ABSTRACT
The stability of the Athenian democracy in the Classical period caused much amazement among both contemporary and later observers. An evaluation of it is required indeed. In the Classical period the democratic regime had firmly taken root among the Athenian population. One – indirect – source of financial benefit was Athens’s powerful political position. Thanks to her large navy, Athens could virtually monopolise the trade with the cereal-producing areas in southern Russia, and could consequently keep grain prices low within the city. Athens managed to retain this advantageous position until the end of the fourth century BC, when the loss of the city's naval power. Wars between Greek city states had been minor skirmishes and plunderings, with only one or two pitched battles, after which peace had been made. In the Peloponnesian War, the entire Greek world, from Ionia in the east to Sicily in the west, was engaged in constant fighting involving large land and naval forces.
