Ancient Greece: Early Classical Period (479-446 BC), Delian League

In 478 BC two expeditionary forces were dispatched. The first, led by Leotychidas, was sent to punish the medisers of Northern Greece. He captured Pagasae, but failed to oust the Aleuadae from Larissa. Later (476 BC?) it was discovered that Leotychidas had accepted a bribe to spare the Thessalians. He was recalled to Sparta but escaped condemnation by retiring to Tegea, where he stayed there until his death in 469 BC.

The second force, led by Pausanias, sailed to Cyprus to liberate the Cyprian Greeks. He then captured Byzantium, but his arrogant behaviour and possibly treasonable negotiations with the Persians brought his recall to Sparta. He escaped conviction and returned to Byzantium with official approval, but not as regent. In c.475 BC he was expelled by Cimon and went to Troad, where he was believed to have continued his negotiations with the Persians. He was recalled to Sparta, but when he was accused of complicity with a helot uprising he took refuge in the sanctuary of Athena on the Spartan acropolis, where he was left to starve. Shortly before he died, he was removed to consecrated ground to avoid pollution.

After the victory at Plataea, the Athenians returned to their devastated country to rebuild their defences. Sparta said that fortifications in Northern and Central Greece should be razed to deny fortified bases to the Persians if they returned. It was obvious that if Athens remained an open city and exposed to an attack then Sparta would become the dominant city.

Themistocles went to Sparta to temporise while Athens’ walls were being rebuilt as quickly as possible. When rumours reached Sparta that the walls were being rebuilt, he professed disbelief. When the walls had reached a sufficient height he informed the Spartans that Athens was fortified and the Athenians were capable of judging the best policy for themselves. He was also responsible for fortifying the harbour of Piraeus, whose building he had instigated earlier.

In c.471 BC Themistocles was ostracized and went into exile in Argos. The Spartans now saw an opportunity to destroy Themistocles and implicated him in the treasonous plot of their own general Pausanias. Themistocles fled from Greece and travelled to Asia Minor, where he entered the service of the Persian king Artaxerxes-I (r.465-424 BC). He was made governor of Magnesia and lived there for the rest of his life.

Delian League (478-454 BC)

In the war against Persia the leadership of Sparta by both land and sea had been unquestioned. Athens had remained loyal to the Greek League, but in the siege on Sestus she had acted without the Peloponnesians and with some Ionian and Hellespontine Greeks, whose loyalty she now gained for herself.

At Byzantium the dictatorial behaviour by Pausanias had given offence to the allies and they approached Aristides with a proposal that Athens take over the command. Sparta recalled Pausanias and they sent out a successor, Dorcis. Meanwhile, all the allies of the Hellespont, except those of the Peloponnese, had placed themselves under the command of Athens. Late in 478 BC Dorcis withdrew, and Sparta made no further attempt to establish her command of the fleet.

Sparta was eager to end its involvement in the war. In the aftermath of Mycale, Leotychidas had proposed that the only way to permanently free the Greeks of Asia Minor from Persian domination was to transplant them all to Europe. Xanthippus said that the Ionian colonies were originally Athenian colonies, and the Athenians, if no one else, would protect the Ionians. This marked the point at which the leadership of the Greek alliance effectively passed to the Athenians. A congress was called on the holy island of Delos to continue the fight against the Persians with a new alliance: the ‘Athenian and their Allies’, or its modern designation the ‘Delian League’. As Athens had no wish to break with Sparta the covenant of the Greek League remained intact.

As the dominant partner in the new alliance, Athens agreed to give her protection in return for annual payment. The larger states, such as Naxos, Chios, Lesbos and Thasos, preferred to make their payment in ships, whereas the smaller states found it easier to give money. Aristides was appointed to carry through the first assessment and because of his fairness he gained the appellation of ‘the Just’.

Sparta’s attention at this time was fully occupied by troubles nearer home. The Revolt of Tegea (473-471 BC) was rendered all the more formidable by the participation of Argos. Sparta soundly defeated Tegea 473 BC, but suffered heavy losses and was too weakened to take the city. Following defeat at Tegea, the cities of Arcadia (except for Mantinea) joined forces against Sparta. With Argos apparently absent, Tegea and her allies were decisively beaten by Sparta at Dipaea in 471 BC.