The History of Athens

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that around the 9th century, Athens began to emerge as a Greek city state although it was a poor city, built on undesirable land. It became the city of the world's first democracy, and produced fine art and architecture in unprecedented numbers, and became the center of philosophy and literature. The paper describes the Delian League, which was a confederacy of cities designed to protect themselves from Persian attack. The paper explains that the Delian League began as an ancient version of NATO and matured into the Athenian Empire. After some thirty years of war, however, the Athenian Empire was defeated and although it founded a second empire, Athens would never recover the full extent of her power.

From the Paper:

"In the beginning, the Delian League was a rather loose coalition of states, each independent and each sharing a common interest with the others (Ash 2000). There were numerous members of the league, including "Chios, Lesbos, Plataea, most of Acarnania, Ionia, the Hellespont, Thrace, and the islands between the Peloponnese and Crete towards the East, and all the Cyclades except for Melos and There, as well as Aegina and most of the Euboean cities" (Ash 2000). Combined, these states created a formidable force capable of achieving its objectives (Ash 2000)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ash, Thomas. 2000. From The Delian League To The Athenian Empire. Retrieved from Big Issue Ground Web site. http://www.bigissueground.com/history/ash-athenianempire.shtml (accessed February 28, 2006).
• Hooker, Richard. 1996. The Delian League. Retrieved from World Civilization Web site. http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GREECE/DELIAN.HTM (accessed February 28, 2006).
• The Delian1 League. 2006. Retrieved from Wikipedia Web site.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delian_League(accessed February 28, 2006).
• Evans, James Allan. 2001. "The Parthenon Marbles: Past and Future." Contemporary Review. October 01. Retrieved from HighBeam Research Library Web site. (accessed February 28, 2006).
• Loriaux, Michael. 1998. The illusion of power and the disruption of moral norms: Thycydides' critique of Periclean policy. American Political Science Review. June 01. Retrieved from HighBeam Research Library Web site. (accessed February 28, 2006).

More papers on The History of Athens:

• Book Review # 118050 : "The History of the Peloponnesian War"
• Essay # 23025 : "The History of Ancient Athens"
• Analytical Essay # 147731 : "Raphael's Painting "The School of Athens"

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