Thucydides Claims

After all the states contributed phoros, Thucydides claims the figure was 460 talents. Many people dispute this number though, because it is claimed that there was only 400 talents in the treasury later on, when the League had more numbers. We shall agree with this figure of 400 though, because according to Ancient History Nerd S.Goddard, Anton Powell “is a guru”. This number includes a substantial contribution from Athens, who were most likely just trying to get the ball rolling and encourage the other states to give plenty to the League. Or was this a ploy to try and get the other states to contribute as much as possible, so Athens would have more money when they took over and became an empire?

The League had to make a challenging decision though about their constitutional and whether they should have a Unicameral or Bicameral vote. Though made up of independent states, the alliance was unequal because Athens supplied the leaders, had the largest fleet and the greatest resources. But, the whole ideal of the Delian League was that they were all ‘autonomous allies’ and without a dictator. With the Unicameral vote, every member, including the hegemon, has one vote in a single chamber and the majority vote prevails. But with the Bicameral vote, there are two chambers, one consisting of the hegemon, the second consisting of the other allies. Each chamber is of equal power, thus policy is only authorised when both chambers vote in favour. The allies decision would be reached by a majority vote in their chamber.[5]