Around 546 B.C., Persian forces attacked and conquered Iona.

– Iona was a Greek city

• Ionian Greeks revolted and Athens sentships filled with soldiers to aid their fellow Greeks.

• The Persian King Darius the Great destroyed the rebels and the soldiers sent from Athens

– He vowed to crush and conquer Athens as well.

• In 490 B.C., the Persians launched their attack on Athens

• A fleet carrying 25,000 Persians crossed the Aegean Sea and landed in Marathon

– Marathon was 26 miles away from Athens

• When the massive Persian fleet arrived in Marathon, there were 1,000 Athenians waiting for them.

• The Athenians arranged their forces into many phalanxes and attacked the Persians.

– The Persians had lighter armor

– The Persians were not well trained in land combat

• The Persians lost more than 6,000 men in the battle– The Greeks lost fewer than 200 – The Persians fled the battlefield

• Though the Athenians won the battle in Marathon, the city of Athens was defenseless

– The army leaders sent a young soldier named Pheidippides to run back to Athens and tell the city’s forces

26 miles

*Why we call it a marathon*

• When Pheidippides reached Athens he told the news of the Persian forces

– He fell dead after he delivered the message

• The Athenian forces prepared for the arrival of the Persians

– The forces from Marathon raced back to help defend Athens

• When the Persians arrived to attack Athens, the Athenians were waiting and ready.

• The Persians didn’t risk attacking the heavily defended city.

– Turned the ships around and retreated

• Ten years later, King Darius the Greats’ son, Xerxes decided to finish what his father couldn’t conquer Athens.

• Xerxes created an enormous army to invade and conquer Athens

*Remember: Greece was NOT united

– Many different city-states

– Some Greek city-states joined the Persians

• In August, 480 B.C. Xerxes set out to conquer Athens, he had to cross a narrow mountain pass in Greece called Thermopylae.

• There, he was met by a group of three hundred Spartans.

– Led by King Leonidas I

• Persian forces had 2.5 million men and the Spartans had only 300 men.

*Remember: The Spartans’ military training*

• The Spartans did not retreat

• The Spartans’ use of the phalanx prolonged the Persian victory.

• King Leonidas I and all 300 Spartans met their death.

• The Spartans’ sacrifice left a great impression on the other Greek states

– Greek Respect

• During the battle of Thermopylae, anAthenian military leader created a plan to defend Athens from the Persians.

• Themicostles convinced the Athenians to flee the city and fight the Persians at sea.

– Set up a Greek base on an island near Athens, Salamis

• The Battle of Salamis

• Xerxes took advantage of an empty Athens

– Set fire to the city

• After burning the city, Xerxes sent Persian ships to block any Greek forces.

• The Persian ships were too big for the small Greek waterways.

• The Greek ships were built for the small waterways.

• The tinier Greek ships were equipped with battering rams.– Rammed and put holes in the Persian ships

• Xerxes couldn’t do anything but watch the smaller Greek ships destroy the immobile Persian ships.

• Xerxes’ massive force had to retreat

• After the battle of Salamis, several of the Greek city-states formed an alliance.

– The Delian League

– The headquarters was located on Delos Island

• The Delian League successfully pushed the Persian forces out of Greece.

• The Delian League created a new sense of confidence amongst the Greek city-states.

– More than 200 Greek city-states joined the league

• Eventually, Athens emerged as the leader of the Delian League

– Moved the league’s headquarters to Athens.

Athens’ Golden Age

• For close to fifty years (477 – 431 B.C.), Athens experienced a growth in intellectual and artistic learning.

– This time period is referred to as Athens’ Golden Age

• During the golden age, drama, sculpture, poetry, philosophy, architecture and science reached new heights in ancient Greece.

Greek Drama

• The Greeks wrote two kinds of dramas

– Tragedy

A tragedy was a serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, or betrayal

Featured a main character or a tragic hero

– Comedy

A comedy contained scenes filled with slapstick situations and crude humor. Usually ridiculed made fun of politics and other respectable people.

• From 461 – 429 B.C., a politician named Pericles led the Athenian government.

– The Age of Pericles

• Pericles had three goals:

1. Strengthen the Athenian democracy

2. Strengthen the Athenian empire

3. Glorify Athens

1. Stronger Democracy• To strengthen the democracy, Pericles increased the

number of public officials.

– Made being a public official a paid job– Was an unpaid profession before Pericles – Before only the rich could serve in office, now it was

possible for the poorest person to become a public official.

– Many voters

• Athens became one of the most democratic governments of all time

• Athens was a direct democracy

*Direct Democracy- A form of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives

• Direct Democracy spread from Athens to most of the Greek city-states

2. Strengthening the Empire• Pericles realized that the Athenian navy was a big factor

in the defeat of the Persians.

– He used money from the Delian League’s treasury to strengthen Athens’ navy

• Increased overseas trade to increase Athens’ economy

3. Glorifying Athens• Pericles also used money from Delian League to

beautify Athens.– Did this without the League’s approval

• Hired artists and architects to work allover the city.– Structures made out of

• Gold• Ivory• Limestone

The Peloponnesian War

• As Athens grew in wealth, other city states became dissatisfied.

• There was a lot of tension between Athens and Sparta

– Athens was the leading city-state of the Delian League

– Sparta was the leading city-state of the Peloponnesian League

• After much disagreement and tension between the two states, Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 B.C.

• Athens had a stronger navy– Better on water

• Sparta had a stronger army– Better on land

– Pericles wanted to avoid battle on land, but Sparta was too far inland to have sea battles.

• The Spartans marched onto the Greek main lands and attacked the surrounding villages outside of Athens

– The Spartans burned the countryside– Burned massive amounts of crops

• Pericles brought in all of the surrounding citizens into the Athens’ city walls

– Safer – Larger food supply

• Disease struck Athens during the siege.

• Massive plague killed one third of the population

– Pericles died as well

• Athens continued to fight.

• In 421 B.C., both sides signed a truce

• The peace lasted for only six years.

• In 415, Athens sent a fleet of 20,000 soldiers to attack Syracuse. – Syracuse was Sparta’s allies on the island of Sicily

• Athens’ forces in Sicily were crushed by the Spartans

• In 404, Athens surrendered to Sparta.

• Athens lost everything that Pericles created

– Empire, power, and wealth.