Download Persian wars Persian empire expands it`s • territory to Asia Minor

Persian wars
• Persian empire expands it's
territory to Asia Minor, taking
over some Greek city-states there.
• In 499 BCE those Greek citystates will rebel and Athens will
send navy ships it aid them.
• Darius I of Persia is angered by
Athens interference and vows to
invade and conquer Greece.
• Battles
◦Battle of Marathon (490)
‣ Persian navy & army lands
• Land on a flat plain surrounded by a higher elevation
‣ Athens asks for help
• On their own cause no one really wanted to help cause it was
harvest time
‣ Athens is outnumbered, no Calvary, and no archers
• 10 Persians for 1 Athenian
‣ Attacks and gets Persians to retreat
‣ Marathon today....
• Ran 26.2 miles to tell people Nike(which means victory in Greek)
• How we got the modern day marathons
◦Battle of Thermopylae (480)
‣ Xerxes brings Persian army & navy
• Makes several trips to place the army to make their way
• Has navy sail their supplies down the coast
‣ Group of 7,000 Greeks holds the narrow pass from Persians under
leadership of Leonidas
• One of the very few places that you could go for the north to the
south with a large amount of people
• Made a wall called hell's gate to funnel people in only 10-15
people could fit at a time
• By the time Leonidas got to hell's gate they had about 7,000
people to fight 150,000 Persians
‣ After 3 days, Persians flank & Leonidas sends all but 1,500 men
back
• He wanted his men to get away and warn everyone that the
Persians were coming.
• The 1,500 men were only a diversion to give people time to warn
‣ 1,500 are defeated by the Persians
• Persians continue down to Athens
• Athens is deserted because of the messengers
◦Persians then burned Athens down
◦Battle of Salamis (480)
‣ Athens' navy was the last hope
‣ Lured the large Persian navy into a narrow straight
‣ Persian boats get clogged up
‣ Athenian navy rows through them, destroying entire navy
• Crash into them and split their boats in two
• Sinks the navy and drowns them
‣ Xerxes & his army retreat to Asia Minor
◦Delian league (479)
‣ In 479 BCE, Greeks defeat Persians in Asia Minor
• Athens/Greeks wins back the western part of turkey
‣ Athens comes out on top
‣ Athens and Delos create the Delian League
• The equivalent of today's UN
• To join you have to pay a fee supposed to be used if a problem
arises
◦Athens has treasury moved to their city
‣ Athens abuses power
• Uses the treasury to rebuild their city
• When people hear that Athens is misusing the money people
wanted to leave the Delian League
◦Athens would threaten people if they left they would attack
• Age of Pericles (460-429 BCE)
◦Pericles was a wise and skillful leader who helped the economy of Athens thrive
and moved the government to be more dramatic
◦Direct democracy
‣ Assembly
• People participate more because he started paying people to come and
participate
• Meets three times a month
‣ Council of 500 (group of 500 meets and runs the day to day operation)
‣ Juries
• Did not have to be unanimous
• About 1,000 people were usually on a jury
• Majority won
‣ Ostracizing
• The assembly one time a year got the option to ostracize a person
◦Had to be someone that they though was an enemy of Athens or was a
threat to their government
◦Was kicked out for 10 years
◦Pericles is responsible for rebuilding Athens after Persian Wars
‣ Built the Parthenon
• Peloponnesian war (431-404 BCE)
◦Resentment of Athens and the abuses of the Delian League
◦Sparta and other enemies of Athens create the peloponnesian league
◦In 431, Sparta and Athens go to war for 27 years
◦Sparta with powerful army vs. Athens with powerful navy
◦Athens loses to Sparta and it's allies
‣ Because most wars happened on land (Athens weaker area)
‣ Athens locked itself and the people in, Sparta just waited
‣ Pericles died of sickness from people dying inside of the gates
‣ Spartans go to the Persians for help to defeat Athens
‣ Sparta strips Athens of everything, and says they have to get rid of
the Delian League
◦Greece will go into a state of decline
‣ Multiple city-states start fighting each other