PEISISTRATUS SON OF HIPPOCRATES, after two failed attempts, seized Athens as tyrant (Hdt. 1.60–64; Fornara and Samons 1991, 151–57). He successfully restored order and maintained it until his death in 528/7, when his sons HIPPIAS and HIPPARCHUS succeeded him without difficulty (Hdt. 1.59; [Arist.] Ath. pol. 14–18; Thuc. 1.20, 6.54). The assassination of Hipparchus in 514 resulted in the increasingly erratic behavior of Hippias, which ultimately led the Athenians to expel him from the city with the help of the Spartan king CLEOMENES in 510 (Hdt. 5.62–65; Thuc. 6.59; [Arist.] Ath. pol. 19.4). Hippias fled to SIGEIUM at the southern tip of the HELLESPONT, where his half‐brother HEGESISTRATUS ruled as tyrant (Hdt. 5.94).
REFORMS OF CLEISTHENES
The ousting of Hippias paved the way for CLEISTHENES SON OF MEGACLES to implement a set of reforms in 508/7, which formed the backbone of the classical DEMOCRACY ([Arist.] Ath. pol. 20–21). Rather than the old tribal structure based on familial connections, Cleisthenes divided Attica into thirty geographical sections called trittyes (“thirds”), using the DEME as the basic political unit. Ten trittyes were in the environs of the city, ten inland, and ten on the coast. Cleisthenes created ten new tribes, which consisted of one trittyes from each region (Traill 1975; Whitehead 1986). This made military organization more efficient and broke up regional aristocratic bases of power. Each tribe then sent fifty citizens yearly to serve on a new council of 500. In order to prevent another tyranny, Cleisthenes also introduced the practice of ostracism ([Arist.] Ath. pol. 22; Sealey 1976, 164–68).
PERSIAN WARS
In 499, ARISTAGORAS (1) of MILETUS instigated a revolt of several Ionian Greek cities under Persian control (Hdt. 5.35–38). The Athenians agreed to send twenty ships to help the Milesians, whom they regarded as kin (5.50–51, 97). The combined forces captured SARDIS, the wealthy capital of LYDIA, but the city caught FIRE during the attack, destroying a temple of CYBELE. This concluded Athenian involvement in the IONIAN REVOLT, which ended in defeat for the IONIANS at the Battle of LADE in 494 (6.11–15).
In 490, the Persian king DARIUS I launched an invasion against Attica in retaliation for the sacrilegious destruction of the temple. Accompanying this invasion was none other than Hippias, the now‐elderly former tyrant of Athens, who had agreed to help Darius in exchange for becoming ruler of Athens once it became a province of PERSIA. Under the leadership of the general MILTIADES THE YOUNGER, the Athenians achieved an astonishing victory at the plain of MARATHON, with only 192 Athenian lives lost to several thousand Persians (6.102–17).
In 483/2, the Athenians struck a particularly rich vein of SILVER at their mines at LAURIUM. Themistocles convinced the Athenians to invest the MONEY into building a fleet of state‐of‐the‐art TRIREMES, ostensibly to prosecute war against rival AEGINA but likely (also) with an eye toward defending against possible Persian reprisals (Hdt. 7.144; Thuc. 1.14.2; Plut. Them. 4.1). This proved prescient when XERXES, Darius’ successor, vowed a second invasion to avenge his father’s humiliation at the hands of the Athenians.
In 480, Xerxes’ army marched through THRACE and central Greece, forcing Greek poleis to give EARTH AND WATER, the traditional Persian symbol of submission. The Athenians fled their city in the face of the advancing Persians, who sacked and occupied Athens between 480 and 479. The handful of Greek city‐states who had allied against the Persians, known as the HELLENIC LEAGUE, were divided over whether to stand their ground or retreat. Themistocles forced their hand by tricking Xerxes into attacking the Greek fleet in the narrows between the island of SALAMIS and the mainland, where Athens and its highly trained navy played the key role in winning the battle (Hdt. 8.74–93; Plut. Them. 12–14). After the defeat of the Persian general MARDONIUS at PLATAEA in 479, the Greeks cleared the Aegean of Persian ships in a naval battle at MYCALE on the same day (Hdt. 9.58–69, 101). Soon after this the Spartans recalled PAUSANIAS, the leader of the Hellenic League, because the other members of the alliance accused him of plotting intrigues with Xerxes (Hdt. 8.3; Plut. Arist. 23; Thuc. 1.95–96).
DELIAN LEAGUE/ATHENIAN EMPIRE
After Pausanias’ recall, the Athenians assumed leadership of what became known as the DELIAN LEAGUE in 478/7. The purpose of the League was to seek VENGEANCE on Xerxes and to prevent Persian reprisals. Most members paid TRIBUTE, which was kept on the politically neutral island of DELOS, while other poleis contributed ships and rowers for naval campaigns (Thuc. 1.96).
The League quickly became a coercive instrument for making Aegean states subservient to the interests of Athens (Thuc. 1.99). Around 469/8, the Athenian general CIMON THE YOUNGER won a decisive victory over the Persians at Eurymedon off the southern coast of Anatolia. Though the need for an alliance no longer existed, the Athenians nevertheless started aggressively tightening their grip on their ALLIES, demanding ever‐higher tribute payments. They dealt mercilessly with poleis that revolted, and often Athens would confiscate part of their territory and found a CLERUCHY, or settlement for Athenian citizens (cf. Plut. Per. 11.5).
In 465, an EARTHQUAKE in the PELOPONNESE sparked a massive revolt of HELOTS at Mt. ITHOME. As Sparta’s PROXENOS, Cimon led 4,000 HOPLITES to aid SPARTA in putting down the REBELLION (Thuc. 1.101–2). While Cimon was away, his political rival Ephialtes (not the man by this name in Herodotus’ Histories) passed a series of measures designed to reduce the power of the ARISTOCRACY. The main target was the Areopagus, an aristocratic council composed of former archons, which according to some sources (e.g., [Arist.] Ath. pol. 23) was the most powerful institution in Athens. Ephialtes stripped the Areopagus of most of its powers except for trials involving homicide and certain religious offenses ([Arist.] Ath. pol. 23–25; Plut. Cim. 16–17). He also negotiated alliances with ARGOS, THESSALY, and MEGARA, all of whom were on bad terms with Sparta. Meanwhile, Cimon and his hoplites were humiliatingly dismissed by the Spartans, a move which diminished Cimon’s prestige at home and led to his ostracism (ten‐year EXILE).
With Cimon gone, Ephialtes and his faction were firmly in control, though the latter’s assassination in 461 paved the way for the rise of his associate PERICLES, the most influential politician of the fifth century (Thuc. 2.65.9). During Pericles’ ascendancy, Athens became the center of culture in the MEDITERRANEAN, attracting scholars, philosophers, artists, and writers from all over the Greek world. THUCYDIDES tells us that under Pericles, what was in name a democracy was in fact rule by the first citizen (2.65.9).
THE FIRST PELOPONNESIAN WAR (460–445)
Without Cimon’s pro‐Spartan influence, the Athenians found themselves embroiled in conflicts with the Peloponnesians, most notably over control of central Greece. The resulting campaigns from 460–451 are known as the First Peloponnesian War.
In 460, the Athenians sent a force of 200 ships to support EGYPT’s revolt from the Persian Empire. At first, the Greeks and the insurgents gained control of most of the country, but after six years of campaigning, a new Persian commander defeated the rebel forces. Most of the Greek ships were destroyed, and only a small number of survivors escaped. This was the greatest single DISASTER to date for Delian League forces, and it occurred at the same time the Athenians suffered heavy losses to the Spartans and Thebans in central Greece (Thuc. 1.109–11).
On the mainland, the Athenians won several engagements in the northeastern Peloponnese and in the Megarid. In 457, however, the Spartans invaded Boeotia. Ostensibly, this was in support of the small POLIS of DORIS, which the Spartans regarded as their mother‐city. More practically, this move allowed the Spartans to assist THEBES in gaining control of Boeotia, which would provide a strong ally for the Spartans at the northern border of Attica (Sealey 1976, 270). Alarmed, the Athenians
