Transcript Ancient Greece wars

Cyrus the Great of the Persian Wars
 539 BC, called himself the King of Kings
 ruled all of West Asia
 conquered Ionia
 raised Ionia’s taxes and imposed tyrants
 Ionians- unhappy about this
Cyrus' Son, Cambyses
 conquered Egypt
 also conquered some Greek islands between Anatolia and Greece
 in 522 BC, conquered the important island of Samos.
Darius
 Cambyses was killed-Darius became king
 wanted to conquer something too
 514 BC, decided to attack the Scythians, north of the
Black Sea
 perhaps to weaken the Greeks
 lost war-- Scythians retreated, but burned all their food before leaving
 Darius' army could find nothing to eat; forced to go home to Persia.
 many thought: Thebes, Athens, Sparta next
 many Greeks sent messengers to Persia
 begged Darius not to attack
 willing to do anything to please
Persians
 King Darius- rude to Athenians
Athenians decided not to
make peace alliance
 499 BC, Greek island, Naxos, is attacked
 four month siege
 Persia gives up
 Ionian Greeks confident they, too, could defeat Persia
 revolt led by Aristagoras (air-uh-STAG-uh-rus) of Meletus
 a Greek who’d tried to help King Darius defeat Naxos
 may have feared Darius’ punishment for failure
 turned against Darius, helped Ionians
 got rid of pro-Persian tyrant rulers
 set up democracies
 asked Sparta for help; Spartans refused
Aristagoras asked Athens for help
 Athens sent 20 ships from new navy
 Eretrians of Euboea sent 5 ships

Ionia
allied Greek forces capture and burn capital, Sardis
 Aristagorus is killed
 but gradually Persia begins to win
 in 5 years, by 499 BC, Persians take
Meletus (Aristagorus’ home city)
 Ionian revolt is over!
 Ionians don’t seem to receive much punishment
 Persians very angry now at Athenians and
Eretrians
 Persians viewed Athenians and Eretrians as terrorists
 considered them foreign invaders who destroyed innocent
people’s homes and lives
 for revenge?
 to expand Persian Empire?
 this time? --- by sea
 by land? --- failed in 514 BC against Scythians
 Persians start from Ionia (modern Turkey)
 first goal? : conquer Athens
 then maybe all of Greece
Hippias, exiled tyrant of Athens, was
angry with Athenians
 Hippias lived in King Darius’ court
 Hope?: helping Darius might put
Hippias back in power in Athens
 1st step --- Eretria
 490 BC, Persia took cavalry on ships to Eretria
 looted islands along the way
 when arrived at Eretria, people ran inside city, shut gates
 Persians had no weapons to get them in city walls
 battle 6 days
 Some Eretrians fear Persians-traitor opens back gate during
night and lets in Persians
 Hippias advises King Darius to sail to Marathon
 Marathon- 25 miles from Athens
 Hippias’ father landed there 56 years earlier
 maybe people of Marathon would help Hippias back to
power
 area around Marathon only good place for grazing cavalry
horses- another good reason to go there
 many Athenians are frightened
 citizens (free men) meet
 discuss whether to stay
democracy (all citizens vote)
-or go back to oligarchy (allow
a few rich powerful people
to rule)
 Athenian men votedemocracy is chosen

Athenians would have been safe behind walls of city
 feared someone would let Persians in like in Eretria
 Athenian army took strong position in hills around Marathon
 legend:(many versions) runner, Pheidippides (fid IP uh dees),
goes to Sparta for help
 ran 150 miles to Sparta in two days
Statue of Pheidippides alongside the Marathon Road
Sparta’s Answer?
Sparta refused due to
religious law stating
only allow to battle
during full moon
 promised help in 6
days
 Athenians wait several days,
then afraid someone would
betray them, decide to attack
 nearby Plateans help
 at first Persian cavalry made it impossible for Athenian infantry to cross
open plain
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Greek general, Miltiades (mill TIE uh dees), tricked the Persians
divides army into three sections: center, left, right
center pretends to retreat
Persians chase them
right and left wings of Greek army rush in from sides
number killed? : thousands of Persians, less than 200
Greeks
 Persians scurry back to ships, sail away, defeated
Greek Army at Marathon
Click link below, scroll to very bottom of site page for animation of
battle of Marathon.
One mystery remains: how could
the Athenians cross the plain
without fear for a cavalry attack?
Herodotus (the historian) suggests
that their charge was too swift, but
contradicts this when he says that
the struggle was long drawn out
(which means: more than two
hours).
A Persian nobleman: small bust from Persepolis
)
(National Archaeological Museum, Tehran
There is, however, another story
about the battle of Marathon:
deserters from the Persian army
had come to the Athenian camp,
telling that the cavalry were
away.
But why? A possible explanation is that
Datis and Artaphernes had become uneasy
with the stalemate, had decided to leave the
plain to attack the Athenian port of
Phaleron, and had ordered the cavalry to
embark on the transports. If this
speculation is correct, the Athenians merely
attacked a Persian rearguard.
Whatever the truth, it is certain that cavalry
took part in the final stages of the battle,
because in the Athenian building known as
Stoa Poikilê was a painting of the battle that
included a Persian horseman.
From the biography of Miltiades by the Roman author Cornelius Nepos (first century BCE) and in the
Suda, a tenth century Byzantine lexicon
http://www.livius.org/man-md/marathon/marathon.html---verbatim
only women and children were back in Athens
 Athenian army hurried, 8 hours’ march, 25 miles to save
families in Athens
 Persians took 12-14 hours by sea
 when Persians arrive, whole Athenian army waits inside gates
 Persians give up, sail home to Persia
 Next day Spartans finally arrive, Athenians show victory
begin to wonder where Persians hurried off to
 to Persia or around the point of land to Athens itself?
 whole Athenian army – in Marathon

 busy fighting revolt in Egypt
 during 10 years King Darius had died
 Darius’ son, Xerxes (ZERK-sees), rules
 settles Egyptian revolt
 plans to teach the old Greek terrorists a lesson (still angry
about them helping in Ionian revolt)
Darius’ plan to conquer Greece by sea had failed
 Xerxes decides to try land attack again
 480 BC, Xerxes builds canal, crosses at Hellespont

http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/hist05.htm
Then once on link, scroll down to section:
Persian Canal Discovery Is Testament to Ancient Engineering Skills
http://edsitement.neh.gov/edsitement%E2%80%9
9s-persian-wars-resource-pages#MarathonAnim
On this page take the interactive bridge-building
activity.
 Persian army crosses Hellespont
 people of Thrace and Macedonia surrender or form alliances
 Persians turn south to Greece
 had to go through steep mountain pass: Thermopylae
(ther-MOP-ah-lay)
 Thermopylae means hot
springs or hot gate
(hot springs near pass)
 no other way for Persians
to get through mountains
of Greece
 Thebes makes alliance
with Persia
 Argo remains neutral
 Spartans and Corinthians
want to abandon northern
Greece, only defend south
(where they are)
 Athenians want to try
to defend north at pass of
Thermopylae
 Spartans and
Corinthians agree
 Athenians, Spartans, Corinthians and
smaller cities march to Thermopylae
 set up barricades
 for several days attacking
Persians can’t get through
 Greeks are very happy
soldiers from some
 Greek traitor tells Persians about a small goat pass
 a few Persian soldiers slip through
 surround Greeks from behind
 a group of 300 Spartans and a few
of their Boeotian allies from Thespiae
and Thebes stay and fight even
though they are surrounded and
know they’ll die
 this allows most of Greek army to march to safety
brave Spartan king, Leonidas, 300
Spartans, and some Boeotian allies
fight Persians three days

 all 300 and allies die
 but most of Greek army had
time to march to safety
 after war, stone erected in
memory and honor of brave
soldiers
 Persians pass over Thebes, leave them alone
 Thebes had made an alliance with Persia
 Persian plan: on to Athens
 Spartans and Corinthians again want to just defend south, since
plan failed to stop Persians at Thermopylae
 of course Athenians want to defend Athens
 Athenian general, Themistocles
(thuh-MISS-toe-klees) moves all
Athenians to safety at a nearby island
 Athenians burn all of
Athens, even the Parthenon
 Athenian navy tricks Persians
into attacking them near the
island of Salamis (SALL-uh-mis)
Persian and Greek navies both
use trireme ships
 Persians have many more ships
 Athenians trick Persians into
thinking they’d attack at night
 Persians – alert all night
 Athenians get restful night’s
sleep
 next morning- Greeks fresh, well rested
 Persian soldiers sleepy, sluggish
Athenian navy
wins!!!
http://www.livius.org/man-md/marathon/marathon.
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/westasia/history/persians.htm
http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/hist05.htm
http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/kapparis/GP/PersianWarsMap.htm
http://www.geo.gr/map.htm
http://www.ancientgreekbattles.net/Pages/People/Pheidippides.htm
//www.ancientgreekbattles.net/Pages/People/Pheidippides.htm
 http://www.geo.gr/map.htmhttp://www.geo.gr/map.htmhttp://www.geo.gr/map.h
 http://www.geo.gr/map.htm