**Persian War
-New Technology
- only 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
- new formation was formed in battle called the phalanx-had the shield in one hand and the spear in the in the other hand
- -Start of the Persian War
- between on Greece and Persian Empire
- first began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia
- Greeks settled there but Persian conquered in around 546BC
- The Ionian Greeks revolted - Athens sent soldiers to help revolt,DARIUS THE GREAT defeated the revolt and then vowed to destroy Athens.in 490 BC, the Persian fleet of 25,000 men and laded in an area called Marathon
- 10,000 Athenians met them there
- after several hours of fighting - Persians fled, 6,000 Persian lived were lost, and 200 or less Athenians lives were lost
_Why such a victory?
- the Athenians were using this new fighting formation called the phalenx
- 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
- Athenian would fight on their homeland
-Marathon
- Even though Athenians had won, they left their city without much of an army
- According to tradition, army leaders would send a runner to alert Athens of the battle
- Pheidippides was the runner
- he ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens
- Persians tried to quickly attach Athens after 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 an 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 though that they should fight them and defend their city of Athens
- some also thought that it wasn't worth it, and they should just allow them to burn it
- some even fought with the Persians
Famous Battle of Thermopylae
- A narrow mountain pass was the setting of this battle
- 7000 Greeks and 300 Spartans stood in the way of Xerxes and his huge army on this push to get to Athens
- Xerxes underestimated the Greeks and Spartans, however, they stood up for three days to them
300
- A traitor 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 including Leonidas
Lasting Effects of Spartan sacrifice
- 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. Truly diminishing his army
Lasting Effects of Persian War
- The Delian League was created. (An alliance of greek city-states to continue to push the Persians out of all Greece)
- Athenians was the head of the league and moved the headquarters to Athens
- This gave the Athenians a lot of power and helped push them into their golden age
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