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Delian League by Mark Cartwright published on 04 March 2016
The Delian League (or Athenian League) was an alliance of Greek city-states led
by Athens and formed in 478 BCE to liberate eastern Greekcities from Persian rule and
as a defence to possible revenge attacks from Persia following the Greek victories
at Marathon, Salamis, andPlataea in the early 5th century BCE. The alliance of over
300 cities would eventually be so dominated by Athens that, in effect, it evolved into the
Athenian empire. Athens became increasingly more aggressive in its control of the
alliance and, on occasion, constrained membership by military force and compelled
continued tribute which was in the form of money, ships or materials. Following Athens’
defeat at the hands of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE the League was
dissolved.
MEMBERSHIP & TRIBUTE
The name Delian League is a modern one, the ancient sources refer to it as simply ‘the
alliance’ (symmachia) or ‘Athens and its allies’. The name is appropriate because the
treasury of the alliance was located on the sacred island of Delos in the Cyclades. The
number of members of the League changed over time but around 330 are recorded in
tribute lists; sources which are known to be incomplete. The majority of states were
from Ionia and the islands but most parts of Greece were represented and later there
were even some non-Greek members such as the Carian city-states. Prominent
members included: Aegina, Byzantium, Chios, Lesbos, Lindos, Naxos, Paros, Samos,
Thasos, and many other cities across the Aegean, in Ionia, the Hellespont, and
Propontis.
Initially members swore to hold the same enemies and allies by taking an oath. It is
likely that each city-state had an equal vote in meetings held on Delos. Members were
expected to give tribute (phoros) to the treasury which was used to build and maintain
the naval fleet led by Athens. Significantly too, the treasury was controlled by Athenian
treasurers, the ten Hellenotamiae. The tribute in the early stages was 460 talents
(raised in 425 BCE to 1,500), a figure decided by Athenian statesman and
general Aristides. An alternative to providing money was to give ships and/or materials
(especially timber) and grain.
SUCCESSES & FAILURES
The Delian League enjoyed some notable military victories such as at Eion, the Thracian
Chersonese, and most famously, at the Battle of Eurymedon in 466 BCE, all against
Persian forces. As a consequence Persian garrisons were removed from Thrace and
Chersonesus. In 450 BCE the League seemed to have achieved its aim if the Peace of
Kallias is to be considered genuine. Here the Persians were limited in their field of
influence and direct hostilities ended between Greece and Persia.
Other successes of the League were not military but economic and political, making
them more difficult to determine in their significance and real effect for all members.
Piracy was practically eliminated in the Aegean, inter-city trade increased, a common
coinage was introduced (the Athenian silver tetradrachm), taxation became centralised,
democracy as a form of government was promoted, the judiciary of Athens was
accessible to member’s citizens, and such tools as measurement standards became
uniform across the Aegean. The primary beneficiary of all of these was certainly Athens
and the massive re-building project of the city, begun by Pericles and which included
the Parthenon, was partially funded by the League treasury.
he League and its requirement of tribute was not always to the liking of its members and
some did try and leave, especially as the threat from Persia gradually receded and the
calls for tribute increased. A notable example is Naxos who sought to secede c. 467 BCE.
Athens responded in dramatic fashion by attacking the island and making it a semidependency, albeit with a lower tribute. Thasos was another member who disagreed
with Athens and wanted to keep control of its mines and trade centres. Again, the
Athenians responded with force in 465 BCE and lay siege to the city for three years.
Eventually, Thasos capitulated.
FROM ALLIANCE TO EMPIRE TO COLLAPSE
Already looking like an Athenian empire, two further episodes changed the League
forever. In 460 BCE the First Peloponnesian War broke out between Athens, Corinth,
Sparta, and their allies. For the first time the League was being used against Greek citystates and Persia was off the agenda. Then c. 454 BCE Athens used the excuse of a
failed League expedition in Egypt (to aid the anti-Persian prince Inarus) to move the
League treasury to Athens.
The League became, thenceforth, ever more difficult to keep in toe. In 446 BCE Athens
lost the Battle of Koroneia and had to repress a major revolt in Euboea. An even more
serious episode occurred when fighting between Samos and Miletos (both League
members) was escalated by Athens into a war. Again the Athenians’ superior resources
brought them victory in 439 BCE. Yet another revolt broke out in Poteidaia in 432 BCE
which brought Athens and the Delian League in direct opposition to Sparta’s own
alliance, the Peloponnesian League. This second and much more damaging
Peloponnesian War (432-404 BCE) against a Persian-backed Sparta would eventually,
after 30 years of gruelling and resource-draining conflicts, bring Athens to her knees and
ring the death knell for the Delian League. Such disastrous defeats as the 415 BCE
Sicilian Expedition and the brutal execution of all males on rebellious Melos the previous
year were indicators of the desperate times. Athens’ glory days were gone and with
them, so too, the Delian League.
CONCLUSION
The benefits of the League had been, certainly, mostly for the Athenians, nevertheless,
it is significant that the realistic alternative – Spartan rule – would not have been and,
from 404 BCE, was not any more popular for the lesser states of Greece. This is perhaps
indicated by their willingness to re-join with, albeit a weaker and more militarily passive,
Athens in the Second Athenian Confederacy from 377 BCE.