Investigating Athens' Treatment of Her Allies

4008 Words9 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Rise and fall of ancient athens

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. It also had intentions to push the war between

Greece and Persia back into enemy territory. The treasury and

headquarters of the league was situated at Delos, an island mid-way

between Athens and Asia Minor with a good harbour. It was also the

centre of Ionian worship for the god Apollo.

Originally, Sparta had been given the role of hegemonia (leadership),

but due to the arrogant treatment of the allies by the king Pausanias,

this role was handed over to Athens. Thucydides accounts that the

allies saw this as a great advantage – ‘Because of their dislike for

Pausanias, [the allies] were glad to see her [Athens] do so’. Yet this

seems terribly ironic considering the events that followed Athens’

promotion of leadership.

Athens first task as leader was to assess the various forms of finance

that were crucial to the league. It required a strong fleet of ships

and strong funds in order to function. According to Thucydides, t...

... middle of paper ...

...henian who had lead the siege against

Samos, realised this but also appreciated the dangers of changing this

tactic all together – ‘Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have

been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go’. To

this extent, it is reasonable that Athens should use such extreme

measures, as it seemed to be the only way in which she could uphold

her power and keep her allies close. Yet by doing so she had

transformed the original aims of the Delian League entirely, which had

a purpose to promote freedom and independence. In the later cases of

Corinth and Megara, it was Athens unwillingness to agree on

independence that triggered the Peloponnesian War. In effect, I

believe that Athens had helped to end a war, onto to start another

whilst in pursuit of her personal desire for imperialism.

Show More
Related

  • Naval Athens and the Rise of Athenian Democracy

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is no coincidence that the rise of Athenian Democracy goes chronologically hand in hand with the rise of the Athenian Navy. Following the defeat of the Persians by the Greeks, Athens’ naval successes allow it to surpass the previous naval power of Corinth; create the Delian league to fund and support this navy; and eventually ruffle enough feathers with their fellow Hellenic neighbours that they inspire the Peloponnesian war. Overall their naval reputation and intimidation comes from the skill of the men who maneuver and command the ships, and the tool they use to wield their power, the Athenian trireme. By looking at the design of the trireme, and the work and numbers put both into the ship and the men that drive it, hopefully both the wealth and skill of the Athenian navy can be appropriately highlighted. In the end, it is this immense power and resources that allow the Athenians to overstep their limits and caused such demoralizing defeats such as the expedition at Syracuse and the eventual loss of the Peloponnesian war, after which they prove unable to grow to the same undefeated sea power they were.

    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

  • The Peloponnesian War and the Decline of Leadership in Athens

    3378 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Peloponnesian War and the Decline of Leadership in Athens Thucydides set out to narrate the events of what he believed would be a great war—one requiring great power amassed on both sides and great states to carry out. Greatness, for Thucydides, was measured most fundamentally in capital and military strength, but his history delves into almost every aspect of the war, including, quite prominently, its leaders. In Athens especially, leadership was vital to the war effort because the city’s leaders were chosen by its people and thus, both shaped Athens and reflected its character during their lifetimes. The leaders themselves, however, are vastly different in their abilities and their effects on the city. Thucydides featured both Pericles and Alcibiades prominently in his history, and each had a distinct place in the evolution of Athenian empire and the war it sparked between Athens and Sparta.

    Read More

  • Thucydides: Fear, Honor, And Interest

    273 Words  | 1 Pages

    Thucydides was right to claim that all wars can be explained by Fear, Honor, and Interest. All Wars are related to the three characteristics as stated by Dr. Nation (Dr. Nation video). The Athenians thought process was that the weak would be ruled by the strong and that was the nature of conflict (Strassler p. 43). Looking at the Peloponnesian war itself will illustrate how fear, honor and interest were involved with how this war developed. The initial unnamed Athenian that made that statement was probably using it to deter war with Sparta when it mostly incited the war (Dr. Nation Video). The Athenians wanted to maintain and sustain their city state but also expand it. They were expanding through their alliances and this is what invoked the

    Read More

  • Pericles’s Funeral Oration and Greek Society

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    Athens government and military is considerably different from their neighbors. According to Pericles, Athens government is not a copy of our neighbors...

    Read More

  • Political Differences Between Sparta And Athens

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the Persian War, Sparta and Athens worked together to defeat the Persians. The discipline and strength of Spartan Army helped saved Greece from invasion. Afterwards Sparta and Athens alliances were formed. Athenians had superior naval force and enforced the democratic rule in states allied to Athens. Neighboring allied states depended on the trade provided by Athens navy. In the same time Athens had established themselves as the head of the empire. (Lecture 7 notes). Sparta had superior land army and they destroyed Athens crops in order to have a hold on Athens and force them to surrender. The war lasted 10 years with neither side winning the war. At the end they agreed to a truce. A few years later, Athens tried to conquer Sicily, but the Sicilians defeated Athens. Athens lost much of its army and navy. The Spartans took advantage of this weakness and attacked Athens and cut of their trade routes and food supplies. Spartans won and Sparta became the most powerful city in

    Read More

  • The Delian and The Peloponnesial Leagues

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Delian League was an empire that included most of the island and coastal states around the northern and eastern shores of the Aegean Sea. As a result of this, Athens had a strong navy. Athens was also financially prepared for war, owning a large fund they had amassed from the regular tribute paid to them from their empire.

    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

  • Significance of Pericles' Death

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    As can be expected from pioneer governmental institutions, Athenian democracy was not perfect. In fact it was far from it. It resulted in the establishment of poor policies by aggressive populists who sought "...private ambition and private profit...which were bad both for the Athenians themselves and their allies." (Thucydides). These self interested populist leaders with personal gain in mind established extensive internal political instability "...by quarrelling among themselves [and] began to bring confusion into the policy of the state." (Thucydides). Repeated opportunities to accept terms of peace after the battles of Pylos (425), Arginusae (406) and Aegospotami (405) were ignored by the inefficient Athenian demos eventually resulting in the devastation of the once dominant city-state. Internal political strife can also be attribu...

    Read More

  • Propaganda and National Pride in Building the Parthenon

    2500 Words  | 5 Pages

    The relatively basic buildings of Athens must have crushed the pride of the people, however, due to the oath taken at Plataea not to rebuild any of the temples, the people remained humbled by their modest buildings in their cities. Some of the states in Greece joined together in a league to sustain a navy that could protect them from more attacks from the Persians. The money given by each of the states was kept at a treasury in Delos, the Greeks then referred to the band of states as the Delian League. Eventually, it became obvious that Athens would be the leaders of the league and so the money was transferred to Athens. After rebuilding and fortifying the city, the Athenians made peace with Persia in 449BC.

    Read More

  • The Peloponnesian War

    2333 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout the Ancient Greek world, there have been many wars and standoffs. However, there has been only one which changed the course of Greek history forever; the Peloponnesian War. Caused by the growing tension between Athens and Sparta, it came and left, leaving only destruction in its wake. The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War caused the downfall of Greece, and the end of the Classical Age.

    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

  • An Analysis of Thucydides' Views on the Melian Dialogue

    1591 Words  | 4 Pages

    We have now examined Thucydides' strongest arguments for Athenian rule. It is clear that Athens had a stronger claim to rule than the Melians had to remain sovereign. We also know that Athens' claims hold up when we examine them for validity. Thucydides beliefs in Athens' claims were therefore well founded.

    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

  • Analysis of the Peloponnesian War

    1502 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...s of the war itself, there are a number of crucial points which set the course of the tide, and I have tried to illustrate those which I consider to be most important and influential. In any case, it seems that if Athens would have continued with the policy of Pericles, she might not have been so weakened by the destruction of her superior naval forces, which, it seems, can largely be accounted for by Alcibiades and his supporters.

    Read More

More about Investigating Athens' Treatment of Her Allies

Open Document