Formation of the Delian League
The Greek cities of the Aegean formed an alliance against Persia in 478 BC and it became an Athenian empire within thirty years. The Spartan commander of the allied fleet, Pausanias, had made himself intolerable, and the Ionian and island states asked Athens to take the leadership instead. The terms were reasonable. Each member contributed ships or money, the treasury was on the sacred island of Delos, and assessments were made by Aristides with such fairness that he was called the Just. The object was to continue the war against Persia and to compensate for what had been lost. Three things converted it. Members that preferred to pay rather than build ships found that Athens built the ships, which meant that Athens acquired the fleet and they acquired dependence; members that attempted to leave, beginning with Naxos in about 470 BC, were besieged and reduced to tribute-paying subjects; and the treasury was moved to Athens in 454 BC, on the argument that Delos was unsafe. A sixtieth of the tribute was thereafter paid to Athena, and the building programme on the Acropolis was financed from it. Cases involving allies were tried in Athenian courts, garrisons and settlers were planted, and coinage and weights were standardised on the Athenian model by decree. Thucydides has Athenian speakers describe it frankly as a tyranny, held because letting it go had become dangerous. Sparta went to war over it in 431 BC. The tribute lists survive because a sixtieth went to Athena and was inscribed on stone in Athens year by year. They are among the best fiscal records from antiquity, and they exist because the city wanted a permanent public account of money it was taking from its allies.
- Year: 478 BCE
- Category: Political
