As with all good times there must be a bad period. Athens led its empire into the Peloponnesian War. This was a War against Sparta and it allies. Sadly, for Athens, Sparta won the war. Sparta then became the most powerful Greek state until later defeated by Thebes. Sparta lots its power in 371 B.C.

Athens never regain its political leadership, yet it still remained Greece's artistical and intellectual center. Athens eventually lost its place as a cultural center when the Byzantine emperor Justinian closed Athens schools of Philosophy. This occured in 529 A.D. This hurt many Roman families who sent their children to get educated in Athens.

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