Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander

Athenian Empire in the Golden Age: The Establishment of an Athenian Empire: The Finances of the Alliance (Delian League)

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9.1.4.1. IX. The Warships of the Delian League

The warship of the time was a narrow vessel built for speed called a trireme(“triple-banks-of-oars ship”), a name derived from its having three tiers of oarsmen on each side for propulsion in battle. One hundred and eighty rowers were needed to propel a trireme, which fought mainly by ramming enemy ships with a metal-clad ram attached to the bow and thus sinking them bypuncturing their hulls below the water line. Triremes also carried a complement of about twenty officers and marines; the marines, armed as infantry, could board enemy ships. Effective battle tactics in triremes required extensive training and physical conditioning of the crews. Most member states of the Delian League preferred to pay their annual dues in cash instead of furnishing triremes because it was beyond their capacities to build ships as specialized as triremes and to train crews in the intricate teamwork required to work triple banks of oars in battle maneuvers. Athens was far richer and more populous than most of its allies in the Delian League, and it not only had the shipyards and craftsmen to build triremes in numbers but also a large pool of poorer men eager to earn pay as rowers. Therefore, Athens built and manned most of the alliance's triremes, using the dues of allies to supplement its own contribution.

9.1.5. The Rebellion of Thasos

Since Athens supplied the largest number of warships in the fleet of the Delian League, the balance of power in the League came firmly into the hands of the Athenian assembly, whose members decided how Athenian ships were to be employed. Members of the League had no effective recourse if they disagreed with decisions made for the League as a whole under Athenian leadership. Athens, for instance, could compel the League to send its ships to force reluctant allies to go on paying dues if they stopped making their annual payments. The most egregious instance of such compulsion was the case of the city-state of the island of Thasos which, in 465 B.C, unilaterally withdrew from the Delian League after a dispute with Athens over gold mines on the neighboring mainland. To compel the Thasians to keep their sworn agreement to stay in the League, the Athenians led the fleet of the Delian League, including ships from other member states, against Thasos. The attack turned into a protracted siege, which finally ended after three years' campaigns in 463 B.C. with the island's surrender. As punishment, the League forced Thasos to pull down its defensive walls, give up its navy, and pay enormous dues and fines. As Thucydides observed, rebellious allies like the Thasians “lost their independence,” making the Athenians as the League's leaders “no longer as popular as they used to be.”

• trireme: Trireme reconstruction [View]; Description and images [Encyclopedia]; References to triremes [English Index]
• Most member states of the Delian League preferred to pay their annual dues in cash instead of furnishing triremes: Thuc. 1.96 [Text]; Thuc. 1.99 [Text]; Plut. Cim. 11 [Text]
• balance of power in the League came firmly into the hands of the Athenian assembly,: Thuc. 1.98-99 [Text]
• case of the city-state of the island of Thasos: Thuc. 1.100-101 [Text]; Thasos [Atlas]; General View [View]; Quarry [View]; Description and photos of Thasos [Site]; Coins minted in Thasos [Browser]
• “no longer as popular as they used to be.”: Thuc. 1.98-99 [Text]

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OCLC: 33900145
ISBN: 0300069561

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