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Greco-Persian Wars
REVIEW
Who were the great kings of the Persian Empire?
◦Cyrus
◦Darius
◦Xerxes
Lead up to the War
The Persian empire was the
greatest known empire. In 546 BCE
it invaded Greek lands
◦ The Greek-controlled area of Ionia
(named after a tribe who lived there)
came under Persian control
In 499 BCE there was an Ionian
rebellion
◦ Athens and other cities sent a fleet to
assist
◦ Persia wanted revenge on the Greek
cities for their assistance
The War Between Persia and Greece:
Overview
The Persian king Darius first attacked Greece in 490 BCE, but
was defeated at the Battle of Marathon by a mainly
Athenian force
◦ This humiliation led to the second attempt to conquer Greece in
480-479 B.C.E.
The second attempt was led by Xerxes, Darius’s son
After initial Persian victories, the Persians were eventually
defeated, both at sea and on land
The War under
Darius
The Battle of Marathon
King Darius sent tens of
thousands of men
Athenians knew about the
attack in advance and caught
the Persians by surprise
The Athenians surrounded the Persians on all sides and the
Persians had no choice but to retreat
The War under Xerxes
Battle of Thermopylae
Battle of Salamis
Small Greek force of “300”
held back larger Persian
army for three days in a
narrow mountain pass
Greeks led a larger Persian
fleet into a narrow channel
and used smaller Greek ships
to sink Persians
Persians were stuck without
supplies—their navy
destroyed, their army
crushed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WWuuPmGltM
Questions to keep in mind:
Good news about Greek civic development? Bad news?
What was the relationship between the Greek city-states?
Persian weakness?
What’s a trireme?
Delian League
City states made an alliance to defeat the Persians
◦ Working together to defeat a common foe reminded the Greek
city-states that they shared a common language, culture, and
religion
◦ Led to creation of the Delian League with Athens as the leader
◦ Over 200 city-states joined, but not Sparta
Case Study: The Battle of Thermopylae
1. What do the objects/artifacts displayed with the story tell us about the Spartans?
2. How do you feel about the Spartans in battle? The Persians? Did the Persians deserve to win
this battle? Why or why not?
3. Who is responsible for recording this battle? What possible things could affect the accuracy of
his account of the battle?
4. How might the Persian version of this battle be recorded or remembered? Describe a few
things that would be different according to the Persian version of the Battle of Thermopylae.