The Invention of Athens

Athens and Empire Greek History After the Persian Wars

Delian League: Athenian-Led Confederacy   

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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)

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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)

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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 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

Bust of Pericles

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 Stele 440/39 BCE (IG I3 272) Athens Epigraphical Museum 5384

Coinage Decree Athenian “Owl”

Imperial Economy: Infrastructure 

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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: Panathenaea Athenian Cultural Symbols of Power and Dominance

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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 

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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  

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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  

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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 Gold 41 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 

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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

Cast of East Frieze (V))

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. Centaurs

Parthenon and Athenian Imperialism: Summary 

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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

Plutarch, Life of Pericles, 12 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.”