Athenian Hegemony and Its Lessons for Americarnby Srdja TrifkovicrnS^ ii ‘ ‘ ^ ^ ‘ ” i i ^ , , ^^ ^’V. ^^Pt^^.rni«mM«rnf i ^ * ; – – – – ^ ^ – * – If*- tfS? iterfj^-arn*/« -at*- ‘* W,*??rnfe’i’W’rno Lir common European civilization — of which the oldrnAmerican Republic is an integral part, or else it is nothingrn—is rooted in “the glory that was Greece.” Our spiritual andrnintellectual mentors are to be found among Greek thinkers, scienhsts,rnand artists.rnThis inheritance is reflected even in the way w’e repeat thernpolihcal follies of the Greeks: Our present leaders do not seemrnto know that, after leading an alliance of independent commonwealthsrnagainst a might}’ aggressor from the East, Athensrngrew rich and arrogant in the aftermath of her victory. Her leadershiprndegenerated into hegemony, which the Athenians justifiedrnas “exporhng democracv.” hnperial Athens was obe ed forrnseveral decades —initially out of self-interest, then out of fearrnrather than respect—but in the end, it was hated. Power generatedrncoimtervailing power: Other Greek city-states unitedrnagainst Athens, and she fell at the end of the fifth centur’ B.C.,rnnever to recover her political or militar}’ hegemony.rnHistorical parallels behveen epochs and events can be validrnonly because human nature remains constant. Our jet enginesrnand internet search engines do not make ns significantly differentrnfrom our European ancestors. To claim that the materialrnprogress of the past century or hvo makes us wiser or better thanrnthe Greeks of 25 centuries ago would be preposterous. The sto-rnT}’ of the rise and fall of Athens should remind our rulers thatrncertain modes of political tiiinking and behavior will producernthe same results today that thev did in 404 B.C., in A.D. 1815, orrnin 1945.rnThe Persian invasion of mainland Greece in 480 B.C. playedrna crucial role in defining the Hellenic identity. Of the hundredsrnof Greek city-states, only a few dozen opposed Xerxes, thernking of Persia, and only a small minorit)’ of all Greeks participatedrnin the war, but the victor) of Athens made freedom fromrnSrdja Trifkovic is the foreign-affairs editor for Ch I’les.rnforeign control a key element of the Ckeek consciousness.rnhi the years that followed the Persian defeat, Athenian powerrngrew unabated. Its rise was due largelv to the geopolitical geniusrnof Themistocles, whose insistence on the need for a strongrnpermanent navy was eminenfiy modern in its strategic assumptions.rnThe withdrawal of the Spartans from the continiung warrnagainst the Persians also bolstered Athens’ claim—still limitedrnand modest at that fime—to be recognized as the first amongrnec|uals. hi order to forge closer ties with the lonians and the islandsrnand to prevent any further threat from the east, the Atheniansrnestablished an alliance based on the island of Delos—thernso-called Dclian League. Formed as a defensive alliancernagainst Persia, the league quickly e’olved into a tool for fnrtlieringrnAthenian ambitions in Hellas proper.rnWliat did “Hellas” mean? The notion of Hellenic unit)’ wasrnoriginally based on freely evolved institutions, such as commonrnshrines and beliefs, alphabet, and Homeric tradition. But thisrnspontaneous unit)’ of culture and tradidon by no means impliedrnthe nccessitv, let alone anv widely spread desire, for a centralizedrnstate. I’he prevailing ‘iew of “Hellas” implied polifical di-rn’ersit’ in eidtural unib,’, an extreme version of the Americanrnview of the Old Republic.rnBy 468 B.C., after the Ionian cifies had been liberated and thernPersian fleet destroyed, manv members thought it unnecessar’rnto continue the confederacy. I’hev acted as reasonably—andrnnaively—as those of us who felt that the North Atlantic Treat)’rnOrganization had outlived its purpose after the fall of the BerlinrnWall and the disintegration of the Soviet Empire. In suppressingrnall attempts of league members to secede, the Atheniansrnclaimed, first, that the Persian danger still existed; second, thatrnthe alliance was needed to maintain and protect the large freetradernarea so necessary for allied (read: Athenian) commerce;rnand, finalK’, that the alliance was needed to promote demoeraey.rnThe siniilarit’ with our own times is remarkable.rn16/CHRONICLESrnrnrn