040 War Hawks and Peace Doves
The History of Ancient Greece
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The Delian League and the Athenians
In 478 BC, some of the Greeks formed what modern scholars called the Delian League. Members would avenge Persian attacks on Greece, and collect a booty to pay for damage. The Greek word pro-skema is normally used as a cloak for real motives or intentions. Thucydides writes that,. quote, a pretext for the alliance was to take revenge for their losses by devastating the Persian king's territory. However, his choice of the word 'pro' implies one of the stated aims, vengeance, was not the genuine aim.
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