•

allies requested that Athens take over the leadership of the voluntary confederation the Delian League

•

main goals of the Delian League

•

1. defense against Persia

•

2. equality and autonomy for all members

•

3. annual contributions from each member-state

•

Athens was first among equals

•

had the conditions set up to come to dominate

•

Athenian ability to build and man these ships reflects the democratic presence of free labor

•

slave labor, not slave labor

•

Athens had many men who were able and willing to do this kind of work

•

gave them an advantage over other states

•

Athens between Persian War and Peloponnesian War with Sparta

•

almost all states are either islands or on the coast

•

year-round presence of the fleet was a new condition for warfare

•

what happens next is difficult to disentangle

•

sources

•

Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War

•

a compressed account of what happened between Persian and Peloponnesian wars

•

leaves out many important issues

•

inscriptions

•

literary evidence

•

the Athenian tragedians

•

later writers

•

Cimon

•

personable, skillful Athenian general

•

Persians had been preparing to put together a new attacking force

•

469-466 Cimon leads a fleet to Eurymedon, south coast of Turkey

•

wins a smashing victory

•

467 BC island of Naxos decided to leave the league

•

perhaps thought the Persian threat was not significant anymore

•

had contributed ships rather than money

•

the Athenians surround Naxos with league ships

•

annual contributions were changed from ships to cash

•

in North Aegean, island of Thasos

•

Archilochus described with such distaste

•

"bristling like a donkey's back, what an ugly island"

•

465 BC Athenians get into quarrel into island fo Thasos regarding access to some rich gold mines on the mainland

•

a kind of private quarrel, heavy handed by Athens

•

Thasos appeals to Sparta for help

•

Spartans had been watching Athenian military growth and movements with alarm

•

Spartans seemed to help

•

464 BC huge earthquake in Sparta

•

helots rebelled

•

used disruption of earthquake to fight for their freedom

•

ironically, the Spartan asked the Athenians to come help them against the uprising

•

Cimon sent help to Sparta as a former ally of Athens

•

troop of 4000 hoplites sent to help Sparta, however, was sent home

•

Sparta perhaps worried about Athenian democratic proclivities

•

Cimon forced to go back, was an insult to him

•

462 BC Pericles

•

engineered a reform with Ephialtes [Ἐφιάλτης]

•

early leader of the democratic movement

•

oversaw reforms that diminished the power of the Areopagus, a traditional bastion of conservatism

•

control

•

461 BC Cimon ostracized

•

he had been pro Sparta

•

free Delian league becomes a collection of Athenian-dominated, tribute-paying allies

•

Athenian tribute lists

•

mid 450s: Athenians moved the treasure from Delos to Athens

•

kept meticulous records of how much each state paid each year

•

allows us to tract relations within the league

•

ships

•

Athens tended to support democratic factions

•

exercised legal control

•

trials had to be held in Athens even if they involved citizens from a league state

•

economic control

•

controlled trade with their navy

•

forced league states to use Athenian coins, weights, and measures

•

psychologically and economically significant

•

established colonies, or cleruchy

•

not same as colonies in archaic age of Greece

•

meant to be Athenian outposts constantly in contact with and beholden to the mother city

•

political, legal and economic control

•

major events during this era

•

478 BC: foundation of Delian League

•

469-466 BC: Battle of Eurymedon, Cimon victor

•

467 BC: attempt at secession by Naxos

•

465 BC: Athens vs. Thasos

•

464 BC: Spartan earthquake and helot revolt

•

462 BC: reform of the Areopagus

•

461 BC: Ostracismof Cimon

•

460-445 BC: First Peloponnesian War

•

460 BC: Athenians allied with the state of Megara

•

strategically very important

•

Corinthians were outraged

•

formed alliances with Peloponnesian states

•

no major battles

•

a series of bloody and inconclusive skirmishes

•

Athenian domination over the League was getting more complete

•

resistance to Athenian domination by Corinth and Thebes mounting

•

emerged in Athens one of the most powerful leaders: Pericles