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Greco-Persian Wars REVIEW Who were the great kings of the Persian Empire? ◦Cyrus ◦Darius ◦Xerxes Lead up to the War The Persian empire was the greatest known empire. In 546 BCE it invaded Greek lands ◦ The Greek-controlled area of Ionia (named after a tribe who lived there) came under Persian control In 499 BCE there was an Ionian rebellion ◦ Athens and other cities sent a fleet to assist ◦ Persia wanted revenge on the Greek cities for their assistance The War Between Persia and Greece: Overview The Persian king Darius first attacked Greece in 490 BCE, but was defeated at the Battle of Marathon by a mainly Athenian force ◦ This humiliation led to the second attempt to conquer Greece in 480-479 B.C.E. The second attempt was led by Xerxes, Darius’s son After initial Persian victories, the Persians were eventually defeated, both at sea and on land The War under Darius The Battle of Marathon King Darius sent tens of thousands of men Athenians knew about the attack in advance and caught the Persians by surprise The Athenians surrounded the Persians on all sides and the Persians had no choice but to retreat The War under Xerxes Battle of Thermopylae Battle of Salamis Small Greek force of “300” held back larger Persian army for three days in a narrow mountain pass Greeks led a larger Persian fleet into a narrow channel and used smaller Greek ships to sink Persians Persians were stuck without supplies—their navy destroyed, their army crushed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WWuuPmGltM Questions to keep in mind: Good news about Greek civic development? Bad news? What was the relationship between the Greek city-states? Persian weakness? What’s a trireme? Delian League City states made an alliance to defeat the Persians ◦ Working together to defeat a common foe reminded the Greek city-states that they shared a common language, culture, and religion ◦ Led to creation of the Delian League with Athens as the leader ◦ Over 200 city-states joined, but not Sparta Case Study: The Battle of Thermopylae 1. What do the objects/artifacts displayed with the story tell us about the Spartans? 2. How do you feel about the Spartans in battle? The Persians? Did the Persians deserve to win this battle? Why or why not? 3. Who is responsible for recording this battle? What possible things could affect the accuracy of his account of the battle? 4. How might the Persian version of this battle be recorded or remembered? Describe a few things that would be different according to the Persian version of the Battle of Thermopylae.