Greece The Persian Wars
Essential Themes
5. Conflict and Cooperation: How has warfare shaped
human history?
Introduction: In the 5th century BCE Greek city-states were most often
battling one another for land, resources, prestige, and power. When
threatened by King Darius the Great and the mighty Persian Empire in 490
BCE, however, they banded together to take on the most powerful army the
world had ever seen, and so began the Greco-Persian Wars, a series of
battles that stretched over the course of decades.
The Persian Wars represent one of those truly pivotal moments in History
when the past and the future collide. Persia was symbolic of the old ways — a
world inhabited by priests and god-kings. Theirs was a world where priests
stood guard over knowledge and emperors treated even their highest subjects
as slaves. The Greeks symbolized all that was new. They had recently cast off
their own god-kings and were just beginning to test a limited concept of
political freedom, democracy. At the same time, they were innovating in art,
literature and religion, and their philosophies offered new ways to understand
the world, unfettered by priestly tradition.
If the underdog Greeks had not been victorious in the Greco-Persian Wars,
with the rest of Europe in its sights, Persia might have easily swept past
Greece and easily dominated an emerging Latin culture in a very young Rome.
Had that happened, our cultural roots, the things we value, indeed, the history
we celebrate would be very, very different. Instead, Greek victory led to the
"classical age" in Greece, a time that saw advances in art, literature,
philosophy, and technology and, for the time, unmatched Greek
prosperity. While the Greco-Persian Wars lasted decades and consisted of
dozens of battles, for this lesson you will examine the strategies and outcomes
of three of the most important contests: Marathon, Thermopylae, and
Salamis.
Why did Persia invade Greece?
The Battle at Marathon: Persia was a great and huge empire, led by a
powerful king and controlled by a highly organized government. In 500 BCE,
the Persian Empire led by Darius the Great dominated Greece and everyone
else with their size, wealth, and military might. Darius' command stretched
from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Indus River in Pakistan. At
that time, the Greek city-states were not united, and they were tiny
compared to the size and population of the vast Persian Empire. Athens, the
largest of the Greek city-states only had about 200,000 people living in it.
In 499 BCE, several cities on the coast of modern-day Turkey, cities that had
been founded by the Greeks, rebelled against their Persian rulers. Their
rebellion is known as the Ionian revolt. Athens sent ships and supplies
to help the cities. Even though the Athenian aid did nothing to save the
cities, the action made the Persian emperor, Darius, very angry. He decided
to teach the Greeks a lesson. In anger Darius gathered together his army
and navy and invaded Greece. His sights were set on nothing less than
conquest. This set the stage for the battle of Marathon.
In 490 BCE, Darius the Great, the Persian Emperor pictured at left, brought
600 ships and 20,000 infantry to invade Greece. Because it was big enough
to allow his cavalry and their horses room to maneuver, Darius landed his
army on the plain of Marathon, up the coast from Athens. At Marathon
Darius prepared his attack.
In the hills overlooking Marathon, the Greek army waited and wondered how
to handle the Persian army massing on the beaches below. The Greeks knew
that if they did not defeat Darius the Persians would not stop fighting until
they had conquered all of Greece. Badly outnumbered, Greek commanders
in the hills above Marathon sent a messenger named Phidipedes to Sparta to
ask for Spartan aid. As the Greeks gathered their army together, they
received some disappointing news. The Spartans were not coming. The
Spartans were in the midst of a religious holiday that they would not disrupt.
(The gods would be angry.)
Brain Box: Aside from the religious
festival, do you think there were other
motives behind Sparta's refusal to aid
the Athenians?
The Greek commander Milatides, counseled boldness. He had a plan. After
waiting for days for some hint of activity from the Greek side, the Persians
started to load their cavalry and foot soldiers back onto their ships to sail
down the coast and attack Athens. Boarding the cavalry first would prove
critical to the battle's outcome. It was while the Persians were boarding their
ships that Milatides attacked.
The Greeks had a couple of advantages. First, every Greek soldier wore
metal armor. Most of the Persians had leather armor. Second, the Greeks
fought using a phalanx. The phalanx was a formation in which soldiers
locked shields and formed a wall. Soldiers behind the wall held long spears
to stab the enemy.
The Persians had never seen a formation like the phalanx before. The Greeks
were well outfitted and the phalanx caused confusion in the Persian army.
Should they continue boarding their ships or stop and fight? The Greeks gave
them no choice. Attacking at a run, the Greek Phalanx smashed into the
Persian army. Attacking at close quarters rendered the Persian archers
useless. Aboard their ships, the Persian cavalry was also useless. After a long
hard fight, the Greeks drove the Persians back on to their ships. Outnumbered
4 to 1, the Greeks lost 192 soldiers on the beaches of Marathon. By the day's
end, however, 6400 Persian forces lay dead. The Greeks weren’t done yet,
however. Knowing that in retreat the Persians were heading for Athens,
Milatides gathered his army and marched quickly back to the city, a distance
of over 26 miles.
What happened when Persia invaded
Greece?
The Persian army had never seen anything quite like the Greek phalanx
When Darius sailed with his army to attack what he thought was an
undefended Athens, he was shocked to see the Greek army waiting for him
on the beach. Despondent, he sailed with his army back to Persia. The
Greeks had done the unbelievable, the impossible. They had defeated the
Persian Empire. The victory at Marathon was a moral victory for democracy.
It shocked Darius that a people would fight for an ideal.
Phidippedes, the same messenger who had previously crossed the 140 miles
of the Peloponnesus to ask for Spartan help, ran the 26 miles from Marathon
to Athens to bring the news that the Greeks had beaten the Persians, and
that the Persians were on their way. In honor of these wonderful
accomplishments – victory on the battlefield at Marathon and the successful
run from Marathon to Athens to bring the news – today, we use the word
“marathon” to describe a long distance race.
Review: What advantages did the Greeks
have at Marathon?
Battle at Thermopylae: Below is a picture of Thermopylae as it appears
today. Thermopylae is a narrow pass through the mountains in Greece. By
going through the pass, you can reach the plains around Athens.
In 480 BCE, ten years had passed since the Persian defeat at Marathon and
the Persian Army, led by Darius' son, Xerxes, was on its way back to Greece.
Determined to conquer Athens and to teach those upstart Greeks a
lesson they would never forget, Xerxes had spent four years gathering
150,000 fighters from all corners of his empire. Transporting them by both
land and sea, The Persians were ready to once again attack Athens. To get
there, the Persian army had to go through the mountains.
Who is Leonidas?
The Greeks knew that the Persians were coming. You couldn't hide such a
large moving army. The Greeks knew that they had to stop the Persians in a
place where their huge number of troops would be a disadvantage - in the
mountains. King Leonidas, a Spartan general, was in charge of the Greeks.
He knew that he could not defeat the entire Persian army. This time, there
were just too many of them. But, he had a plan.
The Persian "Immortals" pictured on the walls of Darius' palace.
Leonidas figured that the pass at Thermopylae was so narrow that only a
few Persian soldiers at a time could get through. Fighting at over a 20 to 1
disadvantage in the number of troops he had, Leonidas sent most of the
Greek army away and kept only a couple of thousand men to guard the
pass. The most famous of these were the 300 Spartans of his own army.
Every day, every hour was precious. It allowed the Greeks defending Athens
to gather their army together. It allowed them to build more ships for the
Athenian navy to use for battle. Leonidas knew he had to stop the Persians
at the pass at Thermopylae for as long as possible. And stop them he did.
One day, two days, how long could the Greeks hold out? It seemed as if
no one could defeat the Spartans. The Persians sent in their elite troops,
"the immortals." The immortals had earned their name for their skill and
their bravery in combat. The number of "immortals" was so great that when
they swarmed the battlefield and one "immortal" fell another immediately
took his place. Even with his fighting elites engaged in battle, however,
Xerxes' troops made little progress against the Greeks. How could the
Persian army ever get through the pass? The answer appeared in their
midst. A traitor from the Greek army named Ephialtes showed the Persians a
little known path through the mountains and around the Greeks. So great
was the treachery that, in common usage today, the word ephialtes means
"nightmare."
When Leonidas discovered the betrayal, he knew his troops would soon be
surrounded by the Persians. With the fate of the Greeks at Thermopylae
sealed, the Persians sent a commander to ask if the Spartans would like to
surrender. The Spartans replied, "Never!" In disbelief, the
Persian commander pointed to his archers and told Leonidas that if he did
not surrender arrows would be launched in such great quantity that they
would black out the sun. To which, the Spartan commander is famously said
to have replied, "Then we shall fight in the shade."
What advantages did the Greeks have at
Thermopylae?
The Persians attacked, the Spartans defended. Again the Spartans were
victorious. The Persians were tired of this so, as promised, they called in all
their archers and started firing arrows at the Spartans. One by one the
Spartans were dying from the thousands of arrows raining down upon them.
There was only one thing to do. Attack! They formed a phalanx and
attacked.
The Persians continued firing arrows until, finally, all 300 Spartans lay dead
on the ground. Because the Spartans had held the pass for as long as
they did, their sacrifice allowed the Greeks in Athens to prepare for the
arrival of the Persians. By the time the Persian troops entered Athens, the
city had been evacuated. Xerxes discovered a ghost town filled with only the
echoes of his own troops' boots on the ground. Because of their act of
heroism at Thermopylae Pass, Sparta is still remembered and honored
today.
The Battle at Salamis: When the Persian king, Xerxes, invaded Greece in
the spring of 480 BCE, he did so at the head of a vast army. Once
the Spartan force at Thermopylae had been defeated, his route by land to
Athens was virtually undefended.
In a near panic over what to do, the Athenians sought the wisdom of the
Oracle of Delphi. The Greeks used the word “oracle” to describe the person
through whom the gods could speak, the place or temple where the gods
could speak, and the answer the gods would give. So, when speaking to the
gods, the word “oracle” is used to describe the person, the place, and the
answer. The remains of the Oracle at Delphi are pictured to the right.
Who is Themistocles?
When asked what Athens should do, the Oracle responded, "Though all else
shall be taken, Zeus, the all seeing, grants that the wooden wall only shall not
fail." Athens had a stone wall. Arguments in Athens raged as to what
this "wooden wall" could mean. Many believed it to be the thorn bushes
surrounding the Acropolis.
The Athenian general, Themistocles, had an answer of his own. The wooden
wall, he argued, was the fleet of naval ships , including the speedy triremes
like the one pictured at left, that Athenians had spent the last few years
hurriedly building. Themistocles' interpretation won the day and he
immediately gave the order for Athens itself to be abandoned.
The Persians had lost two major battles to the upstart Greeks. On their march
toward Athens, they were not about to lose a third. They were determined to
win, and to win big. In addition to his land forces, Xerxes, the leader of the
Persian Army, packed 1200 ships with well-equipped fighting men, and set
sail for Athens. 1200 ships! Can you imagine? What a sight that must have
been!
What advantages did the Greeks have at
Salamis?
Rather than commanding his men personally, Xerxes ordered a
comfortable chair to be placed on a hilltop where he could watch
the battle in the far distance, as if it were entertainment to be
staged for his amusement.
The ancient Greeks did not need spies to tell them that the
Persians would be back in great numbers. They knew the
Persians would be back. But the ancient Greeks were fighters.
They would rather die than lose. They would rather win than die.
They knew they had some advantages, so they planned on how
best to use those advantages.
Greek Advantage: Athletic Ability. For one thing, the Greeks could swim.
The Persians had already demonstrated that if they fell in the water,
they drowned. Most could not swim to shore or swim to another Persian boat
to save their own lives if they fell into the water.
Using this advantage, the Greeks practiced a new maneuver. The plan was
to move quickly alongside an enemy ship. Once there, at the last second,
they practiced raising their oars vertically, fast and hard, to break the
enemy’s oars. If they broke them, the ship would be stuck. The men could
not row away until they were given new oars. The men could not swim away
because they could not swim. Basically, they would be sitting ducks. It was a
very smart plan.
Greek Advantage: Knowledge. The Greeks had the advantage of fighting
on their home turf. They knew the waterways. They knew the currents. They
decided that if they had smaller ships that were faster and easier to
maneuver, being incredibly outnumbered might not matter as much,
especially if the enemy ship was stuck and they were free to move around.
Athens used money from their brand new silver mines to build as many
ships as they could before the Persians arrived at Salamis. They designed a
new ship called a trireme. A trireme is a ship with three levels of rowers.
This gave speed to their ships and strength to their battle plan of enemy oar
breaking. Athens built about 200 triremes. Together, the other Greek citystates supplied another 200 triremes for the battle of Salamis.
Greek Advantage: Cleverness. 400 ships was a lot, but the Greeks knew
that it would not be enough in an open fight since their Greek spies had
reported that the Persians planned to bring 1200 ships loaded with soldiers.
The Greeks needed more. The clever Athenians added a couple of things to
help bring the odds a bit more into their favor.
The Greeks increased the strength of their boats. They added a ram (a built
up, strengthened point) to the bow (to the front) of their ships, to help them
ram and sink the enemy ships.
The Greeks used the technique of misinformation. The Greeks sent someone
who was pretending to be a traitor into the Persian army. This “traitor” told
the Persians that the Greeks were going to pretend to retreat through the
Gulf of Salamis, but the Greek fleet would be hidden on the other side, ready
for a surprise attack.
Since the Persian General thought he knew the Greek plan, he created a
plan of his own. Based on the misinformation he had received from the
Greek “traitor,” his plan was to send in all his ships at once and overwhelm
the Greeks through sheer numbers, putting 3 or 4 of his ships against every
Greek ship, before the Greeks could retreat through the Gulf of Salamis, to
join the rest of their fleet. Unfortunately for the Persians, that’s exactly what
the Greeks wanted them to do. For the Greek battle plan to work, they
needed the Persian ships to be close together.
Greek Advantage: Courage. The ancient Greeks had the wonderful ability
to stick to a plan. It took great courage to stick to this plan. But they did.
When the battle started, the Greeks pretended to retreat in front of the
Persians as planned, just as the “traitor” had said they would. However, the
rest of the Greek fleet was not hidden on the other side of the Gulf of
Salamis. The rest of the fleet was hidden on this side, behind islands and in
the many small rivers and channels that lined the Straits of Salamis.
As the Persian fleet entered the Straits of Salamis, Xerxes' naval
commanders turned to face the Greeks, forming three impressive lines of
Persian ships. The Greek fleet stood firm for a minute. Then, using the speed
of their three levels of rowers, they exploded toward the Persian fleet.
Panicked, the front line of Persian boats flinched and backed into the line of
ships behind them. In their confusion, the Persian ships created a tangled
web of oars that made many boats easy targets for the fast, nimble Greek
fleet. It was then that Greek ships poured in from all side, from the
channels, and from behind the islands.
The Persians were surrounded. The Greek fleet slammed against the sides of
the Persian ships, as they had practiced. At the last second, they slapped
their oars straight up with great strength and speed, cracking Persian oars
into bits. Many of the Persian ships had so many cracked oars that the men
could not row away. They could not swim away. They were stuck.
Once the ships were stuck, the Greek fleet began ramming ships, sinking the
Persians, but remaining afloat themselves, thanks to the build up front end
of their boats. Accounts say about 200 of the Persian ships were sunk at
Salamis. The Greeks boarded other ships, killing the men aboard. Only about
200 ships of the original 1200 ships sent by the Persians escaped.
The Persian emperor, Xerxes, had placed his throne on top of hill so he could
watch the great victory of his men. Instead, he wept at the loss of so many
men and ships. The Persians took their remaining ships and their army and
retreated to Northern Greece. Xerxes left an army of about 80,000 men in
Northern Greece, and took the rest of his men home to Persia.
Greek Advantage: Teamwork. The Spartans gathered
together an army from the rest of the Greek city-states and
met the Persians at Platea for one of the last Persian War
battles. The Persian army was defeated there and destroyed.
Meanwhile the Athenians had gathered together the Greek
fleet and set off for the coast of Asia-minor. In 477 BCE, they
destroyed what was left of the Persian navy at Mycale.
Victory: The incredible had happened. The tiny city-states of
Greece had beaten the huge Persian Empire. The pride that
the ancient Greeks felt over winning this war started a new
age – the Golden Age of Greece.