Ancient Corinth And The Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War ,Which lasted twenty-seven years, is one of the most important wars in ancient Greece World, What is the reason of it breakout, and what caused it last twenty-seven years? Concerning about this ,authors in and out of China mainly relied on Athens and Sparta ,Scarely refer to other polis, Corinth for example.Corinth has a prosperity in handicraft industry. After it joined in The Peloponnesian Ally, it had many conflicts with the leader sparta, which always gave his ally's profits as a sacrifice for his own. Considering this, why Corinth joined Sparta in the same line during The Peloponnesian War? In fact, There are fierce conflicts during Corinth and Athens. It begins from the ally between Athens and Magaea. The Conflicts in Epidamnus and Corcyra escalate their contradiction, and finally lead to The Peloponnesian War. The profit conflicts in Sicily and Corcyra and fake ally, caused to be the longest war in ancient world.This thesis is try to analyze the role of Corinth in The Peloponnesian War, in order to set a new light for The Peloponnesian War study.It consists of three parts.The introduction describes the history of studies about The Peloponnesian War and temporary situation , points out the foundation and new ideas.Chapter one mainly introduces the situations of ancient Corinth ,including its agriculture structure , handicraft industry and ship-building, which gave an arrangement for Corinth's foreign policy.Chapter two introduces the foreign policy of Corinth between the ally with Sparta and the outbreak of The Peloponnesian War, with these materials the author summarizes Corinth's attitude towards The Peloponnesian War.Chapter three mainly dissertates Corinth and the outbreak of The Peloponnesian War and Concentrates on Epidamnus and Corcyra conflicts as the clue of The Peloponnesian War, analyze how their conflict developed into the rival between The Peloponnesian Ally and The Athens Ally.Chapter four introduces what kind of role Corinth plays in The Peloponnesian War. The Conflicts between Corinth and Athens mainly focused on Sicily area and corcyra. Although Athens was defeated, Corinth did not realize it's wish, sparta's policy made Athens hostile to Corinth quickly.In the end, this thesis summarizes the influence that Corinth had on The Peloponnesian War.