Athens fleet, and helped the rebellion of the Ionian cities against Persian rule. In the ensuing Greco-Persian Wars Athens, together with Sparta, led the coalition of Greek states that would eventually repel the Persians, defeating them decisively at Marathon in 490 BC, and crucially at Salamis in 480 BC. However, this did not prevent Athens from being captured and sacked twice by the Persians within one year, after a heroic resistance at Thermopylae by Spartans and other Greeks led by King Leonidas, after both Boeotia and Attica fell to the Persians. The decades that followed became known as the Golden Age
Arcadian League join its Peloponnesian League and fight in its wars. This dominance naturally aroused anger amongst these neighboring states, and Sparta's allies proved themselves willing to rise up against their overlord on several occasions. In 418 BC, Mantinea joined a league of Peloponnesian democratic states that briefly pursued an anti-Spartan policy before being defeated at the Battle of Mantinea (418 BC). After the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC, Sparta, under king Agesilaus, took several opportunities over the ensuing years to discipline a number of restive allies. In 385 BC, the Spartans attacked Mantinea and forced the city to