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Introduction:
The Greco-Persian Wars of c.500-448 involved a series of clashes between the
Persian Empire and the Greeks of Asia Minor and mainland Greece, and ended as
something of a draw, with the Persians unable to conquer mainland Greece and
the Greeks unable to maintain the independence of the cities of Asia Minor. The
Greco-Persian Wars are amongst the most famous in Western history, immortalised
by Herodotus and still familiar in modern culture, especially for the stand of
the 300 at Thermopylae. For many years they were seen as essential to the
survival of Greek culture and thus western culture as a whole, allowing the
development of philosophy and drama to continue in the Greek city states.
Greece at the start of the wars was a land dominated by independent city
states, most famously Athens and Sparta. The Greeks had also founded colonies
around the Aegean, most significantly on the western coast of Asia Minor (the
area known as Ionian), as well as further afield in Italy, Sicily and around
the Black Sea. At this stage the Greeks sat somewhat on the edge of the
civilised world. To their east and south the world was dominated by great
empires - Egypt of the Pharaohs to the south, Lydia in Asia Minor (also ruling
many of the Ionian cities), Babylonia in Mesopotamia and Syria and the Medes,
whose empire stretched from eastern Asia Minor into Iran and on to the borders
of India.
The balance of power between these four great powers was disrupted by the rise
of Cyrus II the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. He inherited Persis,
part of the Median Empire, in around 559. By 550 he had overthrown the Medes
and taken control of their empire. Next came war with Lydia, which ended with
the capture of Sardis in 546. This brought the new Persian Empire to the shores
of the Aegean and gave them control of the Greek cities of Ionia, so direct
contact between the Greek world and the new Persian Empire began within five
years of its foundation. Cyrus then moved on to conquer Babylon (539-538), and
his son Cambyses rounded off the Empire by conquering Egypt in 525. In only
twenty five years the Persians had created a massive empire that included all
of the great civilisations of the Near East.
The war can be split into several quite separate phases. The first was the
Ionian Revolt of 500-493, which saw the Greek cities of Asia Minor rebel
against Persian authority. The second phase was Darius I the Great's invasion
of Greece, which ended in defeat at Marathon in 490. There was then a break
before Darius's son Xerxes launched a much larger invasion of Greece. This too
ended in defeat, first at sea at Salamis in 480 and then on land at Plataea in
479. This ended any serious Persian threat to mainland Greece, and the final
stage of the war was largely fought in Asia Minor, although did also include a
disastrous Greek expedition to Egypt. The war was finally ended by the Peace of
Callias (or Kallias) of 459-8 in which the Athenians agreed to keep out of Asia
Minor and the Persians to keep out of the Aegean and the Greek mainland.
The Persians first crossed over into Europe in c.515 when Darius I decided to
attack the Scythian nomads west of the Black Sea. In 514/3 he led his army
north across the Danube, but the expedition didn’t go as well as he had
hoped, and he was forced to retreat back across the Danube. He did maintain a
foothold in Thrace, and may well have been planning an invasion of mainland
Greece at this date. His satraps consolidated the Persian position in Thrace,
and also forced Macedonia to submit to Persian authority. They also occupied
the islands of Lemnos and Imbros. By 500 the Persians controlled the key
straits into the Black Sea, and with them the Greek grain supply.
Ionian Revolt:
In 500/499 the Ionian cities of western Asia Minor rebelled against the
Persians, led by Aristagoras of Miletus. Athens and Eretria offered support to
the Ionians. Miletus also appealed to Sparta, but King Cleomenes I was
unwilling to send his troops outside mainland Greece and refused to take part
in the revolt. In 498 the rebels sacked the local Persian capital of Sardis.
This encouraged Cyprus, the Greek cities of the Bosporus and the Hellespont and
the Carians to join the revolt, but at about the same time the Athenians
withdrew their support. Cyprus fell to the Persians in 496. In 495 The Bosporus
and Hellespont areas were retaken and the Ionian fleet was destroyed at the
battle of Lade (494). In 493 Miletus fell, and the revolt was effectively over.
Darius showed a great deal of political wisdom in the aftermath, giving the
Greek cities democratic regimes and reducing the tribute they needed to pay.
This policy was carried out by his son-in-law Mardonius, who was made satrap of
Ionia with a special commission against Athens and Eretria in 492.
Darius's Invasion of Greece:
Darius was now ready to turn his attention to mainland Greece. Mardonius was
given command of an expedition that restored Persian control of Thrace and
forced Macedonia to submit in 492. He did suffer a setback when his fleet was
destroyed in a storm off Mt. Athos, preventing any immediate action against
Athens and Eretria. Mardonius was removed from his command after this setback.
In 491 the Athenians and Spartans formed an anti-Persian alliance, ending a
period of conflict between the two cities. Although the Greeks were expecting
an attack, the Persian invasion of 490 caught them somewhat by surprise. A
Persian army, commanded by Datis the Mede and Artaphrenes son of Artaphernes, a
nephew of Darius, mustered a new army in Cilicia. They were joined by a large
fleet and by a force of horse-transports that Darius had ordered constructed in
the previous year.
This time the Persians decided to sail across the Aegean. They set off from
Samos, and made for Icaria. From there they sailed west to Naxos, where they
met with little opposition. From Naxos they moved north to Delos, before
landing at the eastern end of Euboea, the large island off the north coast of
Attica and Boeotia. Carystus, at the eastern end of the island, refused to
submit. The Persians besieged Carystus and soon forced its surrender.
Their next target was Eretria, about half way along the south coast of the
island. The Eretrians had asked for help from Athens, but then couldn't decide
between retreating to the hills, defending the city or surrendering to the
Persians. Faced with this indecision the Athenians withdrew back to the
mainland. The Persians soon captured Eretria. They then crossed to the
mainland, landing on the plains of Marathon. They were said to have been
advised to land at Marathon by the Athenian tyrant Hippias, who died at Lemnos
on the return trip into exile after the defeat. The Athenians sent a message to
Sparta asking for help, but the Spartan response was delayed by a religious
festival. As a result the Athenians and Plataeans had to face the Persians
alone. Despite being heavily outnumbered the Greeks won a decisive battle at
Marathon (492). The surviving Persians retreated to their ships and attempted
to reach Athens before the army could return, but were foiled by a rapid march.
The Persians were then forced to retreat back home.
Darius began preparations for a third attack on Greece, but he died before it
could be launched. Miltiades, one of the commanders at Marathon, soon became a
victim of Athenian politics. He was accused of mishandling operations after
Marathon and issued with a massive fine. He died in disgrace in 489. Athenian
politics between the two Persian invasions was typically murky, but one
sensible decision was made. When a silver mine was discovered in Laurium the
original plan had been to split the money between the citizens, but
Themistocles convinced the Athenians to spent it on a fleet of triremes
instead. These ships would play a major role in the upcoming Greek victory.
Xerxes's first task after coming to the throne was to restore Persian control
of Egypt. He achieved this in 484, but then had to put down a revolt in
Babylon. According to our sources he would have preferred not to get involved
in any more wars, but was convinced by members of his court (including his
brother in law Mardonius) and a sizable group of Greek exiles that he needed to
take revenge for his father's defeat at Marathon. Preparations for the upcoming
campaign took three years (484-481). According to Herodotus the Persian army
contained five million men. Modern estimates have reduced it to at most a tenth
of that size, but it was still a vast host compared to anything that the Greeks
could raise.
The army was made up of contingents from across the vast Persian Empire and its
vassal states. Xerxes was accompanied by Alexander I of Macedonia, whose
kingdom was then a vassal state of the Persian Empire. During the upcoming
campaign Alexander offered secret support to the Greeks.
Battles of the Persian Invasions of Greece:
This time the Greek response was better organised. Thirty Greek cities formed a
league under the leadership of Sparta, but ruled by a congress in which state
had one vote. Sparta provided the commanders for the army and for the fleet,
although the Athenians held a great deal of influence at sea. The Greek
congress met on a regular basis and became a very effective instrument for
conducting the war. In 481 Xerxes advanced to Sardis in Lydia, where he spent
the winter. In 480 he advanced towards the Hellespont, where two bridges of
boats were built across the strait at Abydos. After one of these bridges was
destroyed by a storm Xerxes was said to have had the sea whipped. The bridges
were then rebuilt and the Persians crossed into Europe. Xerxes's advance was
accompanied by impressive engineering achievements. As he advanced along this
Macedonia coast he had a canal cut across the top of the Akti promontory, part
of the Chalcidice Peninsula. The Greek response was somewhat divided, with some
cities supporting the Persians (or at least offering no resistance), but a
powerful coalition did emerge, led by Athens and Sparta. The first attempt to
stop the Persians, at Thermopylae (August 480), failed when the Persian found a
way past the Spartans and their allies. The battle is best known for its third
day, when a small force of Spartans and Thespians commanded by Leonidas, king
of Sparta, held off the entire Persian army before being wiped out.
While the armies were fighting at Thermopylae, the Greek and Persian fleets
were engaged in battle at Artemisium, a promontory on the north coast of
Euboea. The Greeks held their own for three days, but decided to retreat after
news reached them of the defeat at Thermopylae. The Persian advance forced the
Athenians to evacuate their city. The Persians captured and sacked the
unoccupied city (21 September 480), but this was the high-point of their
success. The Greeks decided to defend the Isthmus of Corinth, but to post the
fleet forward at Salamis. On 29 September 480 the Persian fleet was defeated at
the naval battle of Salamis. Xerxes was tricked into attacking by Themistocles,
who leaked the news that many of the Greek ship commanders wanted to retreat
further south.
After the battle Xerxes decided to retreat from Greece. He was said to have
been influenced by his ally Artemisia I, queen of Halicarnassus, who had
commanded five ships during the battle. His decision was quite sensible - his
massive army had relied on the fleet to bring it supplies so was now
dangerously exposed in southern Greece. A powerful army, under the command of
Mardonius, was left in Thessaly. In 479 Mardonius returned to the attack. He
took Athens for a second time, but the city was still empty, so this was a
fairly hollow victory. The Spartans finally committed to fighting in central
Greece, and Mardonius retreated into Boeotia. The Greek allies pursued him, and
the two sides ended up facing each other in the area south of Thebes.
The crucial land battle of the war came at Plataea (27 August 479). At first
the Persians performed quite well, but after Mardonius was killed the army
collapsed and the Persians were forced to retreat from Thessaly, although they
kept a foothold in Macedonia and Thrace. The Greek army was commanded by
Pausanias, a Spartan leader who had a controversial end to his career. The same
year saw the Persian fleet defeated at Mycale, on the coast of Asia Minor,
after their sailors refused to fight and went ashore where they were defeated
by a Spartan army commanded by King Leotychides.
One side-effect of Salamis was the rise to power of the Athenian commander
Cimon, who served as one of Athens's ten elected generals from then until 461.
Taking the War to the Persians:
In the immediate aftermath of Plataea the Spartans led the Greek counterattack
against the Persians, although it was quickly clear that this would cause
problems. The Spartans suggested evacuating the Greek cities of Ionian and
moving their populations to areas in mainland Greece that had supported the
Persians. The Ionians refused to accept this. The Athenians then insisted on
besieging the Persian headquarters in the Chersonese at Sestos (479-478). This
was eventually starved into surrender, giving Athens control of the entrance to
the sea route to the Black Sea. In 478 the Spartan Pausanias led a 100-strong
fleet including thirty ships from Athens to free Cyprus and then Byzantium.
Towards the end of the year the Greek maritime powers broke from the Spartans,
who were becoming increasingly arrogant. Aristides and Cimon were able to win
over their allegiance, forming the anti-Persian Delian League (later to turn
into the Athenian Empire). Cimon became the main commander of the league, which
was officially formed on the island of Delos in the summer of 477. This didn't
end the Spartan involvement in the war against Persia. They sent King
Leotychides to try and overthrow the pro-Persian kings of Thessaly, but without
success.
Cimon's first task was to expel Pausanias from Byzantium, where he had returned
after briefly being recalled to Sparta, and was suspected of having been in
communication with the Persians. Next he turned against the Persian strongholds
on the coast of Thrace, capturing most of them. The best documented of these
was the siege of Eion. Next came an attack on the island of Skyros. The Delian
League slowly turned into an Athenian Empire. The original league members had
joined voluntarily, but in around 472 the city of Carystus on Euboea was forced
to join. The next test came when Naxos wanted to leave the league. The island
was besieged and forced to accept terms that reduced its independence. It is
possible that the leaders of Naxos were moving towards Persia, so there was
some justification for this attack, but it did see League forces being used
against fellow Greeks, rather than Persians.
In 466 a Greek fleet of 200 ships, commanded by Cimon, defeated a larger
Persian fleet (manned by the Phoenicians) at the River Eurymedon in Pamphylia.
The Persians had taken shelter with their land forces, and Cimon defeated both
forces, capturing the entire Persian fleet and the Persian camp. Next Cimon
expelled the Persians from the Thracian Chersonese (now known as Gallipoli), at
the mouth of the Hellespont. In 465 Xerxes I was murdered by Artabanus, the
commander of the guard. Artabanus held on to power for seven months, ruling as
the power behind the throne of Artaxerxes I, but eventually he was betrayed by
his allies and killed in single combat by the emperor.
In the same year Thasos revolted against the Delian League because Athens was
threatening its economic interests. A two-year long siege followed, before the
island surrendered. Athens took most of the spoils of this victory. Thasos had
asked for help from Sparta, and been promised an invasion of Attica, but an
open breach between Athens and Sparta was averted at this point by an
earthquake and a serious Helot revolt. The Helot revolt helped trigger open
warfare between Athens and Sparta. The helots ended up defending Mt Ithome, and
the Spartans struggled to expel them. They called for help from their allies.
Cimon convinced Athens to send a force, which he led in person. The Spartans
soon began to worry that the Athenians would end up supporting the helots, and
in 462 sent them home.
This embarrassment triggered the fall of Cimon, and the establishment of a more
democratic regime in Athens. The new Athenian government formed an alliance
with Argos, Megara, Corinth and Thessaly.
460 saw the start of the First Peloponnesian War (460-445), in reality a series
of shorter conflicts, but one that meant that Athens was fighting on two
fronts. In 460 the Delian League sent a fleet of 200 ships to Cyprus, which had
been partly re-conquered by the Persians. This fleet was then diverted to
Egypt, to help support a revolt by the Libyan prince Inaros. The Greeks won a
victory in the Nile Delta (battle of Pampremis), and then besieged the Persian
garrison at Memphis. This expedition to Egypt ended in disaster. Megabyzus,
satrap of Syria, an important supporter of Artaxerxes I, led the Persian fight
back. The siege of Memphis ended in failure and the Greeks had to retreat to
the island of Prosopitis in the Nile Delta. After a long siege the defenders
were forced to seek terms, and the survivors were allowed to retreat west
across the desert to Cyrene. A squadron of 50 Greek ships sent to help at
Prosoptis was defeated at Mendesium in the Nile. The failure of the Egyptian
expedition meant that the Athenians had to abandon their attempts to free
Cyprus and withdraw from the eastern Mediterranean.
In 451 Cimon was recalled to Athens, and given the task of negotiating with
Sparta. He was able to arrange a five year long truce, and was then sent back
to Cyprus with a fleet of 200 ships. He detached 60 of them to support the
Egyptian rebels, but then died during a siege of Citium on Cyprus. After his
death the fleet was withdrawn back to Athens. On its way back it fought a naval
and land battle at Salamis on Cyprus, represented by Thucydides as a great
victory. The campaign on Cyprus is recorded differently by Plutarch in his life
of Cimon, and by Diodorus. Plutarch has the Greeks win a naval victory over the
fleets of Phoenicia and Cilicia at the start of the campaign, then besiege
Citium. Cimon died during the siege and the Athenians withdrew. This was the
last great success against the Persians. Diodorus departs even further from the
accepted framework. Once again Cimon commanded the Greek fleet, while the
Persians had a fleet off Cyprus and a land army in Cilicia. Cimon began by
besieging Citium and Marium, capturing both. The Persian fleet then appeared
but was defeated in a naval battle. Cimon chased the defeated Persians back to
Phoenicia. He then turned back to win a massive land victory in Cilicia. In the
following year he laid siege to Salamis on Cyprus, and it was this that
convinced Artaxerxes to make peace. Cimon is still recorded as dying of illness
on Cyprus. Soon after this the two sides made peace.
The Peace of Callais of 448 saw the Persians agree not to attack members of the
Delian League, effectively acknowledging the independence of the Ionians, and
to keep out of the Aegean. In return the League promised to leave the eastern
Mediterranean. Cyprus was left in the Persian sphere of influence, suggesting
that Diodorus's stories of great triumphs are unreliable at best. Over the next
few years the Delian League turned into the Athenian Empire. The truce with
Sparta had to be renewed in the aftermath of a serious Athenian setback at
Coronea, but a Thirty Year Peace was still agreed. This only lasted for fifteen
years before the outbreak of the Great Peloponnesian War, but was the period in
which Pericles held power, and saw the construction of the Parthenon. The Peace
of Callias didn't end the rivalry between the Greek and Persian worlds.
As the Romans would later find the Greek city states seem to have been
incapable of living at peace. In 439 the Athenians attacked Samos, a breach of
the peace treaty. This helped convince the Persians to side with the Spartans
during the Great Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), and Persian gold played a
major part in the eventual Spartan victory. In the aftermath of their victory
the Spartans soon became involved in a war with their former allies (400-387).
After some early successes, the Spartans were soon forced onto the back foot,
and the war was ended by the King's Peace of 387-6. Once again the Greeks
agreed to acknowledge Persian control of Asia Minor, and also agreed to accept
Persian arbitration within Greece. By now the balance of power was beginning to
shift. A series of weaker Persian emperors meant that the Empire wasn't quite
the military power it had been in the past. In 401 a group of Greek mercenaries
fought for the rebel prince Cyrus the Younger. Although he was killed at the
battle of Cunaxa the surviving Greeks were able to fight their way north to the
Black Sea coast, a journey recorded by Xenophon, one of the participants. His
account of this expedition helped expose the potential weakness of the Persian
Empire. At the same time the rising power of Macedonia, under Philip II, was
unifying most of Greece. Philip prepared for an invasion of Persia, but died
before he could carry it out. It would be left to his son, Alexander the Great,
to invade Persia and overthrow Darius III, the last Achaemenid ruler.
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