The Greco-Persian Wars

At the beginning of the 5th century BCE the Persian king Darius I sought new lands. He had subdued the Greek cities of Asia Minor and taken Thrace; when those Greek cities rose in revolt, Athens helped them. Darius I demanded “earth and water” (a sign of submission) from the cities of Greece. Athens and Sparta refused. In 490 BCE a Persian army landed on the plain of Marathon in Attica; the Athenians (commander Miltiades) defeated the Persians. After Darius I died, his son Xerxes marched with a huge army. In 480 BCE at the pass of Thermopylae a Greek force under the Spartan king Leonidas held the Persians back; after a traitor showed the Persians a way round, Leonidas fought to the end and died with 300 Spartans (and some other Greeks). The Persians took Athens. That same year in the Strait of Salamis the combined Greek fleet (fast triremes) defeated the large Persian fleet in the narrow waters; Xerxes left Greece. In 479 BCE near Plataea the combined Greek land army crushed the Persians. The wars ended in a Greek victory (a formal peace about 449 BCE). The victory led to Athens becoming stronger.