Transcript PowerPoint

Who fought in the
Persian Wars?
Greek city-states
vs.
Persia
Events
Leading
to War
546 BC – Persian king Cyrus II
conquered the Greek city-state of Ionia
Cyrus II
Connections to History:
Cyrus II is also called Cyrus the Great.
He ruled Persia from 559-530 BC.
He united the Persians and Medians.
He conquered Babylon or the
Chaldeans.
He let the Israelites or Hebrews leave
Babylon and return to Judea.
Accounts of Cyrus II are recorded by
Greek historians Herodotus and
Athenian military commander
Xenophon.
Persian Empire
499 BC – Ionians revolted with help from the city-states on
the Greek mainland against the Persians, now led by Darius I
Darius and the Persians defeated the Ionian revolt and
decided to punish the Greek city-states for their participation
in the revolt
492 BC - Persian Wars Begin
Darius I
Connections to History:
After the death of Cambyses II (Cyrus II’s
son), Darius I gained control over Persia.
Darius I ruled Persia from 522 – 486 BC.
He expanded the Persian empire while
dealing with revolts in Babylon, Susania, and
Ionia.
It is during his reign when the Royal Road is
first mentioned.
When his health began to fail, he named his
son Xerxes I as his successor.
Weapons
Used During
the Persian
Wars
Greek Hoplites
These citizen-soldiers from the various Greek citystates were armed with spears and shields. When
fighting, they used either an overhand or underhand
thrust motion.
Greek Weapons and Shields
Equipment of a Hoplite
Dory – a spear with leather grip
Helmut with cheek
plates and horse hair
on top
Hoplon – a wooden shield,
sometimes with a thin bronze
covering
Bronze breastplate
sword
Greave (shin armor)made of bronze and clipped to the shin
*It is important to note that the equipment varied depending on the wealth of a Hoplite. This
image represents a very wealthy Hoplite.
Phalanx
A phalanx was a military formation used by
the Greeks and later the Macedonians –
basically a wall of heavily armed Hoplites in
close formation.
Trireme
Oar-powered warship used by both the Greeks
and the Persians
Athenian
Trireme
It was powered by 170
oarsmen in three tiers along
each side of the ship.
Square sails powered the
vessel when it was not
engaged in a fight.
This lightweight warship
was about 120 feet long
with a beam of 18 feet
and could travel up to 9
knots.
A bronze-clad ram was used
to pierce the hulls of enemy
ships.
The ship also carried spearmen and bowmen who
attacked enemy crew men and boarded enemy ships.
Persian Archers
Phrygian cap
Bow made of
wood, bone, and
animal sinew
(tendons or
ligaments)
The archers
typically stood
behind a shield
wall of men
holding large
wicker shields and
a hedge of
projecting pointed
spears.
Loose fitting tunic and trousers
Sword for hand-to-hand combat
Major Battles of the Persian Wars
Marathon, 490 BC
Salamis, 480 BC
Thermopylae, 480 BC
Plataea, 479 BC
The Battle of
Marathon,
490 BC
Before the Battle:
492 BC – Darius I sent a
fleet of ships to invade
the Greek city-states but
the fleet was destroyed
by storms.
490 BC – Darius I sent a
fleet of ships across the
Aegean Sea to the coastal
plain of Marathon about
25 miles from Athens.
Persians waited several days for the Athenians to
attack, but the Athenians were outnumbered
(20,000 Persians to 10,000 Greeks) so they did not
attack.
The Persians then decided to pack up their boats
and move to attack Athens.
The Battle
The Athenians decided
to strike an offensive
attack rather than wait
until the Persians
arrived in Athens.
Athenian foot soldiers charged down from the hills above
Marathon as the Persian infantry stood in the shallow
water waiting to re-board their ships.
This tactic surprised the Persians because they were not
expecting the infantry to attack without the support of
horsemen and archers.
The Result
Athens and the Greeks were victorious losing
only 192 men while the Persians lost 6400 men.
Battle of Marathon Video
Eyewitness to History: The Battle of Marathon
Battle Animation
Decisive Battles: Battle of Marathon Video (21 min.)
The Origination for the
Modern Marathon Race
In the 1st century AD, Plutarch first recorded the legend of a runner
carrying the news of victory at Marathon 26.2 miles to Athens and
dying once he exclaimed, “We have won.”
But, did it really happen? Probably not.
However, Greek historian
Herodotus did record that a runner
named Phedippides ran from
Athens to Sparta to request aid
before the battle of Marathon and
then back to Athens (about 155
miles each way).
The Battles of
Thermopylae
and Salamis,
480 BC
Events Leading to the Battles
480 BC – Darius I’s son, Xerxes, invaded Greece from the
north with 200,000 soldiers.
The Persian army relied on Persian supply ships so the ships
were always close to the army by the Royal Road.
Connections to History :
Xerxes ruled Persia after the death of Darius I
from 486 – 465 BC.
After Darius I’s death, Xerxes had to put
down insurrections in Egypt and Babylon. He
crushed the rebellions in Babylon – laying
siege to the city and melted the statue of
Xerxes
Babylon’s head god, Marduk.
Once the rebellions were defeated, he turned his attention to defeating
the Greeks.
His expedition to Greece and his desire for larger and grander
monuments and buildings depleted the Persian treasury.
Events Leading to the Battles:
The Oracle at Delphi predicted that Greece would be safe
from the Persians behind a wooden wall.
The Greeks believed
Apollo spoke through the
priestess named Pythia at
his temple in Delphi. She
was called the Oracle at
Delphi.
Remains of Apollo’s Temple in Delphi
Events Leading to the Battles:
Athenian General Themistocles convinced
the Greek allies that a “wooden wall”
meant a fleet of ships to challenge and
defeat the Persians at sea.
In order for General Themistocles’ plan to
work, the Greek army had to delay the
Persian army on land so the Greeks had time
to assemble a fleet of ships.
It was decided to delay the Persians by
fighting them at Thermopylae, a mountain
pass north of Athens.
The Battle
of
Thermopylae
7,000 Greeks led by King
Leonidas of Sparta stood
firm against the Persians
until…
A Greek traitor showed
the Persians a trail that
would let the Persians
attack the Greeks from
the rear.
King Leonidas found out
about the Persian plans
and sent all but 300
Spartan soldiers away.
The Spartans never
surrendered and fought
to the death.
Importance of the Battle of
Thermopylae
It gave Themistocles
enough time to
gather the ships.
The Path of Xerxes
The Bridge over Hellespont
Video: The Last Stand of the 300
Video: Spartans Implements of Death
The battle according to Herodotus
The Battle of Thermopylae
The Battle
of Salamis
General Themistocles drew the Persian fleet into the
Strait of Salamis.
He believed that the
heavy Persian ships
would crowd
together in the strait
and make the battle
easier for the lighter
and faster Greek
ships.
The Greeks won the battle as they destroyed
most of the Persian fleet.
Xerxes observing the Battle of Salamis
Battle of
Plataea,
479 BC
After the
Battle of
Salamis,
Xerxes and his
fleet of ships
returned to
Persia.
The Persians made camp in the plains in
Plataea while the Greeks under control
of Spartan leader Pausanias set up camp
in the foothills of Mt. Cithaeron.
Xerxes left the
Persian troops
in Greece
under the
control of
Mardonius.
For days, the Spartans, Tegeans, and Athenians fought the
Persian army at Plataea.
Each side tried to cut off
the other side’s access to
supplies and water. The
Persians even poisoned
the Greek water supply to
try to gain the upper hand
in the battle.
Outcome: The Greeks were
victorious
The Battlefield
Video: Battle of Plataea
The Battle of Plataea according to Herodotus
Connections to History: Persia after the Persian Wars
Despite losing the Persian Wars, the Persian empire
remained a large and formidable empire for several more
decades, but it eventually fell in defeat to Alexander the
Great’s Macedonia in 331 BC.
Persian Empire is defeated by
Alexander the Great in 331 BC
Peak of Persian Empire
Greek City-States
After
the Persian Wars
After the battle of Plataea, the Persian threat remained so
Athens persuaded most city-states to join the Delian
League.
Sparta did not
join the Delian
League.
The Delian
League
brought
prosperity and
stability to the
region.
Athens provided naval and land forces while the
other city-states furnished the money and ships.
The Golden Age was a period of
great innovations in government,
art, philosophy, drama, and poetry.
Most of Athens’ Golden Age was under the
rule of Pericles who ruled from 450-430 BC.
Pericles
Pericles is best known for leading the
rebuilding of Athens (it had been razed by the
Persians) including building the Parthenon, a
temple for the goddess Athena.
The Delian League
successfully freed Ionia
from Persian rule and rid
the Aegean Sea of pirates.
Aegean
Sea
Athens began to dominate the other city-states:
Money from the Delian League was used to build the
Parthenon.
Criminal cases could only be tried in Athens.
Other city-states had to use Athenian coinage.
Athens sent troops to support the revolts of
commoners against aristocrats in other city-states.
The league had become an
Athenian Empire
As Athens’
trade and
political
influence grew,
other citystates reacted
by forming an
anti-Athens
alliance called
the
Peloponnesian
League, led by
Sparta.
Peloponnesian
War
431- 404 BC
Who fought in the
Peloponnesian War?
Athens and their allies
(Delian League)
v.
Sparta and their allies
(Peloponnesian League)
In the beginning, it seemed like
Athens would win the war
because Sparta had no navy.
However, Sparta made a deal
with the Persians:
Ionia was returned to Persian
control and Persia gave Sparta
enough gold to build a fleet of
ships.
430 BC – a plague (possibly typhus, but scholars do not
know for sure) weaken Athens by killing 1/3 of its
population, including their leader, Pericles.
Connections to History:
Typhus is an infectious disease caused by a
bacteria.
The disease symptoms include headache,
chills, fever, and a rash.
The bacteria is transmitted to humans by
lice, fleas, mites, and ticks.
Rodents, cattle, and other animals are
common carriers of the infected insects.
Today, 40% of people with Typhus die
without treatment.
The most recent outbreaks have been in
Burundi, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.
429 BC – Despite the devastating results of the plague,
Athens decided to continue fighting against Sparta and the
Peloponnesian League.
The war remained
deadlocked for
many years until
Athens’ allies
switched sides and
Sparta destroyed
the Athenian naval
fleet.
404 BC – the war
ended when Athens
surrendered
Effects of the
Peloponnesian
War
The war was a disaster for the city-states:
The Effects of the War
1. The fighting
destroyed fields
and orchards.
2. Unemployment
was widespread.
3. Many Greeks became mercenaries (hired
soldiers) in the Persian army.
4. The cost of war made people forget about the common
good of their polis (city-state) and focus on money.
Sparta tried to rule over the other city-states but a new
alliance led by Thebes overthrew the Spartans
The Thebans were soon overthrown and all the fighting
made the city-states weak and vulnerable to outside attack
350 BC - The Greek
city-states were
unable to defend
themselves when
the Macedonians
invaded
Videos: Peloponnesian War