It was an anti-Persian league, which in modern parlance has been called the Delian League because it started by having its treasury in the island of Delos. As Athens progressively turned this league into an empire, and the Persian threat abated with a peace treaty in 449 BCE, Athens migrated the treasury to its Acropolis, where it was more conveniently available to squander on beautifying the city and paying for half the population in its public service.
Greece was a place of shifting alliances. which changed repeatedly after the Persian War ended in 449 BCE. Two alliances carried over from the war - the Delian League converted into the Athenian empire. The Peloponnesian League continued on until after the Peloponnesian War with the Athenian empire.
Initially it was an alliance of southern Greek cities led by Sparta which repelled the Persian invasion of 480-479 BCE. After this Sparta and other cities withdrew to settle their own problems and leadership was taken on by Athens. This latter alliance we call the Delian League as its treasury was held on the island of Delos, at least until Athens grabbed the money and stashed it on the Acropolis which made it easier to spend on itself when the war ended.
Delian League - their war funds were held on the island of Delos, until Athens purloined them in 454 BCE.
Today we call it the Delian League because its treasury was held at the island of Delos.
It formed the Delian League in the second half of the 50-year war, which it turned into an empire of its own when the Persian War ended.
during the greeco-persian war...
Persian Empire.
In order to defeat the Persians in the Second Persian War, Athens built a tremendous fleet and formed an alliance with many seafaring city-states in Greece and Ionia, with Athens at its head. Eventually, the Delian League became the basis for Athenian Empire.
The anti-persian alliance was formed by the Greeks during the 5th century BCE for mutual protection.
Athens formed an alliance of Greek cities to oppose Persia after the Persian invasion had been repulsed. The alliance was funded by contributions from the league while Athens provided the naval power financed by this. When peace was made with Persia, Athens continued to levy the contributions, using its navy to do so by force if necessary. This league thus effectively became an empire of Athens.
It was an alliance of city-states, mostly from Asia Minor and the Aegean islands, led by Athens to protect themselves from Persian dominance after the Persian invasion of mainland Greece was repelled. After 30 years of fighting, the the Persian Empire agreed to stay away from those city-states, and Athens opportunistically converted the League into an empire of its own and lived high on the proceeds.
Many city states formed an alliance against Athens because they felt the Athenian's treated them as mere subjects. Athens is the capital of Greece.
Athens formed an anti-Persian alliance, the members of which (mainly in Aisa Minor and the Aegean islands) contributed to a fund to maintain a navy for the alliance. Athens, with a very superior navy, was able to enforce collection of this tribute, and effectively converted the alliance into an empire. So although the city-states were nominally independent, they paid tribute to Athens. Athens also encouraged those states to adopt a radical democratic form of government, which many did.
Segeral city states formed an alliance after the Persian wars to make it possible to combat the Persians.
ANSWER There had been three major leagues formed by Greeks city states: The Peloponnesian League under Sparta's hegemony, formed about the mid of the VI century BC to contrast the Athens's power. The first Delian-Attica league under Athens's hegemony, formed in 478-477 BC during the last phase of the Persian Wars. The second Delian-Attica League under Athens's hegemony, formed in 377 BC in opposition to the military alliance between Sparta and the Persian Empire.