The Delian League: Part I - 2 - 3 › Antique Origins
Articles and Definitions › Contents
- Delian League › Antique Origins
- The Delian League, Part 1: Origins Down to the Battle of Eurymedon (480/79-465/4 › Ancient History
- The Delian League, Part 2: From Eurymedon to the Thirty Years Peace (465/4-445/4 › Ancient History
- The Delian League, Part 3: From the Thirty Years Peace to the Start › Ancient History
Ancient civilizations › Historical places, and their characters
Delian League › Antique Origins
Definition and Origins
The Delian League (or Athenian League) was an alliance of Greek city -states led by Athens and formed in 478 BCE to liberate eastern Greek cities from Persian rule and as a defence to possible revenge attacks from Persia following the Greek victories at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea in the early 5th century BCE. The alliance of over 300 cities would eventually be so dominated by Athens that, in effect, it evolved into the Athenian empire. Athens became increasingly more aggressive in its control of the alliance and, on occasion, constrained membership by military force and compelled continued tribute which was in the form of money, ships or materials. Following Athens' defeat at the hands of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE the League was dissolved.
MEMBERSHIP & TRIBUTE
The name Delian League is a modern one, the ancient sources refer to it as simply 'the alliance' ( symmachia ) or 'Athens and its allies'. The name is appropriate because the treasury of the alliance was located on the sacred island of Delos in the Cyclades. The number of members of the League changed over time but around 330 are recorded in tribute lists; sources which are known to be incomplete. The majority of states were from Ionia and the islands but most parts of Greece were represented and later there were even some non-Greek members such as the Carian city-states. Prominent members included:
- Aegina
- Byzantium
- Chios
- Lesbos
- Lindos
- Naxos
- Paros
- Samos
- Thasos
and many other cities across the Aegean, in Ionia, the Hellespont, and Propontis.
MEMBERS WERE EXPECTED TO GIVE TRIBUTE TO THE TREASURY WHICH WAS USED TO BUILD & MAINTAIN THE NAVAL FLEET LED BY ATHENS.
Initially members swore to hold the same enemies and allies by taking an oath. It is likely that each city-state had an equal vote in meetings held on Delos. Members were expected to give tribute ( phoros ) to the treasury which was used to build and maintain the naval fleet led by Athens. Significantly too, the treasury was controlled by Athenian treasurers, the ten Hellenotamiae. The tribute in the early stages was 460 talents (raised in 425 BCE to 1,500), a figure decided by Athenian statesman and general Aristides. An alternative to providing money was to give ships and/or materials (especially timber) and grain.
SUCCESSES & FAILURES
The Delian League enjoyed some notable military victories such as at Eion, the Thracian Chersonese, and most famously, at the Battle of Eurymedon in 466 BCE, all against Persian forces. As a consequence Persian garrisons were removed from Thrace and Chersonesus. In 450 BCE the League seemed to have achieved its aim if the Peace of Kallias is to be considered genuine. Here the Persians were limited in their field of influence and direct hostilities ended between Greece and Persia.
Other successes of the League were not military but economic and political, making them more difficult to determine in their significance and real effect for all members. Piracy was practically eliminated in the Aegean, inter-city trade increased, a common coinage was introduced (the Athenian silver tetradrachm), taxation became centralised, democracy as a form of government was promoted, the judiciary of Athens was accessible to member's citizens, and such tools as measurement standards became uniform across the Aegean. The primary beneficiary of all of these was certainly Athens and the massive re-building project of the city, begun by Pericles and which included the Parthenon, was partially funded by the League treasury.
Athenian Silver Tertradrachm
The League and its requirement of tribute was not always to the liking of its members and some did try and leave, especially as the threat from Persia gradually receded and the calls for tribute increased. A notable example is Naxos who sought to secede c. 467 BCE. Athens responded in dramatic fashion by attacking the island and making it a semi-dependency, albeit with a lower tribute. Thasos was another member who disagreed with Athens and wanted to keep control of its mines and trade centres. Again, the Athenians responded with force in 465 BCE and lay siege to the city for three years. Eventually, Thasos capitulated.
FROM ALLIANCE TO EMPIRE TO COLLAPSE
Already looking like an Athenian empire, two further episodes changed the League forever. In 460 BCE the First Peloponnesian War broke out between Athens, Corinth, Sparta, and their allies. For the first time the League was being used against Greek city-states and Persia was off the agenda. Then c. 454 BCE Athens used the excuse of a failed League expedition in Egypt (to aid the anti-Persian prince Inarus) to move the League treasury to Athens.
The League became, thenceforth, ever more difficult to keep in toe. In 446 BCE Athens lost the Battle of Koroneia and had to repress a major revolt in Euboea. An even more serious episode occurred when fighting between Samos and Miletos (both League members) was escalated by Athens into a war. Again the Athenians' superior resources brought them victory in 439 BCE. Yet another revolt broke out in Poteidaia in 432 BCE which brought Athens and the Delian League in direct opposition to Sparta's own alliance, the Peloponnesian League. This second and much more damaging Peloponnesian War (432-404 BCE) against a Persian-backed Sparta would eventually, after 30 years of gruelling and resource-draining conflicts, bring Athens to her knees and ring the death knell for the Delian League. Such disastrous defeats as the 415 BCE Sicilian Expedition and the brutal execution of all males on rebellious Melos the previous year were indicators of the desperate times.Athens' glory days were gone and with them, so too, the Delian League.
CONCLUSION
The benefits of the League had been, certainly, mostly for the Athenians, nevertheless, it is significant that the realistic alternative – Spartan rule – would not have been and, from 404 BCE, was not any more popular for the lesser states of Greece. This is perhaps indicated by their willingness to re-join with, albeit a weaker and more militarily passive, Athens in the Second Athenian Confederacy from 377 BCE.
MAP
The Delian League, Part 1: Origins Down to the Battle of Eurymedon (480/79-465/4 › Ancient History
Ancient Civilizations
The modern term Delian League refers to the primarily maritime συμμᾰχία or symmachy (offensive-defensive alliance) among various Greek poleis, which emerged after the second Mede invasion of the Hellenes (480-479 BCE), and dissolved when the Athenians surrendered to the Spartans at the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BCE) – also called The Confederacy of Delos.
The alliance's name derives from the island of Delos, where the League originally housed its treasury. Member poleis would periodically meet in common synods to decide policy. The League possessed three explicit objectives: obtain both revenge against and reparations from the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, liberate all Hellenes from Mede domination, and guarantee the continued freedoms of Hellenic poleis.
Delian League
The Delian League experienced exceptional achievements and expansion under Athenian leadership, but this also led ultimately to Athens ' widespread interference, restrictions, and subordination of individual Greek poleis throughout the Aegean Sea and Greek mainland. Such actions would eventually drive the Delian League into a massive conflict against the other great symmachy of Ancient Greece, the Peloponnesian League of Sparta and its allies.
In many ways, scholars ultimately define the Delian League by the devastating Greek civil war it produced; the war that eventually destroyed it, the great “Peloponnesian War.” This war, however, did not unfold only against the Peloponnesians but would bring the entire alliance into motion and involve everyone in the Hellenes as well as the peoples of Sicily, Italy, Thrace, Phoenicia, Egypt, Macedon, and Persia.
The Delian League's almost unprecedented success ultimately led to its undoing.
ANCIENT GREEK CONFEDERACIES
Ancient Greeks had rather confined experiences with co-operative multi- polis confederations. Each polis inherently sought and adamantly protected both their ἐλευθερία (liberty or 'external freedom') and αὐτονομία (autonomy or 'internal freedom').They also vigorously pursued and maintained αὐτάρκεια (independence or 'self-sufficiency'). Consequently, coalitions of multiple poleis often ran afoul of these civic corporate passions, which defined the nature of the self-contained polis itself.
Hellenic alliances varied according to the individual circumstances that created them. The ancient Greek term συμμᾰχία also emits the same inherent ambiguity as its English translation. The specific oaths exchanged determined above all other considerations the nature and extent of each individual alliance, and no two appear to have operated exactly the same in either scope or practice.
IN MANY WAYS, THE DELIAN LEAGUE SUPERSEDED & ULTIMATELY REPLACED THE ANTI-PERSIAN HELLENIC LEAGUE, ALTHOUGH THE LATTER NEVER FORMALLY DISBANDED WITH THE FOUNDATION OF THIS NEW LEAGUE.
Ancient Greeks also crafted a narrower ἐπιμαχία or epimachy (defensive pact), where each polis would simply come to the aid of another in the case of some external threat. Broadly speaking, however, the wider symmachy would typically take one of two forms: an explicit hegemony or a broader 'mutually binding' agreement.
In a hegemony, the weaker, smaller, or poorer poleis swore oaths "to have the same friends and enemies" of a stronger ἡγεμών or hegemon (lit. leader). These poleis also pledged to follow the hegemon, "whithersoever that polis might lead." The hegemon, on the other hand, might or might not have had the reverse obligation. The Boeotian Confederation of Thebes and its neighbors and the Peloponnesian League of Sparta and its allies took this form (Thuc. 2.2.1, 4.91, 5.37.4-38.4; Hell. Oxy. 16.11).
In the mutual binding agreement, on the other hand, all poleis pledged fully reciprocal oaths, where each agreed to take counsel and provide support for one another equally. These alliances, however, did not in many cases carefully delineate between strictly offensive and defensive obligations for each member polis. The Anti-Persian Hellenic League assembled in 481 BCE took this form, though this league did not possess an official name (Hdt. 7.145.1, 148.1, 235.4).
In sum, those individual poleis that entered into a symmachy necessarily accepted a diminution of total, unrestricted liberty (ἐλευθερία) to realize certain benefits that official and specific cooperation with other poleis brought. In many ways, the Delian League superseded and ultimately replaced the Anti-Persian Hellenic League, although the latter never formally disbanded with the foundation of this new league.
CO-OPERATIVE LEAGUE OR ATHENIAN EMPIRE ?
Scholars generally agree that Athens would come to use the appurtenances of the Delian League for self-serving ends. Many argue further that the Athenians engaged in oppressive imperialism from the earliest years, while still others hold the Delian League morphed into an 'Athenian Empire' by ca. 450 BCE, or even as early as 460 BCE, and certainly by the start of the Peloponnesian War (432 BCE). Not all students of Greek history, however, accept Athens created or led an actual empire in either the technical or truest senses.
Ancient Greek does not have words for 'empire' or 'imperialism,' which derived from the Latin imperium (power to command).Imperium denoted for the Romans the strongest and least restricted authority over citizens and foreigners. Ancient Greeks, however, did not separate the idea of power to rule in itself from the office that wielded it. Disagreements evolve, for example, from how one might apply the Roman concept of imperium to Athens' rule of the Delian League. Did it operate in any way analogous to the Persian or Roman Empires?
The ancient Greeks nonetheless came to hold that what began as an offensive-defensive synod of equal and independent Greek poleis created specifically to resist Persian encroachments into the Aegean, as well as take the offensive against the Persian Empire itself, soon evolved into a simple 'Athenian Hegemony' and eventually into an arbitrary 'Athenian Rule.'
Evidence shows that within 30 years of inception the League's resources had shifted from primarily stopping (or checking) the might of Persia to advancing Athenian desires at home and abroad. Pinpointing and/or charting the actual substance of concrete changes in how the Delian League operated, which pushed this co-operative coalition into some form of imperial instrument, however, remains a difficult task at best.
THE PERSIAN WARS
Pausanias, nephew of the Spartan King Leonidas, commanded the combined Hellenic forces at Plataea (479 BCE). He also led the Greeks against Cyprus and Byzantium (478 BCE). The Samians and Chians, however, drove Pausanias away after he suffered a mutiny for exceedingly arrogant behavior and possibly treasonous negotiations with the Persians. The Spartans subsequently recalled him.
Pausanias the Spartan
The Chians, Samians, and Lesbians then argued for Ionian Athens to replace Dorian Sparta as leader of the combined Greeks. The Athenian Xanthippus had supported the Spartan King Leotychides at Mycale, and the Athenians Aristides, son of Lysimachus, and Cimon, son of Miltiades, had already become leading voices during councils. Sparta's king, moreover, had already returned to the Peloponnese by this time. The Spartans, who historically resisted protracted foreign obligations, thus offered no objection. Sparta showed little interest (or unwillingness) to assume responsibility for the Aegean or extend its influence east of the Peloponnese.
The Athenians accepted the responsibility through a combination of pride and fear. Their pride stemmed from Athens' prominent roles at both Salamis and Marathon, and their fear resulted from Athens' growing dependence on unfettered maritime trade (especially the import of grain into Attica). The Athenians understood from the outset that they simply had the most to lose in any war against Persia.
Details of the subsequent negotiations, which took place off the coast of Byzantium, remain frustratingly obscure, but the sources show these Greeks decided to form a new, separate coalition in lieu of maintaining or expanding the original Anti-Persian Hellenic League. Representatives from throughout the Aegean islands and coastland poleis began to gather by early summer 477 BCE.
FOUNDING OF THE DELIAN LEAGUE
The Ancient Greeks headquartered their new alliance on the island of Delos, a historically sacred festival center for both the Ionian and Dorian Greeks. Approximately 36 Ionian poleis from Asia's west coast and the Propontis, 35 poleis from the Hellespont, and 57 poleis from Caria and Thrace (or the Chalcidice), as well as 20 or so poleis from the Aeolian Aegean islands comprised the nucleus of the Delian League – ie, approximately 150 or so poleis initially formed the new alliance. No Peloponnesian poleis joined.
An Athenian would command the combined military forces. The Athenians also determined those poleis, which would provide ships and manpower and those, which would simply offer monetary contributions. The Athenians also appointed ten Athenian ἑλληνοταμίαι or Hellentamiai (Treasurers of the Hellenes) to oversee collections as well as the dispensing of funds from the temple as required. Presumably, League members would deliver the monies to the island by a designated date, but the exact procedures they used for collection unfortunately remain guess-work.
Greek Warships
By mid-summer 477 BCE, the Athenian Aristides calculated the first φόρος or phoros (assessment). Aristides examined the land and revenue of each member polis and determined individual amounts "according to their ability to pay so that the grand total should be 460 [or 560] τάλαντα" or talenta or talents (Thuc. 1.96; Plut. Vit. Ar. 24.1; Diod. 11.47.1) (one talent = the value of 25.992 kg of pure silver ). The process Aristides employed remains unknown, but scholars generally agree he first assessed all members of the League by financial obligation, then converted the amounts for the larger and wealthier poleis into equivalent naval contributions. The Athenian Tribute Lists, however, show the League collected (on balance) less than 400 talents annum until 454 BCE, a time when more tributaries existed. Scholars debate whether the naval commitments comprised the difference from the initial balances reported by Thucydides and Diodorus or if they should lower the reported first assessment (as textual corruptions) to match the Tribute Lists.
The League does not appear to have envisioned any contributions of heavy or light-armed land troops, but sources attest to their presence by 450 BCE. Athens, Chios, Samos, Lesbos, and other larger poleis provided the bulk of the League fleet, while the remaining poleis would deposit the required monies annually into the treasury on Delos. Subsequent assessments (ie adjustments to the annual tribute) would then take place in four year intervals.
Scholars speculate and debate the exact wording and nature of the initial oaths taken by the representatives of each member polis. Broadly speaking, however, each member agreed "to have the same enemies and friends" as well as "remain loyal and not desert" (Hdt. 9.106.4; Thuc. 1.44.1; Arist. Ath. Pol. 23.5; Plut. Vit. Arist. 25.1). Each representative sunk lumps of metal in the sea to symbolize the League's permanence (ie the alliance would endure until the iron swam).
STRUCTURE OF THE DELIAN LEAGUE
The arrangement and operation of the new alliance proved straightforward; the member poleis retained their independence, and the League would not interfere in their domestic affairs. The members would collectively determine the policy and actions of the League during meetings (synods) held on Delos. Each polis possessed one vote. How often or what time of the year the meetings on Delos convened remains unknown. Presumably an Athenian presided over these meetings, but exactly how Athens assumed a preeminent position in the League's congresses divides scholars.
Delos Panorama
In one view, Athens sat as a single voice in a unicameral congress of partners (ἰσόψηφος or isopsephos, equal vote, lit. equal pebble). In practice, however, numerous smaller poleis often sided with Athenian proposals. Athens thus emerged the dominating influence from the outset during the League's meetings by corralling other members and outvoting those poleis that disagreed with Athenian proposals (πολύψηφοι or polypsephoi, many votes, lit. many pebbles). This simple interpretation, however, presents some difficulties. Athenians commanded League campaigns, and they oversaw the treasury. Would Athens lead a campaign or enforce a policy against which they voted? Would the allies craft a policy or devise a strategy without knowing beforehand to what Athens might commit? Could the allies force upon Athens a course of action she did not wish to take?
In the alternative view, Athens sat as hegemon at one end of a bicameral congress while the autonomous allies comprised the other end. The Delian League existed as essentially a compact between two parties, Athens and then the rest of the allies collectively. Each of the two parties thus swore to have the same friends and enemies, but the allies did not swear to follow Athens whithersoever they might lead. In short, neither party could force decisions on the other.
Regardless which form the Delian League's synods ultimately took, the actual practice became the same; the preponderance of Athens existed from the outset, and its commanding influence would grow over the years while allied contributions dwindled, until the allied synods disappeared without any official record of their cessation.
On the other hand, the Delian League did not suffer defections on the brink of campaigns, and it forbade private wars amongst its members. Since its operations also required a constant and continuous active naval fleet for an indefinite period, the alliance demanded a well-organized bureaucracy to collect and dispense regular payments. Athens soon wielded the mechanisms needed to guarantee all League decisions to fruition. The Delian League thus possessed one enormous advantage over the Boeotian Confederation or the Peloponnesian League; it could act swiftly and decisively with considerable resources.
INITIAL OPERATIONS OF THE LEAGUE
The first phase of the Delian League's undertakings begins with its opening operations against the Persian Empire and ends with the decisive Greek victory over Persian forces at Erymedon (roughly 479/8-465/4 BCE). The League pursued vigorous objectives against Persian encroachments about the Aegean: united – or cooperative – Greek military campaigns, led primarily by the Athenian Cimon, son of Miltiades, both recovered Persian dominated poleis as well as freed areas of Northern Greece and Asia Minor.
Nevertheless, the League's first ominous signs of internal disagreements and fractures as well as the willingness of Athens to champion and then use compulsion against other members also appeared during this very early time. The League elected first to capture both Eion, a strategically located polis along Xerxes ' invasion route, and the island of Skyros. By ejecting the Dolopian pirates based on Skyros, moreover, the League also "liberated the Aegean" (Thuc. 1.98.1; Diod. 11.60.2; Plut. Vit. Cim. 8.3-6). Subsequent League campaigns successfully drove Persian garrisons from Thrace and Chersonesus and expanded Hellenic holdings along the western and southern coasts of Asia Minor ( Ionia and Caria areas).
Consequently, the opening years of the League's existence reaped enormous benefits for the smaller poleis about the Aegean, especially the islands. Maritime trade increased substantially, and the constant naval operations provided well-paid service for Greeks from the poorer poleis. Membership in the League soon increased to almost 200 poleis, but the alliance also openly coerced Carystus (on the southern tip of Euboea) to join c. 472 BCE. Carystus possessed a tarnished reputation as a Mede sympathizer during the Persian Wars and had desired to remain neutral and not pay tribute. The Athenians argued that no polis should benefit from the League without sharing in the cost. The bulk of the League agreed.
THE REDUCTION OF NAXOS
The island of Naxos, for reasons unknown, attempted to secede from the alliance c. 467 BCE. Its subjugation produced a change in membership not anticipated during the formation of the alliance. The Athenians "besieged and reduced them. Naxos … [thus became] the first allied polis enslaved contrary to the original structure of the League" (Thuc. 1.98.4). The majority of League members nonetheless appear to have understood that they could not tolerate unilateral defections or rebellions, otherwise the League itself would soon disintegrate and destroy any benefits won.
The oaths of allegiance would now include a new word, obedience. The subjugation of Naxos, in other words, established a precedent, which the Athenians would use for the rest of the League's existence; the use of force to insure compliance.
BATTLE OF EURYMEDON
Cimon continued to lead a Delian League force of 300 triremes in the east: 200 Athenian with 100 allied contingents. He sailed along the Caria and Lycian coasts, sacking and reducing some poleis, driving Persian garrisons out of others, and brought many of these poleis into the League. He relentlessly pursued the Mede.
The Persians assembled a large Phoenician fleet near Cyprus. Cimon collected his forces at the Triopian promontory. After taking Phaselis, he sailed directly for the Eurymedon river in Pamphylia then immediately attacked and defeated the Phoenician fleet as well the reinforcements sent from Cyprus – destroying or capturing almost 200 ships. This victory proved definitive.
The Delian League, Part 2: From Eurymedon to the Thirty Years Peace (465/4-445/4 › Ancient History
Ancient Civilizations
The second phase of the Delian League ’s operations begins with the Hellenic victory over Mede forces at Eurymedon and ends with the Thirty Years Peace between Athens and Sparta (roughly 465/4 – 445/4 BCE).The Greek triumph at Eurymedon resulted in a cessation of hostilities against the Persians, which lasted almost six years. Whether or not this peace or truce followed from some formal treaty negotiated by Cimon, son of Miltiades, remains unknown.
Peloponnesian War
Nevertheless, the Greek success at Eurymedon proved so decisive, the damage inflicted on Persia so great, and the wealth confiscated so considerable that an increasing number of League members soon began to wonder if the alliance still remained necessary. The Persians, however, had not altogether withdrawn from the Aegean. They still had, for example, a sizeable presence in both Cyprus and Doriscus. They also set about to build a great number of new triremes.
REDUCTION OF THASOS & THE BATTLE OF DRABESCUS
A quarrel soon erupted between the Athenians and Thasians over several trading ports and a wealth-producing mine (465 BCE). Competing economic interests compelled the rich and powerful Thasos to revolt from the Delian League. The Thasians resisted for almost three years. When the polis finally capitulated, the Athenians forced Thasos to surrender its naval fleet and the mine, dismantle defensive walls, pay retributions, and converted the future League contributions to monetary payments: 30 talents annum. Some League members became disaffected with the Athenian reduction of Thasos. Several poleis observed the Athenians had now developed a penchant for using "compulsion." They started to see Athens acting with both "arrogance and violence." On expeditions, furthermore, the other members felt they "no longer served as equals" (Thuc. 1.99.2).
THE DELIAN LEAGUE, ON THE ONE HAND, ENGAGED IN HEROIC STRUGGLES AGAINST THE MEDE, ON THE OTHER HAND, IT ALSO SUPPRESSED ITS MEMBERS AND SOON DEMANDED OBEDIENCE FROM THEM.
The Athenians, meanwhile, attempted to establish a colony on the Strymon river to secure timber from Macedon, which shared its borders with the west bank. The location also proved a critical strategic point from which to protect the Hellespont.The Thracians, however, repelled the League forces at Drabescus. The Athenians soon realized the threats from both Thrace and Macedon made permanent settlements in the region difficult as they were essentially continental powers, and the League fleet could not reach them easily. Designs for the region, however, would not change, and the Athenians would return there again.
The Delian League had by this time demonstrated an inherent conflict from its beginnings: on the one hand, it engaged in heroic struggles against the Mede and extended its influence, reaping enormous benefits (especially for its poorer members).On the other hand, it also suppressed its members and soon demanded obedience from them.
The League engaged from the outset in a form of soft imperialism, collecting and commanding voluntary naval contributions and tribute while Athens used those resources and led all expeditions, enforcing continued membership but also showing little or no interest to interfere with the internal mechanisms of any member polis (unless it openly rebelled).
CONVERSIONS TO TRIBUTE
More ominously, the larger poleis also began to grow weary fulfilling the prolonged obligations supplying the manpower and resources constant League operations required. A growing number of poleis elected instead to make simple monetary payments. Although Thucydides openly blames the allies for this change, commuting from contributions to tribute proves uncomplicated: cost (1 trireme = 200 rowers = ½ talent per month). A flotilla of 10 triremes required an outlay of 30 talents for a typical 6-month sailing season. Only the largest and wealthiest poleis paid anywhere near these sums.
Converting from resources to monies, however, had the two-pronged effect of both weakening individual League members while also greatly increasing the size of the Athenian fleet and thus Athens' overall might and influence. Athens, on the other hand, embraced these obligations and even commissioned 20 new triremes each year and would continue this undertaking until 449 BCE. By 447 BCE, in fact, only Chios, Samos, and Lesbos in addition to Athens still possessed substantial navies in the Aegean.
THE HELOT REVOLT & DISSOLUTION OF THE ANTI-PERSIAN HELLENIC LEAGUE
The Spartans, whose policies suffered not infrequent and often violent fluctuations with the constant power struggles between its Kings and Ephors, had, until the time of Thasos' revolt, appeared quite content to allow Athens unfettered leadership of the Aegean. Sparta nonetheless promised to help the besieged Thasians with an invasion of Attica, apparently motivated by growing trepidation over Athens' recent interference in internal Greek affairs. Before the Spartans could act on their pledge, however, a great earthquake struck the Peloponnesus (464 BCE), and the devastation resulted in the largest Helot revolt in living memory.
Helots (roughly akin to 'serf') originally descended from the Messenians, and Sparta remained the one Greek polis which held in total subjection large numbers of fellow Greeks.The Spartans thus possessed an inherently volatile and uniquely dangerous relationship with their enslaved Helots. Helots precariously outnumbered their Spartan masters, and they both equally feared and loathed each other. Sparta, now faced with an armed insurrection, appealed for assistance from the member poleis of the original anti-Persian Hellenic League. Aegina, Mantinea, and Plataea answered. 5.2.3).
Although the Athenian Ekklesia (Assembly) quarreled over an appropriate response, Cimon prevailed during the debate and persuaded the majority to remain on good terms with the Spartans. Athens dispatched a large force of 4,000 hoplites to aid Sparta against the rebelling Helots now holding Mt. Ithome. The boldness and revolutionary spirit of the Athenians shocked the Spartans. They unceremoniously refused Athens' assistance and dismissed the force. This unprecedented act of disrespect embarrassed Cimon and at first bewildered then angered the Athenians. The Athenian Ekklesia ostracized Cimon, renounced their membership in the original Hellenic League, and formed independent alliances with both Argos and Thessaly – two traditional Spartan antagonists. This strategic shift immediately brought Athens into conflict with Epidaurus and Corinth (460 BCE).
Speaker's Platform, Athens Assembly, Pynx, Athens
Shortly thereafter, Megara, because of Corinthian aggression, withdrew from the Peloponnesian League and allied with Athens. This further angered the Corinthians. In addition, Athens besieged Aegina. This Dorian polis, located in the Sardonic Gulf, the "eyesore of the Peiraieus," had always threatened the waterway to Athens' main port (Arist. Rhet. 1411a15; Plut. Vit. Per. 8.5). Aegina resisted Athenian attempts to secure a foothold on the western shore but lost a large naval engagement against a Delian League fleet. When the Aeginetans surrendered, Athens forced them into the confederacy and to pay the very high amount of 30 talents annum (458 BCE).
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION
Elsewhere in the Aegean, hostilities between the Hellenes and Medes resumed. Xerxes, the Persian King, had died in 465 BCE. After a year of internal political intrigue and infighting, Artaxerxes finally assumed the throne. The support he possessed from the various satraps, however, emerged unclear and in any case unsteady. The League chose to recapture the island of Cyprus with a force of 200 triremes, presumably to protect grain imports from the east (461/0 BCE).
When the Libyan prince Inarus appealed to the League in his own revolt against Persia, however, the synod, seeing this larger prize to the south, voted to divert the Cypriot Campaign to Egypt. The entire fleet sailed up the Nile to assist. Some of these ships would proceed to raid Phoenicia as well. The League's task force eventually began a siege of the Persian garrison at Memphis. Fragmentary evidence suggests further that the League also made attempts to extend its membership to Dorus, Phaselis, and perhaps other eastern Aegean poleis about the Caria District.
THE FIRST PELOPONNESIAN WAR
With the surrender of Aegina, Corinth, a Spartan ally, invaded the Megarid, now an Athenian ally, and the First Peloponnesian War became inevitable. The Athenians soon fought the Corinthians, Epidaurians, and allies of the Aeginetans as well as other Peloponnesians. The Spartans had seemed content to allow their allies to field the brunt of any conflicts they may have suffered against the Athenians. They held to this view even after Persia, prompted by the Delian League's actions in Egypt, attempted to entice the Peloponnesians to invade Attica with a large sum of money.
Spartan attitudes, however, changed when the Thebans also offered to war with Athens. Thebes recognized an opportunity had emerged with the sizeable Delian League fleet engaged in distant Egypt. The Thebans pledged that Sparta would no longer need to bring an army outside the Peloponnesus if the Spartans helped the Thebans re-establish their own Confederacy to check the growing power of Athens and the Delian League. The Spartans agreed. They had successfully quelled the Helot revolt, and the Peloponnesian League dispatched a force of 1,500 Spartans and 10,000 allies. Athens responded with a force of 14,000 Athenians and allies, including 1,000 Argives and a Thessalian cavalry, and the two Leagues clashed at Tanagra (457 BCE).
The Spartans, though victorious, no longer possessed the resources to continue operations in the region. They hastily negotiated a truce with the Athenians and withdrew from Attica. The Athenian-led force then defeated a Boeotian army at Oenophyta and overran Locris. The Delian League also dispatched a naval contingent to Sicyon and Oenidae under Pericles, son of Xanthippus. When Athens captured the Corinthian colony of Chalcis and forced both Orchomenus and Acraephnium into the League, the symmachy no longer existed as a purely maritime alliance; it had effectively established a continental presence in Boeotia.
AFTERMATH OF THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION
The Persians, meanwhile, counter-attacked in Egypt. They assembled a fleet of 300 triremes from the Cilicians, Phoenicians, and Cypriots, and drove the League forces from Memphis, trapping them on the island of Prosopitis. The resulting counter-siege would last 18 months. The Egyptian Expedition ended in total disaster (454 BCE); the bulk of the entire Delian League fleet, including 50 reinforcements caught at Mendesium, and approximately 40,000 men apparently lost. Only a handful of ships managed to escape. The catastrophe seriously weakened Athens' preeminent position in the League and threatened control of the Aegean. Soon thereafter, the poleis Erythae and Miletus revolted (c. 452 BCE). The Athenians soon recovered them, however, restoring tribute, and installed Athenian officials and garrisons. They further required Erythae to provide sacrificial animals for the Panathenaic Games.
THE FIVE YEARS TRUCE & RELOCATION OF THE DELIAN TREASURY
The Athenians, after recalling Cimon from his ostracism, negotiated a more permanent Five Years Truce with Sparta (451 BCE) and turned their attention to securing the League. They quickly set about to rebuild the fleet, and the Athenians elected to continue installing local Athenian magistrates and plant garrisons after suppressing rebellions of member poleis, as they had done with Erythae. Sometime during these events (the precise date remains uncertain), the League, on a proposal made by the Samians, relocated its treasury from Delos to Athens. The disaster in Egypt most likely served as the impetus for this change, though this remains an educated guess.
By 454 BCE, the League treasury had accumulated a large surplus; sources attest anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 talents. The Athenians elected to dedicate one-sixtieth of the tribute to Athena Polias, and then use any surplus to erect temples, support the Athenian fleet, provide work for its citizens, all while retaining anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 talents on hand.
SIEGE OF CITIUM & BATTLE OF SALAMIS -IN-THE-CYPRUS
The Delian League recovered from its maritime losses with a decisive naval victory at Cyprus. The Athenians assembled a new fleet of 200 triremes under the command of Cimon to break Phoenician power in the southeast. The League laid siege to Kition after taking Marium. The League again diverted 60 of these triremes to Egypt, this time to assist Amyrtaeus in his rebellion against the Persian King. Cimon would die during the Cypriot Campaign.
Greek Trireme
The Delian League navy defeated a combined fleet of Cilicians, Phoenicians, and Cypriots off Salamis-in-the-Cyprus (presumably the same force that destroyed the League's fleet at Prosopitis), while also proving victorious in a pitched land battle. Even though Persia retained possession of the island, the League demonstrated a continued willingness and, more importantly, the capacity and ability to resist further Persian encroachments into the Aegean. The fleet then rejoined its Egyptian detachment and returned to Peiraieus. The Delian League would show little interest in Cyprus after these events.
THE PEACE OF CALLIAS
By the spring of 449 BCE, the Delian League apparently concluded some type of peace with the Persian King. This Peace of Callias still remains one of the most debated questions in Greek history, and the evidence does not admit certainty for or against its authenticity or provide the specific terms it dictated. Although Thucydides nowhere mentions it, 4th-century rhetoricians make clear that the Athenians had come to believe some formal peace ensued between Persia and the Hellenes following the Greek victories at Cyprus. Generally speaking, it appears the Athenians required the Persians to surrender control of the Aegean as well as the poleis on the western coast and in the Hellespont. In return, the League would abandon all aggressions against the Persian Empire.
After Eurymedon and Salamis-in-the-Cyprus, it had become nearly impossible for the League to undertake further profitable aggression against Persia. The Greeks could gain little by making deeper incursions into Asia Minor, and they also found it impossible to hold Cyprus given its distance from Greece and proximity to the Phoenician navy. Whether or not an official peace treaty ever existed, the Cyprus Campaign remains the final attested Hellenic operations against the Mede recorded. No Persian ship sailed west of Pamphylia, and no Greek trireme sailed east. Meetings of the Delian League synod, moreover, began to lapse, and this compelled Athens to make some decisions regarding its future.
The cessation of hostilities removed the immediate purpose for which the League designed tribute. Although the Greeks gathered at Byzantium intended for the League itself to exist in perpetuity, tribute existed originally to conduct a war against the Mede. The Tribute Lists for 454/3 show 208 poleis paying a combined total of 498 talents. By 450/449, the League dropped to 163 poleis paying 432 talents, and no quota list, in fact, exists for 449/8 BCE. The reasoning behind suspending tribute remains unknown.
THE CONGRESS & PAPYRUS DECREES
Sometime about that same spring (449 BCE), the exact date remains debated, the Athenians, on a proposal put forth by Pericles, son of Xanthippus, dispatched 20 heralds: five to Ionia and the Aegean islands, five to Thrace and the Hellespont, five to Boeotia and the Peloponnese, and five to Euboea and Thessaly. The Athenians invited all Greeks for a congress at Athens "to share in the plans for the peace and common interests for the Hellenes" (Plut. Vit. Per. 17).
Pericles sought to change the nature and focus of the Delian League from primarily conducting a war against Persia to promoting a Panhellenic alliance that would ensure a continued peace. In other words, war had brought the League together, let the maintenance of peace and security henceforth cement it. The Spartans declined to participate. Scholars debate the historicity as well as the intent (whether genuine or disingenuous) of this Congress Decree; not a hint of its existence exists outside Plutarch.
Pericles
Shortly thereafter – though, again, the exact date remains debated – Pericles also proposed the Athenians secure the tribute reserve of 5,000 talents on the Acropolis and establish a commission to oversee the building of the Parthenon. The Athenians would further secure an additional 3,000 talents in reserve (in 200 talent contributions) while maintaining the fleet – but reduce the new annual commissions to ten new ships annum. The decree may also have established the 1,000 talent emergency iron reserve, which the Athenians could not use unless the Peiraieus came under direct attack.
Scholars refer to this as the Papyrus Decree, because the testimony survives on a mutilated papyrus from a commentary on a speech of Demosthenes. The decree stipulated that erecting temples with actual League funds had begun (after securing a surplus) but would not interfere with the maintenance of the Delian League fleet.The Athenians, therefore, showed no interest in relaxing League obligations. The tribute had become a necessity because the security of the Aegean depended on a navy; and navies, unlike armies, were enormously expensive. In addition, navies, again unlike armies, could not be brought into existence quickly to confront a threat. The only way the Delian League could possibly preserve any peace meant maintaining a visibly sufficient force solely for the purpose of preserving peace. Athens in fact annually dispatched a police force of triremes each year.
By this time, nearly all Hellenic poleis required imports of essential material and needed exports for their own surpluses. Athens, for example, needed timber and wheat, and this required unfettered shipping from the Euxine Sea and Macedon. The fleet also served as the League's foundation of power. Knowing that Athenian triremes might appear in harbor at any time became the first deterrent against anti-Athenian sentiment. Although some protest began to spread among those poleis some distance from the Persian sphere, Athens offered no compromises; the League would not dissolve, and yearly tributes resumed in 448/7 BCE and would continue.
INTERLUDE – THE ATHENIAN BUILDING PROGRAM
Desde aproximadamente 450 a. C. hasta fines del año 420 aC, los atenienses dieron a luz una serie de nuevos edificios y templos y ampliaron las principales festividades religiosas. En muchos sentidos, estas empresas surgieron simplemente como una continuación del deseo de Atenas, que había existido desde al menos el tiempo de Peisistratos y sus hijos, para convertirse en el centro cultural del mundo helénico. Los recursos de la Liga de Delos ahora les permitieron continuar este esfuerzo.
The Athenians sought to employ Ionian culture as a form of propaganda; opulent displays that appealed to broad Hellenic pride to counter some discontent the Delian League encountered amongst various allies. The Temple of Athene Nike (450-445 BCE), the Parthenon (447-432 BCE) and Pheidias' chryselephantine Athene (447-438 BCE), the Propylaea (437– 433 BCE), as well as the Erechtheion (421-405 BCE), coincided with the broadening of the Panathenaia and Dionysia festivals, and the Eleusinian Mysteries. These festivals would no longer serve as simply Panathenaic festivities but become Panhellenic celebrations. Allies would now participate in the sacred processions and sacrifices as well as in the dramatic and athletic contests.
Propylaea, Athenian Acropolis
Commissioners would report the finances of these celebrations in parallel with the assessment of Delian League tribute.Athens required further for allied poleis to bring a heifer and panoply to the Panathenaia as well as present a model phallus and their tribute during the Dionysia. The Athenians sought to display the three largest and most splendid Panhellenic religious festivals in the Greek world and sent forth heralds declaring that the allies would be directly and intimately involved.
The Athenians, in sum, attempted to present themselves as a majestic μητρόπολις or metropolis (lit. mother-polis) for all their allies. Athens would become the home or capital of a grand multiregional polis as opposed to leading a disparate collection of many independent and autonomous ισόπολεις or isopoleis (level or equal poleis). Without question, the high level of employment the building program created, coupled with the increased trade, brought with it a considerable population increase for Attica. Because Athens controlled the sea, "the good things of Sicily, Italy, Egypt, Lydia, the Peloponnese, and everywhere else [were] all brought to Athens" ([Xen.] Ath Pol. 2.7; Athen. 1.27e-28a).
THE SECOND SACRED WAR
During the same year the Peace of Callias concluded, Sparta launched the Second Sacred War. The Phocians had seized control of Delphi, ejecting the ἀμφικτυονία or amphictyony (League of Neighbors; lit. dwellers around) – a loose religious coopt that surrounded the Oracle of Apollo (sometimes referred to as the Amphictyonic League). Sparta restored the archaic Delphic authority and promptly withdrew. The Athenians promptly restored the Phocians.
Both Chaeronea and Orchomenus used this conflict to rebel from the Delian League, but Athens, after dismissing the objections of Pericles, dispatched a force of 1,000 Athenian hoplite volunteers and allied contingents under the command of Tolmides. He successfully captured Chaeronea but suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a combined force of Boeotians, Locrians, Euboeans, and others at the Battle of Coronea (447 BCE).
Boeotia poleis revolted from the Delian League followed by Euboea and then Megara. Athens evacuated Boeotia, and a Spartan army again entered Attica. The Peloponnesians advanced as far as Eleusis. When Pericles led an additional hoplite force to meet the Spartans, they elected instead simply to return to the Peloponnese. The reasoning for this sudden reversal remains unclear, though later sources assert Pericles bribed the Spartan Pleistonax. Pericles sailed for Euboea with 50 triremes and recovered the island after the siege and destruction of Hestiaia (446 BCE). The League, however, permanently lost Megara, who had grown disillusioned with Athens and put to death the Athenian garrison settled in their territory.
THE FINANCIAL DECREE OF CLEINIAS & COINAGE DECREE OF CLEARCHUS
The League Tribute Lists show 171 member poleis in 447 BCE, but only 156 in 446 BCE. Several poleis also made late or split payments during this time; others still made double payments. The Athenians needed to address irritating but nonetheless widespread and growing discontent throughout the Aegean that had resulted from both its conflicts with Sparta as well as some logistical problems that collecting tribute presented. The Financial Decree of Cleinias (447 BCE) sought to improve the discipline of tribute collection.
The Athenians attempted further to impose a common use of weights, measures, and coins throughout the League. It banned independent silver coinage, but only silver coin, not silver bullion. It also closed local mints. The effort met with limited success as larger poleis like Samos, Chios, Lesbos, and others about Thrace seemed to have continued minting freely (c. 449 - 446 BCE). This Coinage Decree of Clearchus makes no reference to the alliance and further presupposes the existence of Athenian magistrates in most allied poleis.
CLERUCHIES
About this time, Athens began to establish a κληρουχία or cleruchy (lit. apportionment of foreign land) after a polis revolted (eg, Naxos, Andros, and Lemnos). The Athenian Pericles, for example, led an expedition to the Chersonese to protect it from Thracian invaders and settled it with Athenian citizens. A cleruchy, unlike an independent colony, was a group of Athenians settled on land seized from a rebelling polis, who retained their status as Athenian citizens. Cleruchies both reduced the growing idle and more impoverished population of Athens. They also established permanent local settlements of Athenians to insure against future rebellions from the League.
Cleruchies, however, also changed the nature and extent of the Athenian polis. The Athenians were no longer just the citizens residing in Athens but also those citizens who resided abroad. Since they remained subject to Athenian law, their presence extended Athenian jurisdiction. The Athenians, in other words, had come to interfere with the internal freedoms of other poleis, even fostering or supporting democracies when needed. Athens would go on to establish cleruchies in Imbros, Chalcis, and Eretia. Between 450 and 440 BCE, scholars estimate Athens sent forth at least 4,000 citizens. By 430 BCE, if we include the colonies established since 477 BCE, that number doubles.
The triumphs of the Delian League demonstrated larger inherent conflicts: on the one hand, it still required reasonable tribute, attempting now to advance a Panhellenic cause, while still ensuring the independence of Hellenes from the Mede. On the other hand, it more openly repressed dissenting members, forcefully acquired additional tributaries, while also extending Athenian festivals and law, founding democratic colonies, and imposing cleruchies on or near allied territory.
The Delian League had come to engage in a harder form of imperialism, expanding its reach while exacting tribute, and now requiring religious deference while interfering with the internal mechanisms of member poleis. The only poleis which still possessed significant fleets and remained independent were Lesbos, Chios, and Samos. Most notably, the language of decrees and treaties altered from 'the alliance' to 'the poleis which the Athenians control.'
The Delian League, Part 3: From the Thirty Years Peace to the Start › Ancient History
Ancient Civilizations
The third phase of the Delian League begins with the Thirty Years Peace between Athens and Sparta and ends with the start of the Ten Years War (445/4 – 431/0 BCE). The First Peloponnesian War, which effectively ended after the Battle of Coronea, and the Second Sacred War forced both the Spartans and Athenians to realize a new dualism existed in Hellenicaffairs; the Hellenes now had one hegemon on the mainland under Sparta and one in the Aegean under Athens.
By the early 450's BCE, the Delian League had secured for Athens an almost inexhaustible grain supply, enormous wealth, unprecedented control of the Aegean as well as dominance in central Greece, and thus the Athenians possessed almost absolute security from invasion. By 445/4 BCE, however, the Delian League suffered a devastating defeat in Egypt, the loss of Megara to the Peloponnesian League, and several Boeotian poleis had successfully rebelled.
Athenian Silver Tertradrachm
The Delian League agreed to surrender Nisaea, Pagae, Troezen, and Achaea (but retained Naupactus), and both sides drew up a final list of allies (who could not then change allegiances). The remaining independent poleis, which included Argos, could then ally with whomever they wished. Scholars debate whether or not the treaty also stipulated free trade amongst the Greeks. Athens now retarded any grand expansionist schemes it may have had for the Delian League and focused instead on securing it within terms of this Peace.
REORGANIZATION OF THE DELIAN LEAGUE
The Athenians spent the next few years reorganizing and consolidating control of the Delian League. They made an extraordinary assessment in 443/2 BCE and divided the poleis into five administrative districts: Ionia, Hellespont, Thrace (or Chalcidice), Caria, and the Islands. Athens also continued to establish important colonies (eg, Colophon, Erythae, Hestiaia, and, most notably, the Panhellenic Thurii in Italy ).
THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS OF THE DELIAN LEAGUE TOOK THEIR INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMIES FOR GRANTED & DID NOT CONTEMPLATE THE POSSIBILITY THEIR CHOSEN HEGEMON WOULD EVER INTERFERE IN LOCAL JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEMBER POLEIS.
By 440 BCE, membership increased (or was restored) to 172 poleis. The growing number of Athenian garrisons and cleruchies throughout the Aegean, alongside the diminished role of League synods, further drove Athens to institute varying changes in relation to its allies of the League. The original founders of the Delian League did not contemplate the possibility their chosen hegemon would ever interfere in local judicial proceedings of the member poleis. They all took their individual autonomies for granted.
Nevertheless, when the Athenians passed decrees, which necessarily affected allied poleis, they made provisions for settling offenses by Athenian jurists in Athenian law-courts. Athens also instructed allies to permit various appeals to those same courts and to impose penalties as Athenians imposed such penalties. Moreover, as stated, Athenian citizens abroad remained protected by Athenian laws.
The Athenians seemed intent on settling disputes within the League quickly and fairly by relying on the "rule of law" rather than naked force. The effect of these alterations, however, appeared far different to members of the League. The changes meant the removal of important litigation from local courts and magistrates, it diminished their independent authority, and it had Athens settle these matters ([Xen.] Ath. Pol. 1.16-18). Several allies thought they had now become subject to the tyranny of Athenian jurists.
Delian League
THE SAMIAN WAR
War erupted between Samos and Miletus over the polis Priene (440 BCE) – the Samian War – and the clash presented a unique problem for the Delian League. Samos had remained independent, paid no tribute, and stood as one of the very few poleis which still had a formidable navy. Miletus, on the other hand, had revolted not once but twice from the League, and the Athenians had subsequently deprived it of a navy.
The Athenians understood they might act wrongly if they acquired Samos but decided it far more dangerous to let the polis remain free. Athens reacted swiftly and decisively. They dispatched 40 triremes, seized 100 Samian hostages, and promptly replaced the polis' oligarchy with a democracy. Athens fined Samos 8 talents, installed a garrison, but then the Athenians departed as quickly as they had arrived. The League's action, however, did not cow the Samians; it infuriated them.
The Samian oligarchic leaders immediately requested assistance from Lydia, and, with the help of Persian mercenaries, overran the Athenian garrison, and declared themselves "enemies of the Athenians." The Samians also made an appeal to Sparta. They now intended to contest "supremacy of the sea" and seize it from Athens (Thuc. 8.76.4; Plur. Vit. Per. 25.3, 28.3).
The near simultaneous rebellions of Byzantium as well as numerous poleis in the Carian, Thraceward, and Chalcidice Districts revealed the seriousness of the unrest – even Mytilene intended to join the revolts and awaited word from Sparta.Some of these poleis received support from Macedon. Sparta summoned the Peloponnesian League and a divisive debate ensued. The Corinthians argued strongly against intervention, advocating that each alliance should remain "free to punish its own allies" (Thuc. 1.40.4-6, 41.1-3). The Spartans remained silent.
The Athenian response again proved decisive and swift. With reinforcements from Lesbos and Chios, the Athenians besieged Samos. After nine months, they crushed the revolt. Samos would pull down its walls and pay reparations of 1,300 talents (in 26 installments). On the other hand, Samians did not surrender their navy or pay tribute, nor did the Athenians compel the island to accept a colony or cleruchies. Byzantium, who had, in any case, showed only moderate resistance, surrendered shortly thereafter, and the Athenians permitted them to rejoin the League with minimal punishment.
EPIPHORA & LOSS OF THE CARIA DISTRICT
The Tribute Lists for 440/39 BCE show another change in procedure. For the first time, the treasury purposely lists some poleis twice: first with their normal assessments and then a second entry with an ἐπιφορά or epiphora (lit. a 'bringing upon' or 'repetition'): a small additional charge the nature of which is not yet clear.
Athenian Tribute List
The term had many uses, but for the League, it appears the Hellentamiai imposed penalties or recorded additional deposits.The treasurers, for instance, seem to have charged interest due on late payments (3 minai per talent per month) or imposed a simple fine. The entry may also indicate, however, a voluntary additional payment for some specific service rendered. Most of these second payments occurred in the Ionia and Hellespont Districts.
The suppression of Samos did not prove a total success; by 438 BCE, about 40 of the more remote and inland poleis from the Caria District permanently disappear from the Tribute Lists. Caria had always proven difficult to control and tribute rolls often fluctuated. The combined assessment amounted to not more than 15 talents. Any force sent to collect arrears would have cost more than the lost tribute. Like Cyprus, Caria possessed little strategic value. The Athenians subsequently merged the remaining poleis into the Ionia District.
Even though the League relaxed its hold on its southeast periphery, the unrest at Byzantium exposed deeper problems in the Hellespont region. The Mediterranean possessed four great granaries, and the littoral of the Euxine Sea (ie, imports from the Ukraine region) had become the most critical to Athens and its large population. Unfettered shipping remained paramount.
PERICLES & THE BLACK SEA
The following summer, to counter the unrest, Pericles, son of Xanthippus, launched his now famous Expedition to the Black Sea (437 BCE). The Athenian goal was simple: impress upon the more remote League members, as well as nearby barbarians, the value and importance of Athenian friendship. Athens put to sea an audaciously large and well-equipped fleet.Pericles "displayed the greatness of Athenian power, their confidence and boldness in sailing where they wished, having made themselves complete masters of the sea" (Plut. Vit. Per. 20.1-2).
During this time, Athens also established sizeable colonies at Amisus, Nymphaeum, Brea, and finally, and most importantly, Amphipolis (on the Strymon river near Macedon). Amphipolis would serve as an impregnable fortress to prevent rebellion and guard the Hellespont while also securing timber and precious metals from the area.
THE EPIDAMNIAN INCIDENT (CORCYRAN CONFLICT)
A relatively minor event, which began in Epidamnus, would soon engulf Corcyra and Corinth (and several of its colonies) and eventually lead the two hegemons Sparta and Athens into open conflict and ultimately result in the great Peloponnesian War (435 - 432 BCE).
Epidamnus, a colony of Corcyra (itself a colony of Corinth), became embroiled in a civil war, which involved some local barbarians. They asked their mother polis to assist. Epidamnus rested on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, more than a hundred miles to the north of Corcyra and thus existed far beyond either the Peloponnesian or Delian Leagues' interests.Corcyra refused to assist. Epidamnus, after consulting Delphi, subsequently appealed to the Corinthians. They responded vigorously with assistance from Ambracia and Leucas (Thuc. 1.26.2-3), but Corcyra, who had a long-standing quarrel with Corinth, would not tolerate such interference. The Corcyrans moved to intervene but soon realized that they had underestimated Corinthian resolve.
Corinth received additional assistance from Megara, Cephallenia, Epidaurus, Hermione, Troezen, Thebes, Phlius, and Elis.Many of these poleis were also members of the Peloponnesian League, and thus this Epidamnian Incident had captured the attention of Sparta. Corcyrans historically avoided alliances and saw Corinth commanded considerably more resources. To avoid war or the loss of Epidamnus, they asked for arbitration from the Peloponnese or Delphi, or failing that, threatened to seek assistance elsewhere. The Corinthians ignored the veiled threat and refused, but they too underestimated Corcyra's own resolve.
A modest Corinthian force of 75 ships sailed to Actium but confronted 80 defending vessels. Corcyra proved victorious, destroying 15 Corinthian triremes. The defeat only hardened Corinthian determination, however, who set about immediately to construct a larger fleet. Corcyra had no choice and sought assistance from mighty Athens.
THE BATTLE OF SYBOTA
The Athenians agreed to an ἐπιμαχία (defensive alliance) and dispatched ten triremes in support of Corcyra. This time, Corinth approached Corcyra leading 155 ships. They brought contingents from their colonies Leacus, Ambracia, and Anactorium, as well as their allies Megara and Elis. On the other hand, Epidaurus, Hermione, Troezen, Cephallenia, Thebes, and Phlius saw the conflict now involved the Athenians and elected to remain neutral. The Corcyrans possessed 110 ships to defend (plus ten Athenian vessels acting as a type of reserve).
The Corinthians gathered at Cheimerium, while the Corcyrans established a base on the island of Sybota. The resulting battle proved clumsy, but the Corinthians eventually routed the Corcyran fleet when 20 additional Athenian triremes suddenly appeared on the horizon. The Corinthians, fearing an even larger Delian League force would arrive, withdrew and viewed the interference as an open breach of their own treaty with Athens. The Athenians retorted that they had only supported their new ally and wished no war with Corinth (433 BCE).
Both sides declared victory, but the Corinthians then proceeded to seize Anactorium. Their quarrel with Corcyra had not ended, and they now had cause and made preparations for war against the Athenians. At the same time, representatives from Leontini and Rhegion arrived in Athens from Italy, and the Athenians accepted them into the alliance. The Ionian poleis of Sicily became fearful that Dorian Syracuse (also originally a colony of Corinth) might use Athenian preoccupation in any upcoming war to swallow them and thus joined the Delian League.
THE FINANCIAL DECREE OF CALLIAS
The Assessment of 434/3 BCE displays two new conditions: poleis that initiated tribute themselves, and poleis that accepted assessment by special arrangement. The volatile and constantly changing conditions in Thrace and Macedon make definitive conclusions difficult, but, in general, it seems some poleis in the region recognized the benefits of Athenian protection and voluntarily requested to pay a tribute to the Delian League.
The Athenians also passed two decrees on the proposals of Callias, son of Calliades. The measures concentrated various treasuries in the Opisthodomos. Once the League paid its debts, the treasurers would use surpluses on the dockyards and walls, but all sums exceeding 10,000 drachma needed a special vote of the Ekklesia. The Financial Decrees of Callias have provoked continuous controversy amongst scholars, but they appear to show Athenians had grown convinced another major war had become unavoidable and imminent. Whether or not such a conflict would stay focused against Corinth or come to involve Sparta, the Athenians readied the resources of the entire League for that war.
THE REVOLT OF POTEIDAIA & THE MEGARA DECREE
While assisting Corcyra at Sybota, the Athenians also decided to become involved in Macedon, ostensibly to protect League interests in the area, but more likely to remove the fickle and untrustworthy King Perdiccas II and thus the constant threat of unrest from Thracian tribes in the region. Assessments in this area of the League (Pallene and Bottice) had risen since 438/7 BCE (presumably because of Thracian and Macedonian encroachments). Perdiccas then sent embassies to Sparta.
Perdiccas had long demonstrated a willingness to side against Athens when an opportunity presented itself. Athens dispatched 30 triremes with 1,000 hoplites to support both Perdiccas' brother and nephew in a civil war that had developed there. About the same time, the Athenians issued what has become known as the Megara Decree (more than one decree actually existed, and the precise dates of their passages remain unknown). Athens essentially forbade the Megarans access to the Athenian agora and all harbors under Athenian rule.
The Decrees' exact meanings remain debated, but, by suddenly closing the harbors of the entire Delian League, Athens demonstrated its power to disrupt the flow of trade when provoked. The Athenian Ekklesia further issued an ultimatum to Poteidaia, a tribute paying Delian League member in the Chalcidice District since 445/4 BCE but also a Corinthian colony: the Poteidaians must dismiss their Corinthian magistrates. The Poteidaians flatly refused and appealed to Sparta for assistance (433/2 BCE). The Ephors promptly promised to invade Attica.
Poteidaia's overt resistance resulted in several rebellions in the Chalcidice area. Corinth, moreover, dispatched a force of 2,000 volunteers to aid their colony. The Corinthian action compelled Athens to dispatch an additional 40 triremes and 2,000 hoplites to suppress the now serious rebellions from the Delian League occurring about Thrace. Unlike the revolts in Caria, Athens could not simply ignore this unrest. The insurrections here represented a more significant loss of about 40 talents out of a total collection of 350.
THE PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE CONGRESS
The developments in Sybota and Poteidaia prompted Corinth to gather allies and go to Sparta. The Athenians sent ambassadors to appeal. Historically, the Spartans proved not swift "to enter upon wars unless compelled to do so" (Thuc. 1.118.2). By 432 BCE, however, Corinth and Megara, as well as Aegina and Macedon, all desired war against Athens. The Corinthians and Athenians made their cases. King Archidamus of Sparta cautiously argued against: "Complaints on the part of poleis or individuals can be resolved, but when a whole alliance begins a war whose outcome no one can foresee, for the sake of individual interests, it is most difficult to emerge with honor" (Thuc. 1.82.6). The Ephors called for a vote: the Athenians had violated the Thirty Year's Peace.
King Archidamus' warning proved prophetic. The war would not exist simply between Athens and Sparta but between the Peloponnesian and Delian Leagues. It would prove a war for all of the Hellenes like no other, not between individual poleis for small and precise reasons but rather between two great alliances over a multitude of competing and disparate interests.
Map of the Peloponnesian War, Beginning
The Spartan Assembly nonetheless declared the Treaty broken. This required King Archidamus to summon the Peloponnesian League to hear the growing list of complaints against Athens, and Sparta's allies quickly voted for war. The majority of them simply had faith in the supremacy of the Peloponnesian army and predicted quick victory. King Archidamus further advised that they should first prepare for the next couple of years, and he convinced the allies to send three separate embassies to the Athenians. Although the Peloponnesian League did not make an appeal to arbitration (as required by the Thirty Years Peace), negotiations between King Archidamus and the Athenian Ekklesia continued for months.
Thebes ultimately forced Sparta's hand. Expecting Athens to invade Megara and secure the Attic southern border, the Thebans attacked Plataea to hold the northern border – an open violation of the Thirty Years Peace and the first clear act of war. Although the attack ultimately failed, King Archidamus gathered the Peloponnesian forces in the Isthmus of Corinth. He made one final bid for concessions. When the Athenians refused, he finally (and reluctantly), led the Peloponnesian army into Attica launching a war, he predicted, that they would leave to their sons. History proved Archidamus correct.
THE TWO GREAT LEAGUES ON THE EVE OF WAR
The two great alliances of Ancient Greece finally stumbled into a massive clash of arms, which resulted from a cascading chain of events. A relatively insignificant civil war that had begun in the remote and strategically unimportant Corcyran colony of Epidamnus became the catalyst. That civil war soon brought a series of competing alliances amongst various poleis into open conflict.
Corinth feared any resulting Athenian-Corcyran alliance overwhelmed the still formidable Corinthian navy, while the trade embargo of Megara, the critical polis between Corinth and Athens that resided in the middle of the main route between Attica and the Peloponnese, markedly discouraged pro-Spartan allegiances. The Spartans thus came to fear what the Confederacy of Delos represented: the unprecedented success of Ionian culture, symbolized by a radical democracy, an immense fleet, majestic buildings, grand festivals, flowering populations, spreading colonies, and a still growing alliance that might take hold within and eventually overwhelm the Peloponnese.
By the start of the Peloponnesian War, the Delian League had come to operate with naked aggression and repression. On the one hand, Persia had all but disappeared as a threat. On the other hand, many poleis protested that Athenian rule had severely restricted the liberty of the Delian League's members. Athens had also engaged in administrative and judicial interference, repeatedly demanded compulsory military service, exacted monetary payments, openly confiscated land, and attempted to impose uniform standards.
The Delian League now engaged in a form of open, hard imperialism. It not only unilaterally entered into alliances which affected all member poleis, not only interfered with the internal mechanisms of member poleis but had also transferred jurisdiction of the allied poleis to Athens and thus treated them all as honorary colonists.
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