Religious Propaganda of the Delian League

There have been found in Samos boundary-stones, horoi, of the temene of Athena, Ἀθηνῶν μεδέονσα, and of the Eponymoi and Ion, both Ἀθήνηθεν. All come from the great plain of Khora which runs between Tigani, the ancient city, and the Heraion. On the ground of these inscriptions alone it has been suggested, and it is commonly believed, that Athens made her conquest of Samos in 439 the occasion for seizing all or part of the plain, and that a tithe of the land seized was assigned for the benefit of the three Athenian cults represented, the remainder being occupied by a party of cleruchs from Athens. The plain of Khora is both the largest and the richest in the whole island. No doubt it was the property of the aristocratic Geomoroi, descendants of the early settlers and presumably to be identified with the oligarchs who had revolted from Athens in 441/0. That their lands should have been forfeit upon their own flight into sanctuary at Anaia would not be surprising in the context of the harsh terms which Athens imposed. Moreover, we have an obvious parallel in the confiscation and division of Lesbian territory after the revolt of Mytilene in 427, and in the allotment of a tithe of the divided kleroi to the gods on that occasion (Thuc. iii 50). Epigraphical evidence for temene confirms that similar measures were taken when a cleruchy was sent to Chalkis in 446.