Empire of the sea
idea · 2 works · 2 mentions · 4 anchored passages
empire of the sea · empire · hegemony · imperial power · supremacy by sea · this power
in the texts
On the Peace
Athenian naval dominion over other Greeks, condemned as unjust, unstable, and harmful.
And yet they were involved in more and greater disasters in the time of the empire than have ever befallen Athens in all the rest of her history.
Nay, I believe that I shall make it evident to all that we covet an empire which is neither just nor capable of being attained nor advantageous to ourselves.
But, notwithstanding these advantages, in place of a polity which was admired by all men this power has led us on to a state of license which no one in the world could commend;
Panathenaicus
Naval supremacy over Greek states, treated as a power used imperfectly by both cities but more moderately by Athens.
The Spartans remained at the head of Hellas hardly ten years, while we held the hegemony without interruption for sixty-five years.
For our fathers tried to persuade their allies to establish the very same polity in their cities as they themselves had continually cherished;
For, in the first place, these states did this, not because we had so commanded, but because they themselves had so resolved at the very time when they conferred upon us the supremacy by sea.