The Greco-Persian wars, or Persian wars, refer to the wars between Persia (the Achaemenid Empire) and Greece in the 5th century. To understand the most significant results of the war, one must understand the history and events that led up to the war. Many Greek tribes emigrated and settled in Asia Minor and formed three tribal groups called the Aeolians, Dorians, and Ionians, with the Ionians settling close to Lydia. The Lydians conquered Ionia, and when the Persian prince Cyrus led a successful revolt against the last Median king Astyages, he took charge of Lydia (Lumen Learning, 2021). Prince Cyrus founded the Achaemenid Empire, which at its peak was estimated to have a population size of about 50 million people and encompassed about 5.5 million square kilometers after the revolt. The …show more content…
One of the most significant results of the Greco-Persian wars is that it helped unite the Greek city-states against their common enemy, Persia, a rare occurrence in ancient Greece. While they had conflicts amongst themselves, they set their differences aside and fought for Greece as one front. Their unity and the success that ensued ensured that they regained their autonomy and independence. Therefore, with their independence restored, Greeks could shape their own identity and preserve their culture as heroic, courageous, and noble in their defense of their nation (Oxford University Press, 2010). By creating their own identity, the ancient Greeks were able to grow to their highest potential in various aspects and create their own legacies. For instance, Athens became a known naval power in those regions. Finally, a significant result of the Greco-Persian wars is their impact on western civilization. The success of Greece in the wars and their independence promoted cultural and intellectual growth, which has contributed greatly to western
In early fifth century BC Greece, the Greeks consistently suffered from the threat of being conquered by the Persian Empire. Between the years 500-479 BC, the Greeks and the Persians fought two wars. Although the Persian power vastly surpassed the Greeks, the Greeks unexpectedly triumphed. In this Goliath versus David scenario, the Greeks as the underdog, defeated the Persians due to their heroic action, divine support, and Greek unity. The threat of the Persian Empire's expansion into Greece and the imminent possibility that they would lose their freedom and become subservient to the Persians, so horrified the Greeks that they united together and risked their lives in order to preserve the one thing they all shared in common, their "Greekness".
There are times in history that something will happen and it will defy all logic. It was one of those times when a few Greek city/states joined together and defeated the invasion force of the massive Persian Empire. The Greeks were able to win the Greco-Persian War because of their naval victories over the Persians, a few key strategic victories on land, as well as the cause for which they were fighting. The naval victories were the most important contribution to the overall success against the Persians. The Persian fleet was protecting the land forces from being outflanked and after they were defeated the longer had that protection. While the Greeks had very few overall victories in battle they did have some strategic victories. The Battle of Thermopylae is an example of a strategic success for the Greeks. The morale of the Persian army was extremely affected by the stout resistance put up by King Leonidas and his fellow Spartans. The Greeks fought so hard against overwhelming odds because of what they were fighting for. They were fighting for their country and their freedom. They fought so hard because they did not want to let down the man next to them in the formation. Several things contributed to the Greeks success against the Persian invasion that happened during the Second Greco-Persian War.
While Persian financial support undeniably contributed to the Spartan’s victory over Athens in the Peloponnesian War, modern historians have over-emphasized the importance of that assistance to their eventual victory. Persian money allowed the Peloponnesian forces to stay in the fight, which had quickly dissolved into a war of attrition after the Athenian’s defeat at Syracuse. However, there were several negative aspects of the Persian/Peloponnesian alliance which detrimentally affected Sparta’s ability to effectively wage war against Athens. Included in this was the tendency for Persian Satraps to withhold pay and reinforcements, or to provide that pay irregularly. Additionally, Persia’s insistence that Sparta recognize their control over all Ionian cities prior to any treaty being completed led
Herodotus was an interesting historian. His way of displaying a historical event such as the Persian War is different from how I expect a modern day historian to write it. He does not try to focus only on the Persian war but he goes into detail some times of the lineage of the rulers of the city-states even though that serves little relevance to the actual war. The accounts of history I am used to reading are more focused on the bigger issue and the historians do not deviate on long trains of side thoughts such as Herodotus does. Herodotus style of writing had me confused because he often would start on one topic and in the next couple of sentences move on to another topic before coming back to his main point about a paragraph down. I had to
Of all the history of the Ancient Greece, there were two events that showed really well how disunity among the Greeks highly contributed to its downfall, which were the Peloponnesian War and Successors’ War. Interestingly, both wars occurred after a unity and followed by a unity that was carried out by “outsiders”. This may have actually shown that the Greeks had never learned from their past
Compare and Contrast the Persian War and the Peloponnesian War? Focus on answering the following questions: What led to the beginning of each war? Who were the major parties involved on either side of each of the conflict? At the conclusion of each war, who was victorious? Most importantly, how were the parties involved impacted immediately after each conflict? Why is each war important in the development of Ancient Greek history?
The Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BCE) was a conflict between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and the Greek city states, which began when Cyrus the Great
Greece and Persia are two of the four great empires that rose to the top rapidly. Both empires have well organized political systems that greatly influenced the way later governments were structured in the United States and Europe. Greece and Persia empire’s structures weighed greatly on their development and growth, but the diverse topographies of Greece and Persia also made a vast impact. These features affected the cultures and even how the political government changed overtime.
In the years following the Persian Wars in 479 B.C., Athens had come out on top being the most dominantly powerful of any Greek city with a navy that had superior strength that increased day by day. The Athenians “ruled with heavy-handed, even brutal force as well as with reason” (Kagan 2). This was due largely to the fact that Athens had a stable and effective government, which only increased their advantage in proving themselv...
The Ancient Greek contribution ranged by the 1900-133 BC, however its influence on the Western Literate Society lasts to this day. As the Greeks expanded their empire, they spread their ideas to other countries, while also borrowing from other cultures. During this period of time, the Greeks made many significant and long-lasting contribution to our modern culture in Philosophy, Art, Democracy, Drama, Math, and Science. These givings of important ideas, inventions, and structures have had an extraordinary influence on the surrounding environment, society, and in the future. The essential contribution of Greeks to the Western Civilization are Democracy, Art, and Philosophy.
Iran was included in the territory of what was then the ancient Persian Empire. For centuries Iran (land of the Aryans) was also referred to as Persia, which was the official name until 1935. Fourteen years had passed before the Iranian government allowed the use of both names. Few groups of people today have significant history like the Iranians, descending from the ancient Persians, who possess one of the world’s richest and oldest cultures. Historically, a variety of other cultures and groups had once occupied the ancient Iranian plateau as early as 4,000 B.C.E, with little importance. Beginning by the third millennium, Persia was ruled by some of the greatest kings of all time, from Cyrus the Great to Darius the III, who turned the Persian Empire into one of the world’s greatest civilizations.
“The Greeks molded the mind of Western Civilization, if not the body and the culture” (PowerPoint #6). The Greeks had a very powerful impact on the entire world, making them a huge influence to Western culture. The Greeks showed their power over the world by their great intellect. Through their accomplishments in art, architecture, government, philosophy, education, and science they helped shape Western Civilization. They built strong and intricate buildings, allowing others to see throughout history the plan of the architecture used. The Greek government was one of the first to have a Democracy. Their ac...
In the sixth century B.C, the land that we now call Iran was the center of the largest empire in the world. The kings of Ancient Persia( such as Cyrus the Great) were the leaders of a great civilization that made amazing advances in laws, goverment and communication. Founded in 550 B.C by King Cyrus the Great, the Persian Empire spanned from Egypt in the west to Turkey in the north, and through Mesopotamia to the Indus River in the east. Unlike most empires at that time, the Persian kings were benovelent rulers, and allowed a diverse variety of diffrent people with diffrent ethnic backgrounds. The Persian empire was split into three diffrent empires with three diffrent time periods but the first empire was called the Achaemenid Empire. It began with King Cyrus the Great and ended with King Darius III.
The Legend of the Trojan horse started when the prince of Troy, Paris, visited the King of Sparta, Menelaus. Menelaus’s wife, Queen Helen, left Sparta to be with Paris. This angered Menelaus. So, Menelaus asked his brother, Agamemnon to siege Troy and retrieve Helen. Agamemnon was joined by the Greek heroes Achilles, Odysseus, Nestor, and Ajax.
Beginning in 492 B.C., a series of wars erupted, appropriately entitled the Persian Wars, which lasted around thirteen years. Because of the constant battles between the Persians, led by Xerxes, and Greece, both civilization started growing weaker and weaker. When the wars ended, the Greeks were successful at defeating the Persians. However, being in a weakened state caused the Greek city- states (mainly Athens against Sparta) to fight amongst themselves in order to have more influence over the rest of the city-states. This type of war was termed the Peloponnesian War and continued from 431B.C. to 404 B.C. (History of Greece:The Golden Age of Greece) and