In 338 BC the armies of Philip II defeated Athens at the Battle of Chaeronea, effectively limiting Athenian independence.

After Sparta had defeated Athens, the Greeks invaded Lydia.

Under Spartan leadership, the League defeated Athens and its allies in 404 BC.

When Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War, it secured an unrivaled hegemony over southern Greece.

Ancient Greece had a single language and culture, but was not unified until 337 BC, when Macedonia defeated Athens and Thebes.

It took a long time for Sparta to defeat Athens but then at the Battle of Aegospotami the Spartans destroyed most of Athens's ships.

Now at last, at the cost of betraying Greece, Sparta saw the opportunity of acquiring a fleet and so defeating Athens at sea.

"If you understood why we tolerate all this panhandling, you'd know why Sparta defeated Athens," said an Upper East Side psychoanalyst who did not want his name used.

It was the product of jingoism and diplomatic hubris, urged by Alcibiades, who fled to rival Sparta in time to assist in defeating Athens.

FOR many Englishmen of my background, Sparta isn't merely the city that defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War 2,400 years ago.