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The Delian League Following the defeat of the Persians at Salamis in 480, led by Athens, the Greeks wanted to form a more permanent alliance (team) just in case the Persians were to return to fight once again. Meetings began on the Greek island of Delos. The result was the Delian League. Most of the members of the Delian league were located on the Aegean Sea, and traded with each other. At its height the Delian League numbered some two hundred members which met annually on Delos. Athens was its undisputed leader and gradually used the alliance and the money generated from it as a launching point for its own ambitious goals. By 454, the League's treasury was moved to Athens. Pericles then used the money to beautify Athens, by building monuments of imperial splendor such as the Parthenon. Athens had become an empire in all but name. Five years later a permanent peace was made with the Persians and its very reason for existing was no longer needed, but by then most of the other members of the alliance had already lost its independence to Athens. But there were citystates that never joined the alliance, like Sparta and its allies. These two groups, one lead by Athens, and the other by Sparta, will eventually lead to the Peloponnesian War, and the decline of both city-states. Answer me this: Was Athens justified/smart in using money from the Delian League to beautify its city? Points to consider: The money was supposed to be used for the Navy, Athens did build and man the ships, Athens was burnt to the ground in the Persian Wars. Support your answer. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ In the 5th century B.C.E., during the Golden Age of Athens, the city-state came to dominate the Aegean world. Through the military and trade alliance of the Delian League, Athens was able to force other city-states to remain loyal to her. In addition, the Athenians required member city-states of the Delian League to pay Athens tribute money – payments of loyalty which amounted to perhaps $200 million in modern day amounts. Alarmed at the forcefulness of Athenian control over many of the Greek city-states, some turned to Sparta, Athens’s chief rival, for protection and direction. The Spartans and their allies banded together in a second powerful confederation called the Peloponnesian League. The leagues came to dominate the Greek peninsula from 454 to 431 B.C.E. These two armed and powerful city-states eventually went to war against one another in a series of conflicts known as the Peloponnesian Wars, beginning in 431. The Athenian monopoly in the Aegean region had caused much strain between Athens and her neighbors. War broke out when a member of the Peloponnesian League, the city of Corinth, became embroiled in a conflict with Athens over trading colonies. At the request of the Corinthians, Sparta and the Peloponnesian League declared war on Athens in 431 B.C.E. Pericles, the ruler of Athens, based his strategy on Athenian sea power. He abandoned the farmlands surrounding the city and moved the farmers and their families into Athens. Everyone was fed imports of grain that came into the Athenian port at Piraeus just five miles away. Since Sparta did not have an adequate navy, it looked as though Athens might be able to hold out forever. However, in 430 B.C.E., a plague broke out in Athens. Many people died, suffering dreadful symptoms such as vomiting, painful sores, and harsh diarrhea. Pericles himself died in 429. Many in the city were afraid they were being punished by their gods through the plague. This affected their confidence in meeting the challenge of the Spartan military on land. The death rate from disease was so high (approximately one-third of the people in Athens died) that the Athenians were unable to adequately man their warships. War continued for another ten years until the Athenians and Spartans agreed to a 50-year truce, or peace, in 421 B.C.E. However, by 415, Athens was up to its old ways again - bullying its neighbors – and the Peloponnesian Wars resumed. In 413 B.C.E., the Spartan army began permanent occupation of the Athenian countryside. The great silver mines of Athens came under Spartan control and 20,000 Athenian slave-miners declared their loyalty to Sparta. Slowly the Athenians were being defeated. In 404 B.C.E., with no powerful leader having replaced Pericles, the Athenians surrendered and were forced by the Spartans and the Peloponnesian League to tear down their defensive walls and reduce their navy to 12 ships. While the Golden Age of Athens came to an end, the city did remain an important cultural center and home to the most famous philosophers in all of ancient Greece, including Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.) and Plato (427-347 B.C.E.). The ideas of Socrates and the writings of his pupil, Plato soon became the cornerstones of Ancient Greek philosophy. Explain This: What was Pericles strategy? How was it supposed to work? What was the result? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Decline of the City-States After the Peloponnesian War, most Greeks began to lose their sense of community. The war had lasted a long time and had cost a great deal of money. People became more interested in making money and having a good time. Soon, bitterness developed between the upper and lower classes within each polis. After the war, Sparta ruled Greece. The Spartans were harsh rulers who angered the other Greeks. As a result, in 371 B.C.E., a group of city-states led by Thebes overthrew Spartan rule. The rule of Thebes, however, was no better than that of Sparta. It weakened the city-states even more. The Greeks were no longer strong enough or united enough to fight off invaders. In 338 B.C.E., Philip II of Macedonia conquered and united Greece, but it would be his son Alexander who would conquer much of the known world, spreading Greek culture throughout it.