Timotheus, the son of the celebrated general…

Thásos, which had again allied to Athens in 389 BCE, becomes a permanent member of the Second Athenian League.

Argive loyalty to Corinth had soon wavered after the federal unification of 392, and, after Thebes revolts against Sparta in 379, democrats take power in Argos.

Pelopidas had been elected boeotarch, or chief magistrate, of Thebes in 379 BCE (and will be in subsequent years).

After Thebes allies defensively with the Athenians, the Boeotian league is reconstituted on an initially successful democratic basis: all Boeotians, whatever their property, are members of an assembly convened at Thebes; their vote decides all matters of policy.

The seven-man executive (one from each of the then seven districts, of which Thebes controls three) is directly responsible to the Assembly.

Agesilaus reduces Thebes to near starvation in two sieges in the years 378 and 377 BCE.

The charter of the new Athenian confederacy is issued at the beginning of 377.

Athens is right to suspect Spartan anger; an attempted raid on the Piraeus by the Spartan Sphodrias at this time, best seen as a response to the new mood in Athens, fails in its object, whatever exactly this is.

Once again, Sparta does not pursue the offender.

The “charter” document, which sets out the aims of the new confederacy, singles out Sparta as the enemy, while the main ally is Thebes.

Hostility toward Sparta, however, though it is certainly the motive shared by Athens and Thebes, does not adequately explain the participation of islanders such as …

…the Rhodians and …

…the Chians.

The main fear in these islands must be of encroachment by such Persian satraps as the energetic Hecatomnids of Caria.

Dionysius had initially been victorious in his third war against Carthage, from 383 BCE to about 375 BCE, but suffers a major defeat at Cronium near Palermo.

The new Athenian navy defeats Sparta in the battle of Naxos in 376, a victory won under the command of the Athenian Chabrias.

Timotheus, another great Athenian commander, captures Corcyra, which forms a new alliance with Athens, and defeats the Spartans at sea off wins the battle of Alyzia (Acarnania).