The Delian Bully

Athens used its leadership of the Delian League — an anti-Persian defense alliance — to build an empire. It moved the league treasury to Athens, forced members to pay tribute, and crushed any city-state that tried to leave. The protector became the bully.

Under Roman rule after 146 BC, Greece was a conquered province. Romans adopted Greek philosophy, art, and mythology so thoroughly that later Europeans often confused which was which.

The culture outlived the politics, but the original Athenian democracy never returned after the Macedonian conquest.