History of Ancient Greece

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Histories:Ancient Greece

Volume 1Table of ContentsChapter 1: Tyranny in Ancient Greece3Chapter 2: Kleisthenic Democracy6Chapter 3: The Persian Wars7Chapter 4: The Peloponnesian Wars24Chapter 5: Rise of MacedonChapter 6: The Wars of AlexanderChapter 7: Division of Alexandrian EmpireChapter 8: The Roman Battles

Chapter 1: Tyrannical Period

Before democracy was introduced, Athens was subject to a period of tyranny by Peisistratos, who ruled from 561 BC to 527 BC followed by his sons who ruled after.

Peisistratos, relative of former Athenian politician Solon, gained his power through the execution of a multitude of tasks. He first captured the port of Nicaea with the help of the Men of the Hill[footnoteRef:1]. This victory cleared a trade blockage that was causing a food shortage in Athens for the preceding years [1]. Although this victory gained him popularity in Athens, he did not have enough power to gain control of the polis[footnoteRef:2]. It is said that whilst in the Agora, Peisistratos wounded himself in order to demand bodyguards from the state. With his bodyguards and support from the poor population, he was granted the reins to the government. He also acquired the support of nobleman Megacles who helped vote him for tyrant in the Athenian assembly and this coincided with the fact that the Athenians desired a tyranny in order to resolve the conflicts and achieve stability [1: Poorest and majority of Greek population] [2: City state]

As opposed to the contemporary definition, Peisistratos was the ideal tyrant. He contributed to the development of the very popular Greater Panathenaia[footnoteRef:3] and introduced coins to Athens. He also tried to distribute wealth evenly by decreasing taxes for the lower classes and also created a band of travelling judges to ensure justice for the citizens of Athens. Peisistratos also greatly promoted the arts and it was under his rule that dythirambic[footnoteRef:4] poetry and tragedy was introduced. [3: Annual festival to honor Athena] [4: Poetry recited by a cult for Dionysus consisting of 50 singers]

His first attempt at tyranny was short-lived as the political parties that ruled before him overthrew him in 555 BC. However soon after, Megacles made him a proposal that he would help Peisistratos come into power if he agreed to marry Megacles daughter. Peisistratos agreed and regained his status by riding into Athens on a chariot beside a tall woman playing the role of Athena. The public quickly granted him his second chance at tyranny, believing that Peisistratos had the support of the Goddess. However, this opportunity was quickly revoked when he refused to impregnate Megacles daughter. He was driven out of Attica and forced to live in exile for 10 years during which he made powerful allies and accumulated great wealth and returned in 546 BC after which he ruled until his death in 527 BC. [3]

The legacy of Peisistratos continued with his two sons Hippias and Hipparchus. Both sons ruled much like their father, appreciating the positive support of the people and promoting the arts. This style of tyrannical rule changed when Hipparchus was assassinated by two people who would later be recognized as tyrannicides in 514 BC [4].The story goes as such: Hipparchus fell in love with a man named Harmodius who was already with a man named Aristogeiton. Harmodius rejected Hipparchus advances and humiliated him by telling it to Aristogeiton. Hipparchus later invited Harmodius sister to the Panathenaic Festival to participate as a basket bearer only to publicly humiliate her by saying she was not a virgin and thus not fit to carry the basket. Later, Aristogeiton and Harmodius plotted to kill the two brothers but panicked and ended up only killing Hipparchus. This enraged Hippias and he executed the tyrannicides and became a cruel tyrant. The notion of the tyrannicides signified the dismissal of tyranny [5].

In 510 BC, Athenian aristocrat Isagoras staged a coup with Spartan King Cleomenes I and took control of Athens. Isagoras appealed to Cleomenes I to exile Kleisthenes since he was Isagoras rival for power. After he was banished, Isagoras attempted to break apart the boule[footnoteRef:5] but they resisted and soon the citizens of Athens revolted against their oppressors and cornering them on the top of the Acropolis on which they stayed for two days before fleeing the city. Afterwards, Kleisthenes was called back to help create a government for Greece. [5: City council]

Chapter 2: Kleisthenic Democracy

Kleisthenes was a nobleman from the Alcmaeonid family who was the founder of democracy in Athens. He was born around 570 BC and is often called The Father of Democracy.After he came to be the leader of the city, Kleisthenes changed the Solonic Reforms which were four tribes based on family relations into ten tribes based on their demes [footnoteRef:6] which adopted a mythical hero as a patron. These demes were then divided into three regions: city, coast and inland. In each of these regions, demes were divided into ten trittyes[footnoteRef:7] and each phylai[footnoteRef:8] consisted of three trittyes; one from each area. [6: Area of residence] [7: Regions] [8: Tribes]

The boule which was a council of 400 became a council of 500 with 50 members from each tribe who were chosen by lot and was in charge for the month[footnoteRef:9]. It is also believed that he introduced ostracism where each year all the citizens of Athens would vote to exile one person for ten years and a vote of more then 6000 was needed. Athenians usually voted out people whose power was on the rise and was a threat to the democracy. [9: In the Athenian calendar which would amount to 1/10th of a year]

Chapter 3: The Persian Wars

After the development of democracy Greece increased in power and became an international trade hub and exported a much desired product: olives. Seeing the rise of Athens, the other great power in the area, Persia felt threatened and this led to a series of conflicts between the Greek states and the Archemenid Empire of Persia from 499 BC to 449 BC.

It is believed that the source of the Greco-Persian conflicts can be dated back to the dark ages when Greeks and Phoenicians had women stolen by each other and finally after Helen was taken, it is said that the Greeks completely destroyed the city of Priam which was a part of Asia Minor and thus considered to be a part of Persia.

The Ionian Revolt

The Ionians were one of the four major tribes that the Greeks considered themselves divided into during the ancient period. The Ionians settled about the coast of Lydia and Caria and formed cities who remained independent until they were conquered by King Croesus of Lydia in 560 BC. The cities stayed under Lydian rule until they were conquered by King Cyrus.

During the fight with the Lydians, Cyrus sent to the Ionian states for aid but they refused but after Lydia was conquered the Ionian cities offered to be under the Persian rule given the same terms they had when they were ruled by King Croesus. King Cyrus refused, citing their refusal to aid him and thus sent his Median general Harpagus to conquer Ionia. Many Ionians escaped into Sicily such as the Phoceans and the Teians; others were conquered. The Persians assigned an Ionian tyrant to each of the Ionian cities.

Forty years after the sack of Lydia, the tyrant of Milesia, Aristagoras was approached by some exiles from Naxos asking him to take over their island. Aristagoras saw this as an opportunity to strengthen his position in Milesia and asked the satrap of Lydia Artaphernes for an army and promised gold in return. This proposal was accepted and then approved by Darius and an army was assembled in order to attack Naxos the following year. When the Persians arrived at Naxos they besieged the city but after four months they had run out of money and Aristagoras could not repay Artaphernes and thus was under the threat of alienation. Aristagoras incited his subjects to rise against their Persian masters, thus starting the Ionian Revolt.

In 499 BC, Aristagoras returned to Milesia and held a meeting with members of his faction convincing the Ionians to revolt. At this time, a messenger arrived carrying a message from Aristagoras uncle pushing him to revolt against Darius and so Aristagoras declared Milesia a democracy thereby revoking his tyranny. He had the Greek tyrants captured and handed over to their respective cities to gain the cities cooperation. It has been suggested that Aristagoras incited the whole army to join his revolt and then took possession of the shits that were supplied by the Persians. Now it seemed as though Aristagoras power was on the rise but he realized that he would need allies and after being turned down by King Cleomenes I of Sparta, he turned to Athens and Eretria where he received the support he was searching for.

In the spring of 498 BC, Aristagroas set sail with twenty-five triremes[footnoteRef:10]; twenty from Athens and five from Eretria. They joined with the main Ionian force in Ephesus and made their way to Sardis, Artaphernes's satrapal capital. They caught the Persians off-guard and set fire to the city but were driven back in combat and thus made their way back to Ephesus. Greatly angered by the burning of Sardis, King Darius sent an army to aid Artaphernes and found that the Greeks had recently departed. So the Persians followed the Greek tracks to Ephesus were they engaged in battle, however the demoralized and tired Greeks suffered defeat and many troops were killed; some returning to Athens and Eretria in Greece. [10: An ancient vessel and a type of galley; boat]

The Athenians ended their alliance with Ionians having realized they were lied to about the strength of the Persians, but the Ionians continued with the rebellion. They persuaded the Carians to join their cause and seeing the spread of revolution, the kingdom of Cyprus started to oppose their oppressors.

In the following year in 497 BC, Darius I led his armies across the Hellespont and conquered the cities of Dardanus, Abydos, Percote, Lampsacus and Paesus. However after he heard the revolt of the Carians, he moving his army there and met with the rebels at the Battle of the Marsyas where after a long battle, the Carians were defeated. The survivors of this battle fell back to Labraunda where they debated if they should surrender or flee until they were joined by an army of Milesians after which they decided to fight the Persians. This led to the Battle of Labraunda in which the Carians suffered an even heavier deafeat.

It seemed at this point that that Carian morale was low so Darius decided to attack the Carian strongholds but the Carians persisted. They decided to set up an ambush on the road to Pedasus, where they annihilated the Persian army and slain many Persian commanders.

The revolution continued while the Persians fortified their armies and in 492 BC they gathered a large land force accompanied by a fleet supplied by the re-subjugated Cypriots, along with Egyptians, Cilicians and Phoenicians and made their way to Miletus, the heart of the rebellion. The Median general Datis was in charge of the Persian offense and upon hearing this the Ionians sought to defend Miletus by sea, leaving the defense of Miletus to the Milesians. The Ionian fleet gathered at the island of Lade, off the coast of Miletus. The Persians were uncertain of victory at Lade, so attempted to persuade some of the Ionian contingents to defect. Although this was unsuccessful at first, when the Persians finally attacked the Ionians, the Samian fleet accepted the Persian offer. As the Persian and Ionian fleets met, the Samians sailed away from the battle, causing the collapse of the Ionian battle line. Although the Chian[footnoteRef:11] contingent and a few other ships remained and fought bravely against the Persians, the battle was lost. However the defeat of the rebels was not yet over as soon after the Carians surrendered . In the following year the Persians reduced the last rebel strongholds, and began a short period of time where there was no wars. [11: Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea]

Although Asia Minor had been brought back into the Persian fold, Darius vowed to punish Athens and Eretria for their support of the revolt. Moreover, seeing that the myriad city-states of Greece posed a continued threat to the stability of his empire, he decided to conquer the whole of Greece.

The First Persian Invasion

After conquering Ionia, the Persians began to plan their next moves of extinguishing the threat to their empire from Greece; and punishing Athens and Eretria. This invasion consisted of two campaigns: Mardoniuss campaign and the Datis and Artaphernes' campaign.

In the spring of 492 BC, Dariuss son in law Mardonius assembled a fleet and a land army. The point of this expedition was to destroy Athens and Eretria while subduing as many Greek cities as possible. He ordered his army to the Hellespont while he travelled to Ionia with his fleet. He sailed on the coast of Ionia and abolished tyrannies and replaced them with democracies and sailed back to the Hellespont where he and the land forces marched through Thrace[footnoteRef:12] re-subjugating it. When he reached Macedon, he forced them to become a part of the empire[footnoteRef:13]. While they were camped in Macedon, a local Thracian tribe called the Brygians ambushed the Persians and injured Mardonius however they were driven back and subjugated after which the Persians made their way back to their homeland. During this time, the fleet crossed to and conquered Thassos and when they attempted to round the headland to Mount Athos, they were caught in a violent storm and most of the fleet was destroyed. This Persian invasion made the Greeks aware of Dariu.ss intentions of conquering Greece. [12: Thrace was a part of the Persian Empire in 512 BC during Dariuss campaign against the Scythians] [13: Before, the Macedonians were allied to but independent of the Persians]

In 491 BC, Darius sent ambassadors to all the Greek states asking for earth and water as a symbol of submission. Although most cities cooperated, the ambassadors were tried and executed in Athens and in Sparta they were just kicked into a well. This similarity in action drew the lines for battle and sent a message to the two cities that they would fight the Persians together.However, Sparta then entered a state of disarray when the citizens of Aegina and the Athenians, troubled by the possibility of Persia using Aegina as a naval base, asked Sparta to intervene. Cleomenes travelled to Aegina to confront the Aeginetans personally, but they appealed to Cleomenes's fellow king Demaratus, who supported their stance. Cleomenes responded by having Demaratus declared illegitimate, with the help of the priests at Delphi (whom he bribed); Demaratus was replaced by his cousin Leotychides.Now faced with two Spartan kings, the Aeginetans capitulated, and handed over hostages to the Athenians as a guarantee of their good behavior. However, in Sparta news emerged of the bribes Cleomenes had given at Delphi, and he was expelled from the city. He then sought to rally the northern Peloponnesus to his cause, at which the Spartans relented, and invited him back to the city. By 491 BCE though, Cleomenes was widely considered insane and was sentenced to prison where he was found dead the following day.[41] Cleomenes was succeeded by his half-brother Leonidas I.

Taking advantage of the chaos in Sparta, which effectively left Athens isolated, Darius decided to launch an amphibious expedition to finally punish Athens and Eretria. An army was assembled in Susa, and marched into Cilicia, where a fleet had been gathered. Command of the expedition was given to Datis the Mede and Artaphernes, son of the satrap Artaphernes. First, the Persian forces sailed to Rhodes and had an unsuccessful attempt at sacking the city of Lindos. Then they sailed to Nexos to punish them for their resistance and burned the city and its temples. Next they besieged the city of Karystos and sailed towards their first major target: Eretia.

The Eretrian strategy was to defend their walls, and undergo a siege. The Persians landed their army at three separate locations, disembarked, and made straight for Eretria and began besieging the city by destroying their walls. After six days of fighting, many losses had been faced by both sides so two Eretrians opened the city gates thereby betraying their city which was then plundered and burnt to the ground.

After staying at Eretria for a few days, the Persians made their way down the coast towards Attica and landed on the bay of Marathon. Under the guidance of Miltiades, the Athenian general with the greatest experience of fighting the Persians, the Athenian army marched quickly to block the two exits from the plain of Marathon, and prevent the Persians moving inland. At the same time, Athens's greatest runner, Pheidippides had been sent to Sparta to request that the Spartan army march to the aid of Athens but they were undergoing the festival of Carneia and thus could not help them till the rise of the new moon so the Athenians could not expect reinforcements for another ten days. The city of Platea provided 1000 hoplites and for five days the armies therefore confronted each other across the plain of Marathon, in stalemate after which the Athenians decided to attack.

Miltiades ordered the two tribes that were forming the center of the Greek formation, the Leontis tribe led by Themistocles and the Antiochis tribe led by Aristides, to be arranged in the depth of four ranks while the rest of the tribes at their flanks were in ranks of eight. Some modern commentators have suggested this was a deliberate ploy to encourage a double envelopment of the Persian center. The Athenian wings quickly routed the inferior Persian levies on the flanks, before turning inwards to surround the Persian centre, which had been more successful against the thin Greek centre. The battle ended when the Persian centre then broke in panic towards their ships, pursued by the Greeks. Some, unaware of the local terrain, ran towards the swamps where unknown numbers drowned. The Athenians pursued the Persians back to their ships, and managed to capture seven ships, though the majority were able to launch successfully. Immediately after this battle the Persians sailed towards Athens to attack them directly, and the Athenians rushed back to their citys defense. The Athenians arrived in time to prevent the Persians from securing a landing, and seeing that the opportunity was lost, the Persians turned about and returned to Asia.

The Second Persian Invasion

In the aftermath of the first invasion, Dariuss failure led to him raising a huge army with which he planned to subjugate Greece with. In 486 BC due to the revolution of his Egyptian subjects, Darius had to post-pone his plans of conquering Greece. While preparing to march on Egypt Darius I died and passed the throne to his son Xerxes I. Xerxes moved the army to Egypt and defeated the Egyptians and resumed preparations for the invasion of Greece. He decided that he would bridge the Hellespont and build a canal through Mount Athos but the invasion was delayed by a year due to another uprising in Babylon and Egypt. In 481 BC, after roughly four years of preparation, Xerxes began to muster the troops to invade Europe. Herodotus gives the names of 46 nations from which troops were drafted. The Persian army was gathered in Asia Minor in the summer and autumn of 481 BC. The armies from the Eastern satrapies were gathered in Kritala, Cappadocia and were led by Xerxes to Sardis where they passed the winter. Early in spring, it moved to Abydos where it was joined with the armies of the western satrapies. Then the army that Xerxes had mustered marched towards Europe, crossing the Hellespont on two pontoon bridges.

Meanwhile, Athenss prosperity in trade and power was back on the rise. Athenian politician and one of the ten strategoi[footnoteRef:14], Themistocles expected a second invasion by the Persians and so pushed the Athenian council for the development of a more powerful naval force. In 483 BC, a massive new seam of silver was found in the Athenian mines at Laurium. Themistocles proposed that the silver should be used to build a new fleet of 200 triremes, whilst Aristides suggested it should instead be distributed amongst the Athenian citizens. Themistocles avoided mentioning Persia, deeming that it was too distant a threat for the Athenians to act on, and instead focused their attention on Aegina. At the time, Athens was embroiled in a long-running war with the Aeginetans, and building a fleet would allow the Athenians to finally defeat them at sea. [14: Army generals]

A congress of states met at Corinth in late autumn of 481 BC, and a confederate alliance of Greek city-states was formed.[98] This confederation had the power to send envoys asking for assistance and to dispatch troops from the member states to defensive points after joint consultation.

Having crossed into Europe in April 480 BC, the Persian army began its march to Greece, taking 3 months to travel unopposed from the Hellespont to Therme. It paused at Doriskos where it was joined by the fleet. Xerxes reorganized the troops into tactical units replacing the national formations used earlier for the march. After hearing of Xerxess march across the Hellespont, Themistocles discovered that to get to Southern Greece, the Persians would have to travel through the narrow pass of Thermopylae. This could easily be blocked by the Greek hoplites, despite the overwhelming numbers of Persians. Furthermore, to prevent the Persians bypassing Thermopylae by sea, the Athenian and allied navies could block the straits of Artemisium. Meanwhile the Peloponnesian cities evacuated their women and children to the city of Troezen.

The Persian army was seen marching its way to Thermopylai by a Greek spy and news quickly reaches King Leonidas I. This coincided with the festival of Carneia during which military action is discouraged but seeing the consequences, Leonidas took the 300 men of his royal body guard and marched to Thermopylai. The Spartan force was reinforced en route to Thermopylae by contingents from various cities (see below) and numbered more than 7,000 by the time it arrived at the Thermopylae pass. The troops stationed themselves at the middle gate of Thermopylai near the city of Trachis for a few months until the Persian forces were seen approaching Thermopylae. A Persian emissary was sent by Xerxes to negotiate with Leonidas; Xerxes had offered the Spartans freedom in return for right of passage. After Leonidass refusal the emissary returned with a message to hand over their weapons to which King Leonidas I replied Come and get it. ( ). After a delay of four days, the Persian troops approached and what would later be known as one of the most important battles in Classic Antiquity, the Battle of Thermopylai, took place.

First of all, Xerxes ordered five thousand archers to fire a barrage of arrows at the Greeks, but the bronze shields and helmets deflected the missiles, leaving no permanent. After that, he sent a force of ten thousand Medes and Cissians against the Greeks, to take them prisoner and bring them before him. The Persians soon found themselves launching a frontal assault, in waves of around 10,000 men, on the Greek position. The Greeks fought in front of the Phocian wall, at the narrowest part of the pass, in a strategic attempt to use as few soldiers at once as possible. Persian casualties increased very fast and so on the second day Xerxes sent a second wave of infantry but they fared no better than the first. While considering how to attack, a local named Ephialtes, betrayed the Greeks and told Xerxes of a pass around the mountain. At daybreak on the third day, the Phocians guarding the path above Thermopylae became aware of the outflanking Persian column. After learning that they were being outflanked Leonidas called a council of war and dismissed most of his army. At dawn a Persian force of ten thousand men, consisting of light infantry and cavalry, charged at the front of the Greek formation. The Greeks this time sallied forth from the wall to meet the Persians in the wider part of the pass in an attempt to slaughter as many Persians as they could. They fought with spears until every spear was shattered and then switched to xiph[footnoteRef:15] Leonidas died in the assault, shot down by Persian archers, and the two sides fought over his body, the Greeks taking possession. Tearing down part of the wall, Xerxes ordered the hill surrounded, and to shoot arrows at all the remaining Greeks. [15: short sword]

Simultaneous with the battle at Thermopylae, an Allied naval force of 271 triremes defended the Straits of Artemisium against the Persians, thus protecting the flank of the forces at Thermopylae. The Persians detached 200 ships, which were sent to sail around the eastern coast of Euboea. These ships were to round Euboea and block the line of retreat for the Allied fleet.Meanwhile, the Allies and the remaining Persians engaged in the late afternoon, the Allies having the better of the engagement and capturing 30 vessels. That evening, another storm occurred, wrecking the majority of the Persian detachment which had been sent around Euboea. On the second day the Allied forces staged a hit-and-run attack on some Cilician ships, capturing and destroying them. On the third day, however, the Persian fleet attacked the Allies lines in full force. Thee Allies inflicted equal losses on the Persian fleet and later that evening, the Allies received news of the fate of Leonidas and the Allies at Thermopylae. Since the Allied fleet was badly damaged, and since it no longer needed to defend the flank of Thermopylae, they retreated from Artemisium to the island of Salamis.

Now that Thermopylai was opened, the Persians conquered Boeotia marched their way to Athens and Themistocles ordered the evacuation of the remaining citizens to the city of Salamis. The Peloponnesian Allies began to prepare a defensive line across the Isthmus of Corinth, building a wall, and demolishing the road from Megara. When the Persians reached the Akropoilis, they burnt it along with the temples. When night fell, Themistocles met with the other leaders and their scouts reported that the Persians had a naval army four times larger than that of the Greeks. But even so, Themistocless plans were to fight the Persians in the narrow body of water; the strait of Salamis. He sent his servant to Xerxes with a seemingly traitorous message saying that the Greeks are fighting amongst each other and are planning to escape Salamis so he should attack them. Xerxes was so eager that he believed Themistocless ploy. He ordered his fleet to block the strait to prevent any Greek escapes. When dawn rose, the Persians found the Greeks in a battle line, ready to fight and they wanted to turn back. But the Persian fleet had sailed so far up the strait that their vast army had no room to maneuver. The Allied fleet attacked, and scored a decisive victory, sinking or capturing at least 200 Persian ships. Xerxes, viewing the carnage of his troops from his throne set upon the shore, decided to return to Asia Minor leaving the conquest of Greece to his general Mardonius.

The Battle of Salamis is one of the most significant battles in Greek history because it marks the turning point in the Greco-Persian wars where the offensive was now turned over to the Greeks with the destruction of the Persian navy. After Xerxes had returned to Persia tension rose among the Allies. Athens was not protected by the Isthmus but their fleet was a key point in the protection of the Peloponnesians so they demanded that an Allied army march north. The allies refused and Athens removed its fleet from the Allied army. Mardonius remained in Thessaly but soon moved to break the stalemate by offering peace, self government ant territorial expansion to the Athenians in a plot to remove their fleet from the Allied forces but the Athenians refused. Thus the Persians marched south again. Athens was again evacuated and left to the Persians. Mardonius now repeated his offer of peace to the Athenian refugees on Salamis. Athens, along with Megara and Plataea, sent emissaries to Sparta demanding assistance, and threatening to accept the Persian terms if assistance was not provided and thus the Spartans sent a task force to meet the Persians. Upon hearing of the march of an Allied Army, Mardonius destroyed what remained standing in Athens and retreated into Boeotia to try and draw his enemies into the open terrain so he could use his cavalry but the Greeks expected this so they stayed on high grounds above Plataea to protect themselves from such tactics. Seeing the failure of his first plan, Mardonius ordered a hit and run on the Greek front line by his cavalry but it failed when the cavalry commander was killed. The outcome prompted the Allies to move to a position nearer the Persian camp, still on high ground. As a result the Allied lines of communication were exposed. The Persian cavalry began to intercept food deliveries and finally managed to destroy the only spring of water available to the Allies. Coupled with the lack of food, the restriction of the water supply made the Greek position untenable, so they decided to retreat to a position in front of Plataea, from where they could guard the passes and have access to fresh water. The Athenians made to retreat later that night but the plan went wrong and they became scattered in front of PlataeaOnce the Persians discovered that the Greeks had abandoned their positions and appeared to be in retreat, Mardonius decided to attack the Greeks with his entire infantry. The Persians tried to break the Greeks' spears by grabbing hold of them, but the Greeks responded by switching to swords. Mardonius was present at the scene, riding a white horse, and surrounded by a bodyguard of 1,000 men; while he remained, the Persians stood their ground. However, the Spartans closed in on Mardonius; a Spartan soldier named Arimnestus saw him astride his horse, picked up a large rock off the ground and threw it hard at Mardonius; it hit him squarely in the head, killing him. With Mardonius dead, the Persians began to flee; although his bodyguard remained, they were annihilated.On the afternoon of the Battle of Plataea, Herodotus tells us that rumour of the Allied victory reached the Allied navy, at that time off the coast of Mount Mycale in Ionia. Their morale boosted, the Allied marines fought and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Mycale that same day, destroying the remnants of the Persian fleet. As soon as the Peloponnesians had marched north of the isthmus, the Athenian fleet under Xanthippus had joined up with the rest of the Allied fleet. The fleet, now able to match the Persians, had first sailed to Samos, where the Persian fleet was based. The Persians, whose ships were in a poor state of repair, had decided not to risk fighting, and instead drew their ships up on the beach under Mycale. An army of 60,000 men had been left there by Xerxes, and the fleet joined with them, building a pallisade around the camp to protect the ships. However, Leotychides decided to attack the camp with the Allied fleet's marines. Seeing the small size of the Allied force, the Persians emerged from the camp, but the hoplites again proved superior, and destroyed much of the Persian force. The ships were abandoned to the Allies, who burnt them, crippling Xerxes' sea power, and marking the ascendancy of the Allied fleet.

Greek Counterattack

After the battle of Mycale, the Peloponnesians sailed home and the Athenians attacked the Chersonesos which was still held by the Persians. They retreated to Sestos, where the Persian governor Artayctes was unbelieving of an incoming Allied invasion, remained unaware and thus the Athenians sieged the city. This took months but when food ran out, the Persians fled and Athenians regained possession the next day.In 478 BC, still operating under the terms of the Hellenic alliance, the Allies sent out a fleet composed of 20 Peloponnesian and 30 Athenian ships supported by an unspecified number of allies, under the overall command of Pausanias and subdued most of Cyprus. The Greek fleet then sailed to Byzantium, which they besieged and eventually captured. Control of both Sestos and Byzantium gave the allies command of the straits between Europe and Asia (over which the Persians had crossed), and allowed them access to the merchant trade of the Black Sea.

Delian League

Following the conquer of Byzantium, the Spartans wanted to end their involvement in the war. Spartan king Leotychides proposed transferring all the Greeks in Asia Minor (i.e. the Ionians) to Europian Greece to free them from Persian dominion. However the Athenian commander at Mycale refused saying that the Ionian cities were originally Athenian colonies so Athens would protect them.The loose alliance of city-states that had fought against Xerxes's invasion had been dominated by Sparta and the Peloponnesian league. With the withdrawal of these states, a congress was called on the holy island of Delos to institute a new alliance to continue the fight against the Persians. This alliance, now including many of the Aegean islands, was formally constituted as the 'First Athenian Alliance', commonly known as the Delian League.

The leagues first campaign, the Siege of Eion, was to eliminate the Persian garrisons left in Thrace. Cimon commanded the troops and eliminated the Persian influence and moved to attack the island of Skyros. This was not to conquer the Persians but to eliminate pirates that had taken over the island.A decade later the Siege of Thasos took place because the Persians had taken over some part of the Chersonesos with the help of some Thracians. Once the Persians in Europe were neutralized, the Greeks looked to extend their power to Asia Minor. The campaign to Eurymedon began in response to the assembly of a large Persian fleet and army at Aspendos, near the mouth of the Eurymedon River so Cimon made his way with 200 triremes to deal with this threat. The Persian army now began to move towards the Greek fleet. Despite the weariness of his troops after this first battle, Cimon, seeing "that his men were exalted by the impetus and pride of their victory, and eager to come to close quarters with the Barbarians", landed the marines and proceeded to attack the Persian army. Initially the Persian line held the Athenian assault, the heavily armored hoplites proved superior, and routed the Persian army. Fleeing back to their camp, the Persians were then captured, along with their camp, by the victorious Greeks.Towards the end of the 460s BC, the Athenians took the ambitious decision to support a revolt in the Egyptian satrapy of the Persian Empire. Although the Greek task force achieved initial successes, they were unable to capture the Persian garrison in Memphis, despite a 3-year long siege. The Persians then counterattacked, and the Athenian force was itself besieged for 18 months, before being wiped out. Due to the conflict of the first Peloponnesian War which took place simultaneously with the wars of the Delian League, Athens had to stop any Persian conquest for 18 months after which they made their way to Cyprus and won a double victory at the Battle of Salamis-in-Cyprus[footnoteRef:16]. This battle was the last of those in the Greco Persian wars and there was no conflict between the two empires until 396 BC. [16: Athenians and their allies were attacked by a Persian force composed of Cilicians, Phoenicians, and Cyprians, whilst sailing off Salamis-in-Cyprus. Under the 'command' of the deceased Cimon (Died during the siege of Kition, they defeated this force at sea, and also in a land battle.]

Chapter 4: The Peloponnesian Wars

With the increasing power of Athens during Pentecontaetia[footnoteRef:17], they became to be known as The Athenian Empire. And after some time, their influence began to dominate other city states. This increase in power threatened the Lacedaemonians so when Athens began to rebuild their long walls after the Persians departure from Greece, Sparta resisted[footnoteRef:18]. This flared up the heat between the two polis. In 459 BC, Athens took advantage of a war between its neighbors Megara and Corinth, both Spartan allies, to conclude an alliance with Megara to take position of a foothold in the Isthmus of Corinth. This lead to a 15 year conflict known as the First Peloponnesian War [17: Period of the wars of the Delian League] [18: Without the walls the Athenians would be defenseless making them prone to attack]

The First Peloponnesian War

Around the same time asA helot revolt arose in Sparta and they quickly pleaded for help from their allies including the old Hellenic League and Athens. Athens responded to the call, sending out 4,000 men with Cimon at their head. However, something insulted the Spartans and they dismissed only the Athenians. This action destroyed the political credibility of Cimon;, and shortly after this embarrassment he was ostracized. After this sign of hostility, Athens responded with making rapid alliances with Thessaly, Argos and Megara[footnoteRef:19]. At the same time the Athenian settled the Helot dispute and by 460 BC Athens was engaged in a war with Corinth and other Peloponnesian city sates. On land, the Athenians were defeated by the armies of Corinth and Epidaurus at Halieis, but at sea they were victorious at Cecryphaleia. [19: An enemy of the Peloponnesian league at the time]

For several years at the beginning of the war, Sparta remained largely inert. In 458 BC or 457 BC, Sparta at last made a move, but not directly at Athens. A war had broken out between Athens' ally Phocis and Doris, across the Corinthian Gulf from the Peloponnese. Doris was traditionally identified as the homeland of the Dorians, and the Spartans, being Dorians, had a longstanding alliance with that state. Accordingly, a Spartan army under the command of the general Nicomedes, acting as deputy for the underage king Pleistonax, was dispatched across the Corinthian Gulf to assist. This army forced the Phocians to accept terms, but while it was in Doris an Athenian fleet moved into position to block its return across the Corinthian Gulf. At this point Nicomedes moved his army to Boetia and alongside a threat of treason, the Athenians marched out with as many troops and met at the battle of Tanagra where Sparta was victorious and returned home. At this point, Cimon was called out of exile and negotiated a four month truce between both sides. After their defeat, the Athenians sent an army to attack Boeotia and emerged victorious, conquering all of Boeotia except Thebes. They also took down the Boeotian walls and took this opportunity to finish their long walls. Shortly after this, Aegina surrendered and was forced to pull down its walls, surrender its fleet and became a tribute-paying member of the Delian LeagueAthens' remarkable string of successes came to a sudden halt in 454 BC, when its Egyptian expedition was finally crushingly defeated. A massive Persian army under Megabazus had been sent overland against the rebels in Egypt some time earlier, and upon its arrival had quickly routed the rebel forces. The Greek contingent had been besieged on the island of Prosopitis in the Nile. In 454, after a siege of 18 months, the Persians captured the island, destroying the force almost entirely. The disaster in Egypt severely shook Athens' control of the Aegean, and for some years afterwards the Athenians concentrated their attention on reorganizing the Delian League and stabilizing the region. In 451 BC, Cimon returned to Athens and negotiated a truce with Sparta. This peace was broken in 448 BC when Pericles led the Athenian army against Delphi to reinstate Phocis in its former sovereign rights on the oracle of Delphi. After more revolts and conflicts, Athens and Sparta negotiated a Thirty Years of Peace.

Thirty Years of Peace

The Thirty Years' Peace was first tested in 440 BC, when Athens' powerful ally Samos rebelled from its alliance with Athens. The rebels quickly secured the support of a Persian satrap, and Athens found itself facing the prospect of revolts throughout the empire. The Spartans, whose intervention would have been the trigger for a massive war to determine the fate of the empire, called a congress of their allies to discuss the possibility of war with Athens. Sparta's powerful ally of Corinth was notably opposed to intervention, and the congress voted against war with Athens. The Athenians crushed the revolt, and peace was maintained. After suffering a defeat at the hands of their colony of Corcyra, a sea power that was not allied to either Sparta or Athens, Corinth began to build an allied naval force. Alarmed, Corcyra sought an alliance with Athens, which after debate and input from both Corcyra and Corinth, decided to swear to a defensive alliance with Corcyra. At the Battle of Sybota, a small contingent of Athenian ships played a critical role in preventing a Corinthian fleet from capturing Corcyra. In order to uphold the Thirty Years' Peace, however, the Athenians were instructed not to intervene in the battle unless it was clear that Corinth was going to press onward to invade Corcyra. However, the Athenian warships participated in the battle nevertheless, and the arrival of additional Athenian warships was enough to dissuade the Corinthians from exploiting their victory, thus sparing much of the routed Corcyraean and Athenian fleet.

Following this, Athens instructed Potidaea [footnoteRef:20] to tear down its walls and other actions that enraged the Peloponnesian Allies. The Corinthians, outraged by these actions, encouraged Potidaea to revolt and assured them that they would ally with them should they revolt from Athens. Meanwhile, the Corinthians were unofficially aiding Potidaea by sneaking contingents of men into the besieged city to help defend it. This was a direct violation of the Thirty Years' Peace [20: A tributary ally of Athens but a colony of Corinth]

At the request of the Corinthians, the Spartans summoned members of the Peloponnesian League to Sparta in 432 BC, especially those who had grievances with Athens to make their complaints to the Spartan assembly. This debate was attended by members of the league and a delegation from Athens also asked to speak, and became the scene of a debate between the Athenians and the Corinthians. The Corinthians condemned Sparta's inactivity up to that point, warning the Spartans that if they continued to remain passive while the Athenians were energetically active, they would soon find themselves outflanked and without allies. The Athenians, in response, reminded the Spartans of their record of military success and opposition to Persia, and warned them of the dangers of confronting such a powerful state, ultimately encouraging Sparta to seek arbitration as provided by the Thirty Years' Peace. Undeterred, a majority of the Spartan assembly voted to declare that the Athenians had broken the peace, essentially declaring war.

Reference

[1] Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, David Tandy, Ancient Greece: a political, social, and cultural history(United States of America: 2012) Oxford University Press, New York, p191-2025[2] Herodotus Histories[3] Lavelle, Brian (2010). "Pisistratos". Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome.[4] Webb, E. Kent (October 18, 1997). "The Athenian Tyrannicides: Icons of a Democratic Society". University of Washington. Retrieved 2008-10-30.[5] Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution, Part 18

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