Transcript P P 5-3
SECTION 3: VICTORY AND DEFEAT IN THE GREEK WORLD Ancient Athens • By 500 B.C Athens was the wealthiest Greek city-state • But this power was soon threatened by the mighty Persian Empire Athens was the wealthiest Greek city-state by 500 B.C. GREEK GEOGRAPHY •Persia ruled over the Greek city-states of Ionia •Unhappy with Persian rule, the Ionians rebelled •Athens sent ships in support of the rebellion, •severely angering the Persian Emperor Darius • Darius crushed the Ionian rebellion. • He then sent a huge force across the Aegean to punish Athens. • The Athenians called upon all of their own citizens to defend their citystate. • The Athenian force was not nearly large enough to compare to the enormous Persian army. • So they called out to their neighbors for help . . . Marathon • So, without the help of their fellow greeks the Athenians were forced to battle the Persians on their own • With a suicidal surge up the middle of the Persian line, the Athenians were able to break the formation and drive the Persian Army back to their boats. Darius dies before he can exact his revenge on Athens, however his son Xerxes takes up his fathers cause. Real Xerxes Graphic Novel Xerxes The Movie Xerxes • The Persian Army, lead by Xerxes, now marches on towards Greece. Revenge of Xerxes • While the Athenians, Spartans, and other Greek city-states got their act together, King Leonidas and his vaunted 300 make their heroic stand at the hot gates – Thermopylae Thermoplyae The Hot Gates King Leonidas Real Leonidas Graphic Novel Leonidas Movie Leonidas Herodotus writes that when Dienekes, a Spartan soldier, was told that Persian arrows would be so numerous as "to blot out the sun", he responded with a characteristically Spartan-esque remark, "So much the better, we shall fight in the shade." The fierce resistance of the Spartan-led army offered Athens the invaluable time to prepare for a decisive naval battle that would come to determine the outcome of the war. Athenian Trickery at Salamis The Battle of Salamis • The Athenians lured the Persians into the strait of Salamis • Unable to retreat and caught off guard, the Athenian Navy smashed the Persian fleet • The following year, the Greeks defeated the Persians on land, ending the Persian threat. In a brief moment of unity, the Greek city-states had saved themselves from the Persian threat They formed the Delian League to protect them from future Persian threats AGE OF PERICLES • This was the Golden Age of Athens. • Athenians had a direct democracy, or a government in which a large number of male citizens took part in the day to day governmental affairs. AGE OF PERICLES • Athens prospered economically through trade. • They also prospered culturally, rebuilding the Acropolis and becoming the cultural center of Greece. • The Age of Pericles lasted from 460 to 429 B.C. PELOPONNESIAN WAR • In 431 B.C. war broke out between Sparta and Athens. This led to the Peloponnesian War, which lasted 27 years and involved all of Greece. •Though Athens had a strong navy, they faced a geological disadvantage because Sparta was land-locked PELOPONNESIAN WAR •As the war dragged on, each side committed savage acts against one another. •In 404 B.C. Sparta ended up siding with the Persians to finally defeat Athens. What if? •What if … Athens would have won the war? Answer… • The world may have been a “freer” place. • With the defeat of Athens, democracy was lost to the civilized world • Replaced with corruption and selfish interest Groovy Greeks