Association of ancient Greek city-states under Athenian hegemony
"Delian" redirects here. For the religious association, see Delian Amphictyony. For the band, see Delian League (band). For other uses, see Delyan.
Athens and Delian League (yellow) shown along the Peloponnesian League and the Persian Empire at the outset of the Peloponnesian War around 431 BC
The Delian League was a confederacy of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330,[1] founded in 478 BC[2] under the leadership (hegemony) of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Second Persian invasion of Greece.[3] The League functioned as a dual –offensive and defensive– alliance (symmachia) of autonomous states, similar to its rival association, the Peloponnesian League.[4] The League's modern name derives from its official meeting place, the island of Delos, where congresses were held within the sanctuary of the Temple of Apollo;[5] contemporary authors referred to the organization simply as "the Athenians and their Allies".[6][7]
While Sparta excelled as Greece's greatest power on land, Athens turned to the seas becoming the dominant naval power of the Greek world. Following Sparta's withdrawal from the conflict with Persia, Athens took the lead of the Hellenic alliance accompanied by several states around the Aegean and the Anatolian coast.[8][9] The Delian League was formed as an anti-Persian defensive association of equal city-states seeking protection under Athens, as the latter wished to extend its support towards the Ionian Greek colonies of Anatolia.[5][10] By the mid-fifth century BC, the alliance had developed into a naval imperial power, called the Athenian Empire, where Athens established complete dominion and the allies became increasingly less autonomous.[5] The alliance held an assembly of representatives in order to shape its policy, while the members swore an oath of loyalty to the coalition.[9] The Delian League successfully accomplished its principal strategic goal by decisively expelling the remaining Persian forces from the Aegean. As a result, Persia would cease to pose a major threat to Greece for the following fifty years.[11]
From its inception, Athens became the League's biggest source of military power, while more and more allies preferred to pay the dues in cash. Athens began to use the League's funds for its own purposes, like the reinforcement of its naval supremacy, which led to conflicts between the city and its less powerful allies, at times culminating in rebelions, like that of Thasos in 465 BC.[12] The League's treasury initially stood in Delos until, in a symbolic gesture,[13] Pericles moved it to Athens in 454 BC.[14] By 431 BC, the threat that the League presented to Spartan hegemony combined with Athens's heavy-handed control of the Delian League prompted the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War; the League was dissolved upon the war's conclusion in 404 BC[10] under the direction of Lysander, the Spartan commander. Witnessing Sparta's growing hegemony in the first half of the 4th century BC, Athens went on to partly revive the alliance, this time called the Second Athenian League, reestablishing its naval dominance in the eastern Mediterranean.[15]
^Nelson & Allard-Nelson 2005, p. 197.
^Roisman & Yardley 2011, Timeline, p. xliii; Martin 2000, pp. 96, 105–106.
^Roisman & Yardley 2011, 18: The Athenian Empire, pp. 246–266.
^Luttenberger 2017, Chapter VII: "The allies were autonomous and the alliance was a symmachia (defensive/offensive alliance) against Persia [...] It was a dual alliance similar to the Peloponnesian League. Athens was acknowledged hegemon of the League".
^ abcZagorin 2009, p. 13.
^Rhodes 2006, p. 18. In ancient sources, there is no special designation for the league and its members as a group are simply referred to with phrases along the lines of "the Athenians and their allies" (see Artz 2008, p. 2).
^Luttenberger 2017, Chapter VII: "To the Hellenes it was called "the Athenians and their Allies".
^Zagorin 2009, pp. 12–13.
^ abMartin 2000, p. 106.
^ ab"Delian League". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
^Martin 2000, pp. 107–108.
^Martin 2000, p. 107.
^Keuls 1993, p. 18.
^Cite error: The named reference TI96 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
The DelianLeague was a confederacy of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, founded in 478 BC under the leadership (hegemony) of Athens,...
The Wars of the DelianLeague (477–449 BC) were a series of campaigns fought between the DelianLeague of Athens and her allies (and later subjects), and...
leaves the DelianLeague and is besieged by Athens 446 Phocis, Locris and Boeotia leave the DelianLeague, Boeotia unites into the Boeotian League and joins...
following the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Artemisium. The DelianLeague then formed, under Athenian hegemony and as Athens' instrument. Athens'...
revival of the DelianLeague, which had been disbanded in 404 BC following the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. The new League was centered in...
The members of the DelianLeague/Athenian Empire (c. 478-404 BC) can be categorized into two groups: the allied states (symmachoi) reported in the stone...
rendered this strategy ineffective, while the superior navy of the DelianLeague (Athens' alliance) raided the Peloponnesian coast to trigger rebellions...
Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), against the DelianLeague, which was dominated by Athens. The Peloponnesian League is the modern name given to the Spartan...
served as the city treasury. Construction started in 447 BC when the DelianLeague was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC; work on the...
as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the DelianLeague led by Athens with support from Argos...
new coalition, the DelianLeague. Tensions between Athens, and its growing imperialistic ambitions as leader of the DelianLeague, and the traditionally...
who finally persuaded the Lycian to join the Athenian alliance, the DelianLeague: Diodorus relates that Kimon "persuaded those of Lycia and took them...
was a double battle, taking place both on water and land, between the DelianLeague of Athens and her Allies, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. It took...
located in Attica, Greece, leading the DelianLeague in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established...
war was fought between the Peloponnesian League, an alliance of Greek cities led by Sparta, and the DelianLeague, an alliance led by Athens. Athens had...
of synoecism and sympoliteia. The Athenian Empire, also known as the DelianLeague, was a collection of Greek city-states largely based around the Aegean...
the DelianLeague controlled by Athens and the Peloponnesian League dominated by Sparta over control of the other Greek city-states. The DelianLeague is...
Byzantium (/bɪˈzæntiəm, -ʃəm/) or Byzantion (Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Thracian settlement and later a Greek city in classical antiquity...
defeated in 490 BC. A second Persian attempt failed in 480–479 BC. The DelianLeague then formed, under Athenian hegemony and as Athens' instrument. Athens'...
the DelianLeague, which began as a voluntary coalition of Greek city-states against Persia, during the Greco-Persian Wars. Most members of the Delian League...
contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the DelianLeague into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two...
Mykonos (/ˈmɪkənɒs, -noʊs/, UK also /ˈmiːk-/; Greek: Μύκονος [ˈmikonos]) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and...
with the dominance of Athens in the DelianLeague, which resulted in conflict with Sparta and the Peloponnesian League, resulting in the Peloponnesian War...
list was likely compiled before the consolidation of the Athenian-led DelianLeague. Eusebius' list survived through fragments of Diodorus Siculus' works...
Global Information