MONDAY-
Persian Wars (499-449)
-fought between the persian empire and greek city states (athens, sparta, thebes)
Why did Persia Want Greece?
-wealth & resources
-increase the prestige of the King
-end the numerous rebellions in the western part of their empire
Ionian Revolt -499-493 BCE
-the Ionians (Greeks) led a revolt against the Persians after the Cyrus the Great died
-The Ionian Revolt was led by Athenian General Militiades
-Ionia asked Athens to help them which they did
-Darius the Great (Persian leader) quickly ended the Ionian Revolt but was very angry at the Greeks
-Darius vowed to burn Athens to the ground before he died for helping the Ionians
Miltiades Escapes
-Miltiades escaped back to Athens and told the Athenians that the Persians were coming to burn Athens
Persian "Peace" Envoy
-Darius sent an envoy to the Greek city-states in 491 BCE asking them to submit to the Persians
-Athens killed the Persian Envoys
-Darius responded with a naval invasion of 600 ships and 25,000 men
Ancient Greece vs Civilization of Persia
-Persia was the largest empire in the world at the time and consisted of millions of people
-Ancient Greece was about 50,000 total people
-It was truly a David vs Goliath battle
Athens & Sparta United
-had been enemies for hundreds of years
-they now fought not for Athens or for Sparta but for Greece
Battle of Marathon -490 BCE
-90,000 Persians
-10,000-20,000 Greeks
Greek Hoplites vs Persian Archers
Greek Hoplites won
How did Greeks win?
-Longer spears, heavier swords, better armor, and the phalanx formation (stronger navy but not in this battle)
Pheidippides
-after the battle ended, he ran from Marathon to Athens to tell the Athenians of the victory over Persia
Just over 26 miles
Battle of Thermopylae
-10 years after the battle of marathon, persia once agian invaded Greece
-Darius, the Great's son, Xerxes, made it a goal to destroy Athens
-The Persians won the Battle of Thermopylae but not before the Spartan soldiers held out for days allowing many Greek troops to retreat
-It also allows Greek cities time to prepare
-The movie 300 is based on this battle
Aftermath of the Battle of Thermopylae
-Even though the Persians won this battle, it slowed the Persians down enough for the Greek city-states to build up thier defenses
-The Persians moves into Greece and sacked Athens
-Greece had a better navy than Persians
Battle of Salamis -480 BC
-At the naval Battle of Salamis, the Greeks destroyed the Persian navy
-The Persians were never the same after that and were eventually driven out of Greece
-After the Persians War, the Delian League was established setting up an alliance between the Greek city-states
-Starting around 470 BC, Greece, and Athens specifically, entered a golden age
The Peace Treaty -449 BCE
-All the Greeks cities -states of Asia were to be free
-"Don't come close to Greece" certain distance to us
-No Perisan warship was to sail west of Phaselis nor west of the Cyanaen rocks
-If the terms were observed by the Persian King and his generals, then the Athenians would not to send troops to Persian lands
TUESDAY-
The Golden Age of Athens
-477-431 BC
-Came about after Greece defeated the Persians
-Drama, sculpture, poetry, philosophy, architecture, and science flourished
-also known as "age fo pericles" -led athens in the peloponnesian war
Pericles Plan for Athens
-3 goals for Athens
1. Strengthen Athenian democracy
2. Hold and strengthen the empire
3. Glorify athens
Goal #1 Stronger Democracy
-increased the # of paid government jobs which benefitted people who were not wealthy
-instituted direct democracy
citizens rule directly and not through elected representatives
Similarities -- 3 brances, legislation passed laws, politic power
Goal #2 Strengthen the Empire
-Helped establihs and eventually led the Delian League after the Persian Wars
-alliance of greek city states
-grew athens navy
-started dominating other city states which led to conflicts
Goal #3 Glorify Athens
-used money from the Delian League to buy gold, marble and ivory
-used money from the Delian League to hire artists, architects, and workers to build buildings and sculptures
-Phidias was hired to build the Parthenon
-greek sculptors focused on beauty, not realism
-classical art focused on simplicity and being well proportioned
WEDNESDAY-
talked about election (senates)
THURSDAY-
Greek Drama -Tragedy and Comedy
-A tragedy was a serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, or betrayal
-The hero usually was an important person and often gifted with extraordinary abilities
-A tragic flaw usually caused the hero's downfall, usually excessive pride
- A comedy contained scenes filled with humor
-Playwrights often made fun of politics and respected people and ideas of the time
-Aristophanes was a famous writer of comedies
-The fact that Athenians could listen to criticism of themselves showed the freedom that exsisted in democratic Athens
The Start of the Greatest Subject in Recorded History
-History
-Herodotus pioneered the accurate reporting of events
-Thucydides believed that certain types of events and political situations recur over time -History repeats itself
Peloponnesian War (Attic)
-Fought between Athens & Sparta
-Thucydides wrote about this
-Came about as a result of Sparta not liking Athens growth of wealth and power in the area after Persian War
-Athens was acting like a bully to other city-states
-Sparta had a better army, Athens had a better navy
-With the help of a plague that hit Athens, Sparta eventually won
3 Stages of the Peloponnesian War
Stage 1
-Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica staring in 431 BC
-Goal was to take over their land and eventually starve the Athenians if they would not meet them in battle
-Spartans would only occupy Attica for around three weeks at a time as they had to go back and harvest crops
-Spartans also had to worry about helot revolts, so they needed to be constantly supervised
Pericles Plan for Athens Victory Stage 1
-Wanted to avoid land battles with Sparta
-Get behind Athen's wall
-Used the Long Wall (3.7 miles) to access the sea in order to trade and get resources
-Used the Athenian navy to invade cities in the Peloponnese
The Plague
-In 430 BCE, a plague hit Athens
-The plague wiped out over 30,000 citizens, sailors and soldiers, including Pericles and his sons
-Roughly 1/3 to 2/3 of the Athenian population died
-The fear of the plague was so widespread that the Spartan invasion of Attica was abandoned
FRIDAY-
Peace of Nicias First stage Peace Treaty- this period of the war ended in 421 BC with the signing of the Peace of Nicias, The treaty basically said that both sides would give back most everything that they took from the ither during the war, Temples throughout Greece would be open to worshippers from all cities, Athens could continue to collect tribute from the states from which it had received, Athens agreed to come to Sparta's aid if the helots revolt. It was abandoned by 414 BC.
Stage2-Sicilian Exhibition, in 415 BC, Athens invaded Syracuse, Sicily, 100 ships, 5,000 soldiers, 30 horses, They wanted to help ethnic Allies (Ionians) that were on the island, Athens enemy were the Syracusans and Spartans, Athens wannted to take the entire island for resources, An Athenian general defected to SParta and told them that Athens wanted Sicily so they could launch an invasion of Italy, Carthage and the Peloponnese. The attack failed badly.
Stage 3- know as the Decelian war, the Spartans moved into Attica and eventually took over the city of Decelia and fortified it, Their goal was to take over the land and prevent Athens from getting supplies into the city over the land, This would force Athens to rely on supplies via the sea, Due to this Sparta started focusing on taking over the land that the Athenians got their resources from, Areas around Athens-silver mines, Sparta was now also getting help from the Syracusans and Persians, Athens followed the Spartans with their navy as the Spartans went to attack their strong holds, In 405BC the Athenians were defeated in the Naval Battle of Aegospotami, The Athenians surrendered ending the Peloponnesian War.
Aftermath of Peloponnesian War- Sparta took over the Athens Empire, Sparta got all the riches from the war and Sparta's allies got little to nothing, for a short time, Athens was ruled by Sparta and the Thirty Tyrants(oligarchy), Spartans killed 5% of Athens population, seized land and dismantled the democracy, in 403BC, the Thirty Tyrants were overthrown and a democracy was restroed, The corinthian War was between Sparta and Athens,Cornith and many other city-states.
Sparta was later soundly beat by Thebes at the batlle of Leuctra in 371 BC ending Sparta's dominance in the areas. Philip II of Macedon conquered all of Greece except Sparta, Alexander took ove Sparta by 331 BC
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