PELOPONNESIAN WAR 



4555 



PEMBROKE 



Sent as an ambassador to Macedon, he was 

 on his return journey captured by Alexander 

 of Pherae and held prisoner, but was rescued 

 by Epaminondas in 367 and sent as special 

 ambassador to the court of Persia. There he 

 successfully defended the interests of Thebes 

 against Athens and Sparta. In 364 he met his 

 old enemy, Alexander of Pherae, in battle and 

 ited him, but in pursuing the escaping ty- 

 rant was himself cut down. 



PELOPONNESIAN, pel op one 'si an, WAR, 

 a contest for supremacy in Greece, waged be- 

 tween Athens and Sparta. During the age of 

 Pericles the allies of Athens had become dissatis- 

 fied with the heavy tribute exacted for the 

 construction of public buildings in Athens, and 

 only waited a chance to free themselves. 

 Sparta, ever jealous of the glory and fame of 

 its rival, made use of every opportunity to in- 

 crease this dissatisfaction. Finally, in 432 B. c., 

 wh n Athens aided Corcyra in a quarrel with 

 its mother city, Corinth, Sparta sent Athens a 

 message that it either must let all the Greek 

 < go free or must fight. Athens replied that 

 Sparta should first set free its acquisitions in 

 the Peloponnesus, and when Sparta refused, 

 the war began (431 B. c.) . 



Sparta's plan was to ravage Attica and stir 

 up revolts among Athenian colonies. The peo- 

 ple of Attica, at the advice of Pericles, took 

 refuge within the Long Walls of their city. 

 while the Athenian fleet and army were sent to 

 ravage the Peloponnesian coasts, and thus 

 they avoided meeting the Spartans in open 

 battle. This plan worked well for Athens until 

 a plague fell upon the city and swept away 

 more than one-fourth of the population. Peri- 

 cles was among those who died, and there was 

 no one capable of taking his place. 



The turning point in the war was the Athe- 

 nian expedition to Sicily, which ended disas- 

 trously for Athens in a great sea fight in the 

 harbor of Syracuse (415 B.C.). Even after this 

 iung disaster, Athens refused terms of peace 

 that should limit its empire and strained every 

 nerve to build and man new fleets. But in 

 405 B.C., the last Athenian fleet was destroyed 

 at Aegospotamos, and in the next year the city 

 of Athens surrendered. See GREECE, subtitl. 

 History. 



PELOPONNESUS, p> I opone'sus, the an- 

 cient name of Morea, the southern peninsula 

 of Greece, separated from the mainland by th 

 Corinthian and Saronic gulfs, with a connect nm 

 link in the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, 

 peninsula derived its name from Pdops and 



nesos, meaning the island of Pelos, son of Tan- 

 talus, king of Phrypia. In ancient days the 

 Peloponnesus was divided into six distr: 

 Messina, Argolia, Laconia, Elis, Arcadia and 

 Achaea. Among these states almost perpetual 

 war was waged until the Roman conquest in 146 

 B.C. See GREECE, subtitle History; PELOPON- 

 NESIAN WAR. 



PE'LOPS, in Greek myth, was the son of 

 Tantalus. Tantalus at one time gave a feast 

 to the gods, and served his son Pelops as the 

 chief dish. The gods, however, recognizing 

 what was set before them, declined to eat, and 

 restored Pelops to life. He married Hippo- 

 damia, and was the father of Atreus and Thy- 

 estes. The Peloponnesus took its name from 

 him. See TANTALUS. 



PEL 'VIS, a strong, bony cavity between the 

 spinal cord and the legs, which holds the rec- 

 tum, bladder and other organs, and serves as 

 a support for the spine. Pelvis is the Latin 

 word for basin, a term which somewhat aptly 

 describes its shape. The front and side walls 

 of this basin are formed by the two hip bo: 

 which are so irregular in shape that physiolo- 

 gists have named them the ossa innominata, 

 meaning bones without a name. In the back 

 is an opening between the hip bones, which is 

 filled in with a triangular bone called the a- 

 crum; the sacrum lies below the lowest verte- 

 bra and above the coccyx, or tip of the spine. 

 The floor of the pelvis consists of soft tissues, 

 and the whole cavity is supported by the two 

 thigh bones. See SKELETON, for illustration. 



PEM'3ERTON, JOHN CLIFFORD (1814-1881), 

 an American military leader, who, though 

 Northern born, cast in his lot with the Con- 

 federacy and became one of its generals. He 

 was born in Philadelphia, was graduated at the 

 United States Military Academy at West Point 

 in 1837, and entered the Federal army as sec- 

 ond lieutenant. He served with distinction 

 against the Indians and in the Mexican V, 

 and was commissioned captain in 1850. At the 

 beginning of the War of Secession he entered 

 the Confederate service, and was dm f in com- 

 mand during the memorable del", use of Vicks- 

 l>un?. Though he defended the city wi> 

 and skill against the Federal* under General 

 Grant, he was forced to surrender on July 4, 

 1863, giving up 30,000 men and vast stores of 

 ammunition. He then resigned from the army, 

 and after the war resided in Virginia and in 

 Pennsylvania 



PEMBROKE, a town in Ontario, the county 

 town of Renfrew County. It is situated on the 



