The larger cities in the league agreed to provide ships
and crews for a fleet, while the smaller cities were to make their
contributions in money. Athens assumed the presidency of the league, and
Athenian officials collected the revenues, which were placed in a treasury on
the island of Delos. As head of this new federation Athens now had a position
of supremacy in the Aegean like that which Sparta enjoyed in the Peloponnesus.
CIMON AND THE WAR AGAINST PERSIA
The man who succeeded Themistocles and Aristides in
leadership of the Athenians was Cimon, son of Miltiades, the hero of Marathon.
While yet a youth his gallantry at the battle of Salamis gained him a great
reputation, and when Aristides introduced him to public life the citizens
welcomed him gladly. He soon became the head of the aristocratic or
conservative party in the Athenian city. To Cimon the Delian League entrusted
the continuation of the war with Persia. The choice was fortunate, for Cimon
had inherited his father's military genius. No man did more than he to humble
the pride of Persia. As the outcome of Cimon's successful campaigns the
southern coast of Asia Minor was added to the Delian League, and the Greek
cities at the mouth of the Black Sea were freed from the Persian yoke. Thus,
with Cimon as its leader, the confederacy completed the liberation of the
Asiatic Greeks.
