Fifth-Century Athenian Imperialism and the Beginnings of Democracy in Western Asia Minor

Abstract

The coastal towns of Asia Minor were in a unique position in the fifth century, caught in the middle between the Athenian Empire to the west and the Persian Empire to the east. The Peace of Callias, if it existed, was meant to cease hostilities between the two powers but Persian intervention in towns allied with Athens continued over the course of the Pentecontaetia and the Peloponnesian War. In reality, it seems that neither side relinquished its claim to many of the towns of Asia Minor. As a result, towns like Erythrae, Miletus, Samos and Colophon found themselves torn between the two and beset by factional strife. With the exception of Samos, which never joined the tribute quota lists, there is good evidence that they continued to pay their Persian overlords even after they began paying tribute to Athens.

This dissertation argues for a history of Athens’ allies on the coast of Asia Minor that tries to move away from Athenocentric assumptions about democracy and imperialism and focuses as much as possible on local evidence. The development of Athenian imperialism in the fifth century should be reconsidered in light of new developments in dating inscriptions. Now that the style of sigma used in an inscription no longer dictates its date, there is a need to reassess many Athenian inscriptions of the fifth century and their implications for the fifth century. In addition, recent scholarship has moved away from the idea that Athenian democracy was the original and the model for all other Greek democracies of the fifth century. Local evidence from Miletus and Erythrae suggests that both towns were interested in people power before Athens intervened in their political framework. In addition, I argue that Athens did not have a uniform procedure of setting up and supporting allied democracies but dealt with its allies on an ad hoc basis.