Athens and Empire
Greek History After the Persian Wars
Delian League: Athenian-Led Confederacy
Purpose: Fight Persians Treasurers: Hellenotamiae (Athenian) Aristides and the First Assessment (460 talents) Ships or Money Payments Allied Treasury at Sacred Island of Delos Principal military commander: Cimon, son of Miltiades,
proxenos of Sparta, opponent of Themistocles
Delian League
Pentekontaetia: “Fifty Years” (Thucydides, 1.89-117)
Themistocles: Athens rebuilt and fortified; Piraeus (Thucydides, 1.90-93)
“Pausanias affair” and Athenian allied leadership (Thucydides, 1.128-135)
Themistocles: Ostracized in 472, defects to Persians, dies 459 as governor of Magnesia
Athens takes over leadership of the allied Greek confederacy by default (Delian League)
Athens Fortified: Long Walls
Allied Actions (470’s and 460’s BCE)
Eion (ca. 477): Persian outpost in Thrace Scyros (ca. 477): Pirate stronghold in Aegean Carystos (470s): Greeks who collaborated with Persians Eurymedon (469?): Greek victory led by Cimon Naxos and Thasos (early 460s): states wishing to leave
Delian league
Military Action by the Delian League
Cimon and Pericles: Differing Political Values
Bust of Pericles
Cimon:• “Hoplite” democracy• Aristocratic leanings• Favored strong relationship with Sparta• Symbolic victory: Marathon
Pericles:• Democracy of the fleet• Lower class sympathies• Oppositional attitude toward Sparta• Symbolic victory: Salamis
Both men: strong supporters of expanding Athenian power throughout the Aegean world
Cimon, Pericles, and Athenian Foreign Policy
Cimon’s Outmoded Policy (Sparta and Athens as the “yoke-fellows” of Greece against Persia)
Cimon, 4000 Athenian hoplites aid Sparta in Messenian Revolt (462)
Ephialtic Reforms of 462/61 BCE (pay for jury duty, stripping of Areopagus)
Ostracism of Cimon (ca. 462 BCE); obsolescence of Cimonian policy; “Peace of Callias” in 449 BCE?
Delian League treasury moved to Athens in 454
Moses Finley’s Typology of Imperialism
Finley’s Typology of State Power exercised over other states: 1. Restriction of freedom of action in interstate
relations 2. Political/judicial/administrative interference in
internal affairs 3. Compulsory military/naval service 4. Payment of some form of tribute 5. Confiscation of land of other states 6. Various forms of economic
exploitation/subordination
Athenian Imperial Controls
Athenian Courts for Athenian/Allied Litigation Athenian Weights, Measures and Currency for Allied
States Proxenoi and Fostering Democratic Constitutions in other
Greek States Cleruchies--10,000 holdings? (Finley) Tribute Lists (ATL)
Athenian Tribute Lists
Fragments of Marble Stele440/39 BCE (IG I3 272)Athens Epigraphical Museum 5384
Coinage DecreeAthenian “Owl”
Imperial Economy: Infrastructure
Fleet (100 active triremes, 200 reserves) Dock workers, shipwrights, around 20,000 rowers, rope and cable
industry, pitch manufacture, sail production, crew trainers Building Program
Architects, sculptors and stone cutters, day laborers for public works projects
Athenian and Inter-State Administration of Justice Lodging and consumer spending for non-Athenians in Athens Pay for jury duty; inter-state cases tried in Athens Bureaucracy of the empire: 700 officials (Arist. Ath. Pol. 24.3) Imperial Citizenship and Democracy
Imperial Ideology: PanathenaeaAthenian Cultural Symbols of Power and Dominance
Poetic, musical, and athletic contests; torch race Presentation of the peplos to cult statue of Athena Tributary states required to send official delegation to the festival;
contribution of cow and panoply by each state; bringing in of tribute Tribute assessments announced for the next year
From Alliance to Empire: Summary
Immediate Aftermath of Persian War Spartan Incompetence and Irresolution Themistocles and Athens’ Fortification Athenian Command of Delian League
470’s and early 460’s Cimonian Policy: Continuation of Persian War Revolts of League members and subjection Greek states as tribute-paying subjects of Athens
Ascendancy of Pericles Ephialtic reforms of 462/61 BCE Change in Foreign Policy: Sparta as Enemy
Athenian Empire Athens rules over 179 states Five administrative districts Approximately 2 million people lived in the Empire
Pericles, the Parthenon, and Athenian Imperialism
Cultural Politics and Ethics of Empire
Athens and the Second Persian War
Abandonment of City Destruction of Temples (“Old Parthenon”
of Pisistratid times) Pericles’ “Congress Decree” Building Program of 440’s and 430’s BCE
Athens as the “School of Greece” (Thucydides, 2.41)
Some Basic Information on the Parthenon
Temple to Athena Parthenos Constructed between 447 and 432 BCE;
Iktinos and Kallikrates architects; Phidias sculptor of cult statue
Dimensions: 228 ft. x 101 ft. on top step Architectural Features: Doric order with
Ionic elements; 8 columns at end (usually 6) and 17 columns on sides
Parthenon and Acropolis (from west)
Parthenon and Propylaea from the Pnyx (1910)
Destruction of Parthenon in 1687
Spatial Diagram of Sculptures
Full-Scale Replica of Athena Parthenos
Original of Ivory and Gold41 Feet 10 inches in Height
Reconstruction of Athena in situ
West Façade of Parthenon
South Pteroma (outer portico) of Parthenon
Parthenon from the North-West
The “Living and Breathing” Parthenon
Entasis and “Curvature”
Parthenon and Its Curves
Platform of Parthenon with Curvature
Exaggerated Curvature of Parthenon
Artistic Features
Pediment Statuary: Athena born from the head of Zeus (east); Contest between Poseidon and Athena for Athens (west)
Metopes (mythical combats): Lapiths vs. Centaurs (south); Gods vs. Giants (east); Greeks vs. Amazons (west?); Trojan scenes (north?)
Frieze (low relief): Panathenaic Procession
Frieze of Panathenaic Procession
East Frieze (V)
Cast of East Frieze (V))
Eponymous Heroes and Marshalls
Frieze of Panathenaic Procession
Relief Sculpture on South-West Corner of Parthenon
Relief Sculpture on West Façade Relief of Parthenon
South Metopes I: Lapiths vs. CentaursSouth Metopes I: Lapiths vs. Centaurs
Parthenon and Athenian Imperialism: Summary
Metope Sculpture: Hellenic (Athenian) Superiority over Barbarian (Persian) Emotionality
Acropolis as Destination Point of Panathenaic Procession (Tribute-Bearers)
Depiction of Panathenaic Procession on Inner Frieze (Gods and Athenians: Hybris?)
Chryselephantine Athena (Ivory and Gold) Imperial Statement: Blending of Ionic and Doric
Capitals; Larger Dimensions than Typical Greek Temple
But there was one measure above all which at once gave the greatest pleasure to the Athenians, adorned their city and created amazement among the rest of mankind, and which is today the sole testimony that the tales of the ancient power and glory of Greece are no mere fables. By this I mean his [Pericles’] construction of temples and buildings; and yet it was this, more than any other action of his, which his enemies slandered and misrepresented. They cried out in the Assembly that Athens had lost its good name and disgraced itself by transferring from Delos into its own keeping the funds that had been contributed by the rest of Greece… “The Greeks must be outraged,” they cried. “They must consider this an act of bare-faced tyranny, when they see that with their own contributions, extorted from them by force for the war against the Persians, we are gilding and beautifying our city, as if it were some vain woman decking herself out with costly stones and statues and temples worth millions.”
Plutarch, Life of Pericles, 12