Download Origins, Organisation, activities and management of the `Delian

Origins, Organisation, activities and management of the ‘Delian League’
Origins
 The Ionian Greeks looked to Sparta to secure and maintain their independence.

The Spartan general Pausanias sailed to Scyrus and freed most of the island from the
Persian garrisons. He then sailed to Byzantium at the entrance to the Black Sea and did
the same.

According to Plutarch, Pausanias treated his allies harshly and arrogantly, insulting them
with his activities. In 478BC he was recalled back to Sparta, relieved of his command
and replaced by another commanding officer, Dorcis, whom the Ionians also rejected.

The leadership was transferred from Sparta to Athens. The reasons for this include:
 Thucydides says it was the allies who wanted the change
 Athens was happy to accept the leadership
 The Spartans were content to give up the leadership because, geographically, Sparta’s
interests lay in the Peloponnese rather than the Aegean region.
 Sparta did not possess a navy as large as that of Athens and this would have been
essential to fight off Persia
 Thucydides felt that the Spartans did not want to be disgraced by one of their officials
again.

Athens accepted the hegemonia (leadership)

The fifty years between the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War saw the rise to
power of Athens, first as the leader or hegemon of a group of allies in the Delian League
and then as the head of a powerful empire, which reached its political, economic and
cultural peak at the time of the brilliant statesman, Pericles.

The period is marked also by the gradual deterioration of relations between the two
leading Greek states due, according to Thucydides, to the fear and jealousy that Athens’
power inspired in Sparta and her Allies.

The outstanding Athenian personalities of this period – Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon
and Pericles – had a direct bearing on the relationship between Athens and Sparta.

The ‘Delian League’ and ‘the Confederacy of Delos’ are modern terms for an
organisation which was referred to in the fifth century as ‘The Athenians and their
Allies’.
Reasons for Athenian Leadership
 Thucydides suggests that Athens became the leader because of the arrogant and harsh
behaviour of Pausanias (the Spartan king) towards the Ionians and other recently
liberated Greeks.

He had retaken Byzantium and it was while there, as Plutarch says, that he “treated his
own allies harshly and arrogantly and scattered insults far and wide with his
officiousness and absurd pretensions”.

His behaviour caused resentment among the Ionians, who made overtures to the
Athenians suggesting that the latter should assumed leadership.

Thucydides stresses it was the allies who took the initiative in transferring the leadership
from Sparta and Athens.

Thucydides also mentions that they had already made up their minds to remove
Pausanias “and to arrange matters generally in a way that would best suit their own
interests”.

The Spartans were content to give up the leadership. They hjad previously shown their
lack of interest in the future of the Aegean and Ionian, when they returned home from
Mycale. “We did not gain this empire by force. It came to us at a time when you were
willing to fihgt on to the end against the Persians”. These words were spoken by the
Athenians to the Spartans in the debate preceding the declaration of war in 432.

Sparta had domestic problems. There was the continuing fear that the helots (Spartan
lower class and slaves) would revolt, and the need to consolidate her position as leader
within the Peloponnese.

According to Thucydides, the Spartans were afraid of being disgraced again by highranking officers sent abroad.

The Athenians, who shared a common descent with the Ionians, were held in high regard
after Salamis and had a large and experienced navy – essential for leadership of any
league of coastal and island states.

Thucydides says that the Spartans, who were friendly with Athens at the time, believed
the Athenians were quite capable of conducting the war with Persia.

The Athenians accepted the hegemonia (leadership), and set about implementing the
allies’ proposals.
Aims
 As implied by Thucydides, the aim of Athens was a desire for power and wealth.

Maintain the freedom of Greeks from the Persians

Compensate themselves financially for their losses suffered during the Persian wars.

Liberate Greek city-states still under Persian rule. According to Thucydides, the official
aim was “to compensate themselves for their losses by ravaging the territory of the King
of Persia”.

It is this immediate aim of an aggressive, offensive war against Persia which may have
initially attracted states to the Congress at Delos. The Greeks of Asia had to be liberated,
and in order to achieve this purpose the king would be made to pay.

The long term objective was to maintain the freedom of the Greeks – to organise a
defensive alliance so that it any future attacks upon their territory, the Greeks would be
well prepared to resist.

The objectives therefore were both offensive and defensive.
Finances
 To carry out its aims, the Delian League needed to have a strong fleet and adequate
funds. It was decided that some states were to provide money and some were to provode
ships.

Plutarch explains that since the allies wanted each city to be fairly assessed, they asked
Athens for Aristides’ help to “…fix their contributions according to each member’s
worth and ability to pay”.

The total assessment of the contributions amounted to 460 talents, which was to be
collected and supervised by Athenian officials called hellenotamiae (treasurers of the
Greeks)

Those who contributed ships – such as the large islands of Chios, Lesbos, Samos, Naxos
and Thasos – retained control of them; they were expected to serve in the League fleet
for only a portion of each year.

The phoros (money payment) collected by the hellenotamiae from the second class of
members went directly into the League’s treasury at Delos.
Delos as headquarters
 Delos was to be the site of the treasury and the meetings of the allies.

Delos was selected not only because it was the ancient centre of Ionian culture and
religion based on the cult of Apollo, but because it was midway between Athens and the
coast of Asia Minor, it had a good harbour and it was politically insignificant.
Autonomy of Allies
 The allies were initially independent states with their own particular forms of
government.

It was not long, however, before rebellious states lost their autonomy, and became
subject to Athens.
Council (Synod) of the League
 It is probable that Athens – as the leader and most influential state – could control the
vote by her patronage or intimidation of smaller states who would follow her lead.

The Synod decided League policy and strategy, and Athenian officials carried them out.
The Oath
 Aristotle says that it was Aristides “…who swore the oaths to the Ionians that they
should have the same enemies and friends, to confirm which they sank lumps of iron in
the sea”.

This oath, sworn bilaterally between the Atehnians and the allies, indicated that Athens
was to be the hegemon for as long as the League continued, and the League was meant to
be permanent.

Thucydides says that when Naxos revolted, she was forced back into allegiance.
Athens’ position
 From the beginning, Athens had considerable power:
1. She was the permanent leader
2. As hegemon, she had executive powers. Aristides assessed the tribute, ten Athenian
officials collected and supervised the contributions, and Cimon was the leader of the
fleet.
3. She presided over the Synod and could influence policy and strategy.
4. She contributed the largest number of ships and men
Although individuals may at an early stage have seen the potential for empire, there is no
real evidence to suggest that the Athenian people aimed at making Athens an imperial
power.
Organisation and management
 In 477BC, Aristides called on interested Greek states to attend a meeting on the island of
Delos. The Ionian cities also joined the alliance, hoping to gain their freedom from
Persia.

The League’s organisation:
 Meetings were to be held and the treasury was to be based at Delos
 All members were to be free and independent
 Each state had one vote and all votes were equal
 It was decided that some states were to provide money and some ships
 Aristides devised a regular system of contributions
 Athenian officials, hellenotamiae, administered the finances.
 The states that contributed ships – Chios, Lesbos, Samos, Naxos, and Thasos –
controlled their ships and served in the League fleet for only part of each year
 The phoros (money payment) went straight into the League’s treasury at Delos.

Although the League was an alliance of equal city-states, Athens had considerable power
and received the greatest benefits.
Activities
 The activities of the League involved a range of attacks against the Persians, but on the
part of Athens there was also coercion of the other Greek states and even its own allies to
remain League members.

The activities of the Delian League also involved actions against its own members
Power and benefits of the Delian League to Athens
Power
Benefits
Was the permanent leader
Power of being the leader and able to
coerce other Greek states to follow her
lead
Controlled the tribute. Athenian officials Wealth – received money as payment for
in charge of the treasury
organising the League
Cimon leader of the fleet
Received half the booty from campaigns
against the Persians
Presided over the Synod
Sale of slaves added to revenue
Influenced policy and strategy
Piraeus was the main port of the Aegean
Contributed the largest numbers of ships
Allies were forced to trade with Athens
and men
Criminal cases were brought before the
Employment flourished in shipbuilding
League and tried at Athens
and related activities
When a state revolted, Athens established
a cleruchy of Athenian citizens there.