Many city states formed an alliance against Athens because they felt the Athenian's treated them as mere subjects. Athens is the capital of Greece.
They wanted to punish the persians for attacking Greece
Athens.
Athens.
Athens and its allies and Sparta and its allies.
Athens turned the league which it led against the Persian Empire into an empire of its own. Using the power of this empire to bully other city-states. The Peloponnesian League led by Sparta called Athens on its attempt to bankrupt its neighbour Megara, a member of their league, an overconfident Athens persisted, resulting in a destructive war which Athens lost, and was stripped of its empire.
Athens turned the league which it led against the Persian Empire into an empire of its own. Using the power of this empire to bully other city-states. The Peloponnesian League led by Sparta called Athens on its attempt to bankrupt its neighbour Megara, a member of their league, an overconfident Athens persisted, resulting in a destructive war which Athens lost, and was stripped of its empire.
At Ephesus in 498 BCE the Persian army crushed a force of the Ionian cities augmented by contingents from Eretria and Athens.
They wanted to punish the persians for attacking Greece.Also agreed to help defend each other and to protect trade in the aegean sea.
It was based on 180 city-states in Asia Minor and the Islands which banded together against the Persian Empire under the leadership of Athens. When the Persian threat was resolved, opportunistic Athens converted it into an empire of its own.
The first political system in the city-states of Greece was the rule of one man [kingdome]. Then aristocracy/ oligarchy followed and finaly democracy was introduced with Athens as the leading city. Athens strongly supported other cities to join the democratic alliance known as the athenean alliance.
Athens formed an anti-Persian alliance, the members of which (mainly in Aisa Minor and the Aegean islands) contributed to a fund to maintain a navy for the alliance. Athens, with a very superior navy, was able to enforce collection of this tribute, and effectively converted the alliance into an empire. So although the city-states were nominally independent, they paid tribute to Athens. Athens also encouraged those states to adopt a radical democratic form of government, which many did.
On one side, Athens. On the other, Sparta.