What was the Delian League?
The Delian League was an association of approximately 150[1] 5th-century BC Greek city-states under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Greco–Persian Wars. Founded in 478 BC, the League’s name derives from its official meeting place, the island of Delos, where congresses were held in the temple and where the treasury stood until Pericles moved it to Athens in 454 BC.[2] According to Thucydides, the official aim of the League was to “avenge the wrongs they suffered by ravaging the territory of the king.”[3] In reality, this goal was divided into three main efforts – to prepare for future invasion, to seek revenge against Persia, and to organize a means of dividing spoils of war. League members swore to have the same friends and enemies, and dropped ingots of iron into the sea to symbolize the permanence of their alliance.
