THE RISE OF PERSIA
EXPANDING PERSIAN EMPIRE
Greeks spent great deal of
time fighting one and other
 Near the beginning of the
500s B.C.E. Persia was
growing in power
 City-states united for
defense in Peloponnesian
League
 By 520 B.C.E. Persian
Empire encircled Greek
city-states & included
former Greek colonies

THE PERSIAN “ALLIANCE”

Athenians sent
ambassador to Persian
King Cyrus the Great to
create an alliance

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Ambassador made alliance
Athenian assembly rejected
the deal
Persia still thought they had
a deal
Why would the Athenian
process confuse the
Persians?
Me so
angry
499-493 BCE: Greek cities
throughout Asia Minor rise up
against Persian rule.
 498 BCE: After pleading for an
alliance with the Persians, the
Athenians back the Ionian
Revolt

Help Ionians to sack Persian city
of Sardis
 Result: Persians are ANGRY!!!

THE ANIMOSITY BEGINS
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Persians went on to
conquer Ionian Greek citystates
499 B.C.E. Ionians Revolt
Athenians fear that they
are next so they help their
fellow Greeks
493 B.C.E. Ionian revolt is
put down
Darius (Persian leader)
still viewed Athens’
actions as a betrayal

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Darius sought revenge by sending
20,000 troops who gathered on plains of
Marathon (approx. 25 miles north of
Athens)
Athenians had a shabby army of less than
9,000 hoplites; no cavalry
But they marched out to meet the
Persians in Marathon rather than letting
their city be destroyed
According to legend:
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
Pheidippides, an Athenian herald, was sent to
Sparta to request help
He ran the 150 miles in two days but did not
succeed in getting Sparta’s help


While Pheidippides was seeking help…
Athenians charged unexpectedly

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At dead run to avoid Persian archers
Greek line was spread thin and broke in middle
Instead of retreating, folded up Persians
Greeks showed surprising skill in hand-to-hand combat
Won the battle despite more than 2 to 1 odd against them
Pheidippides returned and was sent announce their victory
in Athens
He ran the approximately 26 miles from Marathon to Athens
Announced “Nike!” (“Victory!”) and dropped dead
THE 19TH CENTURY POET ROBERT BROWNING
WROTE THIS POEM ABOUT PHEIDIPPIDES:
So, when Persia was dust,
all cried, “To Acropolis!
Run, Pheidippides, one race more!
the meed is they due!
Athens is saved, thank Pan, go shout!’
He flung down his shield
Ran like fire once more;
and the space ‘twixt the fennel-field
And Athens was stubble again,
a field which a fire runs through,
Till in he broke: ‘Rejoice, we conquer!’
Like wine through clay,
Joy in his blood bursting his heart,--the bliss!”
IT’S NOT OVER…
 At the same time, Persians sent some infantry and
cavalry by ship to Athens.
Immediately after the victory at Marathon,
Athenians raced back to Athens .
 Made it back to Athens about one hour before the Persians arrived.
Persians realized they were outnumbered.
 Persians lost about 6,000 men while Athenians only 192 men
 The
silver found in the mines at Laureion in Attica
Middle class benefitted
JACKPOT!!!
Athenians spend their money on a fleet
Themistocles(elected official) main contributor of needing
a navy
Constructed a fleet of nearly 200 ships
new style, "triremes" with 200 men rowing 150 oars
arranged in three tiers
HAVING ANOTHER GO…


Darius was enraged!
Started organizing another
invasion but died first
 Xerxes (Darius’s son)


took command
Organized between
150,000-300,000 warriors
and 600 ships
Greeks combined forces to
prepare:


Sparta providing vicious
army
Athens provided navy to cutoff supplies of Persians
BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE

BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE

Greeks chose spot where to meet the Persians
 Small pass in Southern Greece near the mountains and
the sea
Famous natural hot spring – Thermopylae “ hot gates”

Good choice for the Greece
 Persians would either have to go through narrow pass
or mammoth diversion
 Give the Greeks time to organize troops further south

Athenians sent ships Artemision to try to stop
Persian fleet from joining their army
BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE

King Leonidas ( Spartan King) led about 7.000
Greek troops into the battle
Only 300 of the troops were Spartan
Spartans at the forefront of the fight
Persians attacks were rebuffed until…
Xerxes paid a goat herder for information of
another route
 Sent 10,000 troops through this narrower pass
Behind Greeks
King Leonidas dismissed almost all of the
Greek troops, leaving the 300 Spartans and a few
others
BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE

King Leonidas and the
300 Spartans held the Persians
for several days
Persians inundated the Spartans
Advanced further south
MEANWHILE AT ARTEMISION

Persians lost many ships at Artemision
 weather
was bad
Greeks captured many ships
BATTLE OF SALAMIS
Athenians abandoned their city by orders of
Themistocles.

Persians march south from their victory at
Thermopylae and destroyed the city of Athens.
Athenians watched from the nearby island of
Salamis as their city burned.
BATTLE OF SALAMIS
Athenians positioned themselves and their fleets near
the island and did several things to defeat the Persians:
 Sent
false message to Xerxes
Had ships in the narrow channel between Salamis and the
mainland
Other ships hid in the small bay to the south of the narrow
channel
Persians thought the Greeks in the narrow channel were fleeing
and followed them into the narrow pass
o Athenians turned back to face Persians
oRammed the Persians ships
 Small
fleet hidden in the south caught the Persians as they
were fleeing.
BATTLE OF SALAMIS
BATTLE OF SALAMIS
The Greek sense of uniqueness was
increased
 Athens emerged as most powerful citystate in Greece
 Athens organized the Delian League, an
alliance with other Greek city-states

Ironically, Athens did not support
democracy in other city-states
 Forces other city-states to pay tribute
for protection
 Moved the Delian League treasury from
Delos to Athens and begin to abuse the
access to the Leagues’ money
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Many Greeks resented Athenian domination

Greek world split into rival camps.
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Result: Sparta forges an alliance with the other
city states and forms the Peloponnesian League
Declares war on Athens, which eventually leads to
the down fall of Athens

Athens at a disadvantage:
 Geography
 Navy
= no good against Spartans located
inland
 After Spartan invasion, Pericles allows
people from countryside to move inside city
 Result:
Overcrowding leads to a plague ; killed
1/3 of the people
 Including Pericles

Internal struggles undermined Democratic
government
 Sparta
allied with Persia, their old
enemy, against the Delian League.
 404 B.C., with the help of the Persian
navy, the Spartans captured Athens
and stripped it of its fleet and empire

The Peloponnesian war ended Athenian greatness

In Athens Democratic government suffered:
corruption and selfish interests replaced order
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Fighting continued to disrupt the Greek world

Sparta itself suffered defeat at the hands of
Thebes, another Greek city-state

Greece was left vulnerable to invasion (hello
Alexander the Great…we’ll meet you soon!)

Cultural development was halted