The thesis presents the board of thirty tyrants which was established in Athens in the summer of 404 B. C. The first part of the thesis describes the end of the Peloponnesian War and the negotiations between Sparta and Athens. After the defeat of the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta had the leading role in Greece. In Athens, she established an oligarchy through a board of thirty men who favored her. The central part of the thesis presents in more detail the establishment of the Thirty and its rule. In the beginning the oligarchs were popular among the Athenians, but soon they gained a lot of opponents by tightening the measures. Disagreements appeared among the members of the Thirty themselves. The thesis also describes in detail the dispute between the tyrants and Theramenes, a member of the Thirty, who was executed for his moderate views. The last part of the thesis presents the course of the civil war between oligarchs and democrats. The latter overthrew the oligarchic regime of the Thirty Tyrants and re-established democracy in Athens in the summer of 403 B. C.
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