Stageira and Olympiada history part 5

Xerxes' invasion of Greece had been repulsed, but at great cost to the Greek states, many of whose cities had been destroyed, and their farmlands ravaged. Around 477 BC several of the states, including Stageira, formed the Delian League as an alliance against the Persians, and with the express intention of revenge [25]. Athens, which had emerged from the Persian wars as the strongest of these states with the most powerful navy, came to dominate the league.

Delegates of member states met at the temple of Apollo on the sacred island of Delos and agreed to either provide troops and ships or pay a tribute to a common fund which was kept in the league's treasury on the island. The amounts each city was to pay was inscribed on large marble steles known as tribute lists or quota lists (see photo below right) which were displayed on the Athens Acropolis. Stageira paid one talent per year to this fund. But in 454 BC Pericles removed the treasury to Athens. Dissent or resignation from the league was not tolerated by Athens which used considerable force to keep members in line.

The dominance of Athens and the league, and the consequent shift in the balance of power in the Aegean, alarmed non-member Greek States, particularly Sparta. This tension was one of the factors leading to the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies 431-404 BC.

The situation in Halkidiki was further complicated by the attempts by King Perdiccas II of Macedonia to persuade the cities there to revolt against Athens, and the fact that Potidaia was an important colony of Corinth. From the Battle of Potidaia in 432 BC to the Battle of Spartolos in 429 BC, Athens found itself fighting against cities of Halkidiki allied by Corinth, Macedonia and Sparta. The Athenians came off badly, in terms of human and financial losses, and cities such as Olynthos became more determined to break from Athens.

Around 430 BC, several rebel cities of Halkidiki formed their own alliance, known as the Chalcidian League, headed by Olynthos. Stageira may have been a member of this league [26], however in 429-428 BC it was among the few cities of Halkidiki - along with Mende, Aphytis, Scione and Akanthos - still paying the tribute to Athens.

In 424 BC the Spartan general Brasidas (Βρασίδας) led an army through Greece to Macedonia at the request for help from King Perdiccas II, and persuaded several cities, including Akanthos, Stageira and Argilos to secede from the Delian League. [27] He then marched to Amphipolis with troops supplied by these new allies, and persuaded the inhabitants of the Athenian colony to defect.

At the end of a one year armistice between Athens and Sparta, in 422 BC the Athenian politican Cleon (Κλέων) led a force to try to recapture the northern territories. He unsuccessfully besieged Stageira [28], and was defeated and killed in the Battle of Amphipolis when he attempted to take the city. Brasidas also died in the battle, and the Athenians and Spartans eventually reached a truce, the Peace of Nikias of 421 BC, which ensured the independence and neutrality of the cities of Halkidiki but also stipulated that they should continue to pay the tribute to the Delian League. [29]

However, by this time the warring Greek states were concentrating on other locations, and Athens had become so weakened by war and plague that it could no longer enforce its claim to tribute from many of the cities or destroy the Chalcidian League. Ironically, it was Sparta which was to defeat Olynthos and dissolve the league in 379 BC, although it was able to reform a few years later. [30]