Potidaia was founded in ca. 600 B.C. by colonists from Corinth. It played a significant role during the Persian Wars, while its rebellion against the First Athenian League in 432-31 B.C., was one of the reasons that led to the Peloponnesian War. The city was repeatedly captured by the Athenians and the Spartans and finally devastated by Philip II, in 356 B.C. In 316-15 B.C., Cassander founded a new city on the same site, which was now called Cassandreia, and flourished during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.