Ancient Greek Warfare

Persian Wars, Peloponnesian War, and Alexander the Great

Greek Warfare Hoplite – armed men

Large 3 foot shield (Hoplon) protected his left side

The other side was protected by the hoplite’s shield to the right.

Thrusting spear 6 – 8 ft long (2 sided)

Battle Formations

Phalanx – line of hoplites 8 men deep

Shields interlock, march forward

Greek Phalanx

Phalanx holding the line at Thermopylae

Persian Wars 499 – 479 BCE

Written by the first Greek historian, Herodotus Defined the word History = Investigation Stories are embellished

Allies – States that agree to help each other against a common enemy Athens, Sparta and other Greek city-states

Persians – Iranian tribe that conquered Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Egypt, and parts of India and Europe. Excellent archers

Persian Empire: 525 B. C.

Ionian Revolt

546 BCE, Persians conquered Greek settlements in Ionia (Turkey)Forced to pay taxes and serve in the Persian

army499 BCE, Ionians asked Greeks for help.

Tattooed a secret message in a slave’s head and sent him to Greek mainland.

Sparta refuses, Athens helps briefly, then leavesPersians destroy Ionian city of Miletus

Post Ionian Revolt

Persian King Darius decides to conquer Greek mainland.Sends messengers to ask for submission

Asked for Greek earth and waterAthenians and Spartans threw them into pits and

wells telling them to, “take what they wanted.”

This meant war.

Battle of Marathon

King Darius sails an army of 20,000 + cavalry (crash at Mt. Athos)Land on the plain of Marathon.

Facing 10,000 Athenians led by Miltiades.Miltiades attacks while horses are out to pasture

Dead: 192 Athenians vs. 6,400 PersiansPersians sail to Athens

Messenger runs 26.2 miles to Athens to prepare for Persians. Tells them, “Nike!” then drops dead

Athens ready for Persians

Battle of Thermopylae

Darius’ son, Xerxes gets 180,000 troops to invade Greece. Army marched over floating

bridge over the Hellespont 10,000 troops dig canal for

Navy to avoid Mt. Athos

Greeks debate defensive strategies Athens – navy Spartan King Leonidas led the

army

Battle Sight TodayIn ancient times the coastline was where

the modern road lies, or even closer to the mountain

Battle of Thermopylae (cont.)

Thermopylae is a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea north of Delphi6,000 Greeks drove back 180,000 PersiansGreek traitor, Ephialtes tells Xerxes the back

route to surround GreeksLeonidas knows its over, sends army home

300 Spartans stay to delay the PersiansFight to the death

“Arrows will blot out the sun.” “We will fight in the shade”

Animated View of Thermopylae

Illustration of the Battle

Post Thermopylae

Athenians heard of slaughter and fled.Athens destroyed.

Battle of Salamis

Athenian Navy set a battle site at SalamisAgain, narrow channelsGreeks sent a loyal slave to Xerxes. Told him

an Athenian general wanted to change sides. Convinced him to attack immediately.

Greeks retreated, before attackingLed them into the channel.

Greek ships armed with rams in the front sunk 300 Persian ships.Greeks lost 40 ships

End of the Persian WarsXerxes attacked next spring

Spartans feared Athenians would make peace after the destruction of their home.

Athens declared “common brotherhood with Greeks.” They would fight!

479 BCE Battle of Plataea80,000 Greek hoplites destroyed the Persian

army. No more threat!Greeks lost thousands, city of Athens, but

they rebuilt.

Golden Age of Athens

479 – 431 BCE Athens was the artistic and cultural center of Greece. Parthenon was pinnacle of architecture Theatre of Dionysus The Agora was the home of philosophers

such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Olympic Games to honor Zeus

All funded by The Delian League

Alliances Between City-States

After the Persian War, Sparta and Athens started to mistrust each other.

The Delian League included Athens and other city-states on the Aegean coast and on islands in the Aegean Sea.

The Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, included most of the Peloponnesus peninsula and Macedonia.

Peloponnesian War

The rivalry between the two city-states erupted in the Peloponnesian War, which Sparta won. Fighting made the

Greeks weak and vulnerable.

Macedonia

Philip II of Macedonia sees weakness in Greeks.Philip conquers most of Greek mainland

His son, Alexander takes throne at age 20Studied under Aristotle as a youth.Alexander wants to fulfill Philip’s goal of

conquering the Persians Invades Asia Minor first

If they fight, their city is destroyed. If they surrender, they get to keep gov’t and leaders

Alexander the Great

Philip's son Alexander (later called “the Great”) combined the Greek and Macedonian armies into a massive fighting force

In 334, he crossed into Asia Minor. In the next 10 years he conquered the entire Persian Empire, which included eastern Mediterranean countries as far as Egypt and extended inland as far as India.

After Alexander died in 323 B.C. his empire was divided—but he had planted Hellenistic culture throughout the eastern Mediterranean region.

Alexander’s Empire 323 B.C.E.

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Hellenistic Kingdoms Egypt under the Ptolemies

(323–30 B.C.), Syria under the Seleucids

(312–64 B.C.) Macedonia and Greece under

the Antigonids (276–168 B.C.).

Greek culture flourished in the new Hellenistic cities such as Antioch in Syria, and Alexandria in Egypt.

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