Part 2 deals with the period of history directly after the famous battles at Thermopylae and Salamis. The Greeks, led by Athens and Sparta, had managed to repel the much larger Persian army, but now both of those talismatic states began to become suspicious of each other. The differences between Athens and Sparta are explored, including how they treated women, children and slaves, and their incompatible governing systems are also touched on. Part 2 finishes with the Laconian earthquake of 465/464 BC, along with the subsequent Helot revolt, which served to magnify the tension between Greece's two leading city states of the time.