They decided to continue the war against the Great King, and
engaged to provide ships and warriors and to pay each year a
contribution of 460 talents ($350,000). The treasure was deposited at
Delos in the temple of Apollo, god of the Ionians. Athens was charged
with the leadership of the military force and with collecting the tax.
To make the agreement irrevocable Aristides had a mass of hot iron
cast into the sea, and all swore to maintain the oaths until the day
that the iron should mount to the surface.
A day came, however, when the war ceased, and the Greeks, always the
victors, concluded a peace, or at least a truce,[79] with the Great
King. He surrendered his claim on the Asiatic Greeks (about 449).
What was to become of the treaty of Aristides? Were the confederate
cities still to pay their contribution now that there was no more
fighting? Some refused it even before the war was done. Athens
asserted that the cities had made their engagements in perpetuity and
forced them to pay them.
The war finished, the treasury at Delos had no further use; the
Athenians transferred the money to Athens and used it in building
their monuments.
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