ABSTRACT
After the Persian defeat, Sparta was mistress of Greece. Under her leadership, the fleets and armies of the allied Greeks had saved the Greek world. Nobody was in a position to challenge her authority. No state in Greece had a better army, and although the military victory over Persia had been made possible only by the size and fighting qualities of the Athenian fleet, on which the Greeks continued to depend, Athens herself had been destroyed by the Persians, lying ruined and unfortified. It was hardly an opportune moment for Argos to challenge Spartan supremacy, even to the extent of attempting the re-unification of the Argolid. The effects of the earthquake at Sparta were even more serious, but the Argives do not appear to have taken full advantage of them. Again, it is impossible to estimate the losses to Sparta, either in terms of casualties or in the economic sense.
