the persian-greek wars (499-479 bce) a turning point in greek history
TRANSCRIPT
The Persian-Greek Wars (499-479 BCE)
A turning point in Greek History
Herodotus: Persian Wars
Over 600 poli made up the Hellenic world
The acropolis of Athens
The Greek contribution to political life:
• Individual members shared a sense of belonging to and participating in the polis.
• Community problems are caused by human beings and require human solutions.
• Laws expressed the rational mind of the community to insure its will and needs are met.
Cyrus the Great and his sons after him effectively
administered their large empire: • Divided into 20 provinces
(satrapies)
• Special agents who answered only to the king
• Use of an official language (Aramaic)
• Network of roads and postal system
• Common system of weights and measures
• Empire wide coinage
• Fusion of Near Eastern cultural traditions
• Promoted one religion: Zoroastrianism (Ahura Mazda & Ahriman)
• Cyrus the Great, was the world’s first world emperor to openly declare and guarantee the sanctity of human rights and individual freedom.
The Ionian Revolt, 499-493 BC
King Darius I, 521-486 BC
• Decided to punish the city of Athens for assisting the rebels during the Ionian Revolt of 499 BC.
Marathon
The Hoplite: Greek footsoldiers
Battle of Marathon, 490 BC
Battle of Marathon, 490 BC – Phaedippas brings the news to Athens
Themosticles:• Rushed the construction of 200 triremes• Organized Greek city-states into a defensive
alliance that included Sparta
King Xerxes, 486-465 BC
• He sought to avenge his father’s defeat.
• In 480 BC, his army of 360,000 foot soldiers and 800 ships marched over a bridge across the Dardanelles
Thermopylae
King Xerxes & the Second Persian War, 480-479 BC
The Athenians fled the city which was sacked
and burned to the ground by the Persians
• But, the Athenians had a plan…
Battle of Salamis
• The Persian Wars were decisive in the history of the West. Had the Greeks been defeated, the cultural and political vitality we associate and inherit from the Greeks would never have evolved.
• The confidence and pride from these victories propelled Greece and Athens, in particular, to its “Golden Age.”
Pericles, 499-429 BC
• Pericles was the central figure in Athens during its Golden Age
Politics and Govt Philosophy
Math & 5th c. BCE Athens
Science The Golden Age Poetry
The Age of Pericles
Art, Sculpture History
Architecture
Drama/Theatre
The creation of the Delian League, 478 BC
The corruption of the Delian League
