Greco-Persian Wars

The Greco-Persian Wars (492–449 B.C.) were a series of wars fought by Greek states and Persia over a period of almost half a century. The fighting was most intense during two invasions that Persia launched against mainland Greece between 490 and 479. Although the Persian empire was at the peak of its strength, the collective defense mounted by the Greeks overcame seemingly impossible odds and even succeeded in liberating Greek city-states on the fringe of Persia itself. The Greek triumph ensured the survival of Greek culture and political structures long after the demise of the Persian empire.

In the generation before 522, the Persian kings Cyrus and Cambyses extended their rule from the Indus River valley to the Aegean Sea. After the defeat of the Lydian king Croesus (c. 546), the Persians gradually conquered the small Greek city-states along the Anatolian coast. In 522 Darius came to power and set about consolidating and strengthening the Persian empire.

In 500 B.C. the Greek city-states on the western coast of Anatolia rose up in rebellion against Persia. This uprising, known as the Ionian revolt (500–494 B.C.), failed, but its consequences for the mainland Greeks were momentous. Athens and Eretria had sent a small fleet in support of the revolt, which Darius took as a pretext for launching an invasion of the Greek mainland. His forces advanced toward Europe in 492 B.C., but, when much of his fleet was destroyed in a storm, he returned home. However, in 490 a Persian army of 25,000 men landed unopposed on the Plain of Marathon, and the Athenians appealed to Sparta to join forces against the invader. Owing to a religious festival, the Spartans were detained, and the 10,000 Athenians had to face the Persians aided only by 1,000 men from Plataea. The Athenians were commanded by 10 generals, the most daring of whom was Miltiades. While the Persian cavalry was away, he seized the opportunity to attack. The Greeks won a decisive victory, losing only 192 men to the Persians' 6,400 (according to the historian Herodotus). The Greeks then prevented a surprise attack on Athens itself by quickly marching back to the city.

After their defeat at Marathon the Persians went home, but they returned in vastly greater numbers 10 years later, led by Darius' successor, Xerxes. The unprecedented size of his forces made their progress quite slow, giving the Greeks plenty of time to prepare their defense. A general Greek league against Persia was formed in 481. Command of the army was given to Sparta, that of the navy to Athens. The Greek fleet numbered about 350 vessels and was thus only about one-third the size of the Persian fleet. Herodotus estimated the Persian army to number in the millions, but modern scholars tend to doubt his figures, replacing them with lower ones. The Greeks decided to deploy a force of about 7,000 men at the narrow pass of Thermopylae and a force of 271 ships under Themistocles at Artemisium. Xerxes' forces advanced slowly toward the Greeks, suffering losses from the weather.

The Persians met the Greeks in battle over a period of three days in August 480. At sea a detachment of 200 Persian ships attempted to surprise the Greek fleet, but the Greeks, forewarned, engaged the main Persian navy. That night a tremendous storm destroyed the Persian squadron while the Greeks were safely in port. On land the Persians attacked the Greeks at Thermopylae for two days but suffered heavy losses. However, on the second night a Greek traitor guided the best Persian troops around the pass behind the Greek army. The Spartan general Leonidas dispatched most of the Greeks south to safety but fought to the death at Thermopylae with the Spartan and Thespian soldiers who remained. While the battle raged at Thermopylae, the Persian fleet attacked the Greek navy, with both sides losing many ships. Xerxes' army, aided by northern Greeks who had joined it, marched south. In September the Persians burned Athens, which, however, by that time had been evacuated. In the meantime, the Greeks decided to station their fleet in the Strait of Salamis. Themistocles devised a clever stratagem: feigning retreat, he lured the Persian fleet into the narrow strait. The Persians were then outmaneuvered and badly beaten by the Greeks' ships in the ensuing naval battle. Soon afterward, the Persian navy retreated to Asia.

Although Xerxes returned to Persia that winter, his army remained in Greece. It was finally driven from the country after the battle of Plataea in 479 B.C., where it was defeated by a combined force of Spartans, Tegeans, and Athenians. The Persian navy was defeated at Mycale, on the Asiatic coast, when it declined to engage the Greek fleet. Instead the Persian navy beached its ships and, joining a land army, fought a losing battle against a Spartan force led by Leotychidas.

Although the Persian invasion was ended by the battles at Plataea and Mycale, fighting between Greece and Persia continued for another 30 years. Led by the Athenians, the newly formed Delian League went on the offensive to free the Ionian city-states on the Anatolian coast. The league had mixed success, and in 449 B.C. the Peace of Callias finally ended the hostilities between Athens and its allies and Persia.

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