Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander

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Spartan Aggression and Athenian Resurgence

Spartan forces attacked city-states all over Greece in the years after the peace. Athens, meanwhile, had restored its invulnerability to invasion by rebuilding the long walls¹ connecting the city and the harbor. The Athenian general Iphicrates² also devised effective new tactics for light-armed troops called peltasts by improving their weapons. The reconstruction of Athens's navy built up its offensive strength, and by 377 B.C. the city had again become the leader of a naval alliance of Greek states³, but this time the members of the league had their rights specified in writing to prevent high-handed Athenian behavior. Spartan hopes for lasting power were dashed in 371 B.C., when a resurgent Thebes defeated the Spartan army at Leuctra⁴ in Boeotia and then invaded the Spartan homeland in the Peloponnese. At this point the Thebans seemed likely to challenge Jason⁵, tyrant of Pherae in Thessaly, for the position of the dominant military power in Greece.