alliances with Sparta and in the years 413 and 412 the two powers signed three treaties. Having brought his native city to its knees, Alcibiades now attempted to intervene on the Athenian side, claiming he could turn the Persians against Sparta if Athens renounced its democracy, a form of government the Persians distrusted.

Visuals: BANNER (SEE ABOVE) Plus pic of the ten probouloi?