Formation of the Delian League and the Reason for its formation PDF

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Formation of the Delian league in Athens and reasons for its formation. Why Delian league was important among the allies....

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After Athens defeating the Persian Empire, they felt confident to lead Greece in its political and cultural golden age. However, Athens was in ruins after being burned by the Persians as a way of vengeance. Athens decided to rebuild their fortifications. To further protect themselves from the Persians who may attack in future, together with other Greeks, Athens decided to form an alliance called Delian league. The main purpose was to protect Aegean Islands and free Ionian Greeks from Persians. The strength to accomplish this mainly was through the Navy as it was the largest. (Butler, C. 2007). Delian league broadened democracy at Athens. As the fleet needed the poor citizens of Athens to rower their fleets, the poor citizens in return needed the empire’s taxes to support their jobs in the fleet and the their status in the city. Since these poor citizens were the majority in the Athens’ power, they did obtain political influence that came with their military importance therefore much broader democracy. (Butler, C. 2007). Another success was that through Delian league, Athens was able to settle their citizens in those colonies that they suspected were disloyal. This made their subjects to come searching for justice in Athenian courts which in turn supplied Athens with extra revenues. Athens also allowed minting of Athenian coins and even usage of them. This facilitated stable and standard coinage. (Butler, C. 2007). Architecture was another success. Under the leadership of Pericles, Athens did engage in a building program, paid with the surplus funds from the Delian league treasury. This emerged to be a source of employment for the poor citizens which resulted in Pericles gaining much popularity and support. It was under this Architecture that Parthenon was built; considered to be the Pinnacle of classic architecture. (Butler, C. 2007). Delian league was also associated with some failures with it. One of its major failure was during the Egyptian revolt against the Persians. Athens supported them which later turned to be overwhelming themselves. It failed a great deal. Sparta, with a coalition of Greeks launched a revolt against the Athens to stop them from expansion in Greece. Persians destroyed large Athenians fleet on the Nile (Butler, C. 2007). Another failure of Delian league is that other states under Athens were disadvantaged by paying money to Athens to build Delian league’s Navy. Athens used this as their advantage to keep the other member states under control, putting them at its mercy. They did force them to pay more money which ensured they were under them. (Butler, C. 2007). In conclusion, though Delian league was associated with some unsuccess along the way, it brought much more successful in its executions in Athens and in the rest of other Greeks. Democracy precisely was improved during this period among other major developments. Reference: Butler, C. (2007). FC22: Greek philosophy from Thales to Aristotle (c.600-300 BCE). The Flow of History. http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/...