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Secondary source of the battle of marathon
What were some of the greek contributions to the development of western civilization during the persian war
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The Battle of Marathon was the one of the wars between Ancient Greece and Persia. There is three well known ones: Battle of Thermopylae, the Battle of Marathon and the Battle of Salamis. Out of those wars between Ancient Greece and Persia, the Battle of Marathon was the most famous. Even though the Battle of Marathon was the most famous it was only five days long. The Persian King, Darius, demanded water and earth from the city that belonged to the Athenians. As the response, the Athenians threw the Persian ambassador in a pit. The Athenians refused to submit themselves to the authority of the Persians. If the Athenians had to be in war for freedom, so be it. Darius was not surprised by the response, in fact he was delighted. Over time Darius had grown to hate the Athenians. Darius sent 600 ships and about 100,000-200,000 soldiers to bring back the Athenians in chains. On the other side, the Greek army was made up of about 10,000. Out of those men 9,000 were Athenians and the rest were …show more content…
The Eritreans were the neighbors of Athenians. Once the news reached the Athens, they quickly asked help from the other Greek cities. But only one city ended up helping, Plataea. The Plataeans sent 1,000 soldiers to help the Athenians in the battle. The Persians had camped for several days before the battle. 26 miles from Athens. Even if the Persians had more men, the Greeks planned to use the element of surprise. Miltiades saw an opportunity of victory and planned a surprise attack on that September morning in 490 B.C. The Platens and the Greeks met at Marathon. They charged in at once. The Persians were clueless, they had no idea what was coming. The Greeks quickly defeated the Persians’ battle lines on the left and right. The center of the Persian army held their ground, but the defenders of the sides panicked and fled. Soon the Persians realized that they lost and fled the
The Greeks, who were made up of only 300 Spartans under the rule of Leonidas and about 7000, allied Greeks these included; Arcadia, Mantineans, Arcadian Orchomenus, Orchomenians, Corinth, Phlius, Mycenae, Boeotia, Thespians and Thebans, noted by Herodotus. Persians waited 3 days to march up to the Greeks to start the battle; they opened the battle by shooting arrows. The Greeks took it in turn to be in the front line of their phalanx and fought off wave
Although the Ionian revolt was ultimately unsuccessful, it sparked the anger of Darius, the King of Persia, that the Athenians dared to interfere with his vast empire. Herodotus writes he was so angry that he "ordered one of his servants to say to him three times every day before dinner, 'Sire, remember the Athenians" (Hdt. 5.105.2). Whether Darius really said this is questionable, but it is clear that either to exact venge... ... middle of paper ... ... reeks won a war of unbeatable odds because they had both everything to lose and everything to gain - their very survival.
The Second Battle of Bull Run took place in Prince William County Virginia near Manassas August 28th through August 30th in 1862. As the name of the battle suggest, it was the second time the Confederate and Union soldiers had fought at Bull Run. The first battle was in July of 1861 and the Confederate troops defeated the Federal Union Army. The Second Battle of Bull Run was led by the Union’s Major General John Pope and the Confederate Army was led by General Robert E. Lee.
When the Persian fleet had arrived at Aphetae, Eurybides, the commander of the small amount of ships that Sparta had sent, wished to turn tail, and return home. Themistocles used bribe of thirty talents to keep him, and his ships at the front. (Herodotus, 1954) Themistocles, seeing the overwhelming navy of the Persians conducted a plan: When the fighting broke out, the highly-trained Greeks would allow themselves to become encircled. At the first blow of the signal horn, the triremes would form a ‘close circle – bows outward, sterns to the centre.’ From this position, they had no mobility; the only direction in which they could move was forward, and that is exactly what they did. On the second signal blast, these lighter and faster Greek triremes rammed the Persian ships, and with their bronze-sheathed battering rams on the bow of the ships, caused great damage to the enemy ships. (Herodotus, 1954) Another tactic that Themistocles used was his discussion to initiate the battle in the mid to late afternoon. One cannot fight at sea when dark, and he knew that; making sure that this was done minimised casualties for the Greeks and tired out the Persian men, who had been ready to begin fighting since the very early morning. Overall, this decision made sure the battle had a fast conclusion. When they got word of the massacre at Thermopylae, however, Themistocles called a retreat, as they were only holding the pass to prevent Xerxes using his navy to assist his men at Thermopylae, and at this moment in time, there were no men at Thermopylae that were worth protecting, anymore. (Last Stand of the 300,
Nor were the democratic Athenians comfortable with the artificial collision of oligarchical armored farmer. In the wake of the Persian Retreat (479B.C.E) Athens fleet increased. Nurtured on the tribute of vassal states in Aegean, Athens did not mothball its triremosi instead, they became a “beginning”. Police force of sources for its Greek subject allies overseas. Like some Spartans, imperial Athens too saw little needs to limit warfare to a single afternoon.
In both their works, Plato and Thucydides write of the view that justice is honoring one's debts. In The Republics, Cephalus asserts that justice is "the truth and giving back what a man has taken from another." In other words, he believes that we should be truthful and pay back our debts to man and the gods. This view of justice is illustrated at the debate in Sparta between the Lacedaemonians, Corinthians and the Athenians. During the Athenians defense, they remind the Lacedaemonians of the battle with Persia. In this conflict, when Persia was defeated, the Athenians claim to have supplied most of the fleet, the most "intelligent commander" and their most "unhesitating zeal," (Thucydides, i.74). Athens risked their lives for homes that barely survived, and fought to save the Lacedaemonians as well as themselves. Therefore the Lacedaemonians are obligated to not dissolve the treaty or break their oaths with Athens. The Athenians feel that it is just to pay back this debt, which is a similar perspective of justice advanced by Cephalus.
The Battle of Thermopylae began in 480 BC and was a product of the Greeks attempt help defend the Ionians from the Persians. This irritated the Persian Emperor, Xerxes, because he thought of Greece as a small kingdom that had no place revolting against the Persian Empire. The Athenians sympathized with the Ionians because the Persians had also tried to invade Greece on multiple occasions. The Athenians provided feeble help to the Ionians and in retaliation the Persians struck at athens (23B). Xerxes was known to be irrational with his temper, and may have thought of his invasion as retaliation for the fact that his father, Darius the Great, was defeated at the Battle of Marathon against the Greeks. His temper was so great that at Hellas Point he had the water whipped because it would not obey him (E49). One of several Greek war leaders in the Battle of Thermopylae was Leonidas, the second born son of King Anaxandridas. It was not until his half brother was killed under controversial circumstances that Leonidas rose to power (G72). Apart from misconceptions spread by the popular film “300,” the three hundred Spartans did not go into battle alone, and were accompanied by over eight hundred allies. Nevertheless, the Persians still outnumbered the Greeks ten to one, which is why it is incredible that the Greeks were able to hold them for three days before eventually losing that specific battle. Despite losing the battle in terms of soldiers and defending greece, the battle of thermopylae was somewhat successful in that it was a demonstration of the courage of greek soldiers, impressive battle tactics,
While the army reached Thermopylae intact, the fleet suffered at the hand of two storms, with Herodotus attributing them to God attempting to equalize the opposing forces . The disparity between the size of the Persian and the size of the Greek forces was huge – thus, the Greeks’ strategy relied on geography . Holding the narrows at Thermopylae and the concurrent straits of Artemisium meant that Xerxes’ numerical superiority was reduced. It was here, on land and sea, that Greece showcased the superiority of it...
In the years following the Persian Wars in 479 B.C., Athens had come out on top being the most dominantly powerful of any Greek city with a navy that had superior strength that increased day by day. The Athenians “ruled with heavy-handed, even brutal force as well as with reason” (Kagan 2). This was due largely to the fact that Athens had a stable and effective government, which only increased their advantage in proving themselv...
In Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War the Athenian Empire started out with just intentions, but once they had a taste for power they did whatever it took to obtain more, even if they had to take it by force. Over time the Athenian Empire became ruled by individuals acting with the sole purpose of furthering their own self-interests at any cost, which led to the empire becoming more amenable to the use of force as a means to get what they desired. One such instance where someone in the Athenian Empire was more than willing to use force to get what he or she wanted was during the Mytilenenian dialogues. The Athenian colony of Mytilene attempted to rebel against Athenian rule but when they failed their fate rested on the outcome of the debate between Diodotus and Cleon. Thucydides refers to Cleon as the “most violent man in Athens” and he demonstrates how he earned that name when he suggests that the Athenians kill every man of fighting age and enslave the rest. Cleon then says, “Give these people the punishment they deserve… show them that the penalty for rebellion is death” (Thucydides, p. 70-71) because he believes that this show of power and force will dissuade other colonies under Athenian rule from thinking about rebellion. Fortunately for the Mytilenians Athens did not use force in this
Although the Spartans and Athenians fought for almost 20 years, there was a time when they lived in harmony. Almost 15 years before any disturbances the Athenians and Spartans fought together in the Persian war. During the Persian war, the Spartans were thriving in their fight against the Persians, however over time the Persians began to grow stronger. After being to lose their fighting streak, the Athenians came in to help the Spartans and bring an end to Persian dominance once and for all (The Delian League, 1). After defeating the Persians in 449 B.C., the...
Herodotus. “Greece Saved from Persian Conquest.” Readings in Ancient History. Eds. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.
As can be expected from pioneer governmental institutions, Athenian democracy was not perfect. In fact it was far from it. It resulted in the establishment of poor policies by aggressive populists who sought "...private ambition and private profit...which were bad both for the Athenians themselves and their allies." (Thucydides). These self interested populist leaders with personal gain in mind established extensive internal political instability "...by quarrelling among themselves [and] began to bring confusion into the policy of the state." (Thucydides). Repeated opportunities to accept terms of peace after the battles of Pylos (425), Arginusae (406) and Aegospotami (405) were ignored by the inefficient Athenian demos eventually resulting in the devastation of the once dominant city-state. Internal political strife can also be attribu...
...rated the superiority of the Greek long spear and armor over the weapons of the Persians, as well as the superior tactics of Miltiades and the military training of the Greek hoplites. The choice of weapons, training of warriors, selection of battle site, and timing had all worked together to help the Athenians prove that size doesn’t always matter.
The Battle of Salamis is said to be one of the most important battles in all of history. It was a naval battle fought between the massive Persian army and smaller Greek army in the Bay of Salamis in 480 BCE. This battle was one of the many battles that were a part of the Greco-Persian war. This paper will explore the events leading up to the battle, the battle itself, including advantages and disadvantages both sides had on one and other, and finally will discuss the affects the result of this battle had on each side. Surprisingly, the much smaller Greek army defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. How did this happen, one may ask? Although the Persians appeared to have the military advantage in this battle, particularly in terms of sheer size and numbers, the Greeks successfully defeated them with the help of their leaders, tactics, and many Persian blunders.