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Transcript: The Greco-Persian Wars: Causes, Effects & Events

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Frank Miller's graphic novel '300' tells the famous story of the second Greco-Persian War and the brave stand of
the Spartans to hold off the Persian army against overwhelming odds. This lesson looks at the true story behind
these events and explores the conflicts known as the Greco-Persian Wars.

Greeks and Persians

From 490 to 479 BCE, the Persian Empire and the Greeks faced off in two wars that decided the history of Greece
and had a massive impact on the development of Western civilization. At the time, the Persians ruled over the

largest empire of their day, stretching from modern-day Afghanistan in the east to Asia Minor (modern-
day Turkey) in the west, and also controlled Egypt and the lands of Mesopotamia.

This empire was ruled by the Achaemenid dynasty and had been founded in 553 BCE by Cyrus the
Great. The Achaemenids viewed themselves as enlightened rulers because they allowed religious freedom and
supported the rights of the people they conquered.

The Greeks during this era were not a united people and, instead, lived in a series of city-states
. Under
the city-states, each city had its own government and controlled not only the city itself but also the farmland
around it. These city-states often fought against one another for power and prestige; the most powerful of them
were Sparta and Athens, which were major rivals. To Greeks of that era, their primary loyalty would have been to
the city-state that they were a citizen of.

The First Greco-Persian War

Because Greece was mountainous and did not have a great deal of land available for farming, many city-states
sponsored the creation of colonies , new cities outside of the Greek mainland, populated by Greeks, which
would often be allied to one of the major city-states. Years prior, a group of Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor

called Ionia had been conquered by the Lydians

, a local power. When Cyrus conquered the Lydians, he
also conquered the Ionian cities. However, the Ionians were very difficult to rule for Cyrus and his successor,
Darius.

In 499 BCE, the Ionians revolted and it would take the next five years for Darius and the Persians to regain
complete control of the region. During their revolt, the Ionians had asked for help from the Greek mainland, and
several city-states, most notably Athens, had agreed to support them. Now that the revolt was finished, Darius felt
that the mainland Greeks would have to be dealt with, or else they would offer support to the Ionians again in the
future.

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Darius began by sending envoys to the Greek city-states, asking them to pledge their loyalty to the Persian Empire,
in 490 BCE. Although most complied, Athens and Sparta refused, executing the Persian ambassadors as a sign of
protest and a declaration of war. The Persians responded by capturing and enslaving the city of Eretria, which had
been one of the cities to support the Ionians, and then they turned their attention to Athens.

A large Persian fleet made for the Bay of Marathon but, having been warned that they were coming, the Athenians
were able to ambush the Persians. In the Battle of Marathon , the Athenians and their allies
defeated Darius' army and the Persians retreated back to Asia Minor. The Greeks had won the war.

Xerxes' Revenge
Darius died in 486 BCE, still planning another assault upon the Greeks, and the throne passed to his son
Xerxes I. Xerxes was an ambitious ruler and wanted to conquer all of Greece as an example to other
nations, as well as to complete the work of his father.

In 480 BCE, the Persians once again sent out ambassadors to try to convince the Greeks to submit and, once
again, many city-states did so. However, a group of allies formed around Sparta and Athens, vowing to fight the
Persians once again. The plan was for a group of 300 Spartans under King Leonidas, and their allies, to hold the
Persian Army off at Thermopylae, giving Athens and the other allies a chance to organize their armies.

Although the Spartans were eventually defeated at the Battle of Thermopylae , they had held off
the vastly larger Persian army for three days. This gave the other Greek allies a chance to organize their defenses.
The Athenians, worried that Athens would be conquered, set fire to their own city while civilians were evacuated.

The Persians attempted to move toward Athens but were defeated in the naval Battle of Salamis
,
where the Athenian admiral lured the larger Persian fleet into a narrow strait where it could not maneuver and
defeated it. Following this, the Greeks pushed the Persians out of Greece and actually counterattacked, invading
Asia Minor. By 478 BCE, both sides were exhausted by the war and peace resumed; the Persian invasions of
Greece had come to an end.

The Aftermath
The Greco-Persian Wars have long been remembered as a victory of Western civilization and liberty over invaders
from the east. Partly this is the result of the fact that the only written sources we have describing the conflicts
come from the Greek historian Herodotus and his successors. We simply do not have any accounts that tell the
Persian side of the story.

As such, this Western view has become predominant and has inspired artists and writers up to the present age.
The most prominent recent example comes from Frank Miller, whose graphic novel 300 was the inspiration for the
popular movie series.

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Despite the Greek victory, the end of the Greco-Persian Wars did not end Persia's desire to meddle in Greek
affairs, nor did it lead to unity among the Greek city-states. Eventually, war broke out 14 years later between Sparta

and Athens in a conflict called the Peloponnesian War. In this conflict, Sparta eventually sought
help from the Persian fleet to defeat Athens.

Despite this, the memory of the wars had a grasp on the minds of the Greek people and, following the unification
of the Greeks by Alexander the Great, the Greco-Persian Wars were used as part of the justification for Alexander's
conquest of Persia.

Lesson Summary
The Greco-Persian Wars were two conflicts that occurred between 490 and 479 BCE and pitted
the Persian Empire against the Greek city-states. The conflict began after Athens and Eretria gave assistance to
the Ionians in their rebellion against Persia and its ruler, Darius. Although Darius was able to secure the loyalty of
many Greek city-states, both Sparta and Athens executed his ambassadors rather than give up independence.

In the following war, Darius was defeated at the Battle of Marathon and retreated. Although he had planned a
follow-up invasion of Greece, Darius passed away before he could launch the second war.

Xerxes I, who once again confronted Sparta, Athens, and their allies in battle.
That task fell to Darius's son

Although he was able to win against the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persian
fleet was defeated at the Battle of Salamis.

The Greeks eventually counterattacked and invaded Asia Minor before peace was declared in 478 BCE. The
Greco-Persian Wars continue to play an important part in Western culture to this day and are the source of
inspiration for artists, writers, and thinkers.

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