Persian War
*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 called the phalanx
-spear in one hand shield in the other
*Start of the Persian War
-War between Greece 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 revolt
---Darius the Great defeated the revolt and then vowed to destroy Athens
*War continues
-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 losst
---200 or less Athenians lives were lost
*Why such a 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 an army
-According to tradition, army leaders would send a runner to alert Athens of the battle
-Pheidippides was that runer
-he ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens
-Persians tried to quickly attack Athens after their defeat at Marathon, but the Athenians had already returned, so they fled once again
*10 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 thought that they should fight them and defend their city of Athens
---Some city-states thought it wasnt 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 3 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 on 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 chance
-They were right, Xerxes watched as 1/3 of this fleet was sunk. Truly diminishing his army
*lasting effect 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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