historical periods

Question 1

what is the chronological and geographical context of ancient Greece in the Mediterranean and the Near East?

Answer 1

• chronological: 5th century, tyrants trying to take over, Athens promised help from Persians; Peloponnesian alliance; dispute between Athens and Sparta; Ionian Greeks under Coche, had a revolt
• geographical: Peloponnese, other mainland Greeks, Ionian Greeks; Near East (Persepolis unit); expansion- Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius

Question 2

what were key powers in the region of ancient Greece and what was the nature of its contact with other societies?

Answer 2

Thebes, Sparta; other societies; violent and antagonistic- Spartans had conflict with others, Persians conquered, Ionians revolted, Persians invaded

Question 3

what were the major battles of the Persian Wars?

Answer 3

• battle of Marathon
• battle of Thermopylae
• battle of Artemisium
• battle of Salamis
• battle of Plataea
• battle of Mycale

Question 4

what were the origins of Persian imperialism?

Answer 4

Cyrus the Great created the Persian empire, and defeated Media, Lydia, Babylonia, Palestine and the Ionian cities of Asia Minor; his son Cambyses took Egypt, and Cambyses’ son Darius conquered Thrace through to Macedonia and consolidated Eastern borders to the Indus (Afghanistan); Darius begun an invasion into Greece in 490 BC, and following his death, his son Xerxes continued the expedition in 480-479 BC

Question 5

what were the origins of the Ionian Revolt?

Answer 5

the Ionians were Greeks who traced origins back to Attica and thus felt a kinship to Athenians; were under the yoke of Lydian tyrant Croesus who allowed them to remain relatively independent as long as they maintained their tribute to him; Cyrus the Great invited Ionians to revolt against Croesus but they wouldn’t, so he sent his generals to besiege the Ionian cities (Sharwood-Smith)

Question 6

what occurred in the Battle of Marathon?

Answer 6

the battle of Marathon occurred in 490 BC; the Athenians were afraid of the Persian cavalry, and believed themselves unfit to fight without the Spartans; despite this, Greek general Miltiades caused the Greeks to ultimately win, although it was understood that Darius would return for revenge; the Parthenon is believed to have been built in celebration of Greek’s victory

Question 7

what was the role of Miltiades in the Battle of Marathon?

Answer 7

Miltiades convinced polemarch Kallimachos that they needed to fight the Persians so as to not have Athens be enslaved; in the battle, he came up with the strategy of drawing Persians in by situating themselves so that the wings had strong forces, whilst the middle only had a few people; they the surrounded the Persians and cut them down as the Persians fled back to their ships

Question 8

how did Persia prepare for the Persian Wars?

Answer 8

Herodotus states that Xerxes had to be convinced by Mardonias that invading Greece was a good idea; he then had the Hellespont Bridge built and built a canal at Mount Athos peninsula, along with building roads with regular silos

Question 9

how did Greece prepare for the Persian Wars?

Answer 9

to prepare for the war, the Hellenic League was formed, led by the Spartans as they had the greatest fighters; there were quarrels over where to meet the Persians, initially it the location for the war was Tempe in northern Greece, but the location ultimately decided was Thermopylae

Question 10

what occurred in the Battle of Thermopylae?

Answer 10

the Battle of Thermopylae occurred in 480 BC; the battle is infamous for being primarily fought by Spartans, as other most other Greeks could not get to the battlefield; Leonidas led his Greeks from behind their fortification to a wider open ground, probably in order to expand the frontline to kill as many Persians as possible before their inevitable defeat arrived from their rear in the form of Ephialtes and the immortals; Leonidas died in the battle and Persia triumphed

Question 11

what occurred in the Battle of Artemisium?

Answer 11

the Battle of Artemisium occurred in 480 BC; simultaneously with the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persian fleet approached the Greek contingent of 200 triremes led by Eurybiades at Artemisium, there to protect the flanks of their land forces; the Persians encircled the smaller Greek fleet expecting an easy victory, however, “the Greeks formed a tight circle, with their bows outward and stems to the centre, then at the second signal, with little room to manoeuvre and lying, as they were, bows on to the enemy, they set to work, and succeeded in capturing 30 Persian ships” (-Herodotus); Herodotus calls the battle a stalemate, however Plutarch claims Artemisium as “where the brave sons of Athens planted the shining cornerstone of their freedom”

Question 12

what occurred in the Battle of Salamis?

Answer 12

the Battle of Salamis occurred in 480 BC; Herodotus writes that Eurybiades asked the Athenian council to decide where the most suitable place for a sea-battle was, to which most said the Isthmus, as if they were defeated at Salamis, they would be blocked up in the island where no hope could be brought to them; Themistocles persuaded Eurybiades on Salamis as the narrow passageway would have disadvantaged the Persians; the Persians ultimately withdrew from the battle, and the Greeks won

Question 13

what occurred in the Battle of Plataea?

Answer 13

the Battle of Plataea occurred in 479 BC; Spartan regent Pausanias, acting as regent for his nephew, the son of Leonidas, led his allied army to Boeotia, with over 100000 troops but no cavalry; for weeks both sides did not want to leave their tactically chosen battlefield; Mardonius harassed the Greek centre with barrages of arrows, hoping to draw them out; Pausanias, unable to move his own Spartiates, sent a squadron of elite Athenian archers, who launched volleys back at the Persians; after more days of waiting, Mardonius ordered his men to attack, with the Athenians being the first to be caught by the medised Greeks; when the Spartans attacked, the Greeks ultimately “won the most splendid victory that history records” (-Herodotus)

Question 14

what occurred in the Battle of Mycale?

Answer 14

the Battle of Mycale occurred in 479 BC; according to Herodotus, the Greek fleet was hesitant to go so far from the Greek mainland to fight to Persians closer to their own home, with Samian spies informing them that the Ionians were ready to revolt and that the Persian navy were in too poor a condition to resist; they sailed to Samos, but, after discovering the Persians had fled to Mycale, they chased them down; the Greeks landed at Mycale and advanced along the beach until they found the Persians, and in the battle many Ionians in the Persian contingent revolted, and the Greeks won the battle; Buckley states that “the revolt of the Ionians and their desire to join the Hellenic League would entail a radical change of military policy […]: an offensive war against Persia”

Question 15

how was Athens evacuated prior to the battle of Salamis?

Answer 15

there are multiple theories on how Athens was evacuated for the battle, with Herodotus claiming that the fleet evacuated women and children from the city, implying that they were abandoned by the other Greeks who fled behind the Isthmus after only sending minimal forces in the first place- this puts Peloponnesians in a bad light; the Decree of Themistocles states that the evacuation was a carefully planned operation that relied on Thermopylae as a delaying action rather than a final battle, and that the evacuation was always going to happen- this supports Sparta’s strategy of only sending 300 soldiers, however Herodotus does not mention the decree; Sharwood-Smith writes that there was a decree for the evacuation, however some returned, causing a panic evacuation

Question 16

what was the role of Themistocles in the Persian Wars?

Answer 16

• in 483 BC, according to Plutarch, argued during Athens’ war with Aegina, that the Athenians needed a larger fleet to control sea routes
• convinced the Athenians that a battle of Salamis was their best hope at repelling the Persian invasion
• led the Athenian contingent at Artemisium
• left messages to Ionians on withdrawal through Euboea
• created the Themistocles decree
• was responsible for the ruse on Xerxes in which he suggested that he himself was ready to change sides

Question 17

what was the role of Leonidas in the Persian Wars?

Answer 17

• march to Thermopylae with 300 hand-picked Spartiates
• inspired military tactics to defend the pass
• dismissed main part of force once situation became hopeless
• decided that he and his men would fight to the death
• there was a fight for his body after his death
• burial and epitaph at Thermopylae
• his contribution at Thermopylae can be evaluated by the battle’s impact on subsequent events during the Persian invasion

Question 18

what was the role of Pausanias in the Persian Wars?

Answer 18

• masterminded Greek victory at Plataea, despite having to hold together an army of 80000 men for weeks, having no food or water, and having to hold discipline amongst constant attack from Persian cavalry
• led the Persians to be driven out of Greece
• Plataea was the last of the defensive battles in Greece, and Persians did not step foot in Greece again

Question 19

what was the role of Eurybiades in the Persian Wars?

Answer 19

• chief of Greek navy at Artemisium and Salamis, played a major role in Greece’s defence
• chosen as Peloponnesians were unwilling to fight under an Athenian commander
• dissuaded Themistocles from chasing Xerxes to the Hellespont (Herodotus)
• tactical mediator between Athenian and Peloponnesian contingents

Question 20

why did Greece triumph in the Persian Wars?

Answer 20

• home ground advantage in Marathon, Salamis and Thermopylae, as they could meet in the narrows (Salamis), have better access to supplies and have time on their side
• strong leadership through Leonidas (Thermopylae), Eurybiades (Artemisium/Salamis), Themistocles (Salamis), Pausanias (Plataea), Miltiades (Marathon)
• Salamis would have disunited Greece, however it instead created circumvention by removing the naval threat
• exploited Persian supply issues
• tactics: weak middle, strong sides (Marathon), potential ruse (Salamis)
• unity between Athenian and Peloponnesian armies
• strong hoplite army

Question 21

why did Persia lose in the Persian Wars?

Answer 21

• strong leadership through Xerxes (Thermopylae), Mardonius (Plataea)
• strong cavalry
• (can refer to points about Greek victory but flip them around)

Question 22

what were the origins of the Delian League?

Answer 22

• Ionians needed protecting after second Ionian revolt and demanded membership of the Hellenic League
• Spartans objected
• Pausanias’ abrasive leadership put Ionians off Spartan leadership
• Ionians trusted Athenian leadership and virtue of Aristides; requested Athenian-led defensive alliance
• permanent oath taken on Aristides’ flagship

Question 23

what were the aims of the Delian League?

Answer 23

• to protect Greek states who had revolted from the Persians (-Fine)
• to “free the Greeks from the Persians” (-Thucydides)
• for vengeance and compensation by ravaging the king’s territory (-Fine)
• “‘proskhema’ (‘object’ or ‘pretext’) being to compensate themselves for their losses by ravaging the territory of the king of Persia” (-Thucydides)

Question 24

what was the organisation of the Delian League?

Answer 24

• Delos was the headquarters and treasury (-Meiggs)
• membership or ‘phoros’ (money) tribute; Aristides evaluated amounts to be contributed by each state (-Powell)
• congress; unilateral (majority vote) or bicameral (agreed upon by both parties); bicameral more likely as it guaranteed that decisions that Athens went against would not go through (-Buckley)

Question 25

what activities occurred in the Delian League?

Answer 25

• battles of Eion, Skyros and Carystus: generally considered along the lines of the official aims of the Delian League
• battle of Naxos: subjugated for trying to leave the alliance
• battle of Eurymedon: Delian League removes Persian presence form the Aegean, all but meeting its aim of liberating Ionian Greeks, and leading many allies to want out of the League, and Athens reacted aggressively, leading many scholars to name this as the transfer from League to Empire
• battle of Thasos: Athens used the fleet to subjugate an ally over a sovereign quarrel; Sparta acts against Athenian power
• Cimon dismissed and ostracised; radical anti-Spartan democrats come to power in Athens and leave the Hellenic League, this being as good as a declaration of war (-Buckley), and the origins of the first Peloponnesian War
• league fleet becomes Athenian fleet (-Thucydides), allies to blame for their eventual subjugation, Cimon encouraged them to do this which supports de ste Croix’s interpretation of ‘proskhema’ translating to the covering of Athenian imperialist ambition

Question 26

what was the role of Cimon in the Delian League?

Answer 26

Plutarch credits Cimon with the policy of trying to encourage Athens’ allies to make their contributions to the League in money, thereby, paying for protection, rather than ships (Fine); Cimon’s leadership in Athens as a conservative aristocrat who promoted a pro-Sparta foreign policy would have eased some of Sparta’s fears of Athens’ growing power, however his political destruction by the radical democrats would have alarmed the Spartans and made them fear Athenian intent, thus leading the Spartans to dismiss Cimon and the Athenians (Thucydides), and effectively end the Hellenic League; the feelings of unity between the Greeks were destroyed and the Greek world was divided into camps of Athens vs Sparta (democracy vs aristocracy) (Fine); Cimon was then ostracised (Buckley)

Question 27

what was the role of Aristides the Just in the Delian League?

Answer 27

Aristides supported Themistocles in the Battle of Salamis and, after he assisted the Ionian allies in revolting from Pausanias, he contributed greatly to the Delian League

Question 28

how did the Delian League transform into the Athenian Empire?

Answer 28

• Eion, Skyros, Carystus all only contributed to official aims of the league
• Naxos began showing signs of imperialism (Athens subjugating an ally)
• Eurymedon completed the official aims
• Thasos was the first proper attempt at completing the unofficial aims as Athens subjugated an ally with a good anti-Persian record
• Cimon encouraged demilitarisation

Question 29

what was the nature of Athenian imperialism?

Answer 29

Thucydides insists that Carystus and Naxos are early signals of Athenian imperialist aggression, although both could be justified; Thasos was an unambiguous sign of Athenian imperialism, especially after the defeat of the Persians at Eurymedon the year before; Thucydides explains transition of the league fleet into the Athenian fleet and explains this as a key mechanism of imperialistic control over allies, however Plutarch insists that Cimon encouraged this transition, showing imperialist intent; after the 451 BC ‘Five-Year Truce’ with Sparta and the alleged peace of Callias in 449 BC (-Diodorus / Sicily), Athens went to great lengths to punish any allies trying to defect the Chalcis decree (“You will obey the people of Athens”); the move of the treasury from Delos to Athen, the Cleinias decree (obligations of phoros from subjects), the Weights and Measures decree and the installation of garrisons, cleruchs and episkopoi all show signs of the empire

Question 30

how did the Athenian Empire change Athens’ relations with its allies?

Answer 30

• Thucydides speaks on Naxos and refers to members of the league as ‘autonomous allies’, showing that initially Athens and the other states were equal
• Fornara speaks on the Erythraean Decree, which set up a democratic constitution in Erythrae under Athenian ‘episkopoi’ (Athenian inspectors) and ‘phrourarchs’ (garrisons), revealing the strict control Athens was willing to place on rebellious allies
• Fornara also speaks on the Athenian Coins, Weights and Measures Decree, which imposed a central Athenian currency system on the empire, revealing how overbearing Athens was becoming on the league
• Fornara also speaks on the Chalcis Decree, which states specifically that members of the league must obey Athens, being made to betray fellow citizens and to help Athens defend itself, revealing how Athens had taken all power away from its former allies

Question 31

what were the key democratic developments in the Athenian Empire?

Answer 31

• 487 BC: archonship by lot; diminished the prestige of archons and built authority for the strategoi
• 480s BC: ostracism was used to remove aristoi who were acting in tyranny, and Themistocles used this to remove Persian ‘sympathisers’
• 470s BC: the Athenian fleet spawned a massive building and supply industry, as well as thousands of rowers
• 462-1 BC: reforms to the Areopagus which took away powers of oversight of the archonship and transferred it to the Boule; this allowed Ephialtes to take advantage of Cimon’s Mount Ithome disaster and ostracise him

Question 32

what was the impact of the Persian Wars on Athens?

Answer 32

the Persian Wars led to a rise of military power, and the building of the strongest navy in the Aegean for Athens; this rise in power gave impetus to their hegemony in the Delian League, which would be the basis of their naval empire; Plutarch says that Themistocles insisted on the building of the fleet; Athenian strategy helped them turn the war at Salamis, and the navy helped finish the war at Mycale, this being the basis for states asking Athens to lead a new anti-Persian alliance (-Plutarch); there was also a rise in political power, through the hegemony of the Delian League, the building Athenian Empire (-Buckley), the fleet, the trade dominance and income, and growing imperialist incursions; there was also a rise of thetes in Athens

Question 33

what was the impact of the Persian Wars on Sparta?

Answer 33

in the short-term the Persian Wars reinforced Sparta’s reputation as the best soldiers in the Greek world; however, it also saw the rise of a naval-based empire in Athens, that would go on to threaten their military hegemony; the victory at Plataea was called the “greatest victory that history records” by Herodotus; however the Athenians won at Salamis and struck a major blow at Mycale, making them the hegemon of a major Greek military alliance; in the longer term, the Persian Wars inspired the Delian League, which became an imperialist threat to Sparta’s Peloponnesian allies, forcing it into conflict with Athens; this forced Sparta to launch a campaign in Boeotia and fight a major battle at Tanagra; even though they retained many of their earlier losses after the 30 Years Truce, they had lost Aegina and were on their way to a superpower conflict which would terminally weaken both states

Question 34

what was the nature and composition of the Peloponnesian League?

Answer 34

Sparta was a hegemon within the league, with a treaty in place stating that Sparta had to assist an ally attacked by a non-league member, and conversely the allies had to help Sparta in case of an attack

Question 35

what activities occurred in the Peloponnesian League?

Answer 35

• Powell argues that there’s no evidence for Sparta objecting to the Delian League
• 465 BC: Sparta commits to invading Attica to help lift the siege of Thasos; Thucydides says the Spartans were wary of “the revolutionary spirit” of the Athenians
• 457 BC: Spartan incursion into Boeotia and subsequent Battle of Tanagra
• Corinth was fearful of encirclement by Athens; Sparta was slow to act in the early years as they were trying to recover from the helot revolts
• 5 Year Truce, 452 BC; Phillips: Sparta instigated status amongst Athenian allies; oligarchs (Spartans) vs democrats (Athenians)
• 30 Year Peace

Question 36

what was Sparta’s response to Athenian imperialism?

Answer 36

• war with Thasos: Sparta planned revolt, prevented due to earthquake and helot revolt
• force of 4000 soldiers in Sparta; Sparta dismisses Athenians, leading to the ostracism of Cimon
• Athens alliance with Megara; Aegina goes to war with Athens, is defeated, becomes ‘ally’ of the Delian League; Sparta sends a force to Boeotia, engages in battle against Athens in Tanagra and win a decisive victory
• 5 Years Truce, rise in revolutions amongst Athenian allies (-Thucydides), meaning Athens were too overbearing
• Euboean cities saved, Megara lost; 30 Years Truce, Athens humiliated and consolidate
• Aegean empire; peace holds for 15 years