History of the Peloponnesian War

Accordingly, during this winter they sent round to their allies orders for iron, and were getting all the tools ready for building their fort. At the same time they were themselves raising supplies, and compelling the rest of the Peloponnesians to do so, with a view to despatching in the merchantmen succours to those in Sicily. And so the winter ended, and the eighteenth year of this war, of which Thucydides wrote the history.

The following spring, at its very commencement, the Lacedaemonians and their allies made a very early incursion into Attica, under the command of Agis son of Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians. In the first place, then, they ravaged the parts of the country about the plain, and then proceeded to fortify Decelea, dividing the work amongst the contingents of the different states.

The place is distant from the city of Athens about a hundred and twenty stades, and about the same, or not much more, from Boeotia. Now the fortress was raised for the annoyance of the plain and the richest parts of the country, being visible as far as Athens.