Investigating Athens' Treatment of Her Allies

In 477 BC the Delian League was formed as an alliance between Greeks to pay for war expenses (Pericles). The treasury was based in Athens and all members pledged an “eternal alliance under Athenian leadership (Pericles). An audit was agreed upon of each cities financial situation ensuring that each paid their fair share (Pericles). It was further decided that Athens would provide the commander of the Delian League and that person would

It is apparent that the objective of the Iroquois was to socially bond and gradually diffuse their cultures to those in the North American region. However, the Delian League had an isolationist perspective, with the goals of resisting foreign pressures and protecting those admitted into the league. The background leading up the formation of the league composed of political struggles between the Greeks and Persians. The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states under the leadership of Athens. However, a series of Greek revolutions against Persian rule led to further Persian attacks across the land, most notably Xerxes’ second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, taking an enormous army and navy to Greece, letting all of Greece except the Peloponnesus thus having fallen into Persian hands. However, Greece defeated the Persian invasion force in the following year, ending the invasion and the threat to Greece, and hence boosting Greek nationalism and hence the desire to create a

Action from necessity is a constantly recurring theme in Thucydides’ The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. A sentiment used to explain the growth of the Athenian Empire which some Athenians espoused to an assembly at Sparta best quantifies necessity, “. . . we were necessarily compelled at first to advance the hegemony to where it is—especially by fear, and then by honor, and later by benefit.” (Selected Passages 1.75.3). This claim, referred to as the Athenian Thesis, is used to advance the two following implications: all states act with the motivations of fear, honor and interest and no one can condemn a state for doing so. The Athenian Thesis influences the way many of the Athenian elite structure their patterns of reasoning in both noticeable and subtle ways.

The primary goal was to free the Greek poleis under Persian rule and to keep the Persians from attempting anymore invasions. Athens was chosen because they had the largest navy, eventually it was decided that the smaller poleis would pay Athens, who would maintain the fleet and supply laborers, to not just maintain the fleet, but to also staff the fleet.

The success of the Delian League depended on the great advantage they had over Persia which gave them an opportunity to become victorious in their military administration. Their rivals feared the Delian League in battles because of the name they had created for themselves. The Delian League’s first major accomplishment was in 476 BC when they captured Eion. This was a Persian town on the Strymon and crucial to the league because it was the main centre of exchange for expensive materials ( gold, silver, timber and corn) (Cartwright, 2016).

The Athenians used the Delian League to enhance their prestige. They bettered themselves by strengthening their army and weakened other by taking resources for them. The Delian League gave Athens

The Delian League consisted of many city-states all based around the Aegean Sea, such as Cos, Mytilene, Methymna, Rhodes, Byzantium, and many more. The Peloponnesian League was made up of, but not limited to Sparta, Corinth,

After holding back the second Persian invasion during the Greco-Persian war, the Spartan king Pausanias was disgraced, and Sparta withdrew from the war (Thuc.1.95). This allowed Athens to gain leadership in the war, and several years later, establish themselves as leaders within the Delian League (Holland 2005: 362). Throughout the age of the Pentecontaetia (period of fifty years), the League continued its attacks on the Persians. It is during this period that Athens established itself as an empire. As time wore on, the Athenian Empire became more and more powerful, and it is here that they made their first blunder, setting themselves up for a disadvantage in the Peloponnesian War: by extending its power and subjected most of her allies in the Delian

A reading of Thucydides’, Pericles’ Funeral Oration and The Melian Dialogue uncovers both contrasting and comparable viewpoints on Athenian politics, power, aims of war, and empire. Thucydides presents two differing characteristics of Athens, one as the civilizer in Pericles’ funeral oration and the other as an tyrant in the Melian dialogue. In the funeral oration delivered by Pericles during the first year of the war, the Athenian leader emphasizes the idealized personal image of the Athenians in regard to their constitution and good character. Pericles goes on to praise the Athenian democratic institution of Athens that contributes to their cities greatness; in Pericles’s own words, “The Athenian administration favors the many instead of few… they afford equal justice to all of their differences” (112, 2.37). This quote emphasizes the good character of the Athens’ to coax and encourage the Athenians to preserve and better their great empire into the future. On the other hand, in the Melian dialogue, this notion of justice and equality is irrelevant; one, because Athens compared to Melos, is the stronger of the two and thus, is more powerful. Further, Athens, will continue to acquire absolute power and build its empire by conquering Melos and whomever else stands in its way. Through Pericles’ funeral oration and the Melian dialogue, the following conclusions/themes will demonstrate both the changing and somewhat stable nature of Athenian policy with regards to empire,

“The special arrangements made to finance the Athenian-led alliance's naval operations promoted Athenian domination. Aristides set the different levels of dues the various member states were to pay each year, based on their size and prosperity. larger member states were to supply entire warships complete with crews and their pay; smaller states could share the cost of a ship or simply contribute cash, which would be pooled with others' dues to pay for ships and crews. The warship of the time was a narrow vessel built for speed called a trireme, a name derived from its having three stacked banks of oarsmen on each side for propulsion in battle” [3]. The process of which would help to form the Delian League which would simply be a way of which funding and weapons could be purchased and exchanged the strength of the powers with the Persian War that eventually lead to the Peloponnesian War.

Beginning with how the League was set up to support and benefit Athens, the were the president of the Synod (meeting) and tribute collector, this position wasn’t rotated

Most Greek city states were ruled by a small elite group, also known as an aristocratic oligarchy (cite text book). Pericles explains that the Athens government is a democracy because the administration is in the hands of many and not just a few people. This will cause the government to have equal justices exist for all people. This is confirmed by Pericles stating, “When a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as a reward of merit”. This means that a citizen has to earn their privileges, they don’t just get things because of who they are in society. Athens not only takes pride in their government, but is also very proud of their military. Athens considers their military training to be better that their enemies in many ways. The people never try to hide anything from enemies or prevent them from seeing or learning anything that might benefit them. While their enemies are undergoing difficult exercises to make them brave, the people of Athens live the easy life. Although they live the easy life, the people of Athens are equally ready to face the challenges which their enemies face. The people of Athens would rather meet danger with a light heart and not intense training like their neighbors. They also want to do this with courage not enforce by law, but instead gain by habit. When the Lacedaemonians come into Athenian territory they bring their whole confederacy,

For the realization of the strategy in the first part of the war, Athens used all the available elements of national power. The Athens’s strategy, viewed from today 's standpoint, was based on a comprehensive approach to the defense of vital national interests. In other words, military assets were not the only instrument, because the economy played an important role. The economy, in the context of the Athens strategy, should be viewed in a dual role: as a source of power sufficient to bear the cost of long-term warfare and as a means of influencing other actors in the environment, especially Sparta. Sufficient wealth and money enabled Athenians not to defend Aticca and avoid a direct confrontation with superior Spartan forces. The Athens strategy partly rested on the calculation that the costs of the war would provoke the rebellion of Spartan 's allies and also make Sparta give up his intentions. The primary role of their strong Navy was to secure the free trade of the Athens Empire in order to obtain the necessary wealth for the functioning of the state and the payment of the costs of war. In an offensive role, the Navy successfully attacked the coastal areas under the control of Sparta and its

Pericles of Athens has been certain the 30 Years’ Peace would not hold up. So as soon as the Spartans left the land surrounding Athens, thy started building a wall from Athens to Piraeus. This way the Athens wouldn’t have to meet the Spartans on land. It didn’t matter if the Spartans stole and burned their fields because Athens had an entire empire to import food from. As long as the Athenians Navy remained supreme and the Athens doesn’t expand it can keep the city

The establishments of cleruchies had cause much resentment from other Greek states towards Athens. According to Plutarch, this system had relieve “the city of a large number of idlers and agitators and raise the standards of the poorest classes”, but at the same time it implanted amongst the allies “a healthy fear of rebellion”. It also allowed Athens to gain more numbers of hoplites, as only Athenian men with money can become a hoplite soldier. This had increased the military force in Athens and had strengthened Athensʼ hold on her empire, as they were located at strategic points in the Aegean. The worsening relationship between Athensʼ and her allies in the League is due to Athensʼ selfish self interest in developing her imperial power, and this had allow Athens to gradually grow into an empire. This selfish self interest can be seen after the Peace of Callias. At first the aim of the League was, according to Thucydides, ʻto compensate themselves for their losses by ravaging the territory of the King of Persiaʼ, but in 449 BC Persian lost the battle against Cimon in Cyprus and signed a peace treaty called ʻPeace of Calliasʼ. Although this meant that the Leagueʼs aim had been fulfilled, the Athenians argued that the Persians would strike again if the Greeks appeared weak. This argument from Athens had an underlying aim, that was so the Greeks states would not leave