2.  Greeks spent great deal of time fighting one and other  Near the beginning of the 500s B.C.E. Persia was growing in power  City-states united for defense in Peloponnesian League  By 520 B.C.E. Persian Empire encircled Greek city-states & included former Greek colonies

4.  Athenians sent ambassador to Persian King Cyrus the Great to create an alliance  Ambassador made alliance  Athenian assembly rejected the deal  Persia still thought they had a deal  Why would the Athenian process confuse the Persians?

5.  499-493 BCE: Greek cities throughout Asia Minor rise up against Persian rule.  498 BCE: After pleading for an alliance with the Persians, the Athenians back the Ionian Revolt  Help Ionians to sack Persian city of Sardis  Result: Persians are ANGRY!!! Me so angry

6.  Persians went on to conquer Ionian Greek city- states  499 B.C.E. Ionians Revolt  Athenians fear that they are next so they help their fellow Greeks  493 B.C.E. Ionian revolt is put down  Darius (Persian leader) still viewed Athens’ actions as a betrayal

9.  Darius sought revenge by sending 20,000 troops who gathered on plains of Marathon (approx. 25 miles north of Athens)  Athenians had a shabby army of less than 9,000 hoplites; no cavalry  But they marched out to meet the Persians in Marathon rather than letting their city be destroyed  According to legend:  Pheidippides, an Athenian herald, was sent to Sparta to request help  He ran the 150 miles in two days but did not succeed in getting Sparta’s help

12.  While Pheidippides was seeking help…  Athenians charged unexpectedly  At dead run to avoid Persian archers  Greek line was spread thin and broke in middle  Instead of retreating, folded up Persians  Greeks showed surprising skill in hand-to-hand combat  Won the battle despite more than 2 to 1 odd against them  Pheidippides returned and was sent announce their victory in Athens  He ran the approximately 26 miles from Marathon to Athens  Announced “Nike!” (“Victory!”) and dropped dead

14. So, when Persia was dust, all cried, “To Acropolis! Run, Pheidippides, one race more! the meed is they due! Athens is saved, thank Pan, go shout!’ He flung down his shield Ran like fire once more; and the space ‘twixt the fennel-field And Athens was stubble again, a field which a fire runs through, Till in he broke: ‘Rejoice, we conquer!’ Like wine through clay, Joy in his blood bursting his heart,--the bliss!”

15.  At the same time, Persians sent some infantry and cavalry by ship to Athens.  Immediately after the victory at Marathon, Athenians raced back to Athens.  Made it back to Athens about one hour before the Persians arrived.  Persians realized they were outnumbered.  Persians lost about 6,000 men while Athenians only 192 men

17.  The silver found in the mines at Laureion in Attica  Middle class benefitted  Athenians spend their money on a fleet  Themistocles(elected official) main contributor of needing a navy  Constructed a fleet of nearly 200 ships  new style, "triremes" with 200 men rowing 150 oars arranged in three tiers

19.  Darius was enraged!  Started organizing another invasion but died first  Xerxes (Darius’s son) took command  Organized between 150,000-300,000 warriors and 600 ships  Greeks combined forces to prepare:  Sparta providing vicious army  Athens provided navy to cut- off supplies of Persians

20. 

21.  Greeks chose spot where to meet the Persians  Small pass in Southern Greece near the mountains and the sea  Famous natural hot spring – Thermopylae “ hot gates”  Good choice for the Greece  Persians would either have to go through narrow pass or mammoth diversion  Give the Greeks time to organize troops further south  Athenians sent ships Artemision to try to stop Persian fleet from joining their army

22.  King Leonidas ( Spartan King) led about 7.000 Greek troops into the battle  Only 300 of the troops were Spartan  Spartans at the forefront of the fight  Persians attacks were rebuffed until…  Xerxes paid a goat herder for information of another route  Sent 10,000 troops through this narrower pass  Behind Greeks  King Leonidas dismissed almost all of the Greek troops, leaving the 300 Spartans and a few others

27.  King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans held the Persians for several days  Persians inundated the Spartans  Advanced further south

28.  Persians lost many ships at Artemision  weather was bad  Greeks captured many ships

29.  Athenians abandoned their city by orders of Themistocles.  Persians march south from their victory at Thermopylae and destroyed the city of Athens.  Athenians watched from the nearby island of Salamis as their city burned.

30.  Athenians positioned themselves and their fleets near the island and did several things to defeat the Persians:  Sent false message to Xerxes  Had ships in the narrow channel between Salamis and the mainland  Other ships hid in the small bay to the south of the narrow channel  Persians thought the Greeks in the narrow channel were fleeing and followed them into the narrow pass o Athenians turned back to face Persians o Rammed the Persians ships  Small fleet hidden in the south caught the Persians as they were fleeing.

33.  The Greek sense of uniqueness was increased  Athens emerged as most powerful city- state in Greece  Athens organized the Delian League, an alliance with other Greek city-states

34.  Ironically, Athens did not support democracy in other city-states  Forces other city-states to pay tribute for protection  Moved the Delian League treasury from Delos to Athens and begin to abuse the access to the Leagues’ money

35.  Many Greeks resented Athenian domination  Greek world split into rival camps.  Result: Sparta forges an alliance with the other city states and forms the Peloponnesian League  Declares war on Athens, which eventually leads to the down fall of Athens

37. A 27 year war broke out in 431 B.C. engulfing all of Greece

38.  Athens at a disadvantage:  Geography  Navy = no good against Spartans located inland  After Spartan invasion, Pericles allows people from countryside to move inside city  Result: Overcrowding leads to a plague ; killed 1/3 of the people  Including Pericles  Internal struggles undermined Democratic government

39.  Sparta allied with Persia, their old enemy, against the Delian League.  404 B.C., with the help of the Persian navy, the Spartans captured Athens and stripped it of its fleet and empire

40.  The Peloponnesian war ended Athenian greatness  In Athens Democratic government suffered: corruption and selfish interests replaced order  Fighting continued to disrupt the Greek world  Sparta itself suffered defeat at the hands of Thebes, another Greek city-state  Greece was left vulnerable to invasion (hello Alexander the Great…we’ll meet you soon!)  Cultural development was halted