The year: 415 B.C.E. The place: Athens, Attica, Greece. Our fair city has been under siege for fifteen years, and we stand assembled with a charge to terminate this conflict so that Athens can flourish for generations to come.

At the dawn of this Peloponnesian War against its rival polis Sparta, Athens was known as a model society, the epicenter of culture, politics, naval power, and intellectual thought. The onset of land battle against the Peloponnesian power in 431 B.C.E., however, proved too much to bear and led to a steady decline in the Athenian way of life. While the fighting subsided in the year 421 with the signing of the Treaty of Nicias, it picked up once more in 415, the year of our conference, this time provoked by the Athenians themselves.

Our quest in this discussion will be twofold. We must first decide upon the specific question of a Sicilian expedition, weighing the costs and benefits of such an operation. We will then take a more macroscopic view of the war, identifying its effects on the Athenian state and devising a plan of action to halt each one before it becomes irreversible. Delegates will represent citizens from diverse walks of life:the playwright Sophocles, Athenian solider Alcibiades, Spartan ambassador to Athens Xenares, the renowned philosopher Socrates, and the great historian Thucydides, among others.

Our charge is a crucial one: nothing less than the preservation of Athenian society itself. How can we motivate our community to ensure both the continuation and the legacy of our magnificent civilization? Help us discover the answer to the war that altered the sociopolitical landscape of Europe, and the world at large, forever.

Chair: Matt Jacobs,