ABSTRACT
Argos was reasonably satisfied by the treaty she had signed with Sparta in 451 bc. When in 445 Athens in her turn was forced by the Spartans to sign a thirty years truce Argos was treated as a neutral power, being an ally neither of Sparta nor of Athens, though she was allowed to be friendly with Athens. This arrangement held the threat of isolation for Argos, for it would enable Sparta to apply pressure to her without breaking the terms of her treaty with Athens. Thucydides clearly understood that dissatisfaction with Sparta was growing even before the peace was signed. One of the reasons that induced Sparta to make peace was the fear that a third power group might emerge in Greece; that Argos would seize the opportunity created by the end of her truce with Sparta to bring about a re-alignment in Peloponnesian politics as she had done at the time of Tegea and Dipaia.
