Preview

Propaganda In The Peloponnesian War

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
504 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Propaganda In The Peloponnesian War
... Propaganda and stirring speeches made by the leaders of Athens convinced their citizens that going to war made sense and that they should come up in arms and support their country. In this paper, we are going to look at the differences in speeches and propaganda used in the Persian War and the Peloponnesian War and what the speeches reveal about the city/states' reasons for going to war. ... there was a rebellion in the Persian Empire. ... These ships managed to destroy a major Persian city, but Athens lost interest and soon returned home. ... This began what is known as the Persian War. It grew to become a war that soon threatened to put all of Greece under Persian control. Soon Sparta, a neighboring city/state of Athens and many other …show more content…
...
A marble tablet, serving as a monument in Athens, was also used as propaganda during the war. This tablet, known as The Troizen Inscription, was there to tell the gods the plans of the upcoming war, to give tribute to the Troizen people and to show the plans of the distribution of people. ... " This is basically meaning for all Athenians not to question the military power, but just to support their country in this time of need against the evil Persian Empire. ... "
After the Persian War, Athens became very powerful and wealthy. ... This war, called The Peloponnesian War, actually fell into two periods, separated by a six-year truce. ... Soon Athens had to surrender to Sparta, ending the Peloponnesian War.
In this war, getting reason for people to fight was much different than with the Persian War. The Persian War was about one thing, survival. ... In this war, Athens took just as much the offensive as Sparta. Convincing the people to back this war would not be as easy as the last. Combating this, leaders of Athens took a much different approach in their speeches and writings this time around, which was able to convince the people to fight for their state. ... Overall, he is telling his people this war should be fought because the other cities do not compare to Athens, and that if they want Athens to stay on top the people should "be ready to suffer in her

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

    If there was one thing Sparta wanted out of the Peloponnesian War, it was to bring down Athens. Given Athens' rising strength and its ability to acquire an ever-larger navy of vessels from contributions paid by its dependents and allies, Sparta appeared to be concerned (Cartwright, 2018). As a matter of fact, Athens was becoming stronger and winning more and more wars thanks to its allies. Furthermore, Sparta believed that if nothing was done, Corinth, another major Greek state, was going to be forced to go along with Athens (Cartwright, 2018). When discussing ancient Greece, we frequently concentrate on Athens and Sparta, two of the principal towns.…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good 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

    “If we do go to war, have no thought that you went to war over a trivial affair” (Thucydides, in Hunt 101). The Peloponnesian War lasted longer than any other pervious war in Greece. The war began in 431 BCE with Sparta’s invasion of Athens. The Athenians sacrificed the destruction of their private property in order to hide in the safety of their city. The Long Walls of Athens protected its citizens and preserved its population. The Spartans however had the upper hand in infantry while the Athenians were superior at sea. With the aid of Persia, Sparta eventually defeats Athens at Syracuse in 404 BCE after a continuous twenty-seven years at war (Hunt 104). The creation of the Delian League, the reign of Pericles, the aggravation of Corinth, and the refusal to negotiate made Athens the sole instigator for the long and violent Peloponnesian War.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Athens’ quest for a great empire, they planned to dominate their lesser foes, add to their empire, and show their strength; these pursuits brought them to the city of Melos. Melos was a small island in the Aegean Sea and a colony of Sparta, but they where a neutral state; they were not allied with either side. They had not been involved in the Peloponnesian war as of yet, and did not plan on getting involved. Then, Athens came, demanding surrender and tribute, but Melos chose to resist, rather than submit. Athens believed that because they had might on their side, that they also had the right to conquer weaker city-states (“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”).…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good 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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Greece Fell Essay

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Demosthenes asked for a military mobilization against the Macedonians, but every attempt of the Athens was not successful because they did not have enough strong troops and money to support the war. He also had false and decisive speeches to wrongfully instruct the Athenians, for example, it is as below:…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    NHD Rough Draft

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Persians Wars were fought between the Persian God Kings (Darius I and Xerxes I) and the Greeks city-states (Athens, Arcadia and Sparta). There were many battles during this warring period, such as the Battle of Marathon or the Battle of Plataea, but the battle that Leonidas is known for is the Battle of Thermopylae for his courageous acts of leadership and his historical death. Leonidas learned that Persian’s God King, Xerxes, has rallied a massive army and has begun to invade Greece, in result Leonidas consults with the Athenian consul. The consul acknowledges Leonidas not to attack the Persians but to abandon Sparta however; he ignores their command and gathers 300 Spartans, all who have sons to pass on their name, and marches to Thermopylae. After days of fighting, the Spartans are defeated my Persian forces due to a traitor revealing a hidden passage behind the Spartan Phalanx. Instead of running, Leonidas fights his famous last stand, alongside his men, and dies a glorious death. This act of valor has made the military mindset of “Glory before Death” present in many modern day military forces.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Persian Wars were, simply put, a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Greeks and Persians as a dispute of land and territory. The turning point in the Persian Wars was the battle of Mycale, in which the Athenians won because the Ionian allies to the Persian Empire deserted the Persians. This ended the Persian invasion of mainland Greece after the Persians decided to focus on issues elsewhere. Athens went on the offensive to take back the Ionian cities. After they took back Sestus, Athens started the Athenian Empire and started on a campaign with allied states to take back more Ionian cities. Shortly after the battles at Cyprus and Salamis in which Cimon, leader of the Athenian Empire, died, and the battles on both sides ended with the signing of the Peace of Callis in 449 B.C.E. Later, Alexander the Great started another raid on the Persians after his father, Philip II, died. Alexander the Great stated that his purpose was revenge for Xerxes of Persia’s attack on Greece. Alexander the Great was a brilliant general, and there’s no telling how immensely powerful his empire would have become had he not died suddenly at the age of 32. His death threw his empire into turmoil, each general…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another reason why Athens were failing miserably against the Spartans was because of a plague that broke out during the war. “During the whole time that the Peloponnesians were in Attica and the Athenians on the expedition in their ships, men kept dying of the plague both in the armament and in Athens” (Book 2, Chap 8, Paragraph 9) As if it could get any worse, Athens thought it was a great idea to try to conquer Sicily while they were fighting Sparta. “The same winter the Athenians resolved to sail again to Sicily, with a greater armament than that under Laches and Eurymedon, and, if possible, to conquer the island; most of them being ignorant of its size and of the number of its inhabitants, Hellenic and barbarian, and of the fact that they were undertaking a war not much inferior to that against the Peloponnesians.” (Book 6,Chap 28, Paragraph…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Greeks were victorious in the Second Persian War because of a number of factors. These include the superior leadership from commanders such as Themistocles and Leonidas, the effective Greek strategy and the cooperation of all the Greek city states to unite against a common threat. Ancient historians such as Aeschylus in his play ‘The Persians’ and Herodotus attribute the Greek victory to the so called ‘hubris’ or extreme confidence and arrogance showed by Xerxes. All these reasons played a crucial role in the Greek victory over the Persians in the Second Persian War.…

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better 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
  • Powerful Essays

    Weaponry was one of the major causes that lead to the Persian being defeated. This is because Greek soldiers started training at a very early age and were…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pericles was faced with a tough task, to speak at a large funeral of war victims, where the people are not going be in a positive state of mind at all. His choice of words were perfect for crushing all feelings of despair and making people realize that the reason they were fighting was because they had something so great that was worth defending, their country. For example, one of Pericles first lines was “Our government does not copy our neighbors’, but it an example to them.” This line is meant to invoke such a strong sense of national pride into the people, and it certainly does. If the people have pride in their nation, they will want to fight for it when it is under attack, and realize that fighting makes you stronger as a people. He goes on to say things “Our military is in many respects superior to that of our adversaries.” This thought provides a sense of comfort for the people; since they know that there country is powerful enough to win. When you go into a fight knowing that you’re going to win, it makes the fight much more meaningful and positive. This line also restores trust between the citizens and its military. If the people of Athens can trust their…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays