Download Greco-Persian Wars (Guerras Medicas)

GRECO-PERSIAN WARS.
The Greco-Persian Wars were
a series of wars between the Persian
Empire and the city-states of Greece.
The conflict began when Persian
King Cyrus the Great conquered the
greek city-states of Ionia (on the east
side of the Aegean Sea).
In 499 BC the cities of Ionia
rebel against the Persian empire.
Athens supported the rebellion and
sent supplies to the Greeks of Ionia.
That angered the Persian King who
swore to attack Athens as soon as
possible.
The most famous battles against the Persians were: Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis.
MARATHON: In 490 BC a Persian navy crossed the Aegean Sea. The destination was
Marathon, a place located north of Athens with a large bay to disembark the army and a large plain
with enough space to maneuver the Persian cavalry. The Athenians made the decision to send an
army to confront the Persians instead of concentrating in defending the city. At Marathon 10.000
greek hoplites fought against 25.000 persians. That's was a
great victory for Greece and for Athens but nobody had
doubts that the Persians would be back again. Three years
after the victory in Marathon the Athenians discovered a
new mine of silver and the city decided to spend the
revenues to build a strong navy to fight the persians.
THERMOPYLAE: in 481 BC, ten years after the
first war between persians and greeks, an army led by the
Persian King Xerxes crossed the Hellespont (located north
of Greece, far away from the Greek navy). The question for
the Greeks was where to stand against the Persians. As
Persian army had
thousand and thousand of warriors the Spartan King Leonidas chose the
Thermopylae, a narrow pass in the north of Athens. There 300 Spartans and 700 Greeks were
fighting for three days against the Persians.
SALAMIS: While Spartans were fighting the Persians, the Athenian navy evacuated Athens
and stationed on the island of Salamis, south of Athens. After defeating the 300 Spartans, the
Persians reached an evacuated Athens and demolished and set fire the city. The Persians navy then
approached the city of Athens and fell into a trap: in that narrow space the Greek navy collided
against persian navy and began a fight between Greek infantry and persians. Persian King was so
confident of his victory that he sat on a golden throne on a hill near the battle to watch the fight.
The small greek ships could maneuver better than Persians and Greek infantry was quite better too.
When Persian King realised that the greeks had won the battle, he ran away and left his army
behind.
The Greek defeated the Persians but Greek city-states in Asia remained under Persian
control and Persian Empire was powerful enough to attack Greece again. For this reason the Greeks
created the Delian League, a treasury that would allow them to quickly prepare for war.
Persian Empire at it's largest expansion.
ACTIVITIES.
1. Write down in your worksheet the meaning of the underlined words.
2. Write down the verbs of paragraphs number 3 and 5 in past, infinite and the meaning in
spanish in your notebook.
Verb Past Time
Infinitive
Meaning in spanish
3. TRUE OR FALSE:
1. In the battle of Thermopylae the Persians outnumbered the Greeks.
2. After the defeat in Salamis the Persian King signed a peace agreement with Athens.
3. After finishing the war the Acropolis of Athens was completely destroyed.