Preview

persian wars

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1112 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
persian wars
Persian Wars
Persians wars were sequences of conflicts contested between Persia and ancient Greece, where the two were both ancient civilizations. The Greeks were successions of sovereign city states, and the most influential cities were Sparta and Athens. Athens had numerous celebrated philosophers and thinkers along having the privilege of being the first world’s democratic government. The people of Athens mostly depended on trade to obtain resources to be used to run the government. On the other hand, Spartans were very different in their way of life1. From the beginning, they were a military state. They were initially the Mycenaean’s from the North; however, by then they travelled down via Greece and settled on the Peloponnesus Peninsula. For them to get adequate resources to sustain themselves, the Spartans occupied the nearby Messenia towards the west, thus forcing them to engage in slavery2.
The Messenia’s cultivated for Spartans whilst the Spartans, on the other hand, enjoyed and took the products from the farm. Afterward a (Messenia, currently known as helots) rebellion from the Spartans, then engaged in building a military that was to serve to dominate the Greece, emerged to be military superpower. The two city states might have been bitter enemies, however, they along with some background city states will have to combine together to battle the invading Persians3.
On the other hand, the Persians were controlling power at the end of the war. Their expansive Empire extended from Afghanistan to the present day Turkey. They had occupied most of the lands and forced more men to fight in sophisticated military, though they did not force the individuals they defeated to change their culture so there was minimal chance of rebellion4.
There were numerous causes of the Persian wars and the most prevalent cause was that the Persians desperately needed to rule Greece. The Persians viewed Greece as merely a sovereign country that would make a good

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    On thermopylea and platea

    • 1303 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The primary reason that the Greeks were able to claim victory over the Persians during their invasion of Greece was primarily due to the Spartans and more importantly the actions of the 300 Spartans and their king leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae, as it was here at the Pass of Thermopylae that the Spartans and other members of Greek society held off the Persian army outnumbered and outmatched for almost five days straight. This ultimately delayed the advance of the Persian army and allowed for the Greeks to send messengers from Thermopylae to the other Greek city states in order to warn them of the Persian invasion and allow them to amass their armies. Even though the battle of Thermopylae was a Persian victory it did however give the Spartans and other Greeks a chance to prove their might and the main reason they were able to hold out as long as they did was due to their superior battle tactics.…

    • 1303 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Final Study Guide

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. The great Persian invasion under Xerxes was a crucial factor in cementing the ties of Greek ethnicity and a sense of separation from other peoples. It is no accident that the great playwright Aeschylus asked that his tombstone be engraved only with a mention of participation in the war and was content to omit his dramatic victories. What were the causes of this invasion? What was the Persian strategy? How did the Greeks respond to the threat? What were the crucial battles in the war and finally why did the Persians fail?…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Greeks during the Greco-Persian War manipulated terrain as a force multiplier in many battles; at the Battle of Marathon, Miltiades used the Vrana Valley to prevent a Persian march on Athens, at the Battle of Thermopylae, Leonidas used the narrow, Thermopylae pass to invalidate the Persian numbers, and at the Battle of Artemisium, Themistocles used the Artemisium Strait to aid in his battle against the Persian fleets.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Persians were a brutish people, who wanted nothing more than to conquer and ruin the Greek way of life. The Persians played the Greek city-states against one another in order to inhibit success against their attacks. The Ionian Greeks were conquered by these barbarians, and their way of life was threatened. The Greek's freedom was perishing, while the power of the Persian's continued to expand. The Persians were a tolerant empire with strong leaders and some autonomy though they restricted the Ionian Greek's autonomy to make their lives easier, then pitting the Greek city-states against each other in order to have influence within Greek culture once again, though the defeat of the Persians was a crucial victory for the Greeks, because…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Athens sent weapons to the Ionians to fight Persia. If Athens did not help the Ionians revolt, Persia would have less reason to go to war with them. Therefore, Athens provoked the Persians. Another reason Athens caused the Persian war is that they burned Sardis, a city-state conquered…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The biggest rivalry groups in the 5th century BC in Greece were the Athens and Sparta. Although they resided in the same country they both had different ways how they managed their political, economic and social structure .The main goal of the Spartans was to have an elite state of soldiers. While the Athenians main objective was to have a society that was versatile, skilled and liberal.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Did Sparta's Decline

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Inspired by xenophobia, Sparta’s leadership made many incorrect decisions regarding foreign policy, which contributed to their civilization’s decline. Their militaristic identity caused them to interact bluntly with other Greeks no matter if their intentions were peaceful or malicious. According to Patrick Baker, another Greek city-state’s opinion of Sparta depended completely upon “how often they were attacked by the Spartan army.” In other words, they either loved the Spartans or hated them. The cities that Sparta allied itself with enjoyed “security and protection from outside attack,” but the cities that “were subjected to multiple invasions over the course of time” tended, rightfully so, to not look upon the Spartans so favorably (Baker).…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    After the conclusion of the Persian Wars (492-479BC) with Athens being the true victor, and before the Peloponnesian War, a period of prosperity covered Athens, and they needed to devise new ways to protect themselves and expand their wealth, and how this would affect their relations with allies.…

    • 2213 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Allies from their existence, Athens and Sparta had fought side by side for centuries. These two Greek city-states fought together in the Greco-Persian war, but when the Persians retreated, tension rose. Athens gained more power than they needed, plunging the two cities into nearly three decades of war. The outcome was devastating. Although Sparta won, they were extremely demoralized. Athens was bankrupt and exhausted, and neither city regained the military strength they once had. This infamous conflict came to be known as the Peloponnesian War.…

    • 1609 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, the Persian Emperor Paries lll, was brightly intelligent and his army outnumbered Alexander’s. By surprise Alexander denied the offer from Emperor to surrender all the Persian Empire west of Euphrates, and proceeded to invade the rest of Persia. Alexander mind was set on one thing only; that was to conquer the entire empire, which was just what he did. Persian grew a massive love for Alexander once the made the attempt to merge the Greek and Persian cultures, but they we’re both holding important positions. By doing so this caused him a lot of hardship once he begins to rule the former Persian Empire. Even though he adopted the Persians ways of governing; while keeping the Greek cultural ways. Alexander looked to create a new-found life with the empire, but not to exclude, but those in Greece started to resent him while the was away in Persia. The attention that Alexander showed the Persians, made those in Greece feel jealous a d the citizens began to…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Herodotus was a Greek historian whose work encompassed Western civilization involving conflicts between Greece and the Persian Empire. There were many differences between the Greeks and the Persians. For instance, the Greeks struggled to find freedom during 480 B.C – 400 B.C. They were determined to train their soldiers, especially Spartan warriors, to be brave, courageous, and strong for defensive purposes from Persian invasion. On the other hand, the Persians differed from the Greeks because they believed their Empire needed more power. The Persians exercised gaining absolute power under their leader, Xerxes, by invading civilization west of Asia to strengthen their Empire. Xerxes’ intentions for invasion were also based on vengeance from previous battles for expansion of their Empire. Xerxes motives for invading Greece were tyrannical, and the events that lead the Persian Empire western invasion were based on reckless intentions from a ruthless leader.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athens Vs Sparta Essay

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Did you know that Spartans were so harsh and strict, they banished citizens that were overweight! Spartans were hostile and stern, which made them very powerful. They were solitary people that were simple but strong. Also, they were very protective, and fearful of other city-states trying to weaken the government through new ideas. On the other hand, Athenians were cultured and artistic people. They had creative minds, and loved to socialize with other city-states to spread new ideas. Athenians and Spartans had many diversities and differences, thus causing the Peloponnesian War that had tragic effects which impacted Greece for many years.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    By the middle of the 5th century B.C. Athens and Sparta, the two most powerful Greek city-states, found themselves on the brink of a full-scale war. According to Thucydides, at the beginning of the war both Athens and Sparta were at the pick of their might and flourishing and could trade and cooperate to each other’s benefit; instead, they got involved into an armed confrontation, in which the rest of the Greek cities participated, on one side or on the other.…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sparta In Ancient Greece

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As victors, the Spartans found themselves dominant in a Greece where polis was suspicious of polis and where, within each polis, faction disputed with faction. From Ionia, which the Spartans sold back to Persia as the price of their assistance, the Persians loomed once more as a threat to the whole Greek world. The new Macedonia in the north menaced the Greeks. Perhaps wiser or more vigorous leaders would have been able to create some sort of federation among the individual poleis that could have withstood the Persians and the Macedonians, and still later, the Romans. But since this did not happen, it seems more likely that the polis as an institution was no longer thought to be the appropriate way for the Greek world to be organized. Perhaps it was too small, too provincial, and too old-fashioned to keep the peace and provide scope for economic advancement and intellectual growth.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite their huge differences, both Sparta and Athens united to fight the Persians together. In the book The Portable Greek Historians by M. I. Finley, Herodotus records, “The Greeks who at this spott awaited the coming of Xerxes were the following: from Sparta, three hundred men-at-arms; from Arcadia, a thousand Tegeans and Mantineans, five hundred of people; a hundred and twenty Orchomenians, from the Arcadian Orchomenus’ and a thousand from other cities,” (Herodotus, The Persian Wars 7.202)....Herodotus continues, “The sea was in good keeping, watched by the Athenians, the Aeginetans, and the rest of the fleet,” (Herodotus, The Persian Wars 7.203). In addition, Herodotus says, “The various nations had each captains of their own under whom they served; but the one to whom all especially looked up, and who had the command of the entire force, was the Lacedaemonian, Leonidas,” (Herodotus, The Persian Wars 7.204). Based off Herodotus’ statements, all the Greeks were waiting upon Xerxes’ arrival. They included Sparta, the strongest military, Arcadia, Tegeans, Mantineans, and more. Also, the Athenians, who had the strongest navy were also accompanied by other Greeks while awaiting the arrival of the Persian navy. These records by Herodotus show the concept of Greek unity or panhellenism as Greeks from all different poleis come together to fight the stronger Persian army who were considered barbarians or outsiders. The Persians were coming to conquer Athen but all other Greek poleis refused to let Athens battle alone. Even having significant differences the Greeks appointed Spartan king Leonidas as head of command. They recognized that Sparta had the best army at the time and Leonidas was the best choice for command. Athenians and Spartans have very significant differences but in this battle they united…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays