Meanwhile, the Helots’ Revolt dragged on; it had begun at about the same time as the Thasian Revolt (i. e., 465). Sparta was effectively hamstrung for its duration: with an unsettled revolt at home, no Lacedaemonian army dared leave Laconia. As long as the Lacedaemonians had their own revolt to deal with, Athens had the freedom to develop its own empire without interference from Sparta. Athens’ ambitions in this period knew no bounds, and the Athenian Empire reached its high water mark.
First, Megara was involved in a border dispute with its neighbor Corinth. Failing to get any assistance from the otherwise occupied Lacedaemonians, the Megarians turned to Athens and entered the Athenian Empire (Thuc. I 103; Diod. XI 79). An erstwhile member of the Peloponnesian League had decided that Athens would protect its interests better than Sparta, and the Athenian Empire had begun to expand by land as well as by sea. The Athenians promptly began fortifying various places in Megara, through which the roads from the Peloponnese into central Greece led.
Second, in 460 an Athenian fleet set sail for Cyprus to liberate the island (once again) from Persian rule, clearly nullifying the Peace of Callias (see chap. 11). While on Cyprus the commanders of the fleet learned that Egypt had revolted from the Persian Empire. They decided to sail on to Egypt and to aid the revolt there (Thuc. I 104; Diod. XI 71,4sqq.). A brief but highly significant inscription (see Box 12.1) shows that in addition to Cyprus and Egypt the Athenians also fought in Phoenicia during these years. The Athenians, then, were fighting against the Persians on three fronts - hundreds of miles from home, all along the eastern Mediterranean. Twenty years earlier the Persians had been invading Greece; now that Greek city which had gone on the offensive against them and had taken the Aegean coast of Asia Minor from them was challenging them for supremacy throughout the eastern Mediterranean. For a brief time the Palestinian city of Dor, south of Mt. Carmel, actually appears as a tribute-paying member of the Athenian Empire (ATL I, p. 483).
In 457 war broke out again between Athens and its old enemy Aegina. This time the Athenians quickly defeated the Aeginetans’ fleet and besieged Aegina (Thuc. I 105; Diod. XI 70 and 78). Athens was now fighting on a fourth front. At this point the Corinthians, in the belief that Athens would be unable to respond, attacked the Megarians in order to settle the border dispute. Yet Athens did respond. The “oldest and the youngest” - the men in the age brackets 50-60 (Lycurgus, Leoc. 39-40) and 18-19 (Aeschines, II 167) who ordinarily were not called upon to go to war - marched out and in two battles decisively defeated the Corinthians (Thuc. I 105-106; Diod. XI 79,3-4).
World History
