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Persian Wars Pros And Cons Of Ionia

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In the years leading up to the war between the Persian Wars, the Persian Empire had rapidly expanded across the Mediterranean. Under the King Darius the Great, the vast Persian Empire experienced a number of revolts from the peoples they had subjugated. One of the rebelling regions was Ionia, a place on the coast of Anatolia. Ionia was originally settled by the Greeks, and when the Ionian Rebellion began, the Greek city-state of Athens offered some assistance to the rebels. The Persian Empire, with its massive army, soon put down the Ionian rebellion. However, Darius and the Persian generals were incredibly angry that the Greeks had intervened on the side of the rebels. Although the Greek aid to the Ionians was relatively minor, the Persian …show more content…

General Mardonius annexed Macedonia and two years later, Datis and Artaphernes were sent out on a naval expedition to conquer the Aegean islands. After finishing this campaign, they were supposed to bring back Hippias, the former tyrant of Athens, who would set up a pro-Persian regime. The campaign started without serious problems and soon, the islands of the Aegean Sea were subdued. To celebrate this success, the Persians sacrificed at Delos, maybe because they identified the god Apollo with their own Ahuramazda. After this, the Persian navy continued to the isle of Euboea, where the expeditionary force attacked Eretria, one of the Greek cities that had supported Greek rebels in Asia Minor. Fighting continued for six days, but the town was betrayed on the seventh day. Its inhabitants were carried off as prisoners. The part of Athenian territory opposite Euboea -and also the best ground for cavalry to maneuver upon- was at Marathon, and it was to this village that Hippias directed Datis, Artaphernes, and the 25,000 Persians. There was a symbolic reason as well: Hippias' father Peisistratus had once landed at Marathon, and had become tyrant of

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The historian Thucydides described himself as a wealthy Athenian general whose exile to the Peloponnese allowed him to personally observe, from both the sides of the conflict, a comprehensive account of the Peloponnesian War. Book 1 in Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War” is dedicated to explaining over fifty years of the events and proceedings that led to the abandonment of the Thirty Year’s Peace and subsequent war. In Book 1 he identifies four main incidents, which I shall refer to as ‘grievances’, regarding the conduct of Athens towards both their Delian members and the Peloponnesian allies. Yet he also mentions what he deems to be a more ‘real’ truth than these four grievances that led to Sparta and the Peloponnese going to

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There were 300 Spartans commanded by their king, Leonidas and 6,000 soldiers from other city-states against the Persian army of 100,000 men. The small Greek force held their position for two days till a Greek traitor told Xerxes of another path that was used by local people. Using this pass, the Persians passed through the mountains in secret and trapped the Greeks from the front and behind. On the third day, King Leonidas chose to stay to fight to the end and told the rest of the city-states to run while they still could but the Spartan army would die till the end. Although the Battle of Thermopylae was lost it showed that the Spartans were not afraid of the Persians and brought hope to the rest of the Greek city-states.

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The first Persian Empire, Achaemenid Empire, lasting from 550 BCE to 330 BCE, reached its height under ruler Cyrus the Great. At its peak, it encompassed Iraq and Iran, Syria, Israel, Anatolia, parts of Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, a large portion of Central Asia, and Macedonia to the north of the classical Greek Empire. The tension between the Persians and Greek civilizations would eventually provoke Alexander the Great, whose conquest of Persia eventually ended the Achaemenid Empire. Significantly smaller than the Achaemenid Empire, the Parthian Empire lasted from 247 BCE to 224 CE. The Parthians were the arch rivals of the Roman Empire and defeated them in Rome 's early attempts at eastward expansion toward Persia.

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Being alive to witness the events that occurred in and around fifth century B. C. E. Greece meant that Thucydides could not help but write down his experiences. The Athenians of Greece and the people of the Persian Empire were constantly at odds with each other, and these differences eventually led to the Peloponnesian war. This war lasted from 431-404 B.C.E. and began an era of conflict between the two peoples (Bulliet). This power struggle not only inflated the ego of the Athenians, but created many negative viewpoints of the Persians. Thucydides, being an Athenian, was therefore extremely biased against the Persians.

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He commanded the largest Greek contingent at the battle, but his control of his fellow Spartans wasn 't complete. A key moment of the battle came when the Greek army decided to move from an exposed position without easy access to water to a new position near Plataea. When the move began Amompharetus, 'lochagos of the Pitanata lochos ', one of the Spartan officers, refused to take part in the movement, on the grounds that Spartans didn 't retreat. Pausanias was unable to

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Artemisia, the female ruler of Halicarnassus, was one of several prominent figures during the Achaemenid period of the Persian Empire. Noted for her significance as a naval commander and ascension to throne of Caria, the core aspects which led to her considerable impact on history have been debated and scrutinised by scholars and historians. Through analytical readings and evaluation of both primary and secondary sources, three main concluding reasons can be determined for the influence of Artemisia in ancient history: her tactical and strategic prowess during warfare, the relationship between Xerxes and Artemisia, and lastly, her portrayal by Herodotus with the relative performance of Artemisia alongside her fellow Persian commanders. Confident and tactical, Artemisia’s prowess in military strategy was central to her influence in Persian history. During the Battle of Salamis and Artemisium, she provided the commander of the Persian forces, Xerxes, with invaluable advice.

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Many see love as a positive quality and for the most part it is. It gives us compassion for our fellow man, allows us to bond with each other, and care for our families. But it also has self-destructive properties too. In Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians feel a really strong patriotism to their city and empire.

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The Persians have a vastly bigger army than the Greeks do. According to Herodotus’ estimation, there were three hundred thousand Greeks fighting the 5,283,220 soldiers brought by Xerxes. (7.184&186) An army of that size can seize almost any land they want.

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In Isocrates Address to Philip of Macedonia, he found “that on no other condition could Athens remain at peace, unless the greatest states of Hellas should resolve to put an end to their mutual quarrels and carry the war beyond our borders into Asia...to wrest from the barbarians the advantages which they now think it proper to get for themselves at the expense of the Hellenes” (Isocrates). The barbaric, omnipresent influence of the Persians, which Isocrates and the rest of the Greek world felt was truly responsible for their misfortunes was quickly recognized by Philip as an fruitful opportunity for magnifying his power and authority over Greek affairs. The motivation to punish the Persians for the glory of Greece was not the ultimate goal of Philip as stated by the historian Polybius who perceived that Philip “reckoned on the cowardice and indolence of the Persians…further fixing his eyes on the splendor of the great prizes which the war promised… seizing on the pretext that it was his urgent duty to take vengeance on the Persians for the injurious treatment of the Greeks” (qtd. in Fredericksmeyers). The Persian characterization was powerful in conjuring intense emotions among both Macedonians and Greeks, creating an avenue for

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On his way to King Aegeus’ palace he would have to travel through very hazardous roads. Theseus came across three bandits who were known for terrorizing the Greeks who traveled through there, “He killed them all, however, he left not one alive to trouble future travelers”(124). Greece was very happy after Theseus courageously cleared the land of these bandits. Soon after King Aegeus proclaimed Theseus as the heir to the throne; he already has an opportunity to endear himself with the Athenian's. Every nine years the Athenians had been forced to sacrifice fourteen youths to the Minotaur.

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