Using the evidence of Thucydides and inscriptions, assess the extent to which Athens used her initial dominant position in the Delian League to turn it into an Athenian Empire, in the period 478BC-431BC.
Using the evidence of Thucydides and inscriptions, assess the extent to which Athens used her initial dominant position in the Delian League to turn it into an Athenian Empire, in the period 478BC-431BC.
Thucydides is the chief literary source for this period, and we get a lot of useful information from him, although he was pro-Athenian and this means he may have been a little biased in his writings. In addition to literary evidence we have epigraphical evidence which includes inscriptions and tribute lists. There are other sources too for this period, these others included Diodorus, Aristotle, and Plutarch which I have made reference to, among others.
This is a stone sculpture based on Thucydides.
The Delian league was formed after the Hellenic league dissolved. When the league started it was essentially a voluntary alliance. However, over time, Athens disregarded the original constitution and totally changed her attitude toward her allies. The Hellenic league, consisting of the many cities in Greece, had fought together against Persia, with Sparta as the leader. However, after victory against the Persians, the league split into two. The Peloponnesian league, with Sparta as leaders, and the Delian league, with Athens as leader or Hegaemon. This is an important point. History could have been completely different, and we may never have heard of the Athenian Empire if not for the actions of Pausanias, the Spartan king. He used the fleet for self profit and he treated the allies with disdain. It has to be said that Sparta at this time was an unwilling leader, and they also had their own domestic problem of the Helots. The allies actually wanted Athens to be their leader, so from the outset Athens was regarded as the Hegaemon of the Delian league, although all states were to be considered equal.
"At this time our allies came to us of their own accord and begged us to lead them."
(Thucydides Book 75)
Athens was regarded as leader due to her huge fleet, which was unequalled in the Hellenic world.
"The whole world is divided into two parts, the sea and the land... Of the whole of one part you are in control" (Thucydides Book 78)
The fleet was the commanded by the Athenian, Cimon, son of Miltiades. He was influential in Athens and well liked by Aristides. It must also be noted that Cimon was pro-Spartan. Athens also contributed the most men power, and had links with Ionia. This safeguarded the league from a further Persian attack. The league started with three main aims in mind. The primary aim was to compensate the members of the leagues for losses in the war by ravaging the territories of the King of Persia. To liberate other Greek states, especially those in Ionia, and also to preserve their liberty. They did this by building an allied force to defend Greece. Therefore the objectives were offensive and defensive. Many of the smaller states joined because of the protection they would receive from Athens. From this we can see how Athens, from the outset, used their initial dominant position to transform the league into an empire.
It was agreed that a council, named the Synod, would meet at Delos, to discuss the leagues issues. Each state in the league had a vote on any issue raised. It is not known whether all members had the same voting power, but its most probable Athens controlled the vote. Athens held the position of Chairperson so therefore decided the criteria, which was to be the agenda at each meeting. Delos was to be the headquarters of the league. It was situated midway between Athens and the coast of Asia Minor. It was politically insignificant but was religiously significant- the site was dedicated to the Greek God, Apollo. Delos also had a good harbour. To carry out the aims money was needed. The Athenian Aristides drew up some fair assessments on each member states worth and ability, and then calculated what they could afford to give to the League. They were regarded as fair. These contributions were collected by Athenian officials and went directly to the treasury. The island of Delos also served as a treasury for the league. Each state had the choice of contributing either money or ships to the league. As each state joined the league, they had to swear an oath of loyalty. This meant that they could never leave the league. The states agreed to this because they could not imagine a time when they would not need protection from Persia. This swearing, in perpetuity, involved a ceremony of dropping a large lump of iron into the sea. Just as the iron could never be found again, the state involved could never leave the league. This oath proved to be an important issue for Athens and the rest of the states, as Athens seemed deliberately to tighten her grip on the league by using her greater power to influence the changeover from league to empire.
We get most of the information from Thucydides about the military actions of the league, and how these forces were not always used in the way they should have been. "You can see yourselves how Athens has deprived some states of their freedom and is scheming to do the same thing for others." (Thucydides Book 68)
Some of the first changes occurred in the test cases where some states decided to try and leave the league. Naxos was the first, in 470bc. The Athenians knew that they could not allow anyone to leave the league, so they ...
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We get most of the information from Thucydides about the military actions of the league, and how these forces were not always used in the way they should have been. "You can see yourselves how Athens has deprived some states of their freedom and is scheming to do the same thing for others." (Thucydides Book 68)
Some of the first changes occurred in the test cases where some states decided to try and leave the league. Naxos was the first, in 470bc. The Athenians knew that they could not allow anyone to leave the league, so they besieged Naxos until they subjected them. This is the first state to be made a subject of Athens. From this we learn Athens, as leader of the League, would not hesitate to use force to make sure that the obligations in the constitution were fully met. This is where we can really start to see how Athens is using her initial dominant position to overpower members of the league and subjugated them into an Athenian empire.
"... First case when the original constitution of the league was broken and an allied city lost its independence, and the process was continued in the cases of the other allies as various circumstances arose." (Thucydides Book 98)
The second case was Thasos, four years later, in 465bc. This differed from the first test because trade and gold mines in Thasos caused the dispute, which Athens tried to lay claim to, which was well beyond the leagues concern. The motivation was greed. Thasos was also besieged and brought back into the league. As a punishment Thasos lost the right of having a choice whether to contribute ships or money to the league. It was the second state to be made a Subject State.
"... the Thasians, in the third year of the siege, had to accept the Athenian terms: their walls were demolished and their navy surrendered; they were ordered to pay an indemnity immediately and to pay tribute in future." (Thucydides Book 101)
This is an important point to note. There are now three classes of members in the league, those who are free and contribute money, those who are free and contribute ships and now those who are subject and pay tribute. This meant that the Thasians now had no choice but to pay tribute. This was a significant change to the leagues constitution, because Athens punished Thasos for reasons outside the league's concern. The original constitution itself stated that the aims were to compensate themselves for losses, liberate other Greek states and preserve the members liberty. The hegaemon (Athens) would therefore only be allowed to intervene if one of the above was involved, and as it was a dispute outside the league over something not referred to in the constitution, Athens was not supposed to do anything. This, I believe is very significant, as Athens again were using their dominant position within the league to transform it into an Athenian empire. I believe Thucydides makes a good point.
"the alliance of Ionians and other racially connected with Athens voluntarily accepted Athenian leadership so as to take vengeance on the Persians; but the Athenians brought them all under control, accusing some of refusal of military service, others of fighting among themselves bringing foreword in fact, any specious excuse to fit each particular case." (Thucydides Book 103)
Another change we can see gradually developing, is enforced military service. There is evidence from inscriptions regarding this matter. It is in the form of a list of Athenian war dead from the fighting in 454bc. There is even more convincing evidence in Thucydides concerning the Egyptian campaign. Athens claimed that their use of allies in the wars in Egypt was justified by the constitution of the league because Egypt was rebelling against Persia. However, in reality, the war in Egypt was too far away to concern the league, and Athens was breaking the constitution by imposing military service on the league. Thucydides also tells us the allies were involved in the Athenian defeat at the battle of Tanagra. The Spartans defeated them and the soldiers were therefore fighting against states other than Persia. This enforced military service is quite an important change as it shows that the Athenians were forcing their allies to fight in battles outside the leagues aims.
In 454bc we witness what is essentially the league's biggest change in the treatment of her allies, Athens totally changed the original constitution of the league yet again. After suffering defeat in Egypt, Athens decided to move the treasury from Delos to Athens, the League treasury became part of the Athenian treasury. We get good evidence of this from Diodorus. "The Athenians who were holding on to their command of the sea, conveyed to Athens the money collected for common use in Delos, a sum of about 8,000 talents, and handed it over to Pericles' keeping." (Diodorus) The Synod never met again because Athens made all decisions. Athens took complete control over the league's funds. They did this by using their initial dominant position and the league had now become the Athenian Empire.
This was a major turning point in Athens treatment of her allies and the original constitution of the league was now completely disregarded. Having created her empire, Athens started to tighten her control to make sure she could keep it. The first thing she did was to make her allies swear a new oath of loyalty. We can see this from the following inscriptions. "I will perform my duties as councillor to the best of my ability and faithfully to the people of Erythrae and of Athens and her allies. I will not revolt from the people of Athens, nor will I permit others to do so." (The Erythrae Decree) Athens also started to set up democratic governments in most of the allied states. These were based on her own system. Councillors were selected by lot and could be prosecuted for not taking up office if elected. An inscription reads, "I shall neither desert nor disrupt the democracy of Colophon." (The Colophon decree) This favour of the democratic system is because Athens believed oligarchic governments caused revolts among the allies. In general, the democratic governments would not cause Athens any problems. Another measure introduced by Athens was the setting up of garrisons in states that had rebelled. The garrison was meant to discourage any other rebellions and also to help protect the inspectors (Episkopoi), sent to these states by Athens.
Also Athens forced her allies to change to a common coinage and weights system in the Coinage decree. If they refused, they would be excluded from trade. Many of the allies felt bitter at this change and felt they were losing their identity and just becoming a part of Athens Empire. Half the coinage was left in the cities to keep trade going but was to go to Athens within five months for reminting. The final change in this period was Athens insistence that all major legal cases be heard in Athens, by her own law courts.
All these methods of tightening control by the Athenians represented a major change in Athens treatment of her allies. She had changed the Delian league into an Empire and now she introduced measures to make sure she could hold onto it, thus increasing her initial dominant position.
Athens introduced Cleruchies into strategic parts of the empire. These were settlements of land in the empire, which were settled by lower class Athenian citizens. These settlements mostly benefited the lower class Athenians as it helped them profit and become a member of the class of Hoplites. This caused bitterness among the allies as their best land was taken from them and given to these Athenian citizens. They were also used as spies, who reported all they seen or heard to garrison commanders in their area.
Map of Greece and Ionia showing which states were allied to each other and also the neutral states.
The year 449bc marked another turning point in Athens treatment of her allies. Athens signed the peace of Callias, which was a peace treaty with Persia. As shown in the original constitution, one of the league's main aims was to protect the allies from Persia. As the treaty of Callias effectively removed the threat from Persia many allies considered the league's aims complete and felt they should be allowed to leave. Athens however was not prepared to give up her empire. This is definitely an important point in the treatment of her allies as it showed the entire original purposes of the league were fulfilled. But Athens was going to hold on whether the allies liked it or not. In 448, however, almost no tribute was collected from the allies. Some states paid, others paid late and others didn't pay at all. This showed the allies were not prepared to continue with the league and pay tribute to Athens now that the league was pointless. Athens was determined to hold the allies to their permanent oath and in 447bc the Cleinian decree declared that allies had to continue paying tribute and that tribute ships would be sent out to allied states to collect it. Seals were arranged to be put on the tributes thus no defrauding could have taken place. "They are to arrange seals for the cities in order to make it impossible for those bringing the tribute to defraud. The cities are to record on a tablet the tribute which it is sending, and after sealing it with the seal, it is to send it to Athens." (Cleinias Decree)
Force would be used to get the tribute if payment was refused. This reinstates the importance of tribute for Athens. The effectiveness of this decree is shown as the following year, the allies started to pay again! And the year after that, all money owed was paid back. We know this from the tribute lists in Athens, which show what was paid each year. It is very useful as we can tell between 454 and 445BC there is considerable flocculation in the number of cities paying. From this, to get back to the question, we can see that Athens was again using their dominant position to create and hold their empire.
Pericles, worried at the allies' desires to leave, decided to tighten up control further in 446bc. He issued the Chalcis decree. This declared that all allies must promise not to revolt, promise to pay tribute and be obedient to Athens. This is highly significant, as the oath of loyalty now does not mention the allies. Also it states that all states must provide military aid to Athens if required. "I will defend the Athenian demos if anyone wrongs them." (Chalcis Decree Lines 22 and 23)
These two decrees, the Cleinian and the Chalcian, clearly show that the original members of the Delian league were now part of the Athenian empire. These changes were put in place to make sure all allies would continue to obey Athens and pay their tribute. The only genuine allies were the ship contributors, like Lesbos, Samos and Chios.
The same year, 446bc Athens, however, made a reduction in the tribute. This was the only positive change in the treatment of the allies. It was a small change and was not much comfort for the allies. What has to be noted is the link between ship contributing states and autonomy. States that contributed money generally lost their autonomy, and states like Samos, Lesbos and Chios who contributed ships kept their autonomy. Thucydides made a highly significant point " For this position it was the allies themselves who were to blame. Because of this reluctance of theirs to face military service, most of them, to avoid serving abroad, had assessments made by which, instead of producing ships, they were to pay a corresponding sum of money. The result was that the Athenian navy grew strong at their expense, and when they revolted they always found themselves inadequately armed and inexperienced in war." (Thucydides Book 99)
So in the year 440bc there were only three genuine allies left, Samos, Chios and Lesbos, all contributing ships. "After the Athenians had been persuaded of this, and had gained their empire, they treated their allies rather dictatorially, except for Chios, Lesbos and Samos. These they regarded as guards of the Empire, allowing them to keep their own constitution and to rule over any subjects they happened to have." (Aristotle) Athens had overcome all other states within the league swallowing them all up into a huge Empire, in a quite simple fashion, overcoming the weaker states first, and then the bigger ones over different periods of time. "As for the Athenians we know their methods and how they gradually encroach upon their neighbours." (Thucydides Book 69)
In 440, Samos was arguing with Miletus over Priene. Miletus appealed to Athens and Athens sided with Miletus. Byzantium joins Samos in the revolt. After nine months of siege, Athens razed the walls, took ships and hostages and demanded war indemnity of 1400 talents. Byzantium was also made a subject state again. We can tell from Thucydides that a time of prosperity occurred after this time, and also shows us the extent of Athenian power at this time. "In these years the Athenians made their empire more and more strong, and greatly added to their own power at home." (Thucydides Book 118) Athens had used their initial dominant position yet again, this time to humble even the strongest members.
Pericles speaking to the Athenians in 430, justifies his war policy: "For the Empire you now hold is a kind of tyranny; it may have been wrong to take it, but to let it go is dangerous." (Thucydides.) This is important. This is almost an admission of Athenian wrong doing towards the allies.
Athens did not set out to form an empire. The taking over of Athens' allies happened over a period of time. There is no single date for when the league turned into an empire, it happened gradually. Athens just continued to dominate. They felt it was not safe to let allies secede, so using her dominant position, they held the empire together using force when necessary. Thucydides "It was the actual course of events which first compelled us to increase our power to its present extent. Fear of Persia was our chief motive." "...At this point it was clearly no longer safe for us to risk letting our empire go, especially as any allies that left us would go over to you." (Thucydides Book 75)
When she assumed leadership of the Delian League, Athens' intentions were for the most part honourable. In the first few years of her hegemony she accomplished extraordinary feats, forcing the Persians from Greece. However, she also experienced a huge influx of money from the league's members to pay for it's naval forces. The Athenians grew used to a higher standard of living, due to the money and food now flowing into the city. The prestige and power of their city was advantageous to them all. Athens was reliant on imported corn to support her growing population: the money now flowing into her coffers enabled her to do just that. Income from tributes and pillaging from the empire came to more than a thousand talents a year, while confiscated land and colonies provided livelihoods for many Athenians. The money from the empire was used support the navy, construct magnificent public buildings, and support the city's poor. The empire created jobs as well: almost everyone served in the navy at one point or another. Their initial dominant position of course, was a key factor in the setting up of the Athenian Empire, but it is also easy to see if certain states had joined together when seceding, instead of revolting singly, the Athenian Empire would have collapsed.
Everyone in the city benefited from the empire, so it is not surprising that democratic Athens elected to keep the money flowing in when the league succeeded in eliminating the Persian threat. While justifying their actions to the Peloponnesians, Athenian representatives said: "We have done nothing surprising, nothing contrary to human nature, if we accepted leadership when it was offered and are now unwilling to give it up." (Thucydides)
Again unsurprisingly, Athens did use her initial dominant position to turn the Delian League into an Athenian Empire, thus after creating it, they also held it together using their dominant position.
Word Count: 3581
Bibliography
* The Peleponnesian War - Thucydides Book 66-125
* History Of Greece - Hammond
* The Athenian Empire- S. Hornblower and M. Greenstock
* The Constitution of Athens - Aristotle
* Microsoft Encarta
* The Athenians and their Empire- McGregor
* Ancient Greece - Pamela Bradley
* Cleinias Decree
* Chalcis Decree
* Colophon Decree
* Erythrae Decree
* http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GREECE/DELIAN.HTM
* http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/eb11-delianleague.html
Page1 Name: Christopher Convery. Candidate. No: 7138 Centre No: 71619
AS Classical Civilisation Course Work
