Transcript Persian Wars PPT

Persian Wars
490BCE- 479 BCE
The Persians
• We know most about the Persians from a Greek
historian, Herodotus.
– “Father of history”
• Expanded around 540 B.C.
• Conquered Mesopotamia, Egypt & Indus Valley!
– They were actually pretty nice rulers…
– Taxes were pretty low
– Didn’t turn captured people into slaves!
• Zoroastriansm
– Monotheism! (1 God)
– But, they didn’t make you change your religion…
Who Fought?
• The Persians Fought against the Greeks
–Persia was ruled by Darius and Xerxes
–Greeks - Athenians, Spartans, Ionians
Why did the Persians invade Greece?
• In 519 B.C. the Persians
conquered the Ionian
Greeks.
• In 499 B.C. the Ionian
Greeks asked the mainland
Greeks to help them rebel
against the Persians.
• He raised taxes.
• Athens sent warships!!
• Couldn’t defeat
Persians!
• The made the Persian
King, Darius, very
angry with Greece.
AGH!
Those Greeks
will pay for
this
We’re on
the way
Help!
Sooo…
• Darius wanted revenge on
Athenians for helping so attacked
mainland Greece.
Major Battles
1. Battle at Eretria– City
north of Athens was
burned by the Persians
–Angered, Athens asks
Sparta for help.
• THIS IS SPARTAAAA! Right?
Major Battles
2. Battle of Marathon: Sparta and
Athens work together
– Persia- 25,000 soldiers
–Greeks- 10,000 soldiers
• Phalanx battle formation gave the
Greeks the victory
• 6,400 Persians died
• 192 Greeks died
The Battle of Marathon
•In 490 B.C.
Darius sent
600 ships and
thousands of
soldiers to
invade Greece.
He wanted to
punish the
Athenians for
helping the
rebels.
Persian
Empire
Athens
Sparta
Marathon
Phalanx Formation
Pheidippides
• Ran to Athens from
Marathon = 26.2 miles
• Told them of the victory
“Rejoice, we conquer”
• Died after giving the
news
• Marathon’s today are
how long??
Part 2: Persian War
• 10 years later…
• Xerxes, son of Darius
vowed revenge.
• Brought between
100,000-300,000 troops
through a narrow
mountain pass.
Battle at Thermopylae
• Persians make their way into Greece!!
• 3,300 Greeks, led by the Spartans
held them off at that narrow pass in
Thermopylae.
The Battle of Thermopylae
• Spartan force: 300 men
•  King Leonidas, guarded
the mountain pass of
Thermopylae.
• Held out for 3 days!!
• They were betrayed!!
• Someone told the Persians
how to get in behind the
army.
• They were defeated, but won
valuable time for the rest of the
Greeks.
Battle at Salamis
• Athens is evacuated and
fought at sea.
• Athenians had a powerful
navy
• Greeks fought with new
ships called Trireme.
– Triremes punched holes
in Persian ships and
sink a third of the ships.
Trireme
Battle of Plataea
• While Athens crushed the
Persians at Sea, Spartans
were on the plain of Plataea
and crushes the rest of the
Persian army
• Xerxes retreats
Battle Summary:
Greeks 3 – Persians 3
Battle
Winner
Ionia
Persia
Eretria
Persia
Marathon
Greece
Thermopylae
Persia
Salamis
Greece
Plataea
Greece
Effects of the Persian
Wars
• Greece victory creates a sense of unity
• Athens had control of what was left of
Greece through leadership of the
Delian League.
• Delian League- an agreement that the
remaining Greek city states would
help each other
Athens in the Age of
Pericles
• The wise and skillful leadership
of Pericles brought about a
Golden age in Athens.
• This was from about 460 to 429
B.C. and is often called the
“Age of Pericles” or “The
Golden Age of Greece”
•Pericles rebuilt the Acropolis and turned Athens into the
cultural center of Greece.
Greek against Greek
• Many Greeks resented the Athenian domination. Citystates split.
• To counter the Delian League, Sparta and other
enemies of Athens formed the Peloponnesian League.
• Sparta encouraged an Oligarchy in the states of the
Peloponnesian League, and Athens supported
democracy.
• A 27 year war broke out in 431 B.C. engulfing all of Greece  The
Peloponnesian War!!!
Crash Course
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Q-mkVSasZIM