Ancient Athens: Delian League To An Empire

Paper Summary:

This paper gives a history of how Athens, originally looking for a united front against the invading Persian armies during the Persian Wars in antiquity, grew from an influential city-state to one of the world's first empires, stretching its power base across the entire Aegean sea. The paper begins by discussing how the Delian League, the pretext to what would become the Athenian Empire, came into being as a direct way to combat the invading Persians. The alliance was created out of necessity, as a united Greek front would be the only way to repel the massive Persian army under King Xerxes. A brief history of the Persian Wars is given, with Persia's invasion of Northern Greece and the burning of the Acropolis in Athens, but eventually their defeat at the hands of the Athenian general Cimon at the mouth of the Eurymedon River. After Persia was defeated and their troops driven back to Asia, Athens was firmly set as the predominant military and economic leader of all of Greece. The Delian League that was organized to fight against the Persians soon evolved into an Athenian Empire, with Athens collecting tribute and taxes from other city-states in exchange for protection and economic stability. Athens used their power to create a more safe and secure Greece, but was eventually corrupted by greedy politicians who abused other Greek city-states to the point of war. The second half of the paper goes into detail over how Athens was justified to create an empire, as it brought about prosperity for all involved. This includes the destruction of piracy and the opening up with trade routes to eastern Turkey. Ancient sources are heavily quoted to reinforce the argument that having a single dominant polis inevitably stabilized the once troubled area of Ancient Greece. This section also deals with Athens feeling morally obligated to spread their particular form of democracy to all of the other city-states, and their desire to see Sparta have their power limited. This ancient Cold War would eventually boil over into the Peloponnesian War, and the result ended in a weakened Greece that would not rise to prosperity again until Alexander The Great unified Greece.

From the Paper:

"During the expansion of Athenian power, an economic concept developed that allowed a particular polis to form an economic alliance with a fellow Delian League member. This agreement would allow the two states to work together in transporting particular goods through their territories to a marketplace where the goods would be sold, and the profit generated from the selling of the goods would be evenly distributed between the two Greek states. Such an example of this economic unity can be seen in agreement between Athens and the polis of Phaselis, which held joint control over certain economic endeavors and even adopted the same coinage for a short span of history. Athens also made it clear that if the city-states were to live under the protection of Athens, then the economic system should be standardized."

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