The Research On The Second Athenian League

The Second Athenian League was a defensive alliance of Greek cities led by Athens and jointly sworn by other cities at the beginning of seventies in fourth century BC. It aimed at fighting against Spartan hegemony and safeguarding freedom and autonomies of Greek cities from Spartan interference. From its foundation in377B.C. to the military victory in the Battle of Chaeronea (338B. C.) won by Philip Ⅱ of Macedonia, the Second Athenian League lasted40years. During the4decades, Athens and her league undoubtedly played an important role in Greek world.This dissertation consists of Introduction, six chapters, Correlative Discussion and Appendices.The Introduction mainly claims the aims, significances and innovative points of the dissertation, elaborates the important relevant sources and reviews researches of foreign and native scholars concerning the Second Athenian League.Chapter Ⅰ briefs the historical background of the foundation of the Second Athenian League. After Peloponnesian War, Sparta gained the sole hegemony in Greece, but its high-handed politics and armed interference provoked fierce hostility and revolts. Athens, though dismally failed in the war, grasped the chance of quick recovery through Thrasybulus and Conon’s joint efforts; soon after it involved itself in the Corinthian War allying with Thebes and other Greek cities as well as Persia, and destroyed Spartan fleet in the Battle of Cnidus. Having lost control of the Aegean, Spartans sought to win back their hegemony by diplomatic means, took the initiative to sue for peace with Persia, and joined hands to force Greek cities to accept the King’s Peace. This "peace" was a compromise between great powers. It saved temporarily the Spartan hegemony in Greece; Persia got the long-coveted Asia, and Athens received appropriate compensation. It is believed that Sphodrias’raid on Piraeus led to the foundation of the Second Athenian League, but evidence suggests that the League had already existed before Sphodrias’raid.Chapter Ⅱ makes the translation and commentary of Prospectus of the Second Athenian League (Decree of Aristoteles), then analyses its provisions in detail. From its Greek texts, we can see that the Decree of Aristoteles mentions aims of the League, qualifications and duties of the League members. There are about60city names carved on the stone with different hands, it shows not all the members enter the League at the same time, but in batches. Chapter III mainly describes the development of the Second Athenian League. The literacy and epigraphic evidences both proved that the League was made up of6cities only; most of them had made alliance with Athens respectively. And the terms concluded by Athens and Chios had been regarded as the model of the Second Athenian League. The development of the League afterwards was directly connected with Athenian military campaigns. Among the allies, the relationship between Thebes and Athens was very subtle. Thebes got rid of Spartan control with the help of the League, and defeated Spartans in the Battle of Leuctra. The rise of Thebes invoked the Athenian jealousness; therefore, Athens allied with its former sworn enemy Sparta for weakening Thebes.Chapter Ⅳ narrates the institutions and organizations of the Second Athenian League. Synedrion was the main administrative body, which was paralleled and featured by a check-and-balance relation with Athenian council. Syntaxeis refers to the common fund of the League, distinguished from the tribute (phoros) of Athenian Empire. Cleruchy was a special kind of Greek colony, in which the cleruchs living there kept their original citizenship, and they had to serve to the army and pay the tax. Athenian garrisons and governors had been seen as attempts to intervene in the politics of the allies and recover her empire.Chapter V focuses on the decline of the Second Athenian League and its causes. The Social War gave Athenians such a heavy blow that Athenian economy went bankrupt and her military strength was crushed. Since then, Synedrion had seldom played an active role and the League had become a nominally existed body. From the middle of the fourth century B.C., Macedonia in the north rose as a power. Philip II’s excellent ability and his military reform made Macedonia the most important political power in Greece. Rivalry and fighting between Athenians and Philip were the main events of late period of the League’s history. The foundation of the Corinthian League not only declared the disbandment of the Second Athenian League, but also ushered in a whole new era.In the Sixth chapter, taking the transformation from Delian League to Athenian Empire into account, the terms "empire" and "imperialism" are defined and analyzed, and the contrasts of these two Athenian leagues will be further discussed."The Second Athenian League" actually didn’t transform into "the Second Athenian Empire". Although it was not called an empire, it was true that Athenian imperialism was renewed. In fact, Athenians never gave up the attempt to recover her old empire in the fourth century and Athenian imperialism never went far away, like the Ghost of Empire.The last part mainly examines the relationship between alliance of city-states and the classical world. The alliance of city-states was the most important polity in classical world except for Polis. The alliance under a Hegemon was main type of the alliance in Classical Greece, such as Peloponnesian League, Delian League and the Second Athenian League. Taking the Second Athenian League as the perspective, people can have a better view about the development and significance of city-states alliance in4th Century B.C.