The Delian League

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In the aftermath of the Persian Wars, many Greek city-states feared that the Persians would invade again, allowing for Athens to begin an alliance of city-states referred to as the Delian League. To have membership, each city-state was required to send money, men, or supplies to the league each year (Hamric). As Athens was the most powerful and influential of all members, they oppressed the other city-state members, used the Delian League dues to begin a golden age within the city of Athens, and went to war with Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. After many years without a Persian invasion, multiple Delian League members decided that they wanted to leave the alliance. Athens took notice of this trend and advised all members to not leave the…show more content…
The Athenian government used dues from the Athenian Empire to promote culture within Athens and improve the lives of citizens. With these funds, the government built shrines to the gods, such as the Parthenon, and created the Dionysia festival, which gave the world some of the greatest dramas from playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (Hamric). The increased funds also led to increased democracy and government involvement for citizens of Athens. Many public officials were not elected, but decided by lot, with only one position, strategos, being filled by election (Book, 71). An, aristocrat known as Pericles, was elected strategos, or general, in 462-461 B.C. and pushed many democratic reforms. He made it possible for the average citizen to propose and reform laws and paid citizens to attend assembly and to serve on a jury. As strategos, he and Athens had the foresight to build the long walls, which were thirty to fifty feet high and extended to the sea, in case of a future war with Sparta (Hamric). All of these factors helped lead to a prosperous age inside the walls of Athens, where culture blossomed and morale was high, but an age of oppression for the other members of the Athenian Empire. This age had long lasting effects on the world, as the democratic advances and culture influenced much of the western world for millennia to

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