SURVEY - POINT EXPLANATION EVIDENCE

The chronological and geographical context of - disunited greek city states = poleis
ancient Greece in the Mediterranean and the
Near East - outbreak of political rivalry meant that a united defence against
the persians would be difficult

- hostility w aegina

The key powers in the region - persia

The nature of contact with other societies

FOCUS OF STUDY - POINT EXPLANATION EVIDENCE

Persian Wars: origins - Nature of Persian Kings - compare historians

Persian imperialism
- Megalomania of Persian Kings
Raphael Sealy attributes the
- each King needed to ‘out-do’ his predecessor Greco-Persian wars to “the
tendency of empires to
- eternal east v west conflict of ideas, values, and culture expand” and the fact that “the
Persian ruling class set a value
Persian Empire on conquest”
- Cyrus 550
→ tolerant rule
→ conquered could keep religion and culture as long as they swore allegiance to King
- Cambyses 530
- Darius 516
→ King’s eyes
→ satrapies
→ new coinage
→ Suza as capital
 → royal road

- Ionia in 546, Babylon 539

Ionian revolt Reasons for Ionian Revolt

- Aristagoras feared Darius after the failed Naxos mission in 500

- Ionians wanted to revolt for a long time

→ wanted independence from the Persian puppet masters, tyrants

What happened (499-493)

- Aristagoras convinced satrap of Western Asia, Artaphernes, to attack Naxos

- from fear of Daius and of losing his position, convinced Ionian Greeks to revolt

- Athens sent 20 ships and Eretria sent 5 to help

Results
- increased migration to Greece

- Darius now knows the economic and strategic potential of Greece

- Darius focused on getting revenge on Athens

invasion of 490 BC: Battle of Mardonius in Thrace “Saw marathon only as a

Marathon - Darius sent him to deal with political matters in Ionia prelude to a greater struggle” -
→ removing tyrants Plutarch referring to the
significance of Marathon
Invasion
- Persian leader was Datis

- Greek poleis given opportunity to submit

→ install Hippias as tyrant

- many did medise


Role of Miltiades
Inter-war period: preparation
and developments in Persia
→ Athens, Sparta, and Eretria refused
- Darius sent 200 ships and 25 000 troops to Athens and Eretria
→ burned and took Eretrians as slaves
Battle
- Athens force was only 9 000, Persians had 25 000
- only Boeotia and Plataea sent troops
Significance
- Athens was saved
- Athens reputation among Greece soared
- knowledge of Persian battle tactics
- idea to meet the Persians at Marathon “Miltiades persuaded the
Athenians not to wait for the
- convinced Callimachus to charge rather than wait Persians but to march to
Marathon” - Burn referring to
- knowledge of Persian tactics from Chersonese (former tyrant) the choice to march to the site
of battle (leadership / strategy)
- phalanx
→ strong wings, weak centre
1. Fleet
→ 1 200 triremes
2. Army
→ levies
→ 240 000 (Hammond)
3. Canal
→ mt Athos
 4. Bridges
→ hellespont
→ strymon river

5. Submission
→ demand earth and water (not sp or ath)

6. Supplies
→ depots around Thrace

Preparation and developments 1. Hellenic league 481 BCE Plutarch: the fleet was built
in Greece → sp lead land and sea for ‘speed and ease of turning’
→ 30/700 poleis

2. Themistocles
→ laurium silver for 200 triremes - develop navy
→ fortification of piraeus for trading and and protection

Invasion of 480–479 BC: Battle Herodotus: “…he [Xerxes]

Battles of Thermopylae… - Leonidas led 7 000 soldiers (300 sp) had many men indeed, but
few soldiers”
- last position to halt persian advance until the Isthmus

- Ephialtes told X abt path

- surrounded, Leonidas sent away everyone except around 700 to protect retreaters

Significance
- lost important defensive position in nth

- boost morale

- great loss for pns (20 000 v 4 000 gr losses)

 - themis. Used leonidas’ death as factor that brought ath and sp together (king lost, ath
destroyed)

- highlighted hoplite superiority

Artemisium 480 Battle “Was decisive [for] the whole

- ideal location for anchorage, protection, retreat line, and communication course of the war” - Burn
→ narrows restrict pn navy and lose contact w army referring to the holding of the
Artemisium position by the
- pns out in open sea, storm destroyed fleet (200 ships) fleet which was themistocles
plan as it reduced the persian
- ath made 2 raids numbers thus riding them of
the ability to split their fleet
- pns attacked since low on food and raid the peloponnese
→ gr severe losses, withdrew to salamis while simultaneously fighting
the athenians (weather /
Significance leadership)
- central gr exposed

- pns fleet reduced

→ divide and conquer strategy failed (couldn't split and raid pelop and ath
simultaneously)
→ increased gr morale

- pn moral decreased

Salamis 480 Battle Thucydides: “The result at

- themis. Salamis proved that the fate of
→ narrow straits favoured gr ships Hellas depended on
→ victory at sal would prevent pn army advancing to pelop her navy”
→ stay and protect fam at sal
Herodotus: “It is now in your
- themis. Ruse (salve) power to save Greece… If
you take my advice and
- pns drawn into straits engage the enemy’s fleet here
 in Salamis.”
- hidden gr ships
Herodotus: “The Greek fleet
Significance worked together as a whole
- pn fleet withdraws while the Persians had lost
→ final naval expansion formation”

- x returns to pa

- left pn army wout supply

- victory for democracy

- rise of thetes

Plataea 479 - ath threatened sp with ath joining pns, if sp didn't send troops Serpent column

Battle “Finest examples of Greek

- thebes allies to pns unity” - Hammond referring
to Plataea (greek unity)
- pns attempted to lure gr into open plain for easy cavalry attack, gr remained in hills

- pn battle of attrition
→ destroying food and water supplies

- pns thought gr retreating, thus attacked

- once mardonius died, pns in disarray

Significance
- victory became reality

- end of pn occupation in gr

- greek unity highlighted

Mycale 479 Battle
- gr sailed to delos for defensive position

- dual attack, at mycale and inland

- ath and ionia attacked sestos (main pn base in chersonese)

→ strategic location for entry into black sea

Significance
- freed some ionain states

- gr supremacy in aegean

Role and contribution of - convinced ath to build navy with silver instead of distribute it among ppl Thucydides: “...precisely the
Themistocles right thing at precisely the
- fortification of the Harbour at Piraeus for naval protection and trading base right moment”

- convinced everyone to stay and fight at salamis and not flee to pelop “Unmistakable natural
genius” - Thucydides
- sent slave message to x to initiate battle referring to Themistocles
(leadership)
- hid ships in cove / bay
The Decree of Themistocles
or Troezen Inscription,
discusses gr strategy, issued
by the Ath assembly, under
guidance of Themis

Bury: “it may be said that he

contributed more than any
other single man to the
making of Athens into a great
state”
Leonidas - decided on thermopylae location

- sent away around 6 000 soldiers and protected them

- phalanx disengaged pn arrows

- also held position so ath can evacuate

Pausanias - strategoi at plataea Herodotus: “the finest victory

of all time known to me was
- didn't waiver to mardonius tempt to fight in plains won by Pausanias.”

Eurybiades - sp commander at sal and art

- kept gr position at art

Reasons for Greek victory Marathon “Cavalry were away” - 10th

- better armed hoplites century Suda refers to
→ protection of body and shield marathon

- terrain “Always to stand firm and to

→ neutralised strongest part of Persians, their cavalry conquer, or die” - Herodotus
referring to the Spartan law
- morale (morale / discipline)
→ Greeks fighting for homeland
→ if they lost, they would be slaves “Spartans agree[ed] to send
troops…sign of their
Thermopylae willingness to fight for greek
- sp training and discipline (even though they lost) unity” - Burn referring to
when the Spartans sent 300
- confined space so the great number of pns were reduced soldiers during their religious
festival to hold off the
Artemisium persians at thermopylae
- strategic position for communication, ease of retreat, and protection from elements (greek unity)
→ knew waters
“A great victory had been
Salamis won by tactical skill, by the
- themis. use of the ram and by the
→ ruse fighting quality of the Greek
→ hidden ships marines” - Hammond
→ convincing skills referring to the Greek victory
at Salamis (strategy /
- knowledge of weather weaponry)

- superior ships “In a furious fight their

→ lower centre of gravity armour, pikes, and training
gave them a decided
- could swim advantage” - Burn referring to
the superiority of Spartan
- reason for fighting weaponry and armour during
→ defending homeland, democracy, and family Plataea (weaponry / discipline
/ training / armour)
Plataea
- gr unity “speed and ease of turning” -
Plutarch referring to how the
- pausanius leadership Greeks built their fleet and
why they were so successful
- strategy during salamis and
→ knowledge of weaknesses due to terrain and pn cavalry artemisium (weaponry /
preparations)
Mycale
- strategic location Herodotus: “They (Persians)
fought through fear of
punishment by the Great King
if they failed. The Greeks
fought to protect their
homeland”
 Ehrenberg attributes the
result to “intelligent
leadership” and “courage and
discipline by almost everyone
on the Greek side”

Reasons for Persian defeat Marathon “Persian cavalry had

- didn't use cavalry at marathon (already on ships, reason debated) embarked on ships before the
battle started” - Burn referring
- morale to the choice of the persians to
→ multinational and less cooperative not have the cavalry join the
fight of marathon which
Thermopylae impacted their loss (persian
- failed at chance to inflict severe losses to gr decisions)

- position eliminated the pns superior numbers “small armies are defeated
and large armies starve” -
- lack of training / skill / unity Humble referring to how the
Persians lost since their initial
Artemisium small army fighting at
- in open sea marathon lost thus xerxes
sending a bigger army during
Salamis the second invasion, then their
- x fell for themis ruse large army failed to secure
victory after salamis and
- couldnt swim artemisium destroyed the
persian fleet which was
- too many ships supplying the infantry, thus
their soldiers were dying from
- ships had high centre of gravity starvation

- part of navy on the other side as they thought they were retreating “Dirty tricks” - Holland
referring to his suggestion that
- tired since they were moving into position all night when the Greeks decided to
send spies to discover details

Development of Athens and
the Athenian Empire: Delian
League: origins…
Plataea regarding the persian forces,
- thought they were retreating again lol so they attacked rather than murdering them,
Xerxes allowed the spies to
- lack of self acknowledgement of weaknesses, knew gr were better in close combat, inspect thier forces, thus
yet chose to attack in hills and not wait for battle in the plain leading to the greeks gaining
information on the strength
Mycale and size of the persian
- lack of morale infantry (persian decisions)
- levies from everywhere, not completely loyal to king Thucydides: “chiefly his own
→ forced to fight fault that the Barbarian
(Xerxes) failed”
- hellenic league (under sp) transformed into delian league (under ath)
Reasons for ath leadership
1. Pausanias’ actions
→ treated ionians and allies poorly
2. Sp lack of interest in aegean
→ didn't rlly participate in maycale
→ domestic problems (helot revolt)
→ isolationist and inward-looking
3. Ath qualified for leadership
→ high regard after salamis and had a lrg experienced navy
- head quarters at delos
→ safe harbour and midpoint
→ neutral
- athenian leadership
→ aristides the just
→ cimon
 - offensive attracted states, as well as offered them benefits since it was also defensive

Aims CLP!! Thucydides: “The object of

C - compensate the League was to compensate
L - liberate themselves for their losses by
P - protect ravaging the territory of the
king of Persia”

Ehrenburg: “the main

purpose was aggression
against Persia”

Organisation League organised by aristides

- fair assessment of tributes according to the member’s worth and ability to pay
- Hellenotamiae (treasurers of greece) collected 460 talents

- ship contributing states (naxos, thasos…)

- states initially had own gov

HOLT!!
H - hegemon → permanent leader until the league didn't exist anymore
O - oath → iron bar
L - leadership → presided over synod (influence policy and strategy)
T - tribute → member states need to pay tribute, either money or ships

Activities PENMiL - decrees Bury: “Naxos and Carystus

P - political were deprived of their
E - economic autonomy. They became in
N - naval fact subjects of Athens”
Mi - military
L - legal
 Activities against pa
- capture of byzantium 478
→ trade in black sea

- seize and capture of eion 476

→ removed potential base for pn attack
→ centre for gold, silver, and timber

- battle of eurymedon 468

Activities against own members

- conquest of scyrus 474
→ solved land shortage in attica
→ freed seas of pirates

- coercion of carystus 472

→ forced to join DL

- revolt and subjugation of naxos 469

→ first member state to rebel
→ largest ship contributor
→ became 3rd tribute paying state (compulsory contribution)

- revolt of thasos 465

→ thasos seceded
→ ath used DL’s resources against member state in private quarrel
→ thasos sought aid from sp, but they couldnt make it due to an earthquake and a helot
revolt
→ ath reduced thasos to a tribute paying state

Battle of Eurymedon → pns preparing to attack and secure naval bases Bury: “The victory of
→ cimon destroyed 200 pn ships Eurymedon left Athens free to
pursue this inevitable policy
- the existence of the League was justified of transforming the
→ Ionian cities were liberated, thus the league should cease to exist as it achieved it confederacy into an empire”

Role and contribution of
Cimon
Role and contribution of
Aristides
Transformation of the Delian
League into the Athenian
Empire
purpose
Background Plutarch: “He was brave as
- son of miltiades Miltiades and as intelligent as
- fought in pn wars Themistocles”
- ostracised themis. In 472 BCE
- aristocratic and conservative (oligarchic) Ehrenberg: “he became one
- pro sp of the builders indirectly of
- dual hegemony democracy and directly of
Athenian rule over the
- led the victorious Greek forces at the Battle of Eurymedon Aegean”
- besieged Naxos and forced them to submit
- captured and enslaved the Eion population
- led DL’s forces to defeat pirates of the coast of Skyrus
- put down the revolt at Thasos
- established a cleruchy on the Strymon River
- he was entrusted with allocating 460 talents to the poleis, taking into account their Plutarch: “Of all Aristides’
size, and finances, and whether they would offer men or ships and how many of each virtues it was his justice
(phoros) which most impressed itself
on the masses, since it was
- he made all the states swear an oath to keep an alliance while Persia was still a threat this which he practised most
(iron bars into sea) consistently and which
affected most people”
- devised a regular system of contributions
Decrees, all by pericles Thucydides: “This was the
- Erythrae Decree first case [Naxos] when the
→ force Erythrae back into DL original constitution of the
→ oath to Athens and her allies League was broken.”
→ garrison and government installed, an Athenian inspector could be sent to oversee
the implementation of a new regime “They no longer treated their
allies as they had done before
- Coinage Decree but ruled them violently.”
→ eg of imperial power (Diodorus)
 → control of making coins, reinforce tribute
“This [coinage decree]
- 448 Decree of Cleinias together with the Cleinias
→ strict procedures for payment of tribute and transport to Ath Decree completed the
→ severe punishments for infringement subjugation of the allies…”
→ officials installed to supervise (Merritt)

- 446 Chalcis Decree

→ ev of greater interference
→ euboea revolted, Pericles subdued the population
→ citizens forced to swear an oath to Ath
1. I will not revolt against the Athenian people
2. I will pay the tribute to the Athenians
3. I will aid and succour (protect) the Athenian people if any one wrongs the
Athenian people
4. I will be obedient to the Ath ppl
→ same as erythrae, but didn't include the allies

- gradual change

- allies forced to further interests of ath, not in the orig. Plan

Nature of Athenian - When allies became discontented with the restrictions placed on them, Ath tightened Plutarch: “healthy fear of
imperialism, changing their control rebellion”
relations with allies
- allies used to fight other Greeks, also used to gain territory - tribute lists

- moved the treasury from Delos to Athens in 454 BC

- Coinage Decree 446 BC

→ ath coinage only, all other coins to be melted down and mints closed, took away
allies economic independence

Imperial policy of ath

- expansion of DL

Key democratic developments:
influence of the thetes,
ostracism, citizenship law
Athens and Sparta: impact of
Persian Wars
- exploiting weaknesses of sp
- continuing ath hostility to pa
Control over allies took these forms:
- oaths
- cleruchies
- garrisons
- democratic govs installed
- ath weights, measures, and coinage
- ath law courts
Thetes Aristotle: “this law had been
- rise of thetes influence as they demanded a say in society and politics enacted because of their
- 70% of pop suspicion of those
in power...”
Ostracism
- introduced as people were suspicious of those in power Aristotle: “A person should
- organised through a vote not have the rights of
citizenship unless both his
Citizenship law parents had been citizens”
- citizenship only for children whose mum and dad were both Ath
- secured future of ath democracy
- liberation of Ionia
- development of Ath naval power
- removal of pn threat
- sp reverts to isolation
- sp superior land power
- sp-ath increase distrust
- Ath democratic changes
→ conservative to radical democracy
- DL established to tie allies together
Nature, composition and - pelop league formed in 6th century
activities of the Peloponnesian
League: - members allied with sp and not with each other

- aim = security for area

Spartan responses to Athenian Increasing ath-sp tensions

imperialism - pausanias’ behaviour
- sp concerns over ath building walls (themis. Does anyway lol, captured spies until
complete)
- ath increasingly aggressive approach to DL
- thasos appeal to sp to help
- sp requested aid from ath then sent them away due to fear that they would influence
ppl with their red democracy (humiliated ath and blamed cimon, and ostracised him in
461)

- sp jealous of ath successes

- sp fear of democratic influence

- 30 year truce
Key quotes:

- Plutarch = saw marathon only as a prelude to a greater struggle

- Plutarch = fleet was built for speed and ease of turning
- Herodotus = xerxes had many men but few soldiers
- Burn = artemisium was decisive for the whole course of the war
- Burn = armour, pikes, and training gave them a decided advantage
- Hammond = finest example of greek unity at plataea
- Thucydides = themistocles knew precisely the right thing at precisely the right moment
- Humble = small armies are defeated and large armies starve
- Plutarch = saw marathon only as a prelude to a greater struggle
- Plutarch = fleet was built for speed and ease of turning
- Herodotus = xerxes had many men but few soldiers
- Burn = pikes, training, and armour gave them a decided advantage
- Burn = artemisium was decisive for the whole course of the war
- Thucydides = themistocles knew precisely the right thing at precisely the right time
- Humble = small armies are defeated but large armies starve
- Hammond = fines example of greek unity was at plataea