Antalcidas came from a prominent family and was likely a relation by marriage to the Spartan king
Agesilaus II. Antalcidas is first recorded at the outset of the
Corinthian War. Following the end of the
Peloponnesian War after the destruction of the Athenian fleet at the
Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, Sparta had launched a series of raids against the
Persian satrapies of
Asia Minor.
Pharnabazus,
satrap of
Hellespontine Phrygia, finally responded by sending the
Rhodian Timocrates to bribe the other
Greek city states into declaring war on Sparta.
Thebes rose up in 395 BC, eventually encouraging others to join in what became known as the Corinthian War. Persia was now on friendly terms with
Athens and Pharnabazus permitted their disgraced general
Conon to command his fleet of
Phoenician and
Cypriot ships in attacks that culminated in the
destruction of the Spartan fleet at Cnidus. He was then permitted to return to Athens with part of the fleet and given funds to
rebuild the city's Long Walls. Soon afterwards, in 393 or 392 BC, Antalcidas was dispatched to
Tiribazus, the satrap of
Lydia, to sue for peace. Learning of his mission, Athens sent its own embassy under
Conon. The Spartans offered full recognition of Persian supremacy over
Asia Minor, and the satrap threw the Athenians in jail. When
King Artaxerxes II learned that Antalcidas had further convinced Tiribazus to provide funds for rebuilding Sparta's demolished navy, he replaced the satrap with
Struthas, who resumed raiding Sparta and her allies. However, the Spartan fleet thus funded regained control of the
Gulf of Corinth by the end of the year. was the main negotiating counterpart to Antalcidas, on the Achaemenid side. For unknown reasons, Tiribazus was restored to power in Lydia by 388 BC. Antalcidas resumed negotiations and over the next year the pair journeyed to
Susa to win the king's support for a Persian alliance against Athens. This was granted and Antalcidas was made admiral of Sparta's fleets. He pursued a vigorous policy, particularly around the
Hellespont, and the Athenians agreed to negotiate with
Argos, Sparta, and the Persians at Tiribazus's seat at
Sardis. By the winter of 387 BC, the
Peace of Antalcidas had been arranged, by the terms of which: • all of
Asia Minor, with the islands of
Clazomenae and
Cyprus, was recognized as subject to Persia, and • all
other Greek cities—so far they were not already under Persian rule—were to be independent, except
Lemnos,
Imbros, and
Scyros, which were returned to the Athenians. The terms were ratified by the city governments over the next year. The reassertion of Spartan hegemony over Greece by abandoning the Greeks of
Aeolia,
Ionia, and
Caria has been called the "most disgraceful event in
Greek history". Antalcidas continued in favor with Artaxerxes until the
revolting Thebans annihilated Spartan supremacy at Leuctra in 371 BC, diminishing his influence. Plutarch notes a
laconic comment made by Antalcidas to
Agesilaus after one of the Spartan losses to Thebes, saying in effect, "Isn't it amazing how good they've gotten after all of the training we've given them." That year or possibly in 367 BC, Antalcidas undertook a final mission to Persia.
Plutarch held that its failure drove him to starve himself to death. ==Notes==