The
Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the
Persian Wars;
Ancient Greek: τὰ Μηδικά) were a series of conflicts between the
Achaemenid Empire of
Persia and city-states of the
Hellenic world that started in 499 BC
i[›]
and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political
world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when
Cyrus the Great conquered the Greek-inhabited region of
Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to rule the independent-minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed
tyrants to rule each of them. This would prove to be the source of much trouble for the Greeks and Persians alike.
In 499 BC, the tyrant of
Miletus,
Aristagoras, embarked on an
expedition to conquer the island of
Naxos, with Persian support;
[2] however, the expedition was a debacle and, pre-empting his dismissal, Aristagoras incited all of Hellenic
Asia Minor into rebellion against the Persians. This was the beginning of the
Ionian Revolt,
which would last until 493 BC, progressively drawing more regions of
Asia Minor into the conflict. Aristagoras secured military support from
Athens and
Eretria, and in 498 BC these forces helped to capture and burn the Persian regional capital of
Sardis. The Persian king
Darius the Great
vowed to have revenge on Athens and Eretria for this act. The revolt
continued, with the two sides effectively stalemated throughout 497–495
BC. In 494 BC, the Persians regrouped, and attacked the epicentre of the
revolt in Miletus. At the
Battle of Lade,
the Ionians suffered a decisive defeat, and the rebellion collapsed,
with the final members being stamped out the following year.
Seeking to secure his empire from further revolts and from the
interference of the mainland Greeks, Darius embarked on a scheme to
conquer Greece and to punish Athens and Eretria for the burning of
Sardis. The
first Persian invasion of Greece began in 492 BC, with the Persian general
Mardonius conquering
Thrace and
Macedon before several mishaps forced an early end to the campaign. In 490 BC a second force was sent to Greece, this time across the
Aegean Sea, under the command of
Datis and
Artaphernes. This expedition subjugated the
Cyclades, before
besieging, capturing and razing Eretria. However, while
en route to attack Athens, the Persian force was decisively defeated by the Athenians at the
Battle of Marathon,
ending Persian efforts for the time being. Darius then began to plan to
completely conquer Greece, but died in 486 BC and responsibility for
the conquest passed to his son
Xerxes. In 480 BC, Xerxes personally led the
second Persian invasion of Greece with one of the largest ancient armies ever assembled. Victory over the Allied Greek states (led by
Sparta and Athens) at the famous
Battle of Thermopylae
allowed the Persians to torch an evacuated Athens and overrun most of
Greece. However, while seeking to destroy the combined Greek fleet, the
Persians suffered a severe defeat at the
Battle of Salamis. The following year, the confederated Greeks went on the offensive, defeating the Persian army at the
Battle of Plataea, and ending the invasion of Greece.
The allied Greeks followed up their success by destroying the rest of the Persian fleet at the
Battle of Mycale, before expelling Persian garrisons from
Sestos (479 BC) and
Byzantium (478 BC). The actions of the general
Pausanias
at the siege of Byzantium alienated many of the Greek states from the
Spartans, and the anti-Persian alliance was therefore reconstituted
around Athenian leadership, as the so-called
Delian League. The Delian League
continued to campaign against Persia for the next three decades, beginning with the expulsion of the remaining Persian garrisons from
Europe. At the
Battle of the Eurymedon
in 466 BC, the League won a double victory that finally secured freedom
for the cities of Ionia. However, the League's involvement in an
Egyptian revolt (from 460–454 BC) resulted in a disastrous defeat, and further campaigning was suspended. A fleet was sent to
Cyprus
in 451 BC, but achieved little, and when it withdrew the Greco-Persian
Wars drew to a quiet end. Some historical sources suggest the end of
hostilities was marked by a peace treaty between Athens and Persia, the
so-called
Peace of Callias.
Sources
Herodotus, the main historical source for this conflict
Almost all the primary sources for the Greco-Persian Wars are Greek;
there are no surviving historical accounts from the Persian side. By
some distance, the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars is the Greek
historian
Herodotus. Herodotus, who has been called the "Father of History",
[3] was born in 484 BC in
Halicarnassus, Asia Minor (then part of the Persian empire). He wrote his 'Enquiries' (Greek
Historia, English
(The) Histories) around 440–430 BC, trying to trace the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, which would still have been recent history.
[4] Herodotus's approach was novel and, at least in Western society, he invented 'history' as a discipline.
[4]
As Holland has it: "For the first time, a chronicler set himself to
trace the origins of a conflict not to a past so remote so as to be
utterly fabulous, nor to the whims and wishes of some god, nor to a
people's claim to manifest destiny, but rather explanations he could
verify personally."
[4]
Some later ancient historians, starting with
Thucydides, criticised Herodotus and his methods.
[5][6] Nevertheless, Thucydides chose to begin his history where Herodotus left off (at the
Siege of Sestos) and felt Herodotus's history was accurate enough not to need re-writing or correcting.
[6] Plutarch criticised Herodotus in his essay "On The Malignity of Herodotus", describing Herodotus as "
Philobarbaros"
(barbarian-lover) for not being pro-Greek enough, which suggests that
Herodotus might actually have done a reasonable job of being
even-handed.
[7]
A negative view of Herodotus was passed on to Renaissance Europe,
though he remained well read. However, since the 19th century his
reputation has been dramatically rehabilitated by archaeological finds
that have repeatedly confirmed his version of events.
[8] The prevailing modern view is that Herodotus did a remarkable job in his
Historia, but that some of his specific details (particularly troop numbers and dates) should be viewed with skepticism.
[8] Nevertheless, there are still some historians who believe Herodotus made up much of his story.
[9]
The military history of Greece between the end of the
second Persian invasion of Greece and the
Peloponnesian War (479–431 BC) is not well supported by surviving ancient sources. This period, sometimes referred to as the
pentekontaetia (
πεντηκονταετία,
the Fifty Years) by ancient writers, was a period of relative peace and prosperity within Greece.
[10][11] The richest source for the period, and also the most contemporaneous, is Thucydides'
History of the Peloponnesian War, which is generally considered by modern historians to be a reliable primary account.
[12][13][14]
Thucydides only mentions this period in a digression on the growth of
Athenian power in the run up to the Peloponnesian War, and the account
is brief, probably selective and lacks any dates.
[15][16]
Nevertheless, Thucydides's account can be, and is, used by historians
to draw up a skeleton chronology for the period, on to which details
from archaeological records and other writers can be superimposed.
[15]
More detail for the whole period is provided by Plutarch, in his
biographies of
Themistocles,
Aristides and especially
Cimon.
Plutarch was writing some 600 years after the events in question, and
is therefore a secondary source, but he often names his sources, which
allows some degree of verification of his statements.
[17]
In his biographies, he draws directly from many ancient histories that
have not survived, and thus often preserves details of the period that
are omitted in Herodotus and Thucydides's accounts. The final major
existing source for the period is the universal history (
Bibliotheca historica) of the 1st century BC Sicilian,
Diodorus Siculus. Much of Diodorus's writing about this period is drawn from the much earlier Greek historian
Ephorus, who also wrote a universal history.
[18]
Diodorus is also a secondary source and often derided by modern
historians for his style and inaccuracies, but he preserves many details
of the ancient period found nowhere else.
[19]
Further scattered details can be found in
Pausanias's
Description of Greece, while the
Byzantine Suda
dictionary of the 10th century AD preserves some anecdotes found
nowhere else. Minor sources for the period include the works of
Pompeius Trogus (epitomized by
Justinus),
Cornelius Nepos and
Ctesias of Cnidus (epitomized by
Photius),
which are not in their original textual form. These works are not
considered reliable (especially Ctesias), and are not particularly
useful for reconstructing the history of this period.
[20][21]
Origins of the conflict
The Greeks of the classical period believed that, in the
dark age that followed the collapse of the
Mycenaean civilization, significant numbers of Greeks fled and had emigrated to Asia Minor and settled there.
[22][23]
Modern historians generally accept this migration as historic (but
separate from the later colonization of the Mediterranean by the
Greeks).
[24][25] There are, however, those who believe the Ionian migration cannot be explained as simply as the classical Greeks claimed.
[26] These settlers were from three tribal groups: the
Aeolians,
Dorians and
Ionians.
[22] The Ionians had settled about the coasts of
Lydia and
Caria, founding the twelve cities that made up
Ionia.
[22] These cities were
Miletus,
Myus and
Priene in Caria;
Ephesus,
Colophon,
Lebedos,
Teos,
Clazomenae,
Phocaea and
Erythrae in Lydia; and the islands of
Samos and
Chios.
[27]
Although the Ionian cities were independent of one another, they
recognized their shared heritage and supposedly had a common temple and
meeting place, the
Panionion.
ii[›] They thus formed a 'cultural league', to which they would admit no other cities, or even other tribal Ionians.
[28][29]
The cities of Ionia remained independent until they were conquered by the
Lydians of western Asia Minor. The Lydian king
Alyattes II
attacked Miletus, a conflict that ended with a treaty of alliance
between Miletus and Lydia, that meant that Miletus would have internal
autonomy but follow Lydia in foreign affairs.
[30] At this time, the Lydians were also in conflict with the
Median
Empire, and the Milesians sent an army to aid the Lydians in this
conflict. Eventually a peaceable settlement was established between the
Medes and the Lydians, with the
Halys River set up as the border between the kingdoms.
[31] The famous Lydian king
Croesus succeeded his father Alyattes in around 560 BC and set about conquering the other Greek city states of Asia Minor.
[32]
The
Persian prince
Cyrus led a rebellion against the last Median king
Astyages in 553 BC. Cyrus was a grandson of Astyages and was supported by part of the Median aristocracy.
[33] By 550 BC, the rebellion was over, and Cyrus had emerged victorious, founding the
Achaemenid Empire in place of the Median kingdom in the process.
[33] Croesus saw the disruption in the Median Empire and Persia as an opportunity to extend his realm and asked the
oracle of
Delphi
whether he should attack them. The Oracle supposedly replied the
famously ambiguous answer that "if Croesus was to cross the Halys he
would destroy a great empire".
[34] Blind to the ambiguity of this prophecy, Croesus attacked the Persians, but was eventually defeated and Lydia fell to Cyrus.
[35] By crossing the Halys, Croesus had indeed destroyed a great empire - his own.
While fighting the Lydians, Cyrus had sent messages to the Ionians
asking them to revolt against Lydian rule, which the Ionians had refused
to do.
[36]
After Cyrus finished the conquest of Lydia, the Ionian cities now
offered to be his subjects under the same terms as they had been
subjects of Croesus.
[36]
Cyrus refused, citing the Ionians' unwillingness to help him
previously. The Ionians thus prepared to defend themselves, and Cyrus
sent the Median general
Harpagus to conquer them.
[37]
He first attacked Phocaea; the Phocaeans decided to abandon their city
entirely and sail into exile in Sicily, rather than become Persian
subjects (although many later returned).
[38]
Some Teians also chose to emigrate when Harpagus attacked Teos, but the
rest of the Ionians remained, and were each in turn conquered.
[39]
In the years following their conquest, the Persians found the Ionians
difficult to rule. Elsewhere in the empire, Cyrus identified elite
native groups such as the priesthood of Judea – to help him rule his new
subjects.
[40]
No such group existed in Greek cities at this time; while there was
usually an aristocracy, this was inevitably divided into feuding
factions.
[40]
The Persians thus settled for sponsoring a tyrant in each Ionian city,
even though this drew them into the Ionians' internal conflicts.
Furthermore, certain tyrants might develop an independent streak and
have to be replaced.
[40]
The tyrants themselves faced a difficult task; they had to deflect the
worst of their fellow citizens' hatred, while staying in the favour of
the Persians.
[40] In the past, Greek states had often been ruled by tyrants, but that form of government was on the decline.
[41]
Past tyrants had also tended and needed to be strong and able leaders,
whereas the rulers appointed by the Persians were simply place-men.
Backed by the Persian military might, these tyrants did not need the
support of the population, and could thus rule absolutely.
[41]
On the eve of the Greco-Persian wars, it is probable that the Ionian
population had become discontent and was ready for rebellion.
[42]
