- New Technology
- During the Dorian age, only the rich could really afford to buy the bronze weaponry and armor
- Iron later replaced bronze and allowed the common man to be able to arm himself and fight battles
- Also a new formation was formed in battle call the phalanx
- Phalanx- Spear in one hand, shield in the other
- Start of the Persian war
- War between Greece(Sparta) and Persian Empire
- It first began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia
- Greeks were settled there but Persians conquered it around 546 BC
- The Ionian Greeks revolted
- Athens sent soldiers to help in the revolt
- Darius the Great defeated the revolt and them vowed to destroy Athens
- War continued
- In 490 BC, the Persian fleet of 25,000 men landed in an area called Marathon
- 10,000 Athenians meet them there
- After several hours of fighting
- Persians fled the battlefield
- 6,000 Persian lives were lost
- 200 or less Athenians lives were lost
- Victory
- The Athenians were using this new fighting formation called the phalanx
- The Persians were not well trained in this type of land fighting
- The Persians also wore very light armor compared to that of the Athenians
- Athenians were fighting on their homeland
- Marathon
- Even though Athenians had won. They left their city without much of ant army
- According to tradition, army leaders would send a runner to alert Athens of the battle
- Philippines was that runner
- He ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens
- Persians tried to quickly attack Athens after Athens their defeat at Marathon, but the Athenians had already returned, so they fled once again
- Ten years later
- Xerxes, Darius the Great’s son, had become the successor of the Persian army
- He brought and enormous army with him to complete the job that his father once vowed
- Greek issues
- The Greeks were very divided on how to handle the Persian situation
- Some city-states thought that they shouldn’t fight them and defend their city of Athens
- Some city-states thought it wasn’t worth it, and they should just allow them to burn it
- Some even fought with the Persians
- The Greeks were very divided on how to handle the Persian situation
Famous battle of Thermopylae
- A narrow mountain pass was the setting of this battle
- 7,000 Greeks and 300 Spartans stood in the way of Xerxes and his huge army on this push to get to Athens
- Xerxes undersestimated the Greeks and Spartans, however, they stood up for three days to them
300
- A tration went to Xerxes and informed him of a secret path around the pass
- Fearing defeat, the Spartans fought the Persians so that the Greeks could flee to fight another day
- All 300 were killed incluging Leonidas
Lasting effects
- Made a great impression on the Greeks
- Allowed the remaining Greeks to retreat and fight the Persians again
- Showed Xerxes what he was up against
Battle of Salamis
- Greeks abandoned Athens because they thought that fighting at sea was their best chance
- They were right, Xerxes watched as a 1/3 of this fleet was sunk
- It truly diminished his army
Lasting effects
- The Delian League was created
- An alliance of Greek city-states to continue to push the Persians out of all Greese
- Athenians was the head of the league and moved the headquarterd to Athens
- This gave the Athenians a lot of power and helped push them into their golden age
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