09 Cimonian Imperialism

The years after the victory over King Xerxes witnessed a renewed struggle for primacy in the Athenian assembly between Themistocles, father of the Athenian navy, and his conservative opponents, who, though loyal to Athens, preferred to consolidate rather than expand the democratic reforms. This division was quickly reflected in Athenian policy toward Sparta. The democratic Themistocles was prepared to confront Sparta over leadership of the Greek world, but he fell from favor in 476 B.C., suffering first ostracism, then exile. In his place, the conservative Cimon came to dominate the assembly and was repeatedly elected general until 462/1 B.C. Ironically, the victories of Cimon, the friend of Sparta, converted the naval alliance of the Delian League into the Athenian Empire of the Aegean world. Cimon’s victories also promoted the rowers of the thetic class, who had grown impatient with the lack of democratic reform, and at the same time alarmed Sparta as Athens reduced her allies to subjects. In 452/1 B.C., after a fiasco in the Peloponnesus, Cimon was ostracized, and the radical democrats Ephialtes and Pericles came to power in the assembly.