Persia and the Battle of Marathon

Wars were common among the poli of ancient Greece, but many of the city-states unified to fight Persia. Persia was a powerful empire from the east that attempted to conquer Greece. Once the Persians were vanquished, the Greeks developed a sense of confidence that led to an era we now call the Classical Age of Greece.

The Persians conquered a group of Greek speaking city-states in Ionia. Ionia is east of the Greek peninsula in Asia Minor, land that is part of the modern nation of Turkey. The Athenians aided the Ionians in a successful rebellion against the Persians. Athenian soldiers used a battle formation called a phalanx. In a phalanx, heavily armed soldiers would hold overlapping shields that protected the soldiers on either side. The phalanx required soldiers to depend on one another for their safety, so Athenian warriors fought as a unit instead of as individuals. The well-trained phalanx helped the Ionians repel the Persians from Ionian land.

King Darius of Persia swore to destroy Athens. In 490BC, Persian ships carried their warriors to Marathon, a flat plain twenty-six miles from Athens. The Persians planned to use Marathon as a base from which to attack Athens, but the Athenian army marched through the night to make a surprise attack at dawn. The frightened Persians fled to their ships and retreated from Greece.

A messenger named Pheidippides ran to Athens without stopping to announce Athens' surprise victory at Marathon, but the runner died from exhaustion shortly after gasping out his news. A modern marathon is a foot race that is named in honor of Pheidippides' run. Marathons are exactly 26 miles and 385 yards, which is exactly the distance Pheidippides is believed to have run.

Ten years after the Persian retreat at Marathon, Darius' son, Xerxes, prepared for another invasion of Greece. Xerxes sent about 200,000 soldiers and 800 ships to fight the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis in 460BC. The Persian king watched from a mountaintop as the Greeks again managed to destroy more than 200 ships and kill 20,000 sailors. Xerxes was so enraged that he beheaded the few Persian captains who were able to escape the wrath of the Greek armies.

Athens had twice chased away the most powerful empire in the world, but Athens was certain that Persia would make another attempt to conquer Greece. Athens asked all of the Greek poli to meet on the island of Delios where the poli formed an alliance known as the Delian League. Each member of the Delian League would contribute soldiers, ships and money to fight the Persians.

The Delian League used its powers first to punish the poli that supported Persia in the past. Then, the combined forces of the league conquered the remaning Persian territories in Ionia. The united Greeks no longer feared the Persians because the Greeks had enough military power to fend off the powerful empire in the east.

Historians call the period the followed the Greek victories over the Persians the Classical Age of Greece. During the classical age, artists, poets, sculptors and architects developed a culture that was unique to Greece. Greece was influenced by two poli with very different cultures during the Classical Age. Sparta was a disciplined military power, while merchant ships from Athens traveled throughout the Mediterranean Sea. In time, the rivalry between Sparta and Athens would lead of the end of the Classical Era.

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