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The Culture and Politics of Athens, c.460–c.399 BC

The Persian Wars, Delian League funds and the origins of the building programme

  • 3 things to know
  • Component Group 1

Overview

Recall questions on the sack of the Acropolis, the Oath of Plataea, the charge that allied money paid for the buildings, Pericles' answers to it, and the surviving building accounts.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

What did the Persians do to the Athenian Acropolis in 480 BC?

Key term

What change in the war with Persia is thought to have released the League's funds for building?

Key term

Which opponent led the attack on Pericles' spending, and what became of him?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What did the Persians do to the Athenian Acropolis in 480 BC?

    Model answer

    They captured and burned it, destroying the temples and the statues standing there, including a temple to Athena that was still unfinished.

  2. 2

    For roughly how long did the Acropolis remain unrebuilt after the Persian sack?

    Model answer

    About thirty years passed before major new building began on the summit in 447 BC.

  3. 3

    What was the Oath of Plataea said to have committed the Greeks to, and why is it doubted?

    Model answer

    It was said to bind them to leave the burnt sanctuaries in ruins as a memorial of Persian sacrilege, but the earliest writers do not mention it and it was already suspected in antiquity of being a later invention.

  4. 4

    What change in the war with Persia is thought to have released the League's funds for building?

    Model answer

    An end to open hostilities around 449 BC removed the League's original purpose, so the accumulated tribute no longer had an obvious military use.

  5. 5

    How did the Athenians come to have the allies' money available to spend at home?

    Model answer

    The League treasury had been transferred from Delos to Athens in 454 BC, so both the reserve and the yearly tribute were physically in Athenian hands.

  6. 6

    State the criticism made of Pericles for using allied money on the buildings.

    Model answer

    Opponents said that Athens was decking herself out like a vain woman with money given to fight Persia, and that the allies were being robbed.

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