CLCIV 101 Final Exam Study Guide

May 480 - Xerxes' forces prepare at Sardis, around 500,000 men and 1,200 ships, while the Greeks have 40,000 men maximum and 380 ships. Xerxes' army crossed the Hellespont to Thermopylae, which has hot springs, 5000 Greeks, and 300 Spartans (The 300), led by King Leonidas. Previously, in 491 B.C., Darius had sent heralds to Greek cities, hoping to convince them to join the Persian Empire. The Athenians tossed these heralds into a pit and the Spartans threw them in a well. Xerxes restarted this plan in 480, but skipped Athens and Sparta. The other city-states either joined him or remained neutral, but Athens and Sparta led the resistance. Leonidas refused to surrender when Xerxes threatened him. The Greeks managed to hold their own against the Persians in the narrow pass of Thermopylae until they were betrayed by Ephialtes, who told the Persians about a way around Thermopylae. Leonidas called a war council, and they agreed retreating was the best course of action. Leonidas remained with 300 Spartans, however, possibly because retreat is against Spartan custom. They were quickly defeated, and Leonidas was killed. The Persian victory allowed Xerxes to expand into Southern Greece.

Battle of Thermopylae

Founded 534 BC

City Dionysia

Evidence of Greek-Persian interactions. Found in Persepolis, Iran. Around 6th century BC.

Clay Tablet with Oino (Wine)

For flying gods

Crane (mêchanê)

For wheeling out bodies

Ekkyklema

Earliest surviving tragic poet, sponsored by Pericles. 525-456 BC. Wrote The Persians, 470, about the Battle of Salamis, honors Themistocles

Aeschylus

479-431 BC Rise of the Athenian Empire in the Aegean. Athens becomes the leading cultural center of Greece Why? -Panathenaic Games fostered by Pisistratus -Pisistratus set up first festival for tragic drama -Cleisthenes' democratic reforms of 508 -Athens is most progressive city in Greece -People go there on business -Artistic commissions

After the Persian War

In 479 B.C., a large, unified Greek army under Pausanias of Sparta, who commanded 40,000 men and few cavalry, against Xerxes' general Mardonius, who commanded 300,000 men and many cavalry. The Persian cavalry raided Greek supply routes and blocked some of the springs that provided their water supply. Pausanias decided on a night move to a new position, but this maneuver did not go as planned and the Greek forces became disorganized. Mardonius saw an opportunity and attacked, but the hoplites took advantage of the close-quarters combat and gradually gained the upper hand. Mardonius was killed in action, and the leaderless Persians scattered and fled. The Greeks finally won, and Persia would never invade again.

Battle of Plataea

480 B.C. Athens had already been evacuated by this point, and Xerxes pillaged and burned it to the ground, as his father Darius I had wished. Xerxes still felt he had to defeat the Athenian navy once and for all. Allied Greek Fleet commanded by Spartan Eurybiades and Athenian Themistocles, who spent the previous 10 years convincing the Athenians of the necessity of a strong fleet. It was Themistocles who decided to hold position at Salamis instead of retreating to the isthmus of Corinth. Persian fleet was full of experienced Phoenician and Egyptian sailors. Triremes were very useful. Many Greek cities came together to halt their advance. Themistocles sent his reliable servant to Xerxes, who he knew relied on betrayal to beat the Greeks previously. The fake traitor told them he knew where the Greek fleet would be and that their forces were disorganized. Xerxes took the bait. The Straits of Salamis neutralized the Persians' numerical advantage as there was not much space to maneuver. Greek triremes encircled the Persian vessels and sunk them. Decisive Greek victory.

Battle of Salamis

460-445 BC

First Peloponnesian War

546 - Persians under Cyrus conquer Ionia (causing great thinkers like Pythagoras and Xenophanes to emigrate). Although they extended religious toleration, Ionian cities were now ruled by autocratic tyrants and subject to Persian governors, "satraps" 499-494, Ionian cities revolted against Persian Rule. Aristagoras, tyrant of Miletus, asked Sparta, Athens, and Eretria for help. Sparta thought they were too far away, but Athens and Eretria sent ships to help in 499 (Athens was also afraid of the return of the tyrant Hippias, who fled to Persia). They attacked Sardis, the headquarters of the Persian Empire in Lydia, but in 494 the angry Persians, under Darius I, sacked Miletus. The poet Phrynichus was fined at Athens for staging the tragedy "Sack of Miletus," which was too much for the Athenians to handle, so they banned it.

Ionian Revolt

In 492 B.C., Persian commander Mardonius lost a great part of his fleet going around the cliffs of the Athos peninsula during the First Persian invasion of Greece. Xerxes, in preparation for the Second Persian Invasion of Greece, ordered a canal built through the base of the mountain to avoid the same calamity, completed in 480 B.C.

Mount Athos

Archidamian War (431-421 BC) - Sparta pillaged countryside around Athens Peace of Nicias (421 BC) Sicilian Expedition (415-413 BC) Ionian War (412-404 BC) - Alcibiades switched sides Sparta defeated Athens at Aegospotami

Second Peloponnesian War

First tragic poet

Thespis

He died in 465 B.C. in Persia

Tomb of King Xerxes