Benjamin Moores

After the events of the Persian wars I believe Athens where very much perfectly positioned to seize power in Greece. I believe this was down to a number of things, the success of their military (mainly naval) and the now proven success of their system of ruling, what we call democracy. Both these factors, along with others, contribute to my belief that post war Athens was in an ideal position to attempt to seize power in Greece. The first point I would like to make is about the strength of Athens navy. This was a navy of epic skill and quality. While being no match for the Persians in size the Athenians had something the Persians did not, the amazing new feet in naval technology known as the trireme. This was a large vessel with three banks of ores to increase speed and manoeuvrability. These where used as battering rams to tear apart the Persian ships which they did to great effect. They also had a homefield advantage over the Persians. Due to the fact that the Athenians knew they would be no match for the Persians in numbers they used a technique we have also seen used by the Spartan army when fighting at Thermopolyea, they used the small straights between the island of salamis and the Greek mainland to funnel the Persians through rendering there numbers completely useless. Due to this victory over a monumental Persian fleet, the other Greeks soon came to realise that the Athenians where not a force worth meddling with and it would be best to stay on the good side of Athens. Due to this naval reputation Athens became a centre for trade, the Athenian port became the worlds market place where all manner of goods where brought from the far flung corners of the classical world. This gave Athens a huge economic boost and they became a vital city in the economic welfare of the Greeks. This put them in a perfect position to seize power over the rest of the nation. The second point to make is about the system of government that the Athenians used. This was a democratic system. This idea of democracy, derived from the Greek word demokratia, literally meaning people power, was not something the other Greek states bought into. They felt that this new system was a sure to be failure and that the Athenians where crazy for it. But after the events of the Persian war, The Athenians had proven that their democratic system of government could overcome even the mightiest of autocratic powers, the Persians. This was a big boost for the Athenians as suddenly they had proved to the doubters of democracy that it was indeed a successful system that could over throw a mighty empire. This meant that now the Athenians had success on their side and many other states had come to realise that democracy was a unique and effective way of running a state and with Athens at the forefront of the democratic movement this yet again put them in an ideal position to take control over the rest of Greece. My third point I a brief one but I feel it deserves mentioning. This is the fact that after the Persian war the Athenians founded the Delian League which was referred to in the fifth century as Athens and her allies. This was a league developed from the Hellenic league with one major difference, Athens lead it not Sparta. This put Athens in a perfect position to exercise all sorts of powers of the members of it, this included taxing their allies. This is a nice point to mention because it illustrate Athens first move at looking to control all of Greece.

My last point is one about the mixture of all the above points. When combined, the mentioned factors out Athens at the very top of the Greek pecking order. They were naval supreme, economic pioneers, and with the delian league wrapped around their little finger they had a large number of allies willing to fight for them. Because of this Athens became a serious force to be reckoned with. No one would dare attempt to take them on for the control of Greece because of the huge importance to the Greek military and economic wellbeing that they stood as. Without Athens the Greeks lost what was effectively their trade centre. They would lose the only navy strong enough to protect them from a serious threat of invasion. And many of the smaller states would lose their biggest source of economic and military aid should they find themselves in trouble. No one would risk an attempted attack on them. Of course we know this not to be true because the Spartans did eventually attempt to overthrow the Athenians but that is not important at this point in time. In conclusion I feel that after the events of the Persian war, post war Athens was in the perfect position to attempt to seize overall control on Greece. With an unmatchable navy, an economy of constant growth and a league of allies at their side, they could not have been better poised to try and take control of all of Greece.