Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander

Clash Between Greeks and Persians: The Great Invasion of 480-479 B.C.

Table of Contents

Go to

8.4.3. VIII.[4] End of the Persian Wars

The Greek victory at Salamis in 480 B.C. sent Xerxes back to Persia, but he left behind an enormous infantry force under his best general and an offer for the Athenians (if only they would capitulate): they would remain unharmed and become the king's overlords over the other Greeks. The assembly refused, the Athenian population evacuated its homes and city once again, and Xerxes' general wrecked Athens for the second time in as many years. In 479 B.C., the Greek infantry headed by the Spartans under the command of a royal son named Pausanias (c. 520-470 B.C.) outfought the Persian infantry at the battle of Plataea in Boeotia, just north of Attica, while a Greek fleet caught the Persian navy napping at Mykale on the coast of Ionia. The coalition of Greek city-states had thus done the incredible: they had protected their homeland and their independence from the strongest power in the world.

8.5. Political Freedom and Greek Courage

The Greeks' superior armor and weapons and their adroit use of topography to counterbalance the enemy's greater numbers explain their victories from a military perspective. What is truly remarkable about the Persian Wars, however, is that the citizen militias of the thirty-one Greek city-states decided to fight in the first place. They could have surrendered and agreed to become Persian subjects to save themselves. Instead, eager to defend their freedom despite the risks and encouraged to fight by the citizens of their communities, these Greeks chose to strive together against apparently overwhelming odds. Since the Greek forces included not only aristocrats and hoplites (who had to be financially capable of supplying their own armor and weapons), but also thousands of poorer men who rowed the warships, the effort against the Persians cut across social and economic divisions. The decision by Greeks to fight the Persian Wars demonstrated courage inspired by a deep devotion to the ideal of the political freedom of the city-state, which had emerged in the preceding Archaic Age.

• Xerxes back to Persia: Hdt. 8.103 [Text]; Hdt. 8.115-120 [Text]
• enormous infantry force under his best general: Hdt. 8.100 [Text]
• an offer for the Athenians: Hdt. 8.136 [Text]; Hdt. 8.140-141 [Text]
• assembly refused: Hdt. 8.143-144 [Text]
• Athenian population evacuated: Hdt. 9.6 [Text]
• Xerxes' general wrecked Athens: Hdt. 9.13 [Text]
• Greek infantry headed by the Spartans under the command of a royal son: Hdt. 9.19-75 [Text]
• Plataea: Battlesite [View]; Plataea [Atlas]; Select references to Plataea [Encyclopedia]
• Mykale: Mykale [Atlas]; Hdt. 9.90 [Text]; Hdt. 9.96-101 [Text]
• devotion to the ideal of the political freedom: Hdt. 8.143.1 [Text]

This text is based on the following book(s):
.
OCLC: 33900145
ISBN: 0300069561

Buy a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com.