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Without Cimon’s pro‐Spartan influence, the Athenians found themselves embroiled in conflicts with the Peloponnesians, most notably over control of central Greece. The resulting campaigns from 460–451 are known as the First Peloponnesian War.

In 460, the Athenians sent a force of 200 ships to support EGYPT’s revolt from the Persian Empire. At first, the Greeks and the insurgents gained control of most of the country, but after six years of campaigning, a new Persian commander defeated the rebel forces. Most of the Greek ships were destroyed, and only a small number of survivors escaped. This was the greatest single DISASTER to date for Delian League forces, and it occurred at the same time the Athenians suffered heavy losses to the Spartans and Thebans in central Greece (Thuc. 1.109–11).

On the mainland, the Athenians won several engagements in the northeastern Peloponnese and in the Megarid. In 457, however, the Spartans invaded Boeotia. Ostensibly, this was in support of the small POLIS of DORIS, which the Spartans regarded as their mother‐city. More practically, this move allowed the Spartans to assist THEBES in gaining control of Boeotia, which would provide a strong ally for the Spartans at the northern border of Attica (Sealey 1976, 270). Alarmed, the Athenians sent their entire available hoplite force to meet the Spartans at TANAGRA, where the Spartans won a Pyrrhic victory, and then marched home. Sixty‐two days later the Athenians returned and defeated the BOEOTIANS at Oenophyta, securing Athenian control over the region for the next decade (Thuc. 1.108).

The second half of the 450s saw a surge in dissatisfaction among Athens’ Delian League allies. In 454, the Athenians moved the League treasury from Delos to Athens, and declared that 1/60th of the tribute should be paid to the goddess Athena as “FIRST FRUITS.” Shortly after this, Pericles began using League funds to instigate an ambitious building program, which included the Parthenon, the great temple to Athena on the Acropolis; the Propylaea, the monumental gateway at the entrance to the Acropolis; the Temple of Athena NIKE, and the Erechtheum, a temple dedicated to both Athena and POSEIDON (Camp 2001, 74–99; Hurwit 1999, 157–221; Wycherly 1978, 105–41). Scholars sometimes use 454 as a turning point for referring to the Delian League as the ATHENIAN EMPIRE.

Pericles further radicalized the democracy in several ways. In 451/0, he passed a law decreeing that all Athenian citizens must have two citizen parents (Boegehold 1994). Previously only one’s father had to be an Athenian; this may have been a measure aimed to decrease the power of the great aristocratic clans, who often formed MARRIAGE alliances with foreigners (Sealey 1976, 299). Around the same time, Pericles introduced pay for jury service. ARISTOTLE tells us that, since Pericles lacked the WEALTH to compete with the famously generous Cimon, he bribed the dēmos using the state’s money ([Arist.] Ath. pol. 27.4; cf. Plut. Cim. 10). Pericles also expanded eligibility for holding public office, and introduced traveling JUDGES chosen by LOT.

In 451, the Athenians recalled Cimon from exile, and he brokered a five‐year peace treaty with the Spartans (Plut. Cim. 17.4–8; cf. Thuc. 1.112; Sealey 1976, 272–73). Immediately upon his return, Cimon led a large expedition to CYPRUS to support a rebellion against the Persian Empire, where he died while besieging the town of Citium. Nevertheless, the League won a major battle against Persian forces at Cypriot SALAMIS, after which open hostilities with the Persian Empire ceased entirely. Based on references from fourth‐century sources, many modern historians believe that an Athenian named Callias negotiated a formal peace treaty with Persia at this time. But neither Herodotus nor Thucydides mention such a peace, which leads to serious doubts about its historicity (Stockton 1959; Wade‐Gery 1958).