Delian League To Athenian Empire

“Would you agree that, by 447 BC, the Delian League had become the Athenian
Empire?”
In order to answer this question, it is necessary to first consider what we mean by the term
“empire”. Once that has been clarified, it is a simple matter of assessing Athens and the
League as we know them from our sources, comparing them to each individual aspect of
empire and coming to a conclusion: was the Delian League, in effect if not in name, the
Athenian Empire by 447 BC?
According to the dictionary, the meaning of the word “empire” is simply this: a collection of
territories or nations ruled by a single supreme authority. It would be best to decide on a
number of “qualifications” for an aspiring empire to reach before we class it as an empire.
From the definition, it is clear there must be a powerful central state with sufficient military
force with which to conquer and maintain / defend the empire; at least a small number of
colonies to form the empire; some form of rulership whereby the central state is payed tribute
by its empire . Thus, if the Delian League conforms to these criteria, it can truly be
considered to have been the Athenian Empire.
The first “qualification”, the powerful central state, had certainly been fulfilled by Athens by
447. As early as 479, Athens was the leading naval power in the Aegean. Its land army was
inferior to that of Sparta, but this did not matter since the Spartans could only reach Athens
by sea. Thus, in military power the Athenians had sufficient advantage to become the leading
state of an empire. In political power the Athenians were also ahead of their rivals; the
Athenian democratic system ensured the happiness of the people (or at least the citizens) by
sharing the spoils of war between the actual citizens rather than the rulers, as was the practice
in Sparta. This policy made Athens less likely to stay at peace with its neighbours since war
meant booty for everyone. It also ensured the stability of the government, because the people
were more satisfied than those in Sparta and the other city-states. The government did more
for them, and they were an active part of it.
So, Athens' military power was superior to many of its neighbours; its democratic political
system ensured the loyalty of the people and the commitment to war; its citizens were happy
with their lives in general, and the stability of the state was assured. Athens was ready to lead
an empire.
But where would they look to find their empire? Considering the geography of Greece, it
was clear that the Athenians could not conquer and hold the other mainland city-states; the
principal terrain feature was mountains, and contact between city-states was in general
mostly by sea. Therefore, it was necessary for the Athenians to look elsewhere for their
empire: the many islands in the adjacent Aegean Sea were perfect - independent of each
other, which means that they could be easily conquered since their individual resources were
not as great as those of Athens; militarily weak, and thus seeking alliance against the ever-
present threat from the Persians to the east; easily held since the Athenians excelled
principally in naval prowess and power. In short, the Greek islands of the Aegean would
have seemed much more beneficial and feasible than the city-states of the mountainous
mainland.
The Athenians did not, however, simply conquer these islands. That might have been hard
considering that there were over two thousand of them, at least two hundred of which were
populated. They were much more subtle, and indeed it is quite probable that the aims of
Athens when the Delian League, the alliance of Aegean islands and Athens against Persia,
was formed were quite innocent. Nevertheless, when in 468 the Persians were effectively
eliminated as a threat to the League, the Athenians wanted to maintain the League, gain more
victories. This is all very well, but the allies did not want to continue the arrangement. Their
payments to the treasury and their contributions to the collective naval force were no longer
needed, in their views. The League should be discontinued. However, Athens did not agree,
and in fact actively discouraged, even prevented islands from leaving the League. The
treasury moved to Athens, and soon the members of the Delian League were essentially
paying tithes straight into the Athenian treasury: their money was used to beautify Athens, as
well as supplementing the Athenian navy further.
The Delian League had become a group of islands paying tribute to Athens, no longer primus
inter pares, but the head state of an involuntary organisation of islands. To put it bluntly, the
League had become a part of Athens: the Athenian Empire. All that remains to prove this
statement more thoroughly is to compare Athens to one of the closest (in history) and most
familiar empires: the Roman Empire.
Rome started out very much in the same way as Athens did; a small city-state gathered
enough power to defeat the surrounding tribes and make them pay tribute. The only
difference is that of land and sea; the Roman Empire was mostly land-based, whereas the
Athenian was mostly island-based. Other less simple parallels can be drawn: both Rome and
Athens were democratic states; both had highly skilled military forces, though again the
Athenians had naval forces while the Romans were mostly land-based.
In summary, it is quite clear that the Delian League had become the Athenian Empire by 447
BC. The city-state of Athens was politically and militarily strong enough to support an
empire, and they had the opportunity to mold an empire from the nearby islands. The empire
itself payed tribute to Athens, much as the provinces payed tribute to Rome. Through the
seemingly innocent creation of the Delian League, Athens gained its own empire.

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