Greco-Persian Wars By Brendan Verbrugge

Around 559 BC, an empire was founded that would eventually become one of the most large and powerful empires of its time period. This empire was called the Persian Empire (also known as the Acheamenid Empire). Persia had been around a while before it became its own empire though. In its very beginnings, Persia was a small Indo-European tribe that had come from Central Asia into south west Asia. The Persians decided that they wanted to settle on the plateaus of what is now Iran. Perhaps unbeknownst to the Persians, another Indo-European tribe that had come from Central Asia called the Medes had also settled in this area. When the Medes banded together to form an empire called the Median Empire, they conquered the small Persian tribe. The Medians ruled over the Persians for many centuries. This was partially because of the fact that the Medians allowed Persia to continue using their own leaders, as long as they did not rebel. But in 559 BC, a new Persian leader named Cyrus the Great arose. The exact origins of Cyrus are not completely known; it is a somewhat debated topic. There is a legend that says he was the grandson of a Median King, but many historians are skeptical of the truthfulness of the myth. Wherever he came from though, he was Persian, and was a great leader. Ten years into his career of ruling Persia, Cyrus led a revolt against the Median Empire, which ended with the overall destruction of the Medians army, and the submission of their empire. From there, Cyrus conquered many lands, expanding the new Persian Empire to massive size. When Cyrus conquered a new land, he allowed the people living there to keep their custom, instead of forcing them to adopt Persian ones. Because of this, Cyrus was a wellrespected leader, and his subjects were loyal to him. When Cyrus died in 530 BC, he controlled the largest empire in the world. After Cyrus died, his son, Cambyses II took the throne. While Cyrus was a well-respected leader, Cambyses was considered a Tyrant and a madman. Cambyses started out his career by

following his fathers policy of expansion, and invaded and took over Egypt. However, shortly after his conquest of Egypt, Cambyses got wind of a rebellion happening back in Persia. On his way back to stop the rebellion, Cambyses died in 522 BC, and Persia was left without a ruler. After the death of Cambyses, it was unclear who should be ruler. People were fighting over the position of emperor, but after a while the history is vague, a new ruler arose. His name was Darius I. For the first year of his career, Darius had to fight to restore order in Persia. After peace had been restored, Darius set about reforming the army. Persia had never had a permanent army until Darius came along. He created a new army made up of paid soldiers. He also created a new training program for the army. At the center of his army, Darius had an elite fighting force known as the Ten Thousand Immortals. The Immortals acted as a highly trained bodyguard for the emperor; their role was to protect him on the battlefield. Only the most skilled and dedicated soldiers were ever picked to be Immortals. Using this new army, Darius conquered new lands in the east and west. When a small strip of Greek city states called Ionia (located in what is now the west coast of Turkey) rebelled and destroyed the Persian city of Sardis in 498 BC, Darius vowed revenge on the Greeks but on Athens and Eretria in particular, as they supported the Ionian rebellion. In 492 BC, he sent an army to Greece in an attempt to take it over, but unfortunately for Darius, his efforts were not a success vengeance was not to be his. While Macedon and Thrace were brought back under control of the Persian Empire, storms kept them from invading Greece. Continuing to press the battle, in 490 BC a sailing force made its way to Eretria and eventually razed the city. The success of this battle was short lived, however, as Athens was not yet to be had. Darius decided to sail his ships to Marathon, a plain north of Athens where he would unload his troops. The Greeks however, were aware Darius was coming (he made it quite clear), so they were ready to meet the Persians in the first battle of the Greco-Persian wars- the Battle of Marathon. The Battle of Marathon demonstrated the strength of Greeces armor and Hoplite formations. The Persians had tens of thousands of troops a seemly unbeatable force. The Athenians, however, had the advantage of surprise. Rushing out from cover in phalanx formations, the Athenians surprised and trapped the unloading Persian troops,

effectively turning the battle into a slaughter. Unable to gain a foot hold on the shore, the Persians reasoned that if Athens entire army was here fighting them, that no one would be left to defend Athens itself. Turning their backs from the miserable defeat at Marathon, the Persians sped towards an undefended Athens. The Athenians realized the danger their city was in so they sent a soldier running as fast as he could the 26 miles between them and Athens, to warn them of the Persians. As the story goes, the soldier got to Athens in time to warn them, and promptly died of exhaustion. This ensured that Athens was prepared for the Persians assault however, and when Darius finally showed up, he was forced to retreat, his plans foiled. The story of the soldier and his heroic 26 mile run to warn Athens started the tradition of the Marathon, a 26 mile race. Although he failed to take over Greece, Darius made significant improvements to the economy. The first coins minted in Persia were issued during his rule, and he encouraged trade by building roads throughout the Persian Empire. He also started to build an enormous army to attempt the subjugation of Greece again. Unfortunately, the Persian Empire was a difficult region to govern and Darius had to maintain his authority over groups seeking to revolt; in particular, Egypt. In 486 BC, Darius died before he could resume his quest for Greece. After the death of Darius, the Persian Empire started to go into decline. Dariuss son, Xerxes, became the next ruler. Xerxes knew all about his fathers humiliating defeat in Greece, and decided that it was his job to continue his fathers plans for a second conquest of Greece . But this time Xerxes would go all out. He wouldnt make the same mistakes his father did. This time Athens would be his. The second invasion of Greece took some time; Xerxes spent 4 years building his army and navy. Scholars disagree about the size of the force particularly since the history was written by the winning side (the Greeks in this case). Lets just say the force was huge for the time period. When his army was finally completed, Xerxes headed off towards Athens by land. Although he had to march through Greece to get to Athens, Xerxes met very little competitionhis army was so large that only a few Greek polises dared to attack it, some even joining him. Just like the last battle, Athens knew Xerxes was coming, but Athens also knew that it wasnt

nearly strong enough to face his army on its own. Desperate, Athens decided to try and form an alliance with the only one who stood a chance at holding off the Persians-the mighty Spartans. The Spartans were a warlike breed. Having to constantly put down rebellions because of their massive slave population, the Spartans had a powerful army, and valued strength and physical prowess above all else. The Spartans agreed to a temporary alliance to help defeat the Persians, and soon both polises were busy at preparing a desperate defense from the massive army that was coming. They realized that in order to get to Athens, Xerxes army would have to go through a narrow pass called Thermopylae. Blocked off by mountains on one side, and the sea on the other, the pass seemed like an ideal place to defend against the Persians. So it happened that when Xerxes and his army finally arrived there, they found a force of seven thousand Greeks, including the legendary 300 Spartans. So the story goes, the Spartan king Leonidas told the other Greeks with him to go warn Athens, while he and his 300 Spartans defended the path. The Spartans then defended the path against the overwhelmingly large Persian army for three days in the legendary Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans could have held out longer to, but a traitor showed the Persians a route around the mountain and behind the Spartans. Besieged on both sides, the Spartans were finally overwhelmed and defeated by the Persian army. The Persians then set a course for Athens. When they arrived, to their surprise, the city had been abandoned. The Spartans valiant defense had bought Athens enough time to evacuate everyone to the Island of Salamis, a nearby island. On the water, things were taking a different turn. Greek triremes that had been holding the Straits of Artemisium during the battle of Thermopylae retreated to the Straits of Salamis when they got news of the Spartans Defeat. There they laid in wait, hoping to catch the enemy fleets off guard. The strategy eventually worked. The Persians fleet eventually came up through the Straits of Salamis to drop off supplies for the Persian army in Athens, and the Greeks attacked. The large Persian warships were not able to move nearly as fast as the Greek triremes in the narrow strait, so the Greeks sunk helpless ship after helpless ship. Before long, practically the entire Persian fleet had been wiped out. This effectively trapped the Persians in Greece with little to no supplies. A year later a massive force of Greeks from Sparta and the Island of

Salamis crushed the struggling Persian army. The Greeks had resisted the Persians fury a second time. Greatly crippled and humiliated by its defeat in Greece, the Persian Empire struggled along for some time, but rebellions were common and true power was never fully restored. Finally, sometime in the 330s BC, a Greek king named Alexander the Great conquered the weakened Persian Empire for good, putting an end to what was the most powerful empire of the ancient world.