History 107 Lecture 14

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History 107Lecture 14

• Ancient Greece Persian and Peloponnesian Wars

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Prelude to War the Persian Empire

• The Persians, led by Cyrus, replace the Assyrians
  in 539 B.C.
  
• Cyrus allows Hebrews to return to Palestine
• Persian Empire spreads to Asia Minor (modern
  Turkey), and makes contact with Greeks
  
• Persians conquer Egypt in 525 B.C.
• Persians invade Thrace in Greece in 512 B.C.
  Miletus resists.
  
• Major cultural differences between Greeks and
  Persians
  
• Greek cities in Asia Minor revolt against Persia
  between 499 and 494 B.C. Athens sends ships in
  their defense

Persian Art c. 486 B.C.
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Prelude to War the Persian Empire

• Between 521 B.C. and 486 B.C., the Persians were
  led by the mighty King Darius I
  
• Darius expanded the Persian Empire greatly (see
  following map)
  
• Darius innovatively organized his large empire
  into divisions known as satrapies administered by
  governors called satraps
  
• Uniform coinage in empire, and a new capital city
  named Persepolis
  
• However, individual regions were allowed to keep
  their own religious values

Persian Art c. 486 B.C.
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Persian Near East Under Darius
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The Persian Wars (490 479 B.C.)

• Summary causes of Persian War expansion of
  Persia and growing Greek defiance (especially
  Miletus revolts, 499 494 B.C.)
  
• First War (Persia invades Greece, 490 B.C.)
• Main attack against Athens, which had defended
  Miletus, a democratic city-state that had grown
  in power and trade strength
  
• Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. Outnumbered
  Athenians defeat Persians
  
• Athenian Pheidippides runs 25 miles, from
  Marathon to Athens, to announce the defeat of the
  Persians
  
• Persian defeat a shock to Darius Athenians
  rejoice
  
• Themistokles builds up Athenian fleet and waits
  for second Persian attack
  

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The Persian Wars (490 479 B.C.)

• Second War (Persia invades Greece, 480/479 B.C.)
• Xerxes (son of Darius) returns ten years later
  with bigger army
  
• Athenians abandon Athens and let Persians burn it
  (480 B.C.)
  
• Athenian navy wins at Salamis
• Athenians, with help of Spartans, win land battle
  of Platea (479 B.C.)
  
• Summary Greeks win the Persian Wars
• Athens emerges as the major Greek city/state
• Athenians continue fight against Persia to
  liberate remaining Greek cities on the mainland
  of Asian Minor (Delian League, 478 B.C.)

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The Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 B.C.)

• What caused the Peloponnesian Wars between Athens
  and Sparta?
  
• Athens and Sparta fought over land and harbors in
  Greece
  
• Athens the major sea power Sparta the major land
  power
  
• Pericles rules Athens from 462 B.C. to 429 B.C.
  (30 years) builds Acropolis and the temple of
  Athena expands democracy
  
• Athens becomes a society based on slavery
• After 440 B.C., Pericles made peace with Persia
  but spurned Sparta
  
• Greek defensive alliance against Persia was led
  by Athens, and it became a de facto empire for
  Athens
  
• This caused bitterness among Sparta and the other
  Athenians
  
• The war was fought to take Athens down a notch

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The Parthenon (built by Pericles)
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The Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 B.C.)

• What happened during the Peloponnesian War?
• The Athenian strategy was defensiveAthenians
  bunkered down behind the walls of their fortified
  city and Attica
  
• But Attica fell, and in 430 B.C. plague swept
  through Athens, killing a quarter of the
  population, including Pericles
  
• In 404 B.C., Athens finally surrendered and
  Sparta took over the city, making it a subject
  state
  
• By the 300s B.C., Sparta reached the limits of
  its own power, but Athens continued on as a
  vibrant cultural center
  
• Sum The competitive city/state system was the
  ultimate undoing of Greece during the Golden Age
  
• The warrior ethic pushed them into endless
  competition and warfare, even among themselves
  
• Parallel (the Greeks fell like the Sumerians
  didthey were too divided)

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Greek Historians Reflect

• Herodotus (484-420 B.C.) the father of history
  writes about the causes of the Persian Wars
  
• Thucydides, second generation historian (460-400
  B.C.) writes about the causes of the
  Peloponnesian Wars
  
• Assigned reading Thucydides, History of the
  Peloponnesian Wars Funeral Speech of
  Pericles
  
• How are the dead mourned in Athens?
• What are the benefits of democracy?
• What are the reasons for Athens greatness?