Homer’s Iliad

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C h a p te r s ( h tt p s : //co l o r s t a te .g r l co n te n t .co m /we s te r n c i v p re m o d e r n /pa g e /c h a p te r s ) C h a p te r 3 : A rc h a i c a n d C l a s s i c a l G re e ce ( h tt p s : //co l o r s t a te .g r l co n te n t .co m /we s te r n c i v p re m o d e r n /pa g e /c h 3 ) C h a p te r 3 : C l a s s i c a l G re e ce ( h tt p s : //co l o r s t a te .g r l co n te n t .co m /we s te r n c i v p re m o d e r n /pa g e /c h 3 p g 4 )

CLASSICAL GREECE

The Classical Period of Greek history follows the Archaic period around 500 BC and lasts

until the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.  This period is characterized by the

�ourishing of democracy, theater, and philosophy in Athens and other large contributions

to Western heritage. The Classical age begins with a clash between the Greeks and their

eastern neighbors, the Persians.

 

 

First Persian Invasion of Greece Through colonization, Greek culture expanded through the Mediterranean and

increasingly into the sphere of Persian in�uence.  The great Persian Empire expanded

throughout Western Asia and was the largest and most powerful empire in antiquity. 

Persians, already by the sixth century BC, had subjugated the southwestern portion of

Asia Minor, which had been Greek colonies. The Ionians, as they are called, revolted

MENU

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unsuccessfully against Persian rule with help from Athens in 499 BC. The Persian king,

Darius, sought to expand his empire and seek revenge on Athens—the Persians invaded

Greece in 490 BC.

 

The Persians sailed into the Aegean, capturing several islands on their way to mainland

Greece.  They �nally landed at Marathon, a mere 26 miles from Athens.  The Athenians,

along with their Platean allies, met the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, unaided by

other poleis (Sparta was suspiciously absent from the encounter due to a religious

festival).  Although outnumbered, the Greek forces defeated the Persians at Marathon

due to their hoplite phalanx formation.  The Greek troops, led by the general Miltiades,

forced the Persians out of Greece.  They would not return for another decade.  One story

tells of a runner, Pheidippides, who ran �rst to Sparta in a single day to seek their

assistance, and then back to Athens (155 miles).  Then later, he ran from Marathon to

Athens after the Persian defeat to declare, “Nike! (Victory!)” to Athenians before

collapsing and dying.  This is the traditional story whose legacy is the modern Marathon of

26 miles. 

 

Persian Wars.

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In the meantime, Athens elected a new archon leader, Themistocles, who persuaded

Athens to develop a navy.  Indeed, the Athenians built about 200 triremes—ships with

banks of three oars—with money they had recently discovered in their silver mines. The

Persians, meanwhile, were busy with a revolt in Egypt and the death of King Darius. The

new Persian king, Xerxes, began a campaign against the Greeks again for expansion and

the added motivation of revenge. The Persians invaded Greece for a second time in 480

BC.

 

Greek Trirem e.  Left: Thinkstockphotos.com. Right: Clipart.com

 

 

Second Persian Invasion of Greece The Persian king, Xerxes, led an estimated 150,000 ground troops into Greece, along with

almost 700 ships and a large caravan of supplies, taking the same route through the

Hellespont that Darius had a decade earlier.  As they passed through Thrace and

Macedonia, the Athenians began to seek help in the form of a uni�ed Greek front.  Sparta

(again was unable to go to war because of a religious festival) sent a small contingent of

Spartan soldiers to aid the allied forces.

 

 

Thermopylae About 300 Spartans, and additional 900 united Greeks, were led by King Leonidas and

met the Persians at Thermopylae—a pass between northern Greek neighborhoods of

Thrace and Boeotia and Athens.  Meanwhile, the Athenian navy, commanded by

Themistocles, met the Persian navy off the coast at the straights of Artemisium.  Leonidas

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managed to hold off the Persians for two days, until they were betrayed by the Greek,

Ephialtes, who informed the Persian king of a goat path.  Xerxes was then able to route

the Greek forces and surround them.  Leonidas and the 300 Spartans fought to the death.

 

Despite their efforts, the road to Athens was left open and Xerxes marched south.  The

Athenians realized this threat and decided to abandon Athens and evacuate to the island

of Salamis in 480 BC.  Themistocles reorganized his navy in the straights between Salamis

and the mainland and met the Persian �eet.  The naval Battle of Salamis was a Greek

victory (V i d e o ( h t t p s : // w w w.yo u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = n E N U m b d s A P w ) ), although

the Greeks were outnumbered.  Xerxes and his navy retreated back to Asia, but he left a

Persian force in Thessaly.

 

Secon d Persian Invasion of Greece.

 

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The Greeks united against this persistent Persian threat. The Spartans, in 479 BC,

defeated a Persian force at the land Battle of Plataea, northwest of Athens.  The two

Greek victories of Salamis and Plataea forced the Persians out of Greece.  A united Greek

force followed them to Mycale, in Asia Minor, and landed the �nal blow in Persian

expansion into Greece. Thanks to hindsight, historians know that the Persians did not

attempt to invade Greece a third time.  However, the Greeks in the �fth century BC were

not so sure. The Persians could invade again at any time, and this mindset facilitated the

growth of the Athenian Empire.

 

 

The Delian League and the Athenian Empire Once the Persians had been ousted from Greece, Athens assumed the leadership a

confederation of Greek poleis called the Delian League. This League was organized to

prepare for another Persian invasion, should such an occasion arise. The headquarters of

the League was on a neutral, sacred island called Delos, but all the of�cers and

commanders were Athenian. To be allowed into the Delian League, members would be

required to supply either men, money, or ships. The League continued to pursue Persia

and defeated the Persian �eet and army in Asia Minor in 469 BC.

 

To many Greeks, this decisive battle demonstrated the end of the Persian threat. Indeed,

some poleis attempted to withdraw from the League, the �rst to do so was the island of

Naxos, followed shortly by Thasos.  Athens responded harshly and promptly—they

attacked these cities, destroyed their walls and �eets, removed any autonomy, and forced

them to pay tribute to Athens. The confederated states were no longer members by

choice. The Delian League became an instrument of Athenian imperialism.

 

Meanwhile, in Athens, democracy was thriving and the city under the leadership of

Pericles. This statesman spread Athenian democracy to the federated members of the

Delian League. During this time, Athens dominated the region both politically and

culturally and this period is often called the “Golden Age of Athens” or the “Age of

Pericles.”  During this time, theater and philosophy are �ourishing and democracy

becomes even more radicalized. The sovereign entity of the Athenian state became the

ecclesia, or popular assembly. This body consisted of all male citizens over the age of

eighteen and it passed all laws and made all decisions on peace and war policies.  Pericles

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Th e Par th en on. Image © Shutterstock, Inc.

also enfranchised poor citizens who now had the opportunity to hold of�ce and

participate in the government. The power was very much in the hands of the people, even

more so than the original democracy of Cleisthenes.

 

One element was put in place to curb the ambitions of individuals. That is the practice of

ostracism, the Athenian democratic practice of temporary banishment from a city by

popular vote. This practice allowed members of the assembly to vote (on a small piece of

broken pottery—an ostracon—the name of individuals deemed most dangerous to the

polis.  The person who received the majority of ostraca would be exiled for ten years. This

was the system of checks and balance put in place in the radical Athenian democracy.  One

man could not gain too much power.

 

Athens spread this version of

democracy throughout the Delian

League.  Indeed, as we have seen,

participation in the League was no

longer voluntary. Athenian in�uence

spread throughout mainland Greece,

coming into con�ict with Sparta and her

allies, who had refused to join the

League. Meanwhile, Athens continued

an offensive pursuit of Persia, which

maintained the legitimacy the League. By 454 BC, Athens had tightened her grip on

League members and even moved the treasury of the league from Delos to Athens.

 

Pericles used this treasury money, without the approval of its members, to build new

temples and buildings in Athens.  Most famous of all was the Parthenon. This transference

of the treasury to Athens marks the tradition from a Delian League to and Athenian

Empire. From this point on, any protest from an ally could only be heard in an Athenian

court. Athens now spreads democracy and builds a naval empire without consent of the

allied states.

 

This power grab on behalf of Athens was troubling to Sparta. Indeed, Thucydides, the

author of History of Peloponnesian War, tells us that the rise of Athens to power inspired

fear in Sparta; particularly that the Athenian naval empire would weaken Spartan

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dominance in the Peloponnese. Sparta at this time was the head of another confederacy

of Greek poleis, the Peloponnesian League. This fear led to a prolonged war between

Athens and Sparta.

 

Th e Delian an d Peloponn esian Lea gues.

 

Review Question

All of these battles were Greek victories against the Persians except:

Thermopylae

Salamis

Plataea

Marathon

SAVE & CHECK VIEW CORRECT ANSWER

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