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The Persians had a highly trained army called the Ten Thousand Immortals. They were called Immortals because as soon as one soldier died in combat, another immediately replaced him.

• From 499 to 479 BCE the Persian Empire was the enemy of Athens and Sparta.
• At the time, Persia was the largest empire in the world, stretching from Asia Minor to India, and the Caspian Sea to Egypt and Arabia.
• The Persian Empire began in the modern day country of Iran
• They built their empire by conquering neighboring civilizations.
• The Persians had the best archers in the world.
  • An archer is a person who shoots with a bow and arrow. These archers made Persia difficult to defeat.
  • The Persians conquered Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt. They also conquered areas of India, Europe and Mesopotamia

Darius the Great

• One of the greatest Persian Kings, King Darius, divided the empire into 20 parts.
• Each part was known as a Satrap.
  • Satraps made it easier to collect taxes.
  • Each satrap had its own government leaders.
  • When an area was conquered, they were allowed to keep their own customs and religion.

• In 546 BCE the Persians conquered the Greek settlement of Ionia. It is located in Asia Minor.
• The Persians:
  • Took over the Ionian’s harbor and farmland
• Forced the Ionians to pay tribute.
  • A tribute is a payment made from one weaker group to another stronger group.
  • Forced the Ionians to become soldiers in the Persian army
• Ionians knew they needed help defeating the Persians.
• They asked other Greek city-states for help
• Athens sent a fleet of ships to help but didn't stay long
• The Ionians had to fight alone and were defeated by the Persians in 493 BCE
• The Persians punished the Ionians for rebelling by destroying their city names Miletus. They also sold some people into slavery

Click here to watch a short video on the Ionian Revolt

The Battle of Marathon

• Darius asked for tribute from the Greek city states, they said no
• Threw his Messengers into pits and wells

• 490 BCE- Darius sent soldiers across the Aegean Sea to Greece
  • Infantry- foot soldiers
  • Cavalry- soldiers on horseback
• They set up on the plain of Marathon
• Athens sent a runner named Pheidippides to Sparta
  • Pheidippides ran for two days
• Sparta was celebrating a religious festival
  • Spartans wouldn't leave immediately
• Athens and allies went against the Persians alone
• The Greeks won with a surprise tactic
  • They lined up their men and advanced the soldiers in the middle and attacked from the sides as well
• Athens were able to get back to Greece and defend it from the Persians

Click here to watch a video clip

• King Xerxes, son of Darius, attacked Greece again.
• He put together a large army (Immortals)
• He needed to cross Hellespont, a narrow waterway between Europe and Asia
• His army made two bridges with boats, wooden planks and ropes.
• They attacked a number of Greek city-states
• The Spartans and the Athenians joined together to fight
  • The Athenians fought on water
  • The Spartans fought on land
• The Spartans biggest fight took place at Thermopylae
• There position forced the Persians to travel through a narrow mountain pass.
• Leonidas was the Spartan commander. The Spartan army had 6,000 - 7,000 soldiers
• A traitors showed the Persians a passage through the mountains
• Leonidas commanded his troops to escape
• 300 soldiers stayed to fight, all 300 were killed but their bravery is an important Greek legend.

Click here for a video clip about the battle of Thermopylae

The Battle of Salamis

• After Thermopylae the citizens of Athens fled to nearby islands
• A small army stayed in Athens as defense
• Xerxes defeated Athens and burned it
• Themistocles, a navy leader from Athens, wanted to defeat the Persians on boats in a narrow channels between the mainland and islands
• This would make it hard to move ships around
• Themistocles lied and told Xerxes he and his troops wanted to join the Persians
• Xerxes entered the channel near the island of Salamis and the Greek boats pretended to retreat
• The Greeks surrounded the Persians and used wooden rams to destroy 300 Persian ships.

Click here to watch a video clip about the Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Plataea

• Xerxes and some soldiers fled to Hellespont but left the rest of his army in Greece
• He ordered his soldiers to attack again in the spring
• The Greek city-states joined together and created an army of of 80,000 Greeks.
• In 479 BCE they defeated the Persian army outside a town called Plataea.
• The Persian army stopped attacking Greece.
• This defeat stopped the Persian army from taking over all of Europe.
• Thousands of Greeks died in the Greco-Persian Wars
• Athens was destroyed, but would rebuild.

Click here to watch a video clip about the Battle of Plataea