Western Civilization
Ms. Tully

500-338 BCE –
Greek civilization
reached high point
◦ Philosophy,
architecture, drama,
warfare

Herodotus (ca.
485-425)
◦ “Father of history”
◦ Recorded oral
accounts of Persian
War

Cyrus the Great
conquered Ionia in
547 BCE
◦ Appointed tyrants to
govern independentminded Greeks

Ionian city-states
rebelled against
Persian rule in 499
BCE
◦ Help from Athens and
Eritrea
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Battle of Marathon – 25 miles from Athens
◦ Persian war machine – massive naval expedition &
infantry
◦ Hoplites defeated lightly armed Persian infantry
◦ 6400 Persians dead vs. 192 Greeks
◦ Greek victory – taught Greeks they could defeat the
Persians

Persian rule passed from Darius the Great to
his son Xerxes
◦ Built up massive campaign to invade Greece
◦ Temporary setbacks b/c of Egyptian revolts

Unified Greek city-states
◦ Spartans - overall leadership
◦ Themosticles of Athens – naval commander

Battle of Thermopylae
◦ Spartan king Leonidas and his personal bodyguard
of 300 men
◦ Supported by allied Greek troops
◦ Two days of battle against Persians
◦ Betrayed by local resident – scouts revealed this to
Leonidas
◦ Dismissed allied troops – Held pass with 300 men
for one more day, but all were killed or captured
◦ Persians occupied most of mainland Greece
◦ Athens evacuated in advance of Persian invasion
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Battle of Salamis
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Naval battle in narrow Salamis straits
Persian numbers became a hindrance
Greeks won – sinking/capturing 200+ Persian ships
Xerxes retreated with majority of his army
Battles of Plataea and Myclae, 479 BCE
◦ Final defeat of remaining Persian army
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Demonstrated independence of Greeks –
would not be dominated by outside culture or
monarchy
◦ Monarchy = very un-Greek
◦ Symbolized lack of freedom
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Greeks defined by freedom and independence
Ensured that Greek ideals and culture would
be passed on to future generations
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Athens formed the
Delian League – a
military naval alliance
of Greek city-states
from around the
Aegean – shortly
after Persian war
◦ Led by Pericles (ca.
494-429 BCE)
◦ Intellectual, aggressive,
imperialistic
◦ Eventually became
Athenian empire
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Growing power of Athens worried Sparta
◦ Numerous clashes between allies of Athens and
Sparta in years leading up to Peloponnesian wars
◦ Led to war between the two city-states and their
allies
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Sparta and its allies besieged Athens
repeatedly
◦ Athens built walls around city for protection
◦ Athenians cloistered in city
◦ Plague in 430 – killed 1/3 of population (including
Pericles)

Athenians had naval power
◦ Triremes – Athenian ships built for speed
◦ Repeated attacks on coastline of Peloponnesus
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Peace of Nicias (421 BCE)
◦ Resulted in cold war (sort of…)
◦ Invasion of Melos – demonstration of Athenian
brutality
◦ Alcibiades (ca. 450-404 BCE) – new ambitious
Athenian leader

Invasion of Syracuse
◦ Alcibiades encouraged Athenians to invaded
Syracuse in Sicily
 Cut off grain supply to Spartans
◦ Alcibiades defected from Athenians to Spartans
 Wanted to avoid trial, had many political enemies
◦ Nicias took over command of Athenian military
◦ Spartans sent reinforcements to Sicily
◦ Syracuse defeated Athenians in 413 BCE
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Sparta declared war against Athens again in
413 BCE
Numerous revolts in Athenian empire
(especially islands and Ionia)
Sparta created alliance with Persians
◦ Alcibiades idea
◦ Persians agreed to build navy fleet for Sparta so
they could defeat Athenians
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Alcibiades leaves Sparta for Athenians
◦ Led a series of victories against Spartans – Battle of
Syme and Battle of Cyzicus
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Spartan victory at Battle of Notium (406 BCE)
◦ Alcibiades leaves Athens
◦ Political infighting within Athens weakens and
demoralizes navy
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Battle of Aegospotami
◦ Lysander became new Spartan general – very
cunning and excellent military strategist
◦ Sailed Spartan fleet to Hellespont – cut off grain
supply to Athens
◦ Athenian fleet had no choice but to follow –
completely defeated

Athenians starved
into submission –
surrendered in 404
BCE
◦ Gave up fleet, overseas
possessions
◦ Corinth and Thebes
wanted Athens
destroyed
◦ Sparta allowed Athens
to remain intact – cited
great leadership during
Persian war
◦ But Athens was
beholden to Sparta –
never rose to same
level of power they
once had