What was the main purpose of the Delian League's common treasury initially established on the island of Delos in 478 BC?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. funding mutual naval defense against Persia
- Step 1: Following the Persian repulse at Salamis and Plataea, maritime Greek poleis formed an alliance under Athenian leadership. Member city-states contributed ships or money to a common treasury kept at the temple of Apollo on Delos to maintain a standing defense fleet. Answer: funding mutual naval defense against Persia. Why not the others: "systematically enriching aristocratic Peloponnesian land commanders" is historically false; Sparta had withdrawn from Aegean maritime affairs and led the Peloponnesian League; "building temples exclusively in Syracuse" confuses the Aegean alliance with independent Sicilian Greek poleis in Magna Graecia; "purchasing wheat from barbarian Scythia" while Athens imported Black Sea grain, the Delian treasury was founded for collective naval warfare.
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