Persian and Peloponnesian Wars Persian and Peloponnesian Wars

Who were the Persians?  Location: modern-day Iran  Established: one of the largest empires of the ancient world  Conquered: the Chaldeans, Babylon, Lidia, Greek cities in Ionia, Egypt  Built: numerous roads  Longest road was the: Royal Road  World’s first long highway, 1,500 miles

Persians con’t  Communication consisted of: messengers on horseback (relay race)  Four main kings: Cyrus the Great, Cambyses II, Darius I, and Xerxes  Cyrus the Great created: the Persian Empire  Allowed conquered peoples to: keep their own customs  Many conquered peoples: respected Darius  Freed the Jews in Babylon  Cambyses II was known for conquering: Egypt

Persians con’t  Darius I  Reformed the: army and created a permanent army  Highly trained soldiers called: the Ten Thousand Immortals  Conquered parts of: India  Failed to conquer: Greece  Surrounded himself with: symbols of power  Minted: first coins in Persia  High point of: Persian culture  Xerxes tried to conquer what area like his father: Greece

 The Persian Wars (490 BC BC)

 Greeks in Ionia rebel against Persian rule, ask for help from other Greeks  Persian emperor Darius decides to get revenge on the Greeks  First Persian Invasion – 490 BC  Battle at Marathon – Athenians attack the Persians while they are unloading and the Persians retreat  An Athenian messenger runs 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory  He dies after delivering the message  Darius is furious over the humiliating defeat and starts to plan another invasion  However he dies and his son Xerxes vows to get revenge for his father

 Second Persian Invasion – 480 BC  Battle at Thermopylae  Greeks are afraid they won’t have enough time to prepare  A group of 300 Spartans decide to hold off the entire Persian army at the mountain pass of Thermopylae  Are successful for several days until a local shows the Persians an alternate path through the mountain and they kill all the Spartans  The Persians advance and burn Athens  Need the Persian navy to bring additional supplies

 Battle of Salamis  An Athenian navy commander lures the Persian navy into the narrow Strait of Salamis  Persian ships were very large and could not maneuver well  Xerxes watches from a throne on the shore as his navy is destroyed  The Persian army is now stranded in Greece with few supplies  In 479 BC a large Greek army led by the might of Sparta crushes the Persians, ending the war

Persian Battles

The Golden Age of Athens  Athens and Sparta became the two most powerful city-states as leaders in the Persian Wars  Sparta not popular, Athens becomes the leading city-state – Why were Spartans not as popular?  Dozens of Greek city-states banded together for defense  This alliance was to be a league of equals  Athens, as the largest and richest, ended up controlling the entire alliance  Became known as the Delian League

 As the League’s leader, Athens controlled its ships and money  Would not allow unhappy members to quit  Would attack rebelling members with the League fleet  The League more or less turned into an Athenian Empire  Used League funds to rebuild Athens  Built the Parthenon = a grand temple dedicated to the goddess Athena  Pericles  Great champion of democracy and most influential politician in Athens  Commissioned the Parthenon  Introduced payment for those who served in public offices and juries  Believed in the superiority of Athens

 Trade brought much wealth to Athens  Athens at the time was the heart of Greek culture  Greatest rival was Sparta  Had its own allied city-states = Peloponnesian League  Athens fears the military might of Sparta and allies  Sparta fears that the Athenian navy would stop Sparta from trading  This mutual fear led to Sparta and Athens declaring war in 431 BC

The Peloponnesian War  War between Athens and Sparta  Sparta and allies dominate the land  Athens and allies dominate the sea  Spartans surround Athens hoping for an open battle  Athens avoids any battles on land  Knowing they can’t compete in open battle, they hide behind their city walls, relying on supplies from their navy and colonies  In 430 BC a terrible plague breaks out in Athens, killing a third of the people, including Pericles  421 truce, war breaks out six years later when Athens attacks one of Sparta’s allies

 This time Sparta destroys the Athenian navy and Athens surrenders - The walls of Athens are torn down and the Empire destroyed  Costs of the war  Weakened major Greek city-states  Athens nearly destroyed, Sparta exhausted as well  Sparta tries to act as Greece’s dominant power  Lost too many resources, defeated by Thebes who also can’t maintain control  Struggle for power in Greece led to a long cycle of warfare that left all of Greece vulnerable  Ignored the growing power of Macedonia to the north  Loss of freedom