An association of Greek city-state around the…
477 BCE
An association of Greek city-state around the Aegean Sea had offered their allegiance at Delos, through Aristides, to Athens.
They had formed the Delian League (also known as the Confederacy of Delos) in 478 BCE with the Athenian strategos Cimon, a celebrated hero of the Battle of Salamis, as their principal commander, their purpose to continue fighting Persia after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea.
The League’s official aim is, according to Thucydides (1.96), to "avenge the wrongs they suffered by ravaging the territory of the king."
League members swear to have the same friends and enemies, and drop ingots of iron into the sea to symbolize the permanence of their alliance.