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Delian League

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"Delian" redirects here. For the religious association, seeDelian Amphictyony.For the band, seeDelian League (band).For other uses, seeDelyan.
Athens and Delian League (yellow) shown along thePeloponnesian Leagueand the Persian Empire at the outset of thePeloponnesian Wararound 431 BC

TheDelian Leaguewas a confederacy ofGreek city-states,numbering between 150 and 330,[1]founded in 478 BC[2]under the leadership (hegemony) ofAthens,whose purpose was to continue fighting thePersian Empireafter the Greek victory in theBattle of Plataeaat the end of theSecond Persian invasion of Greece.[3]The League functioned as a dual –offensive and defensive– alliance (symmachia) of autonomous states, similar to its rival association, thePeloponnesian League.[4]The League's modern name derives from its official meeting place, the island ofDelos,where congresses were held within the sanctuary of the Temple ofApollo;[5]contemporary authors referred to the organization simply as "the Athenians and their Allies".[6][7]

WhileSpartaexcelled as Greece's greatest power on land, Athens turned to the seas becoming the dominant naval power of theGreek world.Following Sparta's withdrawal from theconflict with Persia,Athens took the lead of the Hellenic alliance accompanied by several states around theAegeanand theAnatoliancoast.[8][9]The Delian League was formed as an anti-Persian defensive association of equalcity-statesseeking protection under Athens, as the latter wished to extend its support towards theIonian Greekcolonies of Anatolia.[5][10]By the mid-fifth century BC, the alliance had developed into a naval imperial power, called theAthenian Empire,where Athens established complete dominion and the allies became increasingly less autonomous.[5]The alliance held an assembly of representatives in order to shape its policy, while the members swore an oath of loyalty to the coalition.[9]The Delian League successfully accomplished its principal strategic goal by decisively expelling the remaining Persian forces from the Aegean. As a result, Persia would cease to pose a major threat to Greece for the following fifty years.[11]

From its inception, Athens became the League's biggest source of military power, while more and more allies preferred to pay the dues in cash. Athens began to use the League's funds for its own purposes, like the reinforcement of its naval supremacy, which led to conflicts between the city and its less powerful allies, at times culminating in rebellions, like thatof Thasosin 465 BC.[12]The League's treasury initially stood in Delos until, in a symbolic gesture,[13]Periclesmoved it to Athens in 454 BC.[14]By 431 BC, the threat that the League presented to Spartan hegemony combined with Athens's heavy-handed control of the Delian League prompted the outbreak of thePeloponnesian War;the League was dissolved upon the war's conclusion in 404 BC[10]under the direction ofLysander,theSpartancommander. Witnessing Sparta's growing hegemony in the first half of the 4th century BC, Athens went on to partly revive the alliance, this time called theSecond Athenian League,reestablishing its naval dominance in theeastern Mediterranean.[15]

Background

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Main article:Greco-Persian Wars
Athenian Empire in 445 BC, according to the Tribute Lists. The islands ofLesbos,ChiosandSamos(shaded on the map) did not pay tribute.

The Greco-Persian Wars had their roots in the conquest of the Greek cities ofAsia Minor,and particularlyIonia,by theAchaemenid Persian EmpireofCyrus the Greatshortly after 550 BC. The Persians found the Ionians difficult to rule, eventually settling for sponsoring atyrantin each Ionian city.[16]While Greek states had in the past often been ruled by tyrants, this form of government was on the decline.[17]By 500 BC, Ionia appears to have been ripe for rebellion against these Persianclients.The simmering tension finally broke into open revolt due to the actions of the tyrant ofMiletus,Aristagoras.Attempting to save himself after a disastrous Persian-sponsoredexpeditionin 499 BC, Aristagoras chose to declare Miletus a democracy.[18]This triggered similar revolutions across Ionia, extending toDorisandAeolis,beginning theIonian Revolt.[19]

Owl ofAthena,patron of Athens.

The Greek states ofAthensandEretriaallowed themselves to be drawn into this conflict by Aristagoras, and during their only campaigning season (498 BC) they contributed to the capture and burning of the Persian regional capital ofSardis.[20]After this, the Ionian revolt carried on (without further outside aid) for a further five years, until it was finally completely crushed by the Persians. However, in a decision of great historic significance, the Persian kingDarius the Greatdecided that, despite having subdued the revolt, there remained the unfinished business of exacting punishment on Athens and Eretria for supporting the revolt.[21]The Ionian revolt had severely threatened the stability of Darius's empire, and the states of mainland Greece would continue to threaten that stability unless dealt with. Darius thus began to contemplate the complete conquest of Greece, beginning with the destruction of Athens and Eretria.[21]

In the next two decades, there would be two Persian invasions of Greece, occasioning, thanks to Greek historians, some of the most famous battles in history. During thefirst invasion,Thrace,Macedonand theAegean Islandswere added to the Persian Empire, and Eretria was duly destroyed.[22]However, the invasion ended in 490 BC with the decisive Athenian victory at theBattle of Marathon.[23]After this invasion, Darius died, and responsibility for the war passed to his sonXerxes I.[24]

Xerxes then personally led asecond Persian invasion of Greecein 480 BC, taking an enormous (although oft-exaggerated) army and navy to Greece.[25]Those Greeks who chose to resist (the 'Allies') were defeated in the twin simultaneous battles ofThermopylaeon land andArtemisiumat sea.[26]All of Greece except thePeloponnesusthus having fallen into Persian hands, the Persians then seeking to destroy the Allied navy once and for all, suffered a decisive defeat at theBattle of Salamis.[27]The following year, 479 BC, the Allies assembled the largest Greek army yet seen and defeated the Persian invasion force at theBattle of Plataea,ending the invasion and the threat to Greece.[28]

The Allied fleet defeated the remnants of the Persian fleet in theBattle of Mycalenear the island of Samos—on the same day as Plataea, according to tradition.[29]This action marks the end of the Persian invasion, and the beginning of the next phase in the Greco-Persian wars,the Greek counterattack.[30]After Mycale, the Greek cities of Asia Minor again revolted, with the Persians now powerless to stop them.[31]The Allied fleet then sailed to theThracian Chersonese,still held by the Persians, and besieged and captured the town ofSestos.[32]The following year, 478 BC, the Allies sent a force to capture the city ofByzantion(modern dayIstanbul). The siege was successful, but the behaviour of the Spartan generalPausaniasalienated many of the Allies, and resulted in Pausanias's recall.[33]

Formation

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Fragment of the Athenian Tribute List, 425–424 BC.

After Byzantion, Sparta was eager to end its involvement in the war. The Spartans greatly feared the rise of the Athenians as a challenge to their power. Additionally, the Spartans were of the view that, with the liberation of mainland Greece, and the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the war's purpose had already been achieved. There was also perhaps a feeling that establishing long-term security for the Asian Greeks would prove impossible.[34]In the aftermath of Mycale, the Spartan kingLeotychidashad proposed transplanting all the Greeks from Asia Minor to Europe as the only method of permanently freeing them from Persian dominion.[34]

Xanthippus, the Athenian commander at Mycale, had furiously rejected this; the Ionian cities had been Athenian colonies, and the Athenians, if no one else, would protect the Ionians.[34]This marked the point at which the leadership of the Greek alliance effectively passed to the Athenians.[34]With the Spartan withdrawal after Byzantion, the leadership of the Athenians became explicit.

The loose alliance of city states which had fought against Xerxes's invasion had been dominated by Sparta and thePeloponnesian league.With the withdrawal of these states, a congress was called on the holy island ofDelosto institute a new alliance to continue the fight against the Persians; hence the modern designation "Delian League". According to Thucydides, the official aim of the League was to "avenge the wrongs they suffered by ravaging the territory of the king."[14]

In reality, this goal was divided into three main efforts—to prepare for future invasion, to seek revenge against Persia, and to organize a means of dividing spoils of war. The members were given a choice of either offering armed forces or paying a tax to the joint treasury; most states chose the tax.[14]League members swore to have the same friends and enemies, and dropped ingots of iron into the sea to symbolize the permanence of their alliance. The Athenian politicianAristideswould spend the rest of his life occupied in the affairs of the alliance, dying (according toPlutarch) a few years later in Pontus, whilst determining what the tax of new members was to be.[35]

Members

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Main article:Members of the Delian League

The Delian League, also known as the Athenian Empire, was a collection of Greek city-states largely based around the Aegean Sea which operated under the hegemony of Athens. This alliance initially served the purpose of coordinating a united Greek front against a perceived looming Persian threat against the Ionian city-states which bordered it.[36]The members of the Delian League were made to swear an oath of loyalty to the league and contributed mostly monetarily but in some instances donated ships or other forces.[36]It was also the case that many democratic members of the League owed their freedom from oligarchic or tyrannical rule to Athens. Because of this, Athens gained an overwhelming advantage in the voting system conducted by relying on the support of democratic city-states Athens had helped into being.[37]By 454 Athens moved the treasury of the Delian League from the Island of Delos to the Parthenon in Athens.[36]Benefitting greatly from the influx of cash coming out of the 150-330 members,[37]Athens used the money to reinforce its own naval supremacy and used the remaining funds to embellish the city with art and architecture.[36]In order to maintain the new synoecism, Athens began using its greatly expanded military to enforce membership in the League. City-states who wished to leave the alliance were punished by Athens with force such asMytileneandMelos.No longer considered her allies, Athens eventually began to refer to the members of the Delian League as "all the cities Athens rules."[36]Athens also extended its authority over members of the League through judicial decisions. Synoecism under the Athenian Empire was enforced by resolving matters of and between states in Athens by courts composed of Athenian citizens and enforcing those decisions through the Athenian military.[38]

Composition and expansion

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The Athenian Empire at its height, c. 450 BC.

In the first ten years of the league's existence,Cimon/KimonforcedKarystosinEuboeato join the league, conquered the island ofSkyrosand sent Athenian colonists there.[39]

Over time, especially with the suppression of rebellions, Athens exercisedhegemonyover the rest of the league.Thucydidesdescribes how Athens's control over the League grew:

Of all the causes of defection, that connected with arrears of tribute and vessels, and with failure of service, was the chief; for the Athenians were very severe and exacting, and made themselves offensive by applying the screw of necessity to men who were not used to and in fact not disposed for any continuous labor. In some other respects the Athenians were not the old popular rulers they had been at first; and if they had more than their fair share of service, it was correspondingly easy for them to reduce any that tried to leave the confederacy. The Athenians also arranged for the other members of the league to pay its share of the expense in money instead of in ships and men, and for this the subject city-states had themselves to blame, their wish to get out of giving service making most leave their homes. Thus while Athens was increasing her navy with the funds they contributed, a revolt always found itself without enough resources or experienced leaders for war.[40]

Rebellion

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Naxos

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The first member of the league to attempt to secede was the island ofNaxosin c. 471 BC.[41]After being defeated, Naxos is believed (based on similar, later revolts) to have been forced to tear down its walls along with losing its fleet and vote in the League.

Thasos

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Main article:Thasian rebellion

In 465 BC, Athens founded the colony ofAmphipolison the Strymon river.Thasos,a member of the League, saw her interests in the mines of Mt. Pangaion threatened and defected from the League to Persia. She called to Sparta for assistance but was denied, as Sparta was facing the largesthelotrevolt in its history.[42]

After more than two years of siege, Thasos surrendered to the Athenian leaderAristidesand was forced back into the league. As a result, the fortification walls of Thasos were torn down, and they had to pay yearly tribute and fines. Additionally, their land, naval ships, and the mines of Thasos were confiscated by Athens. The siege of Thasos marks the transformation of the Delian league from an alliance into, in the words of Thucydides, ahegemony.[43]

Policies of the League

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In 461 BC, Cimon wasostracizedand was succeeded in his influence by democrats such asEphialtesand Pericles. This signaled a complete change in Athenian foreign policy, neglecting the alliance with the Spartans and instead allying with her enemies,ArgosandThessaly.Megaradeserted the Spartan-ledPeloponnesian Leagueand allied herself with Athens, allowing construction of a double line of walls across theIsthmus of Corinthand protecting Athens from attack from that quarter. Roughly a decade earlier, due to encouragement from influential speakerThemistocles,the Athenians had also constructed theLong Wallsconnecting their city to thePiraeus,its port, making it effectively invulnerable to attack by land.

In 454 BC, the Athenian generalPericlesmoved the Delian League's treasury from Delos to Athens, allegedly to keep it safe from Persia. However,Plutarchindicates that many of Pericles's rivals viewed the transfer to Athens as usurping monetary resources to fund elaborate building projects. Athens also switched from accepting ships, men and weapons as dues from league members, to only accepting money.

The new treasury established in Athens was used for many purposes, not all relating to the defence of members of the league. It was from tribute paid to the league that Pericles set to building theParthenonon theAcropolis,replacing an older temple, as well as many other non-defense related expenditures. The Delian League was turning from an alliance into an empire.

Wars against Persia

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Main article:Wars of the Delian League
Map showing the locations of battles fought by the Delian League, 477–449 BC.

War with the Persians continued. In 460 BC,Egyptrevolted under local leaders the Hellenes calledInarosandAmyrtaeus,who requested aid from Athens. Pericles led 250 ships, intended to attackCyprus,to their aid because it would further damage Persia. After four years, however, the Egyptian rebellion was defeated by the Achaemenid generalMegabyzus,who captured the greater part of the Athenian forces. In fact, according to Isocrates, the Athenians and their allies lost some 20,000 men in the expedition, while modern estimates place the figure at 50,000 men and 250 ships including reinforcements.[44]The remainder escaped toCyreneand thence returned home.

This was the Athenians' main (public) reason for moving the treasury of the League from Delos to Athens, further consolidating their control over the League. The Persians followed up their victory by sending a fleet to re-establish their control overCyprus,and 200 ships were sent out to counter them underCimon,who returned fromostracismin 451 BC. He died during the blockade ofCitium,though the fleet won a double victory by land and sea over the Persians offSalamis, Cyprus.

This battle was the last major one fought against the Persians. Many writers report that a peace treaty, known as thePeace of Callias,was formalized in 450 BC, but some writers believe that the treaty was a myth created later to inflate the stature of Athens. However, an understanding was definitely reached, enabling the Athenians to focus their attention on events in Greece proper.

Wars in Greece

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Greece at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War

Soon,war with the Peloponnesiansbroke out. In 458 BC, the Athenians blockaded the island ofAegina,and simultaneously defended Megara from the Corinthians by sending out an army composed of those too young or old for regular military service. The following year, Sparta sent an army intoBoeotia,reviving the power ofThebesin order to help hold the Athenians in check. Their return was blocked, and they resolved to march on Athens, where the Long Walls were not yet completed, winning a victory at theBattle of Tanagra.All this accomplished, however, was to allow them to return home via the Megarid. Two months later, the Athenians underMyronidesinvaded Boeotia, and winning theBattle of Oenophytagained control of the whole country except Thebes.

Reverses followed peace with Persia in 449 BC. TheBattle of Coronea,in 447 BC, led to the abandonment of Boeotia.Euboeaand Megara revolted, and while the former was restored to its status as a tributary ally, the latter was a permanent loss. The Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues signed a peace treaty, which was set to endure for thirty years. It only lasted until 431 BC, when thePeloponnesian Warbroke out.

Those who revolted unsuccessfully during the war saw the example made of theMytilenians,the principal people onLesbos.After an unsuccessful revolt, the Athenians ordered the death of the entire male population. After some thought, they rescinded this order, and only put to death the leading 1000 ringleaders of the revolt, and redistributed the land of the entire island to Athenian shareholders, who were sent out to reside on Lesbos.

This type of treatment was not reserved solely for those who revolted. Thucydides documents the example ofMelos,a small island, neutral in the war, though founded by Spartans. The Melians were offered a choice to join the Athenians, or be conquered. Choosing to resist, their town was besieged and conquered; the males were put to death and the women sold into slavery (seeMelian dialogue).

Athenian Empire (454–404 BC)

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By 454 BC, the Delian League could be fairly characterised as an Athenian Empire; a key event of 454 BC was the moving of the treasury of the Delian League from Delos to Athens. This is often seen as a key marker of the transition from alliance to empire, but while it is significant, it is important to view the period as a whole when considering the development of Athenian imperialism, and not to focus on a single event as being the main contributor to it. At the start of thePeloponnesian War,onlyChiosandLesboswere left to contribute ships, and these states were by now far too weak to secede without support. Lesbos tried to revolt first, and failed completely. Chios, the most powerful of the original members of the Delian League save Athens, was the last to revolt, and in the aftermath of theSyracusan Expeditionenjoyed success for several years, inspiring all ofIoniato revolt. Athens was nonetheless eventually able to suppress these revolts.

To further strengthen Athens's grip on its empire, Pericles in 450 BC began a policy of establishingkleruchiai—quasi-colonies that remained tied to Athens and which served as garrisons to maintain control of the League's vast territory. Furthermore, Pericles employed a number of offices to maintain Athens' empire:proxenoi,who fostered good relations between Athens and League members;episkopoiandarchontes,who oversaw the collection of tribute; andhellenotamiai,who received the tribute on Athens' behalf.

Athens's empire was not very stable and after 27 years of war, the Spartans, aided by the Persians and Athenian internal strife, were able to defeat it. However, it did not remain defeated for long. TheSecond Athenian League,a maritime self-defense league, was founded in 377 BC and was led by Athens. The Athenians would never recover the full extent of their power, and their enemies were now far stronger and more varied.[43]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Nelson & Allard-Nelson 2005,p. 197.
  2. ^Roisman & Yardley 2011,Timeline, p. xliii;Martin 2000,pp. 96, 105–106.
  3. ^Roisman & Yardley 2011,18: The Athenian Empire, pp. 246–266.
  4. ^Luttenberger 2017,Chapter VII: "The allies were autonomous and the alliance was asymmachia(defensive/offensive alliance) against Persia [...] It was a dual alliance similar to the Peloponnesian League. Athens was acknowledged hegemon of the League ".
  5. ^abcZagorin 2009,p. 13.
  6. ^Rhodes 2006,p. 18. In ancient sources, there is no special designation for the league and its members as a group are simply referred to with phrases along the lines of "the Athenians and their allies" (seeArtz 2008,p. 2).
  7. ^Luttenberger 2017,Chapter VII: "To the Hellenes it was called" the Athenians and their Allies ".
  8. ^Zagorin 2009,pp. 12–13.
  9. ^abMartin 2000,p. 106.
  10. ^ab"Delian League".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved12 February2024.
  11. ^Martin 2000,pp. 107–108.
  12. ^Martin 2000,p. 107.
  13. ^Keuls 1993,p. 18.
  14. ^abcThucydides.The Peloponnesian War.1.96.
  15. ^Engen 2010,p. 58.
  16. ^Holland 2005,pp. 147–151.
  17. ^Fine 1983,pp. 269–277.
  18. ^Herodotus.The Histories.5.37.
  19. ^Holland 2005,pp. 155–157.
  20. ^Holland 2005,pp. 160–162.
  21. ^abHolland 2005,pp. 175–177.
  22. ^Holland 2005,pp. 183–186.
  23. ^Holland 2005,pp. 187–194.
  24. ^Holland 2005,pp. 202–203.
  25. ^Holland 2005,pp. 240–244.
  26. ^Holland 2005,pp. 276–281.
  27. ^Holland 2005,pp. 320–326.
  28. ^Holland 2005,pp. 342–355.
  29. ^Holland 2005,pp. 357–358.
  30. ^Lazenby 1993,p. 247.
  31. ^Thucydides.The Peloponnesian War.1.89.
  32. ^Herodotus.The Histories.9.114–115.
  33. ^Thucydides.The Peloponnesian War.1.95.
  34. ^abcdHolland 2005,p. 362.
  35. ^Plutarch.Aristeides.26.
  36. ^abcdeStrassler, Robert (1998).The Landmark Thucydides A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War.Free Press. pp. 99–100, 583–588, 617–619.ISBN978-0684827902.
  37. ^abNelson & Allard-Nelson 2005,p. 197.
  38. ^"Pseudo-Xenophon (Old Oligarch), Constitution of the Athenians, chapter 1, section 16".perseus.tufts.edu.Retrieved2021-12-04.
  39. ^Thucydides.The Peloponnesian War.1.98.
  40. ^Thucydides.The Peloponnesian War.1.99.
  41. ^Brand 2020,p. 28.
  42. ^Thucydides.The Peloponnesian War.1.100.
  43. ^abThucydides.The Peloponnesian War.101.
  44. ^Fuller 1954–1957,p. 56.

Sources

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Further reading

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  • Balcer, Jack Martin, ed. (1984).Studien zum Attischen Seebund(in German). Konstanz: Universitätsverlag Konstanz.
  • Balot, Ryan (2009). "The Freedom to Rule: Athenian Imperialism and Democratic Masculinity". In Tabachnick, David Edward; Koivukoski, Toivo (eds.).Enduring Empire: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics.Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 54–68.
  • Larsen, J. A. O. (1940)."The Constitution and Original Purpose of the Delian League".Harvard Studies in Classical Philology.51:175–213.doi:10.2307/310927.JSTOR310927.
  • Meier, Christian(2012).Athen: Ein Neubeginn der Weltgeschichte(in German). Munich: Pantheon.
  • Meiggs, Russell (1972).The Athenian Empire.Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Rhodes, Peter John (1985).The Athenian Empire.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Schuller, Wolfgang (1974).Die Herrschaft der Athener im Ersten Attischen Seebund(in German). Berlin and New York: De Gruyter.
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