History Of The Delian League

1108 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Political and military of Athens and Sparta

The Delian league, founded in 478 BC, was originally formed not only to defend against the Persians, but to strike back against them. With Sparta reluctant to spearhead this effort, it fell to Athens to take the position as leader of these united Greeks. The Delian league began as a peaceful and voluntary union, however it was not long before Athens began using the league resources for personal gain and started conquering regions, forcing them to join, and pay tribute. This marks the transition from a democracy to an empire, and ultimately the beginning of the end for Athens. The people of the Delian league were not happy with this and many rebelled. Although these rebellions did not initially succeed, they did weaken the empire and contribute
However, many Greeks were still vulnerable and many felt they needed to strike back against Persia for what they had done. These city states met and formed the Delian league, because Athens had been one of the most active city states in fending off the Persians it was decided that they would lead the Delian league. In the early years of the Delian League Athens prepared for an invasion by building the long walls, building up the navy, and securing more members for the Delian league. Initially the members of the Delian League contributed men, ships, and money to be used for their defense, however, eventually Athens would only collect money from its members. All of these preparations made Sparta nervous, because they thought Athens was preparing for war. This ultimately did lead to the first Peloponnesian War in 460
Although at first it seems like it is empowering to women, it seems to me to instead be implying that it would take something so incredibly ridiculous to bring an end to the war. During the play the women are very critical of what is going on and although the play is a comedy it condemns the war and shows that the people are sick of the real war and they just want their family members to come home so they can live in peace. It is also an interesting insight to think not only of the play but the people watching it and the times that it was performed in. It is not surprising that a comedy would do so well at this time as opposed to a tragedy, when people were tired of the constant war in real life and going to a play could have been a nice escape from

Show More
Related

  • Investigating Athens' Treatment of Her Allies

    4008 Words  | 9 Pages

    Investigating Athens' Treatment of Her Allies During the period of 478-431, Athens’ treatment of her allies changed dramatically as she rose to become the leader of an empire. The establishment of the Delian League marked the beginning of a significant series of events, which lead to Athens’ rise to extreme power. From the evidence of Thucydides and the inscriptions, it is possible to track the progress of these events and the rapidly changing treatment that Athens enforced upon her allies. The Delian League was an establishment formed in 478 BC. A large number of Greek cities formed an alliance under this league and together aimed to provide a strong defence against Persia, under the leadership of Athens.

    Read More

  • How And Why the NAACP and The National Urban League were more than Civil Rights Organizations Up To 1930

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    How and why were the NAACP and the National Urban League more than civil rights organisations? Consider the period up to 1930.

    Read More

  • The Old Oligarch: Revealing Athens as a World Class City

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    "It might be suggested the ability of the allies to pay tribute is the strength of Athens" (The Old Oligarch, I, 15). Indeed. It is this characteristic in particular of the Delian League that leads it to be rightfully called the Athenian Empire. If each state had maintained its own fleet, and sent it to join the League in its expeditions, they would have held on to a significant measure of independence. Instead, a critically large enough portion of the league members abdicated control over their own military (by their own choice or by force) and simply paid cash to Athens, giving that city the ability to maintain an empire through the use of military might.

    Read More

  • Athens: The Superior Polis Compared to Sparta

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    Athens was a much more superior polis compared to Sparta because the Athenians invented new ideas and creations that supported the people, such as democracy, the Athenians led the Delian League, and Sparta created the Peloponnesian League after the Athenians created their alliance, and the Athenians changed the ways of their government many times to suit the people, and the Spartans did not.

    Read More

  • Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Peloponnesian War

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) was a conflict between the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta that resulted in the end of the Golden Age of Athens. The events of the war were catalogued by the ancient historian Thucydides in The History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides’ writings showed the ancient Greek belief that there is a parallel between the city-state and the character of its citizens; in order for the city-state to be successful, its citizens must be virtuous. Thucydides did not believe that the true cause of the Peloponnesian War were the immediate policies of the Athenian Empire against the city-states in the Peloponnesian League but rather the fundamental differences in the character of the two city-states

    Read More

  • Peloponnesian War Essay

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Peloponnesian War consisted of two equal but different powers in control of Greece, Athens and Sparta. Athens and Sparta were in 480 BC when they both received an independent state of living from the Persians. The Athenians had a phenomenal navy as well as being heavy into commerce and trade by using the waterways. The Spartans lead gracefully in the agriculture community which boosted them as well as having a stupendous army. As you can tell, both powers are complete opposites, which made them bot...

    Read More

  • The Peloponnesian War

    2333 Words  | 5 Pages

    The roots of the Peloponnesian war can be traced long before 431 BCE, when it officially started. It can be traced back to as early as the Persian Wars, where the Athenians had found their home burned by the hands of the Persians. That disaster left the Athenians with no home and no sanctuary. Even though that was a defeated battle amidst a victorious war, they still had reason to believe that the Persians will come back for more. Apprehensive at the thought of having their city burned yet another time, the Athenians knew they had to do something. Naturally, they chose to get help. Gathering up the neighboring city-states around them, the Athenians formed the Delian League; an alliance working directly to defend the whole of Greece from Persian attacks (Kagan 8). In the beginning, this worked out well; everybody got their say on what went on in the league, and everybody was satisfied. However, the Athenians saw that if they were to take more power, the members of the league would not be strong enough to resist. Therefore, that was exactly what they did; they took more and more power until what was the Delian League became the Athenian Empire (Kagan 8). As they grew even more powerful and wealthy, their neighbors of Sparta and the Peloponnesian League, Sparta's alliance, could not help but notice (Kagan 13). In 431 BCE, lighted b...

    Read More

  • The Causes and Effects of the Peloponnesian War

    1350 Words  | 3 Pages

    When examining the causes for the Peloponnesian War, which was between 431-404 B.C., there are a number of causes that factored into the cause of this war. However, one of the most important causes to this war was largely due to the fact that the Spartans feared the growing power and success of Athens. The Spartans were “particularly alarmed at the growing power of Athens” (Cartwright, “Peloponnesian War”). During the Persian war in 479 BC, Athens grew fiercely strong with power with help of its many allies and continued with their no mercy attacks on Persian territories. When the Persians left Greece, Athens further enraged Sparta when they built large and tall walls around its empire in the event of an attack, which was mostly thought to be from Sparta if it happened.

    Read More

  • Feminist in Susan Glaspell´s Play Trifles

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Susan Glaspell uses literary elements that show the readers the feminist theme in the play. The use of characters in this play really shows the feminist theme the most. Men in this play clearly demonstrates how men wer...

    Read More

  • Peloponnesian War Essay

    2197 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Peloponnesian War is the conflict between the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, and the Delian League, led by Athens. Much of our knowledge on the causes and events of the Peloponnesian War, depends on the Athenian Thucydides 460-400 BC, writer of the History of the Peloponnesian War. He served as an Athenian commander in Northern Greece during the early years of the war until the assembly exiled him as he lost an outpost to the enemy. During this exile, he was able to interview witnesses on both sides of the conflict. Unlike Heredotus, he concentrated on contemporary history and presented his account of the war in an annalistic framework that only occasionally diverts from chronological order.

    Read More

  • Within a Doll's House

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    To sum it up both of these plays share the same broad message conveyed throughout the entire play. Which includes, women have the capabilities to do more than they show and are allowed to do. As well as the relationship men and women share is not constant, or the same, there are many different views on the relationship they share and many different variations that change as time progresses. Furthermore the rights of women also change with much time, and hard work by many women who have worked hard for their rights and future rights of all women. Some of this can lead to these two plays, giving new, bold ideas that were frightening for many during their times but helped for the push for a better tomorrow.

    Read More

  • Madea Enter Analysis

    1332 Words  | 3 Pages

    I liked the play, because I believe this play was very mature and feminism was one of the themes in that play that was some how accepted.

    Read More

  • Essay On Democracy And Athenian Democracy

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Athenian government was a democratic government, which means it was ruled by the people to vote and have a voice in society. The democracy was slowly formed by leaders Solon and Cleisthenes. Solon took over when Athens was in political turmoil. He introduced new reforms to forgive debts, outlaw new loans, free people that

    Read More

  • Essay on Satire in Lysistrata

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... convey deeper themes of life and death, the struggles between power and class structure and also the societal differences between men and women.  Aristophanes uses humor to hook his audience into his play, and then undermines the surface humor with much bigger thematic issues.  If this play had simply been about women withholding sex for other reasons such as wanting more money for shopping or other frivolous ideas it would not then be considered a satiric comedy.  Satire requires more than physical humor.  An issue must be raised such as the life and death theme that is seen in the war in Lysistrata, and a solution must then be made.  Aristophanes created the women in the beginning to be bickering, unintelligent, and self-centered people.  But in the end it was their idea and compromise that ended the war.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Gertrude And Ophelia

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    This fact plays a crucial role in the mood of the play. If the reader understands history, they also understand that women did not really amount to any importance, they were perceived more as property.

    Read More

More about History Of The Delian League

Open Document