What city-states dominated Greece after the Persian war 480-479?

Answer 1

After the defeat in 479 BCE of Mardonius' Persian forces and his Greek allies at Plataia, and destruction of the remaining Persian Phoenician-Greek-Egyptian naval forces at Mykale, the Spartans, as the dominant land power, and the Athenians as the dominant naval power, had different objectives. The Spartans advocated evacuation of the Greek population of Asia Minor back to mainland Greece to end the problem of having restive Greeks inside the Persian Empire. Athens wanted quite the reverse, thinking that its naval power could extend to protecting the Greek cities in the islands and Asia Minor in an anti-Persian federation.

This left the two at odds and the Spartans, naturally conservative, withdrew from the problem and left leadership against Persia to the more adventurous Athenians. As it turned out, the Spaetans were right, and the resolution of an ongoing problem of overseas Greeks was eventually effected 2,400 years later when the Greek population of Turkey was evacuated to Greece in 1923 DE after World War 1.

This left the Athenians organising an anti-Persian confederation. They levied ships from the cities of the islands and Asia Minor, but allowed them to pay a financial levy in lieu. Most cities (other than Samos, Chios and Lesbos) found it easier to pay rather than to provide ships, so Athens was able to sustain a dominant fleet, and used it to ensure that the levies were paid.

That led to what effectively became an Athenian empire. The Spartans meanwhile became the dominant land land power, with the Peloponnesian states siding as its allies. This progressively set up the growing confrontation which led to what has been dubbed the Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE - Sparta and its allies versus Athens and its allies (empire).