The Plague of War: Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Ancient Greece - Hardcoverby Jennifer T. Roberts (Author) In 431 BC, the long simmering rivalry between the city states of Athens and Sparta erupted into open warfare, and for more than a generation the two were locked in a life and death struggle. The war embroiled the entire Greek world, provoking years of butchery previously unparalleled in ancient Greece. Whole cities were exterminated, their men killed, their women and children enslaved. While the war is commonly believed