Who Fought?• The Persians Fought against the Greeks
–Persia was ruled by Darius and Xerxes
–Greeks- Athenians, Spartans, Ionians
• Persia controlled Ionia but Greekswere already living there.
• in 499BCE when Persian King Darius raised taxes, the Ionian Greeks got mad and revolted–Athens backed them up
• Persians crushed the revolts
What caused the Persian War?
Major Battles
1. Battle at Eretria– City north of Athens was burned by the Persians–Angry Athens asks Sparta for help
Major Battles2. Battle of Marathon: Sparta and
Athens work together– Persia- 25,000 soldiers–Greeks- 10,000 soldiers–Phalanx battle formation gave the
Greeks the victory•6,400 Persians died •192 Greeks died
Pheidippides• Ran to Athens from
Marathon = 26 miles
• Told them of the victory (Nike!)
• Died after giving the news
* This is why marathons are now 26 miles!
• 10 years later
• Xerxes, son of Darius vowed revenge.
• Brought between 100,000-300,000 troops through a narrow mountain pass
Part 2: Persian War
Battle at Thermopylae• 3,300 Greeks led by the Spartans held
them off at a narrow pass in Thermopylae. –A traitor told Persians of another way
around
–Many Greeks retreat but 300 Spartans stood strong.
–They all died
Battle at Salamis• Athens is evacuated and
fought at sea.
• Athenians had a powerful navy
• Greeks fought with new ships called Trireme.
–Triremes punched holes in Persian ships and sink a third of the ships.
• While Athens crushed the Persians at Sea, Spartans were on the plain of Plataea and crushes the rest of the Persian army
• Xerxes retreats
Battle of Plataea
Battle Summary:Greeks 3 – Persians 3
Battle Winner
Ionia Persia
Eretria Persia
Marathon Greece
Thermopylae Persia
Salamis Greece
Plataea Greece
• Greece victory creates a sense of unity• Athens had control of what was left of
Greece through leadership of the Delian League.
• Delian League- an agreement that the remaining Greek city states would help each other
Effects of the Persian Wars
• Democracy– Demos (“people”) + kratein (“to rule”)
• Democracy developed through various reforms over 200 years (circa 620s B.C.E.-420 B.C.E.)– Draco– Solon– Clisthenes– Pericles
Athens and Athenian Democracy
Draco• Athenian noble• 621 B.C.E. – credited with putting down first
written laws of Athens– Severe (modern English term draconian meaning
“severe” or “harsh”)– Written “in blood, not ink”– Written laws meant that judges could not show
favoritism or make up laws
Solon
• 594 B.C.E. – rewrote Draco’s laws
• Helped the poor– All citizens could
participate in the legislature
– Ended debt enslavement– Canceled land mortgages– Limited amount of land a
person could own
Clisthenes• 508 B.C.E.• Enlarged Athenian Assembly and increased its powers• Created Council of 500 to represent the different classes
– Created and administered laws after they were approved by Assembly
• Officials were elected• Executive power
– Ten generals called strategi (singular strategus)– Elected for one year
• Citizenship granted to some freedmen (former slaves) and to some immigrants
• Ostracism – Names written on ostrakon (piece of broken potsherd) once a
year– Most votes = ten years of exile
Pericles• “Golden Age of Pericles” – 461-429
B.C.E.
• Repeatedly elected as a strategus
• All citizens could hold public office
• People were paid for government service
• “Golden Age of Pericles” also saw developments in art and architecture
• Athens’ adult population: Circa 300,000– 150,000 foreigners and slaves (not citizens)– 100,000 women and others– 50,000 male citizens with voting rights
• Direct democracy – the citizen had to be there to vote (typically 5,000-6,000 voted at a time)
• Women had few rights and opportunities• Slavery played a major role in the economy• Orators often used forceful and coercive
language, rather than logic, to sway voters
Athenian Democracy: Its Flaws
Pictures Cited• Slide 1 – http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20070309ho_leonidas_450.jpg
• Slide 2 – http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u117/mikey_albert_photos/leonidis.jpg
• Slide 3 – http://www.the-toy-soldier.com/images/romans4.jpg, http://www.the-toy-soldier.com/images/romans2.jpg, http://www.markchurms.com/Merchant2/graphics/eagle-l.jpg
• Slide 5 – http://tn1-2.pv.deviantart.com/fs11/150/i/2006/183/c/e/wendy__s_revenge_by_bri_chan.jpg
• Slide 7 – http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Battleofissus333BC-mosaic.jpg
• Slide 9 – http://joseph_berrigan.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/greekinfantry.jpg,
• Slide 10 – http://www.livius.org/a/1/greece/phalanx.jpg
• Slide 11 – http://www.300spartanwarriors.com/images/719_Warner_Bros._Frank_Miller_300_-_300SpartanWarriors.jpg
• Slide 12 – http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39748000/jpg/_39748185_p_diddy_203.jpg
• Slide 13 – http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k46/mooshy_01/Xerxes.jpg
• Slide 14 - http://sha3teely.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/300movie02.jpg
• Slide 16 – http://students.mnmsa.org/~tkosanke/Thermopylae.jpg
• Slide 17 – http://www.molossia.org/milacademy/salamis.jpg
• Slide 18 – http://www.sikyon.com/Athens/images/salamis_battle.jpg
• Slide 19 – http://students.ou.edu/E/Ryan.C.Emrick-1/greek_trireme.JPG