ABSTRACT
The situation of Athens immediately after the end of the Peloponnesian war was indeed dramatic, but not so much so as to prevent a retrieval of her fortunes. In a few decades, indeed, Athens, once defeated and humiliated, was to recover her empire in the Aegean, to reconstitute her economic power and, while all her rivals declined, to represent the sole military force capable of offering resistance to Philip of Macedon. To understand the reasons for this rebirth it is important to consider all its aspects; and primarily to examine the political conditions that prevailed during the upsurge of Athenian imperialism. Athens was for a long time unwilling to resort to mercenaries; but repeated defeats were to force her to accept this expedient. During the first years of the fourth century, it was with the aid of mercenaries that Iphikrates and Timotheos re-established Athenian positions in the Aegean and reopened the way through the Straits.
