Megarian Decree - The Significance of The Decree

The Significance of The Decree

The extent to which the decree encouraged the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war is the subject of debate. Our primary source for the war, Thucydides, puts very little emphasis upon the decree in his analysis of the cause of the war, treating it as a pretext on the part of the Spartans. According to Thucydides the true cause of the war was Sparta's fear of Athens' growing empire. He does not describe the decree in detail as he does the conflicts over Potidaea and Corcyra.

The main evidence we have for the significance of the decree is Aristophanes, an ancient playwright and satirist of the time. His play The Acharnians (II.530-7) mentions how the decree left the Megarians ‘slowly starving’ and caused them to appeal to the Spartans for aid. Another of Aristophanes' plays, Peace, also mentions how war was being brewed in Megara by the god of war.

Oblique references to the decree in Thucydides seems to suggest its importance: the Spartans state that "war could be avoided if Athens would revoke the Megarian decree". However, Thucydides also reports that the Spartans had sought a declaration of war from the Peloponnesian League during the rebellion of Samos in 440, well before the Megarian Decree was passed.