 In the aftermath, however, due to the plottings of Pausanias with the Persians and their unwillingness to campaign too far from home, the Spartans withdrew into a relative isolation, leaving the rising power of Athens to lead the continued effort against the Persians.This isolationist tendency was further reinforced by the revolts of some of her allies and a great earthquake in 464, which was followed by a large scale revolt of the Messenian helots.The parallel rise of Athens as a major power in Greece led to friction with Sparta, and to two large-scale conflicts, (the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars), which devastated Greece.