GREECE VS THE PERSIAN EMPIRE.

The Greeks have learnt the art of trading from the Aegeans whom they subjugated. The AEGEANS in turn have learnt it from the PHOENICIANS. Now the Phoenicians were established on the coast of  Asia Minor and the Greeks have slowly started taking away sea faring business from them.  However, the Phoenicians were not strong enough to go to war with the Greeks, so they could do nothing.

By that time, the Persians have conquered most of West Asia and started eyeing to the West of their domains. First in Asia Minor under Darius the Great gave an ultimatum to the Greek colony of Lydia to submit to them and pay taxes. The Lydian’s objected to it while the Persians insisted on it. Lydia appealed to their home country of Greece for help.

Now there is a huge ideological difference between the Persian Empire and the Greek states. In the Persian Empire the power lay with the king and each citizen had to unquestioningly obey his commands. Greece consisted of many states that are independent of each other and they had self government. To the Persians the Greek model looked dangerous.

Now Greece had a measure of safety from the Persians because their land is separated from the Persians by the Aegean sea. The Persians did not have a good navy and now the Phoenicians saw an opportunity and stepped in. They assured the Persians that they would provide the ships to transport the Persian soldiers to Greece. That was in the year 492 BC.

As a final warning the King of Persia sent messengers to Greece asking them to submit to him. They refused and threw the messengers into a well making peace impossible. When the Phoenician fleet filled with Persian soldiers reached Mount Athos near Greece, a huge hurricane commenced and sunk all the ships and all the soldiers too were drowned.

Two years later in 490 BC the Persians arrived again when the Empire was under Darius I, also known as Darius the Great. They sailed the Aegean sea and landed near the village of MARATHON. As soon as they heard of this Athens sent 10,000 men to guard the plain of Marathon and sent a runner to Sparta for help. Sparta was envious of Athens and did not send any troops. Following the path of Sparta other Greek states too did not send any troops to help Athens. Only the little state of Platea sent in 1000 men. Thus the Greeks had only 11,000 soldiers.

In September 490 BC the commander of Greek forces Miltiades attacked the Persian army of 100,000 strong with his contingent of 11,000 men. The Greek Phalanx did great damage to the Persian army and broke through. That night as the citizens of Athens eagerly awaited the news as they saw the flames of burning ships on the night horizon.

When morning dawned a small cloud of dust appeared from the North where the battle has taken place. As people eagerly awaited Pheidippides the runner appeared. He stumbled and gasped as his end was near. He was earlier asked to run to Sparta seeking help, thereafter he ran back and joined the troops at Marathon and thereafter ran back to Athens after the battle. When he reached Athens he whispered “We Have Won” and immediately died a glorious death which we celebrate today by running the Marathon. The distance he ran was 26 miles 385 yards as per the current measurements and from then onwards the Greeks instituted it as a long distance competition.  

The Greeks and Athens now knew that another attack would come from Persia and started preparing for it. But too much of Democracy always spoils things and that was what happened in Athens which as then the most populous state in Greece. . Some people thought that the army should be increased while some others thought the navy should be strengthened. The two groups were led by Aristides (For a better army) and Themistocles (for a better navy) fought bitterly and nothing was done. Finally Aristides was exiled and Themistocles built a strong navy and made Piraeus a strong naval base.

In 481 BC a strong Persian army of Emperor Xerxes appeared in Thessaly in Northern Greece. Sparta was given the overall command of the Greek armies. However, the Spartans who were at the extreme South of Greece did not bother about the North and neglected fortifying the mountain passes in Thessaly leading into deep Greece.

A small detachment of Spartans numbering 300 men under Leonidas supported by 1100 other soldiers has been assigned to guard the narrow road between the high mountains and the sea which connected Thessaly with the Southern provinces of Greece. Despite the contingent being small, Leonidas fought bravely and protected the road till a traitor led a Persian army (100,000 strong) through the passes. The army outflanked Leonidas and attacked him in the rear near THERMOPYLAE which hard warm water wells from inside the earth. There was a terrible battle and the entire contingent of Leonidas lay dead but under the corpses of their enemies.

The road was lost to the Persians and their army marched through to Athens killed the garrison and sacked the city. The people who were left fled to the island of Salamis and everything looked lost. However, Themistocles led his naval fleet into battle with the Persians near the island of SALAMIS  in the narrow straights and within a few hours he destroyed 75% of the Persian ships. This made Xerxes retire back to Thessaly waiting for spring to arrive.

This time, the Spartans realized their mistake and under Pausanias marched against Mardonius the Persian general.  This Greek army of 100,000 men from a dozen different cities met the huge 300,000 strong Persian army. Again the Greek Phalanxes carrying spears broke through the Persian army and the Persians were defeated. On the same day, the Athenian fleet destroyed the Persian fleet near Asia Minor.

Thus both Athens and Sparta fought valiantly in these encounters and won the day. However, they could not reconcile their differences and unite Greece.