Peloponnesus

Peloponnesus ('the isle of Pelops'), now called the Morea (q.v.), a peninsula which formed the southern part of ancient Greece, Hellas Proper being situated to the northward of the isthmus on which stood the city of Corinth. See GREECE. The whole area is less than 9000 sq. m. Among its most important cities were Sparta and Argos. Sparta acquired after the Messenian war a decided supremacy over the other states, and disputed the supremacy with Athens in a war of almost thirty years' duration (431-404 B.C.)—the famous Peloponnesian war, of which the history has been written by Thucydides.