The Persian Wars

Freedom vs Slavery?
Democracy vs Tyranny?
Europe vs Asia?
Or empire vs empire?
The Persian Wars-Origins and causes
Ionia in Anatolia (modern day Turkey)

The Greeks and the Persians were
long rivals and have a great history of
wars fought between them.
The Persians had conquered Greek
colonies in Ionia, around 520 B.C.
Free thinking ideas and a desire for
individual responsibility for
government of the Ionian Greeks
were cut short by Persian occupation
The Persian control over Ionian affairs
would cause resentment over time
Persian governors of Ionian city states
seen as brutal and corrupt

Aristagrous and Miletus
The Ionians revolted in 499 BCE against the Persians as
tension against Persian rule boiled over, sparked by the Tyrant
Artistogoras of Miletus scheming
Aristagrous organized a revolt against Persia by Miletus to
save his own reputation after failing to take over a nearby
city..
Athens and Eretria supported the Greek colonies bordering
Anatolia and sent aid to them, burning the Persian city of
Sardis!
King Darius crushed the revolt and sought revenge against
Athens.
Thus started the Persian Wars.

Battle 1:
When: 490BC
Marathon
Where: Marathon,
near Athens
How many? c.11,000 Greeks, c.20,000 Persian
infantry and 5,000 cavalry
Who: King Darius (Persia), Datis (Persia),
Miltiades (Athens), Callimachus (Athens)
Outcome: Greek victory. Persia forced to flee from
Greece.
What: Land battle
Greek Greek Hoplite
Persian Vs Greek!

The Battle of Marathon
Darius plans to destroy Athens.
An army of 25,000 Persians set sail.
The Persians landed at Marathon
where 10,000 Greeks waited in
their phalanxes.
The Athenians were greatly
outnumbered.
Although they were highly
outnumbered, the Persians were
no match for the disciplined
Athenian phalanx and the Persians
were defeated.










The initial positions of the troops before the clash. The Greeks (blue) have pulled
up their wings to bolster the corners of their significantly smaller centre in a ]]
shape. The Persian fleet (red) waits some way off to the east. This great distance
to the ships played a crucial role in the later stages of the battle.



Did You Know?
According to legend, following the
Battle of Marathon, a young
runner name Pheidippides ran
back to Athens to tell them of the
Persian defeat.
He ran non-stop for 26 miles from
Marathon to Athens.
Upon reaching Athens he
proclaimed, Nike! (victory) and
then fell dead.
This is why modern day
marathons are run at 26.2 miles. Athens
Between the WarsPersia
Darius died in 486BC
Xerxes became King and focused on
restoring order in his own Kingdom
He spent 4 years raising a force of
200,000 to invade Greece
He sent emissaries to Greece to
demand submission

Persiacontinued
He built 800 ships
He had a 2km canal cut through
Mt Athos
He had a bridge of boats built
across the Hellespont
He had ships filled with supplies,
and built depots along the route
to Greece
By 480, he was ready to punish
the Greeks
Between the WarsGreece
Themistocles became a prominent
figure
Athens discovered large silver
deposits
Themistocles convinced Athens to
build a large navy of 200 ships
31 Greek states met in Corinth in
481 and formed the Hellenic
Alliance
Leonidas was put in charge of the
Greek army
Greececontinued
The Spartan Eurybiades was put
in charge of the navy
Internal disputes in Greece were
suspended
Spies were sent to Persia
Ostracised citizens were recalled
to help the war effort
By 480 BC, Greece was united
and ready to face a Persian
invasion
The Invasion 480BC
Xerxes gathered men from 46 nations in Asia
Minor
Using two bridges made of over 300 boats
each, he crossed his huge force across the
Hellespont
The army spent over 3 months travelling down
towards Athens
A canal was cut at Mt Athos to allow his ships
through safely
Xerxes Route
The Armies Meet
The Greeks planned to halt the Persian advance at
Thermopylae, a narrow pass north of Athens.

Nearby was Cape Artemisium, where they could
position their navy.
Battle 2:
When: August 480BC
Thermopylae
Where: Thermopylae
Pass, Greece
How many? 300 Spartans, c.7,000 other Greeks,
up to 200,000 Persians
Who: King Xerxes (Persia), Leonidas (Sparta),
Ephialtes (Greek traitor)
Outcome: Persian victory, yet the Greeks held up
Xerxes advance for four days.
What: Land battle

Battle 3:
When: 480BC same time
as Thermopylae
Artemisium
Where: Artemisium,
near Thermopylae
How many? c.300 Greek triremes, c.200 Persian ships
Who: Eurybiades (Sparta)
Outcome: After several indecisive encounters, the
Greeks withdrew on news of the defeat at
Thermopylae
What: Naval battle
Herodotus:
Then the Hellenes put out to sea and engaged
battle with them; and in this battle the two
sides were nearly equal to one another; for
the fleet of Xerxes by reason of its great size
and numbers suffered damage from itself,
since the ships were thrown into confusion
and ran into one another

Athens is evacuated
The defeat at Thermopylae forced the Greeks
to reconsider their strategy
Themistocles convinced his people to
evacuate Athens to lure the Persians south
He argued that they should rely on their naval
forces to defeat the Persians, as they were
heavily outnumbered on the ground
Themistocles masterstroke
His plan was to force a
naval battle in the narrow
straits at Salamis and
destroy the Persian fleet
of 800 triremes

Bold but potentially
brilliant
Battle 4:
When: September,
480BC
Salamis
Where: Salamis Island,
near Athens
How many? C.380 Greek triremes, c.800 Persian
ships
Who: King Xerxes (Persia), Themistocles
(Athens), Eurybiades (Sparta)
Outcome: Decisive Greek victory. Xerxes withdrew
ready to fight again the following year.
What: Naval battle
The Turning Point

390 ships were hidden behind a promontory off the island of
Salamis.
Themistocles sent a false message to Xerxes, saying the Greeks
were trying to escape and to send the fleet immediately.
Xerxes sent 200 Egyptian vessels to the other end of the bay
and the rest of the fleet were ordered into the narrow strait off
Salamis.
Greeks attacked. Persians confused and could not manoeuvre
their boats.
Persians were totally defeated.

Aeschylus:
Forward, sons of the
Greeks,
Liberate the fatherland,
liberate
Your children, your women,
the altars of the gods of
your fathers
And the graves of your
forebears:
Now is the fight for
everything.

Winter break
The two sides broke off for
winter, in order to regroup
Xerxes, humiliated, returned
to Persia
He left his general,Mardonius
to finish the war in 479BC
He chose Plataea for the final
showdown
Athens convinced Sparta to
join with them again for battle
Battle 5:
When: August,
479BC
Plataea
Where: Plataea, southern
Greece
How many? c.40,000 Greeks, c.50-100,000
Persians
Who: Mardonius (Persia), Pausanias (Sparta),
Aristides (Athens)
Outcome: Greek victory. Mardonius killed, Persian
forces fled toward Persia.
What: Land battle
Herodotus:
so long as Mardonius survived, they held
out against them, and defending
themselves, they cast down many of the
Lacedemonians; but when Mardonius
was slainthen the others too turned
and gave way before the
Lacedemonianssince in truth they were
contending light-armed against hoplites

Outcome of the Persian Wars
With the Persian threat
ended, all Greek city-states
felt a new sense of
confidence and freedom.
Athens became the leader of
an alliance of 140 city-states
called the Delian League that
drove the Persians from the
territories surrounding
Greece and ushered in the
golden era for Athens.

Delian League