Which is an accurate description of the Delian League?

Answer 1

It was a confederation of eastern Greek city-states, formed after the defeat of the Persian invasion of mainland Greece 480-479 BCE.

After repelling the invasion, the Greek leading city-state, Sparta, proposed evacuating the Greeks under Persian rule from Asia Minor to avoid recurrence of the revolution problems which had sparked the war.

Athens proposed an alternative - it would form a league of about 180 of the affected city-states which would free them, backed by naval forces supplied by Athens, from Persian control. This Delian League took its name from Delos, the island where its treasury to pay for the defence forces was located.

As time passed, members of the League tried to defect, or not pay their annual contribution. Athens ruthlessly enforce payment, sending out 100 warships each year to collect the money, by force where necessary.

When after 30 years, Persia agreed to peace, and to stay away from the cities, Athens forced the cities to continue paying the war funds. It moved the treasury to Athens and spent the money on the warships which extorted the money, and on its own glorification and public handouts. As Pericles admitted, Athens turned this anti-Persian Empire league into an empire of its own.