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Volume 1 | Issue 3 - Colonialism
Article by Marie Stirling. Edited by Victoria Ryves. Additional Research by Liz Goodwin.
On one of family’s interesting but inevitably disastrous holidays, we, most probably by accident, ended up in Athens. Even as a small and certainly ill read ten year old, my knowledge of Ancient Athens and its achievements, particularly in the fifth century, were quite substantial. I was aware of it as the ‘birthplace of democracy’ and of the predisposition that playwrights had for it. In terms of its architecture, a mere glance at the skyline cannot miss the Acropolis in its dominating position over the city. Athens is, and probably will always be, presented in public consciousness as the foundation of European civilisation. This article will not seek to undermine its right to its legacy, yet will focus on a seemingly darker yet fundamentally linked issue: Athens’ empire. Athens in the fifth century was a highly successful colonial power and her empire at its height dominated nearly two hundred states. Her achievements were undoubtedly indebted to the empire, both as it generated the needed funds but also as it installed a need to impress. This article will therefore seek to argue the existence of a relationship between the two.
The birth of Athens’ empire came about in a less than straightforward manner. The Delian League, an ancient example of the policy of collective security, was formed in 478BC by Athens and other Aegean states, to protect themselves from an aggressive Persia. Persia, a constant threat to the Greek states throughout that time, had suffered defeat by an Athenian fleet at the Battle of Marathon in 490BC, so proving Athenian military power. She again was victorious at the battle of the Bay of Salamis in 480BC, while Sparta also defeated another Persian army at Plataea in the following year. It was Athens’s military dominance and Sparta’s refusal to join the alliance, which left Athens’ status as the leader of the alliance virtually unchallenged.
This leadership soon evolved into Athens’ assuming an imperial role. The status of Athens as the leader of the League gave her the legitimacy to interfere in the running of other countries, all in the name of collective security. She used the Delian fleet to force other countries to remain in the League and to pay tribute. For example, Athens responded to the Naxians request to leave, as the Persian threat had declined, by sending in the fleet. The Naxians were informed that not only would their membership be continued, but they were required to pay a regular tribute, their fleet was confiscated fleet and a garrison would remain on their soil. This can be seen as an early day version of the ‘gun boat diplomacy’ used by the imperial powers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Herodotus of Halicarnassus, who wrote during the fifth century also noted this change in Athenian diplomacy in his book The Histories, ‘Meanwhile Themistocles, always greedy for money sent demands to other islands…if they did not pay…he would bring the Greek fleet and blockade them into surrender’. Finally all pretences empire was effectively removed by the transference of the League’s treasury from Delos to Athens in 454BC. The Athenian empire was thus created.
The treasury and the other spoils from the empire played a vital role in the establishment of the reputation which still lasts today. One can narrow it down to three categories namely architecture, arts and democracy. Pericles authorised a highly ambitious building programme between 447-428BC, which was funded from the proceeds from the Delian League. The result, among many, was the building of one the most iconic buildings in the world, the Parthenon, which was completed in 438BC. The wealth of the citizens was favourable, so allowing for investments in the arts and philosophy.
Athens is still treasured for producing playwrights, whose works are still widely read and performed, such as Sophocles (495- 405BC), who wrote the famous play Oedipus Rex and Euripides (480- 406BC), who remains well known for his play Hippolytus. Lastly, though democracy was already present in Athens, this was the time when it fully developed under Pericles’ guidance. It has been argued that the new wealth in Athens had sparked the calls for the expansion of democracy. Citizens became self-governing, political offices were open to all and even the poor could exercise their rights. Though, of course, only Athenian born males qualified as citizens.
The Greek historian Thucydides famously claimed that the show of wealth would deceive viewers of Athens’ actual strength. The ambitious and certainly impressive buildings served as a reminder of Athens’ military power and new status, both to its foreign subjects and the wary eyes from their close rival Sparta. Athenian efforts may also have been an attempt to justify their empire through achieving ‘cultural mastery’, in the arts. For example Pericles expanded the Panathanaic Games, held on the Acropolis, which celebrated the accomplishments of Athens. Pericles had therefore used a fun and joyous occasion as a weapon to inspire‘shock and awe’, if you will. While it would not be wise to stretch this point, it does seem that the desire to maintain and feel worthy of their empire, should be considered when studying Athenian efforts.
Unfortunately for Athens, Thucydides’ claim did not hold true for long. Maybe Athens spent too much money on impressive status symbols, an accusation voiced by some that they were “squandering the housekeeper’s money”! After a severe break down in relations, war broke out with Sparta in 431BC and continued for the next thirty years, until Athens’ eventual surrender in 404BC. This was recorded by Thucydides in his book, The History of the Peloponnesian War. Following their defeat Athens never truly regained her status and the programmes which she had embarked on in the previous century were not reattempted.
Certainly Athens gave the world democracy and the works of many substantially bearded playwrights and philosophers. But their colonial past should also be remembered, even if just to recognise the impetus it gave to her more memorable achievements. One can find more modern equivalents, for instance, the Great Exhibition in 1851 celebrated both Britain’s domestic and colonial worlds. So all I ask is that you shift your focus when it comes to ancient Athens, and remember it as it truly was, an advanced and powerful polis, walking happily hand in hand with democracy, the arts and imperialism.
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