Download Wars on land and sea

3.8
Wars on land and sea
Warfare was a common experience for the Greeks,
either as a result of the city-states fighting each
other or uniting against a common enemy, such as
Persia. This was particularly so in the fifth century
BC, and many of Athens s cultural achievements
took place in a 50-year period in this century
(see source 1). Some of our earliest examples of
historical writing came from attempts to understand
the reasons behind some of these wars.
Source 2 Map showing the sites of the battles of
Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis
Persian navy
480 BC
Persian army
480 BC
Aegean Sea
Thermopylae
August 480 BC
Source 1 Timeline of major Greek wars in the fifth
century BC
HIST IA
Naval battle of
Artemisium
August 480 BC
Euboea
Plataea
August 479 BC
Attica
A
Marathon
490 BC
Athens
400
Salamis
Salamis
September 480 BC
Aegima
410
420
460–400 BC
Thucydides
450
460
484–425 BC
Herodotus
490
500
BC
retroactive 1
445–431 BC
A period of
peace
457–445 BC
Peloponnesian
War, stage 1
Sparta and its
allies versus
Athens and its
allies
470
480
76
431–404 BC
Peloponnesian
War, stage 2
430
440
0
Battle site
480–479 BC
Second Persian
Invasion, led by
King Xerxes
490 BC
First Persian
Invasion, led
by King Darius
War on land
20
40 km
N
the hoplite
The Greek soldiers were called hoplites, from the
Greek word hoplon, meaning heavy armour , which
they wore for protection. The metal helmet had a
section in the front to protect the nose and on top
was a plume made from horsehair. They wore a
leather waistcoat, laced at the front, with iron scales
attached; this was lighter than the earlier bronze
breastplates and later the leather was replaced
by linen. Their lower legs were protected by
greaves. The original bronze greaves
were replaced in the fifth century
BC by leather ones. Their last item of
protection was a circular shield made
of wood covered with bronze, which
was attached to their left arm
with a strap. When they went
into battle they carried a
2.4 metre spear, which could
be used for thrusting or
thrown as a javelin, and
a short sword for closer
fighting.
A hoplite fighting alone
would not be protected from
an attack on his right side, so
the Greeks developed a strategic
Source 3
An artist s impression of a Greek hoplite
formation known as a phalanx. Soldiers stood side
by side, holding their shield in their left hand in
front of them, which protected their front. It also
protected the sword arm of their neighbour to the
left. Such disciplined fighting required long periods
of training. In Sparta this continued for many years,
but in Athens also, at the age of 18, every citizen went
through two years of training as an ephebe.
War at sea
the trireme
Greek ships played a crucial role in defending
Greece from the Persian attacks. Their first
ships with
battleships were pentekonters
25 oarsmen on each side
but most of these had
been replaced by triremes.
Triremes were about 35 metres long and 5 metres
wide. They had two square sails but during battle
they relied on the power of their 170 oarsmen,
arranged in three rows on each side of the ship.
Rowing together, and kept in time by a piper, they
could be driven forward at a speed of 18 kilometres
per hour. They had a bronze-sheathed beak just
below the waterline and they would ram this into
the side of an enemy ship to sink it.
Source 4 Modern reconstruction of a Greek trireme. It
shows the three levels of oars that powered it and the beak or
battering ram at the front.
Persian army. However, this only made the Persians
more determined to launch a new attack, with much
larger forces.
This new attack took place ten years later in
480 BC, when the Persian king Xerxes led two
armies into Greece
one on land and one at
sea. Despite brave resistance by the Spartans, the
Persians broke through at Thermopylae (see the
map and photograph in section 3.2). Then they
moved into Athens, destroying much of the city.
The leaders of the Greek states decided to try to
stop the Persians in the waters around Salamis, an
island southwest of Athens. Their strategies were
successful and led to a Greek victory. These two
battles are studied in more detail in the following
section.
The Greek naval victory at Salamis in September
480 BC was followed by a victory over the Persian
army at Plataea in August 479 BC.
The modern marathon is
42.2 kilometres. This is the
distance a Greek messenger called Pheidippides
ran from Marathon to Athens to tell of the victory
over the Persians. He collapsed and died after giving
his message.
aCTiviTieS
CheCk your underSTanding
1 Over time, the ways in which the hoplites
protected their chest and legs changed. Describe
the changes in (a) how they protected their chest
and (b) how they protected their legs.
2 The first Persian Invasion of Greece in 490 BC was
launched by sea. What was different about the
second invasion by Xerxes ten years later?
3 List the major battles of the Second Persian
Invasion in order with the dates of each.
uSe The SourCeS
4 Copy source 3 and label the following parts. For
each part, describe the materials used.
• Helmet
• Breastplate
• Greaves
• Shield
5 From source 4 and the text, describe three
features that made the trireme such a powerful
fighting weapon.
The two wars with Persia
Around 490 BC the fate of Greece hung in the
balance. The mighty Persian empire launched an
invasion to punish cities such as Athens for helping
fellow Greeks in the east in a revolt against Persia.
In 490 BC in the battle of Marathon on the coast
of Attica, the Athenians pushed back an invading
phalanx: a tightly packed wall of soldiers, protected by
their shields and helmets
trireme: Greek ship with three banks of oars
ChaPTer 3
| Ancient Greece
77
3.9
Two battles of the Second
Persian War
Thermopylae — a land battle
The Persian king Xerxes launched his second attack
in 480 BC. By August his land forces were just north
of Attica, while his fleet was moored nearby off the
island of Euboea. To enter southern Greece, the
Persian army had to pass through a narrow strip of
land at Thermopylae, where the mountains came
down almost to the sea, leaving a narrow strip of
land only about two chariots wide (see section 3.2,
source 2, and section 3.8, source 2).
The Spartan king Leonidas led a relatively small
force of 7000 men, including 300 Spartans, to try to
prevent the army of Xerxes entering Greece. They
fought valiantly for two days but on the night of the
second day the Persians were shown a pass over the
mountain that allowed them to bring troops around
behind the Greeks. Leonidas sent most of the troops
away but he and the 300 Spartans fought valiantly
until they were all killed.
Source 2 An account of the Battle of Salamis by the Greek
historian Herodotus (c.484–425 BC). Herodotus was about
four years old when the battle took place and about 50 when
he finished this account.
The whole fleet now got under way, and in a moment
the Persians were on them. The Greeks checked their
way and began to back astern; and they were on the
point of running aground when Ameinias of Pallene, in
charge of an Athenian ship, drove ahead and rammed an
enemy vessel. Seeing the two ships . . . locked together,
the rest of the Greek fleet hurried to Ameinias’s
assistance, and the general action began. . . . There is
also a popular belief that the phantom shape of a woman
appeared, and in a voice which could be heard by every
man in the fleet, contemptuously asked if they proposed
to go astern all day, and then cheered them on to fight.
The Athenian squadron found itself facing the
Phoenicians, who formed the Persian left wing on the
western, or Salamis, side of the line. The [Spartans]
faced the ships of Ionia, which were stationed on the
Piraeus, or eastern, side . . . the Persian fleet suffered
severely in the battle . . . because they were ignorant of
naval tactics, and fought at random without any proper
disposition of their force, while the Greek fleet worked
together as a whole; none the less, they fought well that
day …
78
Retroactive 1
Salamis — a naval battle
Source 1 Map showing the positions of the Greek and
Persian fleets before the Battle of Salamis
Eleusis
Gulf of Eleusis
MEGARIS
Mt Aegaleos
ATTICA
Salamis
Gulf of Salamis
Atlante
N
0
Salamis
1
2 km
Psyttalea
Saronic Gulf
Greeks
Persians
The greatest destruction took place when the ships
which had been first engaged turned tail; for those
astern fell foul of them in their attempt to press forward
and do some service for their king . . . Xerxes watched
the course of the battle from the base of Mt Aegaleos,
across the strait from Salamis . . . When the Persians
. . . were trying to get back to Phalerum, the Aeginetan
squadron, which was waiting to catch them in the
narrows, did memorable service. The enemy was in
hopeless confusion; such ships as offered resistance
or tried to escape were cut to pieces by the Athenians,
while the Aeginetans caught and disabled those which
attempted to get clear . . .
Such of the Persian ships as escaped destruction
made their way back to Phalerum . . . During the
confused struggle in the narrows a valuable service
was performed by the Athenian Aristides . . . He took
a number of the Athenian heavy infantry, who were
posted along the coast of Salamis, across to Psyttalea,
where they killed every one of the Persian soldiers who
had been landed there . . .
From Herodotus: The Histories, translated by Aubrey de Selincourt,
Penguin, 1954, pp. 526–30.
Piraeus
Source 3 Modern
artist’s impression of the
Battle of Salamis
Note how the boat is
steered. The rudder had
not yet been invented.
(Compare with source 2,
page 237.)
Capsized boat. The rowers
on the lowest level were
probably most at risk when
a boat sank.
Source 4 An extract from a play called The Persians by
Aeschylus (c.525–450 BC) in which he describes the Battle of
Salamis from a Persian point of view
The trumpet with its blast fired all [the Greek] line;
and instantly, at the word of command, with the even
stroke of foaming oars they smote the briny deep.
Swiftly they all hove clear into view . . . a mighty
shout greeted our ears: ‘On ye sons of Hellas! Free
your native land, free your children, your wives, the
[temples] of your fathers’ gods, and the tombs of
your ancestor. Now you battle for your all.’ . . . It was
a ship of Hellas that began the charge and sheared
off entire the curved stern of a Phoenician barque.
Each [Greek] captain drove his ship straight against
some other ship. At first, indeed, the . . . Persian
armament held its own; but when the mass of our
ships had been crowded in the narrows . . . and each
crashed its bronze-faced beak against each of its own
line, they [broke] their whole array of oars; while
the [Greek] galleys . . . hemmed them in and battered
them on every side. The hulls of our vessels rolled
over and the sea was . . . strewn . . . with wrecks and
slaughtered men. The shores and reefs were crowded
with our dead . . . the foe kept striking and hacking
them with broken oars and fragments of wrecked
ships; and groans and shrieks together filled the
open sea until . . . night hid the scene . . . the [Greeks]
bounded from their ships and encircled the whole
island round about, so that our men were at a loss
which way to turn. Oft-time they were struck by
stones slung from their hands, and arrows . . . At last
the [Greeks], charging with one shout, smote them
and hacked to pieces the limbs of the poor wretches,
until they had utterly destroyed the life of all.
From the Heinemann and Harvard University Press edition of
Aeschylus, translated by Herbert Weir Smyth, 1963.
Working historically
///
Knowing about the author of a source can
help in knowing how useful it is. Aeschylus is
considered the greatest of the Greek playwrights.
Most of his plays, like those of other Greek
playwrights, were based on stories from mythology,
but The Persians is based on current events. It is
thought that Aeschylus fought in the battles at
Marathon and Salamis.
ACTIVITIES
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
1 Why did the Greeks decide that Thermopylae was
a possible site for stopping the Persian advance?
2 How did the Persians manage to trap the Greek
army at Thermopylae?
3 What image of the Spartan soldier does the battle
present?
USE THE SOURCES
4 Carefully read source 2 and source 4. Also refer to
source 1, showing where the Greek and Persian
ships were positioned at the start of the battle.
a Do both accounts tell us whether the Greeks or
Persians won the battle?
b Identify two ways in which the two accounts
differ.
c Identify two things that both writers agree on.
5 Carefully study source 3 and identify the details in
it that are based on sources 2 and 4.
6 From the information given about Aeschylus and
Herodotus at the start of the extracts, and your
reading of the two accounts, assess how reliable
each account might be.
CHAPTER 3
| Ancient Greece
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