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History glossary

Delian League

an alliance of Greek states led by Athens after the Persian Wars.

Category
Alliance
Region
Aegean world
Date range
from 478 BCE

What it means

The Delian League was formed in 478 BCE as an alliance of Greek states against Persia. Athens led the league, collected tribute, and gradually turned the alliance into the basis of an Athenian maritime empire.

Related terms

AthensDemocracyPolis

Stories using this term

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece was a civilisation of city-states, sailors, philosophers, soldiers, artists, and political experiments whose influence reached far beyond the Aegean world. From Athens and Sparta to the Persian Wars, democracy, philosophy, drama, and Alexander the Great, Greek history helped shape ideas about citizenship, empire, knowledge, and culture. Its legacy survived through Rome, Byzantium, Islam, and modern Europe, making Ancient Greece central to the story of the classical world.

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