Sparta led the Peloponnesian League, which opposed the intrusions of the empire which Athens had formed out of the anti-Persian Delian League. The Peloponnesian War started in 431 BCE, paused in 423 BCE then resumed until Athens and its empire were defeated in 404 BCE.
Sparta by far. The Sparta's military forces dominated during their glory days, and no one stood in their path.
The city-states of Athens and Sparta joined forces along with the other southern Greek city-states to defeat the Persian invasion in 480-479 BCE, however they were not enemies - they were allies before and after the Persian invasion. Sparta had offered support to Athens against the Persian attack on Athens a decade before that, and Athens supported the Spartans when Messenia revolted against Spartan rule twenty years after the Persian invasion. Not exactly enemies. They became enemies when Athens set out to dominate the Greek world, resulting in the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League and Athens and its new empire clashed in a destructive Peloponnesian War 431-404 BCE. Athens lost, was stripped of its empire and became a second rate power.
About 180 city-states of Asia Minor and the Aegean islands called the Delian league, which ad been led by Athens against the Persian Empire, were converted into an empire of Athens after the Persian threat ended. Athens lived of the resources of these cities, and levied naval and land forces from them. This gave it the power to meddle in the affairs of other Greek city-states, leading to the devastating 27-year Peloponnesian War against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta.
Usually they hated each other... but in times when invaders attacked Greece, they became allies and fought the invaders. Athens and Sparta would have HUGE wars between themselves when outsiders weren't attacking. They were bitter enemies as well as strong allies.
Sparta and Athens had been allies for some time. Sparta helped Athens in its struggle for democracy in late 507 BCE, and had also sent its army to help Athens at Marathon in 490 BCE 10 years earlier but had arrived too late for that battle. Athens was not present at Thermopylae, its forces were committed to manning its navy at the simultaneous battle of Artemesium. So the answer is False - Athens and Sparta were allies long before joining other southern Greek cities which united to repel the Persian invasion, and remained allies until 460 BCE when they had a falling out.
The Peloponnesian War.
The Peloponnesian War.
Sparta had the best military forces, enough to take out Athens.
Athens and Sparta both had very efficient fighting forces and and were the two powerhouse cities in Greece.
Sparta and Athens
Sparta by far. The Sparta's military forces dominated during their glory days, and no one stood in their path.
Allies Sparta and Athens had a falling out when the Spartan helots revolted and the forces Athens sent to help Sparta began to side with the revolutionaries, and Sparta sent them home. Athens turned the Delian league it had led against the Persian Empire into an empire of its own, and began to interfere in the cities of the Peloponnesian league led by Athens resulting in open war.
Sparta and Athens
Sparta and Athens
Sparta and Athens
Sparta and Athens
Sparta and Athens