Delian League

Year 12 Ancient History Essay-Athenian Empire

The Delian League started out as an alliance of autonomous Greek states in the fifth century B.C, all facing the common enemy of Persia. Gradually, however, a transformation of the League into an Athenian Empire became apparent, revealed by the increasingly imperialistic attitude and actions of Athens towards her allies. Athens placed herself into this dominating position through both political and economic methods. These actions could be justified by Athens claiming they were for increased security and prosperity of the allies, but nonetheless, they were actions that were greatly beneficial to Athens, enabling her gradual rise to power. The Delian League became a means for Athens to promote her own interests and to increase her domination over other states. After Athens became the obvious leader of an Empire, she maintained her position using the allies’ fear of her strong navy and aggressive, expansionist policies.

The ancient historian, Thucydides is one of the chief sources for studying Athens’ period of supremacy, as he digressed from his main narrative to write about Athenian imperial power between the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars. Thucydides can be seen as quite a reliable source as he lived at the time of these events and used a “scientific” method of investigating facts meticulously and critically examining all evidence. However, care must be taken when examining his writing on Athens’ imperialism, as he left ‘gaps’ in his account, including only events which he thought illustrated his theme. Thus other material, such as Plutarch’s writing on Athenian personalities, is also used, to fill gaps in Thucydides’ account. Plutarch mentioned quite important events which Thucydides omitted, but he was often not critical enough of his sources, and was writing in the first century A.D. Nonetheless, he wrote with great detail and his work is quite useful in learning about events. Archaeological sources from the time, such as epigraphic remains of Athenian Tribute Lists, are obviously the most reliable evidence and can be used to test Thucydides’ view on Athenian imperial power, however their main drawback is their fragmentary nature. Overall, sources related to this period must be used in conjunction with each other for a more accurate portrayal, and compared to modern sources and ideas.

According to Thucydides, the official aim of the Delian League was “to compensate themselves for their losses by ravaging the territory of the King of Persia”. The immediate aim can be said to be an offensive, aggressive war against Persia and the long-term aim of the League, to maintain the freedom of the Greeks by organising a defensive alliance that would be prepared for future attacks by the Persians on their territory. Thucydides’ stated League aims are quite justified, as Persia, despite its defeat, still remained a threat to the Greeks at this time, and Asiatic Greeks were still under Persian control.  Overall, the aims of the League can be seen as both offensive and defensive.