Fragmentary marble inscription
Following the Greek victory over the Persians in 479 B.C., Athens formed a naval confederacy with other Greek cities around the Aegean Sea. Gradually, however, it became an empire exacting annual tribute for the benefit of Athens alone. This inscription is part of a tribute list recording payments to Athens by members of the confederacy. It lists the assessments of Paros, Naxos, Andros, Melos, Siphnos, Eretria, and Thera. The date is 425/424 B.C., and the amounts are high because Athens was combating Sparta in the Peloponnesian War.