Athens and Sparta Unite Persian War Athens and Sparta Unite

Time Period 490-479BC Two stages Persia led by King Darius (550-486BC) i. Persians lose at Marathon in 490BC Persia led by King Xerxes I, Darius’ son (519-465BC) i. Leonidas and his 300 Spartans at Thermopylae ii. Salamis in 480BC, the naval battle

Timeline 499BC: Ionian Revolt against Persia 492BC: King Darius of Persia invades Greece 490BC: September 11, Greece defeats Persia at the battle of Marathon 480BC: July, Xerxes builds depots, canals, and a boat bridge across the Hellespont in preparation for invading Greece

480BC: August, indecisive battle of Artemision between Greeks and Xerxes I of Persia is fought, with Greeks retreating to Salamis Also the battle of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and his 300 Spartans, along with other Greek soldiers, hold Xerxes’ forces back for three days before defeat

480BC: September, battle of Salamis, where the Greek navy defeats Persia 479BC: Xerxes is defeated for good at Plataea, ending imperial conquests in Greece 449-448BC: Peace between Persia and Greece (Peace of Callias)

Ionian Revolt 499BC-494BC When a group of Ionian cities located in Asia Minor revolted against their Persian overlords Aided by Athens in a failed attempt to overthrow Persian domination

II. Causes: Around 550BC, Cyrus of Persia conquered the Ionian city-states, which were influential in Greece Ionians were eager to gain more control and to overthrow Persian rule

II. Ionian call for help: Spartans decided not to become involved due to the great distance they would have had to travel Athens agreed out of fear of a Persian invasion i. 25 triremes full of soldiers

III. Actual military involvement: Most of the Greeks were killed by Persian forces at Ephesus Persia continued to reclaim rebel cities, even while suffering losses Revolts ended when Persia took Miletus in 494BC

Persian Invasion Darius I, using Athenian involvement in the Ionian Revolt to justify his invasion of mainland Greece, entered Greece in 490BC Initiated the war Resulted in greater Athenian influence in Greece

II. First attempt at invasion occurred in 492BC but ended in disaster for the Persians Major storm off the Aegean coast in northern Greece Destroyed most of Persia’s fleet They never landed in Greece

III. Second attempt at invasion occurred in 490BC when Darius and his men sailed across the Aegean Sea Captured the city of Eretria in Euboea Then came to Marathon, where a major battle occurred

Marathon September 11, 490BC Fought in Marathon Athenians, in one afternoon, stopped the first Persian attempt at invasion of the Greek mainland

II. Spartan absence Athens sent a trained runner, Pheidippides, to Sparta to request assistance with the battle (150 miles) i. Sparta did not participate due to a religious festival, which forbade their involvement until the next new moon

III. Confrontation with Persia 10 Athenian generals were given power for only one day Decision to attack Persia was made i. Persia was without its cavalry ii. 11,000 Greeks (10,000 Athenians) defeated 15,000 Persians

C. Athenians used flanking tactics i. Reinforced flanks ii. Persians took bait and pushed back Greek center, leading to a pincer move resulting in Persia finding themselves surrounded

D. Persian reaction i. Upon realizing they were surrounded, the Persians sounded the retreat and, by the time they reached their ships, had lost about 6,400 men to the documented Greek 192

E. Deciding factors i. Greek tactics and intelligence ii. Superiority of Greek armor, swords, and long spears (sarissa, which was 23 feet long) over Persian armor and weaponry

IV. Pheidippides Legend says: i. Was the runner sent to Sparta to request help (150 miles each way) ii. Also ran from Marathon to Athens (about 26 miles) to announce Athenian victory over Persia

V. Aftermath Athens built up a strong navy in preparation for possible future attacks New ships called triremes were built i. 120 feet long, 12 feet wide, 3 sets of oars, crew of 170 rowers, 20 marines, handful of officers

Thermopylae 480BC, ten years after Marathon Xerxes I of Persia, son of Darius I, decided to invade i. To prove Persian power and superiority ii. To embarrass the Greeks, particularly the Athenians, in return iii. To avenge his father’s failure and to prove himself greater

II. Persian presence Massive force, which intimidated the Greeks - about 80,000 i. Force of combined 6000-7000 Greek hoplites were sent to Thermopylae ii. Only 300 Spartans due to Spartan religious festival (again)

iii. Greeks also sent triremes to Artemision in an attempt at stopping the Persians from sailing down the Greek coast

II. Location Thermopylae is about 150 miles north of Athens Mountains along coast, leaving a narrow, marshy pass the Persians must cross i. Also defended by a wall built down to the sea, leaving a 15 meter gap

III. The Forces Persians led by Xerxes himself Waited 4 days, assuming the Greeks may panic and run Xerxes sent envoys in case the Greeks decided to surrender one last time, to which Leonidas responded with a “no”

D. Persians used long-distance archers, followed by a cavalry charge and light infantry i. The Immortals - group of 10,000 specially trained Persian soldiers E. Greeks prefered to fight using hoplites in phalanx formation while wielding shorter swords for close combat

F. “Spartans would have the pleasure of fighting in the shade” cast by so many useless Persian arrows against heavy Greek armor

IV. Battle Day 1: Greeks pretended to retreat, and Persia fell for it multiple times, losing many men to the recovered Greek phalanx formation

B. Day 2: Greeks held firm until a traitor informed Xerxes of another route i. Greek forces, thinking themselves the main target, withdrew to higher ground ii. Persian Immortals pushed further iii. Leonidas called most Greek forces to withdraw, as they were surrounded

C. Day 3: Leonidas rallied his troops and blocked the pass, hoping to hold the Persians at bay for longer, giving the Greeks time to escape and/or gather another fighting force i. The first encounter resulted in Leonidas’ death ii. Oracle said either Sparta or one of her kings would fall

Salamis Context Second naval battle of the war First was at Artemision, which was not a clear victory i. Greeks withdrew to Salamis, even after having held back the Persians

II. Numbers Persians: many ships full of troops gathered from across the Persian Empire (1,207) Greece: fewer ships full of Dorian soldiers who were fighting for their lives and country (310)

i. Greek forces led by a Spartan, surprising, as Athens was the great naval power and had the most ships involved ii. Themistocles, an Athenian naval commander with 20 years experience is credited with the strategy that resulted in victory

III. Greek strategy Hold position rather than retreating Capitalize on Xerxes splitting his forces Hiding in bays to draw the Persians in before swinging around and surrounding them, trapping them, and ramming into them to sink their ships

i. Greeks then bottled themselves at a narrow pass, about 130 ships across and two rows deep, against the wider band of about 150 Persian ships ii. Also meant Persians were ramming each other from behind in the narrow confines

IV. Victory Was secure by afternoon and resulted in the few surviving Persian ships retreating to Asia Minor, back to Persia Ended in a transfer of Greek hoplites to the mainland, where the Persian footsoldiers were routed

C. The oracle’s message that only a wooden wall would save Greece came true - a wall of triremes

Plataea The final battle Persians were led by general Mardonius, not Xerxes i. Still controlled much of Greece and had a large number of soldiers present August of 479BC Greeks won with the largest hoplite army seen to date