The 464 BC Spartan earthquake occurred along the Sparta fault in the year 464 BC destroying much of what was Sparta and many other city-states in ancient Greece. Historical sources suggest that the death toll may have been as high as 20,000, although modern scholars suggest that this figure is likely an exaggeration. The earthquake gave Spartan helots an opportunity to revolt against their aristocratic rulers, and the Spartan Pericleidas was sent to the Athenians to seek their aid. Their immediate dismissal upon arrival is said to have been a key event that led up to the First Peloponnesian War.
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464 BC Sparta earthquake in the context of History of Sparta
The history of Sparta describes the history of the ancient Doric Greek city-state known as Sparta from its beginning in the legendary period to its incorporation into the Achaean League under the late Roman Republic, as Allied State, in 146 BC, a period of roughly 1000 years. Since the Dorians were not the first to settle the valley of the Eurotas River in the Peloponnesus of Greece, the preceding Mycenaean and Stone Age periods are described as well. Sparta went on to become a district of modern Greece. Brief mention is made of events in the post-classical periods.
Dorian Sparta rose to dominance in the 6th century BC. At the time of the Persian Wars, it was the recognized leader by assent of the Greek city-states. It subsequently lost that assent through suspicion that the Athenians were plotting to break up the Spartan state after an earthquake destroyed Sparta in 464 BC. When Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War, it secured an unrivaled hegemony over southern Greece. Sparta's supremacy was broken following the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. It was never able to regain its military superiority and was finally absorbed by the Achaean League in the 2nd century BC.
464 BC Sparta earthquake in the context of Pericleidas
Pericleidas (Ancient Greek: Περικλείδας; fl. 5th century BCE) was a man of ancient Sparta -- possibly the proxenos of Athens at Sparta -- who played a role during the Peloponnesian War.
After the 464 BC Sparta earthquake, Pericleidas led a diplomatic mission to Athens to appeal for help putting down the revolt of the Helots against the Spartan aristocracy that the earthquake had unleashed. The Athenian general Cimon agreed to this and sent soldiers, but the Spartans rejected them when they arrived, as the Spartans worried that the Athenians' political leanings might make them too sympathetic to the Helots. This rejection was a precipitating event in the First Peloponnesian War.