The Growth of Athenian Imperialism

Abstract

By 446/5 the Delian League had become the Athenian empire. Peace had been made with Persia, but Athens had firmly retained her hold over the allies. More important, Sparta recognised the Athenian claim in the Thirty Years' Peace. ‘We will allow the cities their independence,’ Pericles could say on the eve of the Peloponnesian War, ‘if they were independent when we made peace.’ So much is clear, but the chronology and nature of the development of Athenian imperialism are both uncertain. We are coming to know or reasonably to guess considerably more of the decisive transition to empire following the Peace of Callias, but the imperial measures of those crowded years can only be appreciated in true perspective if we have a right understanding of the preceding period. The main purpose of this study is to re-examine the development of Athenian imperialism in the fifties.In his concise summary of Athens' rise to power, Thucydides emphasises the significance of the reduction of Naxos: to contemporaries Athenian action may have seemed less questionable. The Persian danger was still serious, and history had shown that the largest of the Cyclades might be a menace to the Greek cause, if it got into the wrong hands. Certainly the League was still popular after the collapse of Naxos, as Cimon's Eurymedon campaign clearly shows. From Caria to Pamphylia the Greek cities welcomed freedom from Persia and gladly entered the League: only at Phaselis was the show of pressure needed.

L’empire athénien est-il toujours un empire comme les autres ?

“…"Imperialism began in the sixties, but was greatly accelerated, for reasons that we have analysed, in the fifties. During this period all the most 33 Il est plus net sur ce point dans Meiggs 1943, 21 que dans Meiggs 1963 Cette analyse est plus nette dans Meiggs 1963. 35 Cf.…”

L'empire athénien est-il toujours un empire comme les autres ?

“…Toutefois, alors même 30 Meiggs 1943, 21. 31 Concernant Naxos, Meiggs 1943, 21 préfère insister sur la popularité d'Athènes, libérant les cités de l'emprise perse plutôt que sur "la première cité asservie contrairement à la règle" (Thc 1.98.4).…”

“…"Imperialism began in the sixties, but was greatly accelerated, for reasons that we have analysed, in the fifties. During this period all the most 33 Il est plus net sur ce point dansMeiggs 1943, 21 que dans Meiggs 1963…”

III. Chronology

“…5.217A, 218B, but other texts including a contemporary inscription give the name for 426/5 as Euthynus (IG i 3 369, 1.5); the lettering of the decree includes the older form of sigma, and it has been assumed by most scholars though not by Mattingly that it belongs to 450/49 and that Diodorus made the same error for that year as for 426/5. 27 Many have supposed that Miletus revolted once before 450, was recovered but was allowed to remain oligarchic, then revolted again and on recovery was forced to change to democracy but had its tribute reduced; 28 but the Athenian decree is not necessarily incompatible with democracy, and it has recently been suggested that a single revolt in the 450s was followed by democracy and reduced tribute. 29 One other text mentions an archon Euthydemus: a papyrus fragment of a commentary on Dem.…”