The Expansion of Greece: Persian
Wars
In 500 B.C. Greeks in Asia Minor rebelled
against the Persians while Athens helped
these city-states in their uprising. This
caused the beginning of the Persian Wars.
 Persian ruler Darius crushed the Greek
revolts and also wanted to punish Athens
for helping the rebels.
Pg. 1
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Persians invaded mainland Greece
conquering Thrace and Macedonia.
 In 490 B.C. Persian went to war with the
Athenians at the Battle of Marathon
 Even though the Athenians were
outnumbered by the Persians, Athens
defeated them in the Battle of Marathon.
 The Persians left leaving an uneasy peace
between Athens and Persia for 10 years.
Pg. 2
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Battle of Thermopylae
In 480 B.C. Darius’s son Xerxes led
another huge army against Greece.
 Greek city-states united this time to stop
the Persians.
 The Persians had to advance through a
narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae
where they were met by 300 Spartan
soldiers.
Pg. 3
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The Greeks held the pass for 3 days until the
Persians found another way through the
mountains and surrounded the Greeks.
 Although the Spartans were badly outnumbered,
they refused to surrender until all 300 men were
killed.
 Persians then marched toward Athens where
Athenian leader, Thermistocles, told the
Athenian people to leave Athens and escape.
 Xerxes entered Athens and destroyed it.
Pg. 4
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Thermistocles tricked Xerxes into attacking
the Athenian navy at the Salamis Strait.
There defeated a much larger Persian
army with the more maneuverable ships
Greece had.
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In 479 B.C. Athens and Sparta joined
forces to defeat the Persians at Plataea
which ended the Persian wars.
Pg. 5
Results of Persian War Pg. 6
Athens rebuilt its city after the Persian
wars and began to create its own empire
in the Aegean Sea.
 Athens formed the Delian League which
was an alliance of city-states with Athens
as its leader.
 The Delian League eventually included
140 city-states that contributed money
and ships to the Greek cause which
Athens built its empire on.
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Peloponnesian Wars
Pg. 7
Pericles, the leader of Athens
strengthened Athens to its peak in power
and wealth but could not unite Greece
under Athens.
 Tensions grew between city-states until
war broke out between Athens and Sparta
in 431 B.C. called the Peloponnesian War.
 These two city-states had been rivals for
years which did not help matters.
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Sparta had the stronger army, pushing the
Athenians back behind the walls of Athens.
However, Athens had the stronger navy and
could bring food in by ship so the Spartans
could not starve them out.
The war continued for 27 years until Sparta
was able to cut off Athens food supply with
the help of Persia, starving the Athenians
until they surrendered in 404 B.C.
Pg. 8
Ending of Peloponnesian War
Pg. 9
Athens became a second-rate power
because they were weakened from the
long war and battles they endured.
 After the war, Greece became politically
unstable when Thebes and Sparta tried to
control all of Greece.
 Thebes and Sparta were unable to unite
Greece under their power and wars
between the city-states continued for
some time.
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