Golden Age of Athens

Golden Age of Athens

In 477 B.C., more than 160 delegates from Greek cities met on the island of Delos. They formed a defensive alliance to guard against possible future Persian attacks. The alliance was called the Delian League. Athens, the greatest commercial and naval power, dominated the alliance from the start. The larger cities-states supplied ships, and the smaller ones made annual payments. Athenians collected the tribute, commanded the league's fleet, and dictated policy. In 454 B.C., as evidence of its dominance, Athens moved the league treasury from Delos to Acropolis.

Through its control of the Delian League, Athens established an empire. Riches from trade and tribute poured into the city. In an atmosphere of prosperity, Athenians enjoyed their greatest political freedom ever, and Greek culture bloomed. The period following the Persian Wars has often been called the “Golden Age of Athens.”

The chief architect of Athenian policy during this period was Pericles. The son of a noble family, Pericles had received an excellent education and had won fame as a general, statesman, poet, and philosopher. Between 461 B.C. And 429 B.C., Pericles dominated Athenian political life.Because of his many achievements, he came to symbolize Athenian greatness.

Pericles undertook an ambitious building program to beautify Athens. In 480 B.C., the Persians had destroyed the city and its sacred shrines. For years, the ruined temples served as reminders of the Persian menace. But Pericles proposed to rebuild the temples as monuments to the greatness of Athens. Atop of Acropolis, Athenians built the dazzling, white marble Parthenon (Pahr thuh NAHN), a temple to Athena. Phideas (FIHD ee uhs), considered the greatest sculptor of his day, carved a huge statue of Athena that stood inside the temple. Outside, there was another statue of Athena so large that returning sailors could see it far out at sea.

In addition to building temples, Athenians strengthened the defensive walls that connected Athens to the busy port of Piraeus. These building programs employed thousands of workers and attracted stonemasons and artisans from all over Greece. At the same time, talented artists, philosophers, and poets converged on Athens, making it the center of Greek culture. Pericles called Athens the “school of Greece” for its artistic and intellectual achievements as well as for its political system.

The past. Photograph by Elena.

The Height of Athenian Democracy

Democracy, which had been developing in Athens over many years, reached its peak under the leadership of Pericles. He opened all political offices to any citizen. He also arranged payment for jurors so that poor citizens as well as the wealthy could serve/ Furthermore, citizens employed in the building projects no longer depended on noble families for a living and felt freer to voice opinions in the Assembly.

Athens had a direct democracy – that is, all citizens had the right to attend the Assembly and cast a vote. Only a minority of Athenians were citizens. Therefore, the entire citizen body could meet in open discussion, and citizens did not elect people to represent the, Pericles believed that Athenian democracy owed its success to shared values, loyalty to the city, and a willingness to do public service.

But Athenian democracy was far from complete. Citizens had time for public service largely because they owned slaves who worked their land and ran their businesses. Most residents of Athens were not citizens and had no say in government. Furthermore, the many Greeks who flocked to Athens from other cities were considered foreigners and were usually denied citizenship. Women, too, had no political rights. Although Athenian democracy was limited, it served as the model for other Greek city-states.

The Peloponnesian Wars

Otheer Greek city-states resented Athenian success and power/ Some of them formed an alliance called the Peloponnesian League. This alliance was headed by Sparta. In 431 B.C., a dispute between Athens and Corinth, a member of the Peloponnesian League, flared into a major conflict. War engulfed all of Greece as Athens and its allies battled the Peloponnesian League. At the outset, the Athenian navy triumphed on the seas. But a Spartan army marched north into Attica and surrounded Athens, forcing Pericles to move the people inside the city walls. The overcrowed conditions that resulted caused an outbreak of plague. Over a third of the Athenian population, including Pericles, died.

Fighting dragged on for 27 years. Until the Athenian navy was destroyed and both sides were exhausted. Finally, with help from from the Persian navy, Sparta blockaded Athens while Spartan armies again surrounded the city. Facing starvation, Athens surrendered in 404 B.C. Sparta's allies in the Peloponnesian League called for the destruction of Athens. However, Sparta spared the city out of respect for Athens role in the Persian Wars.

The Peloponnesian Wars cost Athens its navy, its empire, and for a time its democratic form of government. Although Athens remained the cultural center of Greece, it never regained the power it had enjoyed during its golden age.

After the Peloponnesian Wars, the Greek city-states continued to fight among themselves, and Persia continued to encourage disunity. For all 100 years, the Greek city-states were at war, first against Persia and then among themselves. The struggles took a devastating themselves. The struggles took a devastating toll in lives and sapped the resources of the cities. Yet as you will read, this period was marked by great achievement in the arts and philosophy.

Remembering the past and the present. Photograph by Elena.