Greco-Persian Wars Flashcards
What were the Achaemenids?
Persian royal dynasty including Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, Artaxerxes; includes all important Persian rulers by these names, everyone we’ll need to know
Who was Darius I “the Great”?
Persian Great King during the Ionian Revolt & first invasion of Greece, reigned from 522-486.
What the Ionian Revolt?
499-494 BC; Revolt of Ionian Greeks against Persian rule, led by Aristagoras of Miletus. Led to the burning of Sardis, Athenian and Eritrean support for the Ionians, and Persian desire for revenge against the Greeks.
What was Sardis?
Capital of the Persian satrapy of Lydia. Home to the richest man in the world, King Croesus, in the 500’s BC before Cyrus the Great’s conquest. Burned down by Athens during the Ionian Revolt, which earned all of Greece the wrath of Persia. Until then, it was one end of the Royal Road of Persia, the other being Persepolis.
Who was Mardonius
Persian general who led a failed invasion in 492, which crashed at Mt. Athos in the north during a bad storm. Returned only to lose at Marathon.
What was Marathon?
490 BC; the major battle of the first Persian invasion, at which the Athenians and Plataeans held off the Persian army and ended the invasion. Athenian commanders included Miltiades and the Polemarch Callimachus.
Who was Miltiades?
Athenian general at Marathon, who was later convicted of treason. He died in prison, passing his huge debt to his son Cimon.
Who was Xerxes?
Persian Great King during the second invasion of Greece. Extremely hubristic, or overly arrogant, comparing himself to a god. Ultimate act of hubris – bridging the Hellespont with his ships. Watched the disaster at Salamis from Cape Sounion. Reigned 485-465. Xerxes the Great or Xerxes I.
What was Medizing?
submission to Persia by presenting the Great King with symbolic earth and water. Infamous medizers – Thebans, who didn’t resist Persia’s invasion.
Who was Themistocles?
Athenian mastermind of the victory at Salamis. Correctly interpreted the Delphic oracle to “place your faith in wooden walls” to mean building a fleet rather than fortifying Athens. Evacuated the city to the island of Salamis, where the naval battle took place, although Athens was razed.
What was the Thermopylae?
480 BC; Leonidas, his 300 Spartan bodyguards, 900 helots, and some other Greeks held the pass here to delay the oncoming Persian army so that the Athenians could prepare their fleet for the battle at Salamis. Happens simultaneously with the naval delay at Artemisium. The Greeks are betrayed by a local named Ephialtes, and the Persians surround them.
What was Salamis?
480 BC; The most important naval battle of the Persian Wars, where Themistocles lures the larger Persian ships into the narrow straits surrounding the island of Salamis. The Persian fleet is effectively annihilated, and the army’s supply lines strained. Reportedly fought on the same day as Himera in Sicily, though unrelated.
What was Plataea?
479 BC; Pausanias and the Spartans lead the Greeks to a land victory over the Persian remnants left over in Greece, leading to a full-blown Persian withdrawal.
Who was Cimon?
Miltiades’s son and an influential leader in Athens after the Persian invasions. Winner at the battle of Eurymedon River, though he died on campaign in Cyprus in 450.
What was the Eurymedon River?
468, 467, or 466 BC; Cimon’s victory over Persia in southern Asia Minor, which effectively ruled out Persia’s direct/military threat to Greece
