Transcript The Persian Wars

The Persian-Greek Wars (499-479 BCE)
A turning point in Greek History
Herodotus:
Persian Wars
Over 600 poli made up the Hellenic world
The acropolis of Athens
The Greek contribution to political life:
• Individual members shared a sense
of belonging to and participating in
the polis.
• Community problems are caused by
human beings and require human
solutions.
• Laws expressed the rational mind of
the community to insure its will and
needs are met.
Cyrus the Great and his
administered their large empire:
sons
after
him
effectively
• Divided into 20 provinces
(satrapies)
• Special agents who answered
only to the king
• Use of an official language
(Aramaic)
• Network of roads and postal
system
• Common system of weights
and measures
• Empire wide coinage
• Fusion of Near Eastern cultural
traditions
• Promoted one religion:
Zoroastrianism (Ahura Mazda &
Ahriman)
• Cyrus the Great,
was the world’s
first world
emperor to
openly declare
and guarantee
the sanctity of
human rights and
individual
freedom.
The Ionian Revolt, 499-493 BC
King Darius I, 521-486 BC
• Decided to
punish the city
of Athens for
assisting the
rebels during
the Ionian
Revolt of 499
BC.
Marathon
The Hoplite: Greek footsoldiers
Battle of Marathon, 490 BC
Battle of Marathon, 490 BC – Phaedippas brings the news to Athens
Themosticles:
• Rushed the construction of 200 triremes
• Organized Greek city-states into a defensive
alliance that included Sparta
King Xerxes, 486-465 BC
• He sought to avenge
his father’s defeat.
• In 480 BC, his army of
360,000 foot soldiers
and 800 ships
marched over a
bridge across the
Dardanelles
Thermopylae
King Xerxes & the Second Persian War, 480-479 BC
The Athenians fled the
city which was sacked
and burned to the
ground by the Persians
• But, the Athenians
had a plan…
Battle of Salamis
• The Persian Wars were decisive in the
history of the West. Had the Greeks
been defeated, the cultural and political
vitality we associate and inherit from the
Greeks would never have evolved.
• The confidence and pride from these
victories propelled Greece and Athens,
in particular, to its “Golden Age.”
Pericles, 499-429 BC
• Pericles was the
central figure in
Athens during its
Golden Age
Politics and Govt
Philosophy
Math &
5th c. BCE Athens
Science
The Golden Age
Poetry
The Age of Pericles
Art, Sculpture
History
Architecture
Drama/Theatre
The creation of the Delian League, 478 BC
The corruption of the Delian League