SECTION 3: VICTORY AND DEFEAT IN THE
GREEK WORLD
Ancient Athens
• By 500 B.C
Athens was the
wealthiest Greek
city-state
• But this power
was soon
threatened by the
mighty Persian
Empire
Athens was the wealthiest
Greek city-state by 500 B.C.
GREEK GEOGRAPHY
•Persia ruled over the Greek
city-states of Ionia
•Unhappy with Persian rule,
the Ionians rebelled
•Athens sent ships in support
of the rebellion,
•severely angering
the Persian
Emperor Darius
• Darius crushed the
Ionian rebellion.
• He then sent a huge
force across the
Aegean to punish
Athens.
• The Athenians
called upon all of
their own citizens to
defend their citystate.
• The Athenian force was
not nearly large enough
to compare to the
enormous Persian army.
• So they called out to
their neighbors
for help . . .
Marathon
• So, without the help of their
fellow greeks the Athenians
were forced to battle the
Persians on their own
• With a suicidal surge up the
middle of the Persian line, the
Athenians were able to break
the formation and drive the
Persian Army back to their
boats.
Darius dies before he can exact his
revenge on Athens, however his son
Xerxes takes up his fathers cause.
Real Xerxes
Graphic Novel Xerxes
The Movie Xerxes
• The Persian Army, lead by Xerxes,
now marches on towards Greece.
Revenge of Xerxes
• While the Athenians, Spartans,
and other Greek city-states got
their act together, King Leonidas
and his vaunted 300 make their
heroic stand at the hot gates –
Thermopylae
Thermoplyae
The Hot Gates
King Leonidas
Real Leonidas Graphic Novel Leonidas Movie Leonidas
Herodotus writes that when Dienekes, a
Spartan soldier, was told that Persian arrows
would be so numerous as "to blot out the
sun", he responded with a characteristically
Spartan-esque remark, "So much the better,
we shall fight in the shade."
The fierce resistance of the
Spartan-led army offered Athens
the invaluable time to prepare for
a decisive naval battle that would
come to determine the outcome
of the war.
Athenian Trickery at Salamis
The Battle of Salamis
• The Athenians lured the Persians into the
strait of Salamis
• Unable to retreat and caught off guard, the
Athenian Navy smashed the Persian fleet
• The following year, the Greeks defeated
the Persians on land, ending the Persian
threat.
In a brief moment of unity, the Greek city-states
had saved themselves from the Persian threat
They formed the Delian League to protect them
from future Persian threats
AGE OF PERICLES
• This was the Golden
Age of Athens.
• Athenians had a
direct democracy, or a
government in which
a large number of
male citizens took part
in the day to day
governmental affairs.
AGE OF PERICLES
• Athens prospered economically
through trade.
• They also prospered culturally,
rebuilding the Acropolis and
becoming the cultural center of
Greece.
• The Age of Pericles lasted from
460 to 429 B.C.
PELOPONNESIAN WAR
• In 431 B.C. war broke out between
Sparta and Athens. This led to the
Peloponnesian War, which lasted 27
years and involved all of Greece.
•Though Athens had a strong navy,
they faced a geological
disadvantage because Sparta was
land-locked
PELOPONNESIAN WAR
•As the war dragged on, each
side committed savage acts
against one another.
•In 404 B.C. Sparta ended up
siding with the Persians to
finally defeat Athens.
What if?
•What if … Athens
would have won
the war?
Answer…
• The world may have been a
“freer” place.
• With the defeat of Athens,
democracy was lost to the
civilized world
• Replaced with corruption and
selfish interest
Groovy Greeks