Summary of Greco-Persian Wars, Herodotus, Plutarch and Aeschylus Celebrate Greek Victory

Today we will learn and reflect on the history of the Greco-Persian Wars,
summarizing our prior long-form videos. We will ponder many questions:
How were the small Greek city-states, led by Sparta and Athens, able to
defeat the massive, mighty Persian Empire?
What led the Persians to challenge the Greeks on their home turf? What
was the history of the Persian Empire?
Was the Greek historian of these wars, Herodotus, the father of history,
or was he the father of lies?
How did Herodotus’ Histories reflect the warrior culture of the Iliad?
How did the Greco-Persian Wars lead the Greeks into their brutal
Peloponnesian Wars between the Athenian empire and the Spartan
allies?

At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video.
Please feel free to follow along our PowerPoint
script posted to SlideShare.
Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!

Summary of Greco-Persian Wars
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What can we learn by reflecting on the Greco-Persian
Wars? We can learn more about Greece, and we can
learn more about Persia, and how these two fighting
cousins influenced each other.

If you look on the map, Greece is on the west coast of the Aegean Sea,
and Persia is on the east coast. The Greeks were a sea-faring people, and
often Greek citizens, seeking opportunity, would establish new colonies
on the Mediterranean shore. Many Greek colonies were founded on the
west coast of the Aegean Sea, which was called Ionia.
There was always tension between Persia and the leading Greek city-
states, led by Sparta and Athens, on whether these Greek colonies would
be incorporated into the Persian Empire, or whether they would be
independent Greek city-states. If you look on the ancient map, the
Greeks, like all people, view themselves as the center of the world. This
map shows the ancient world as the lands surrounding the
Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, with no concept there was a wider
world beyond.

Possibly what the map of the
world by Hecataeus of Miletus
looked like (6th century BC)

Also, just as the United States was defined by its wars, the
Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and the two World Wars in the
modern era, the culture of ancient Greece was also defined by its
wars, beginning with the myths of Trojan Wars as sung in the Iliad
and Odyssey. Homer in the Iliad sung of the warrior culture of the
Greeks, where when a hostile city-state would be defeated in
battle, the military age men would be massacred, and the
women and children would be enslaved. There were no
conscientious objectors in the ancient world, every able male
served in the military.

https://youtu.be/DpmuhZJUJn0
https://youtu.be/7lI2ZQ50wRc
https://youtu.be/bGHHD7XTvr0
https://youtu.be/ynIx-AVI2f8

The Greco-Persian Wars were the first wars the Greeks fought against a formidable
foreign power. The Greek victory in these wars setup the world wars of the ancient
world, the multi-generational Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta,
where Sparta, against all odds, and with Persian assistance, was the eventual victor.
The wars between Greek city-states, and Persian influence in these wars, continued
after a short peace, and lasted another generation, exhausting the Greek city-states,
leading to their subjection of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. The
lesson that Alexander learned from of all these wars, starting with the Greco-Persian
Wars, and from Xenophon’s leading the Greek mercenary armies from the heart of
the Persian Empire, Babylon, back to Greek territory, was that the Greek hoplite
armies were vastly superior to the Persian fighting forces. This meant for Alexander
the Great that the Persian Empire was ripe for the taking.

Amazons, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, painted 1820
Herodotus, History of Persia & Other Lands

The ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, offered his
listeners, and I say listeners because most Greeks
heard his Histories read out loud at Greek festivals,
entertaining stories on the history of Persia, plus
stories about Egypt and the other countries on the
borders of Persia, stories that entertained their
listeners as much as they educated them.

Herodotus, and later Xenophon, tells us the origin story of
Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire, a
warlike historical figure many Greeks admired. Herodotus
describes how Cyrus the Great defeated King Croesus of
Lydia and many other opponents. Both Herodotus and
later Xenophon describe how Cyrus defeated the Assyrian
Empire by diverting the course of the Euphrates River so
he could conquer Babylon, so his army could march in
through a gap in the city walls on the dry riverbed.

Lydia, ruled by Croesus, was located on the west coast
of Asia Minor, and likely included Greek city-states on
the coast. Croesus was fabulously wealthy, he was
one of the first monarchs to issue coinage in the
ancient world, even today we talk of those who are as
rich as Croesus. Herodotus has an entertaining
account of Croesus’ encounter with the Athenian
lawmaker Solon, which was unlikely historically, since
they lived at different times.

Croesus
showing his
treasures to
Solon, Frans
Francken the
Younger,
painted 1620

Herodotus also has a delightful tale of the Amazons,
the woman warriors of Scythia, how the Persians
doubted they could defeat them in battle, so the
Persian soldiers partnered with them in love;
because: Who doesn’t like stories about the
Amazons, and their princess, Wonder Woman?

Amazons, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, painted 1820

Modern historians debate whether Herodotus was
the Father of History, or the Father of Lies, since so
many of his stories sound so fantastic. For example, in
his Egyptian travelogue, although his description of a
crocodile suggests he actually saw a crocodile, he
totally botches his description of a hippopotamus.
The Greek word for a hippo is a river-horse, so
Herodotus describes a hippopotamus as a horse
adapted for life in the river!

Boating on the River Nile, by Frank Dean, painted 1899

Ancient Greek and Roman Historians

While Herodotus is the major source for the history of the
Greco-Persian Wars, Plutarch, a later ancient Roman
historian, contributed biographies of leading figures of
Herodotus’ Histories, including Themistocles, the Athenian
leader, and Solon, plus the biography of the legendary
Spartan lawgiver, Lycurgus, which is also an origin story
and a description of the Spartan warrior culture. Also,
Aeschylus provides what may have been influenced by
eyewitness accounts of the naval Battle of Salamis, from
the perspective of the Persian sailors.

Athenians Victorious at Battle of Marathon

The Persian King Darius was humiliated when an Athenian raiding party, fighting in
support of the Greek colonies of Ionia, attacked and burned the regional Persian
capitol of Sardis. In response, several years later King Darius attacked Athens with a
small raiding party, seeking to sack Athens and add mainland Greece to the Persian
Empire. The Spartans refused to assist the Athenians, they said they first had to
celebrate a religious festival, so the Athenian hoplite infantry, assisted only by
hoplites from the small Greek city-state of Platea, attacked on the run the Persian
forces as they disembarked from their ships at the Battle of Marathon.
The Persian infantry were totally intimidated by the Athenian hoplites. The Greeks
not only won the battle, they destroyed several of the Persian ships. But the
remaining Persian fleet sailed around to beach near Athens to sack the city. The
Greek hoplites, after fighting all day, ran twenty-five miles to meet the Persian ships
on the beach outside Athens. Surprised at their speed and fighting spirit, the Persians
decided to sail back to Persia.

Battle of
Marathon,
Georges
Rochegrosse
1859

Persians Return In Greater Numbers

Many modern historians point out that one reason for the
Persians’ inability to defeat Greece was that these battles
were at the very end of the Persian supply lines, that
logistically it was a long reach for Persian forces to subdue
the Greeks.
When King Xerxes ascended to the throne, he decided to
attack mainland Greece with a much larger force. This
Persian Army was much too numerous for the Persian
ships, so the army marched along the coast while the
Persian navy followed them offshore.

Smerdis, not
Bardiya,
Per Herodotus

Many historians see Herodotus as the Father of Tall Tales rather than as the Father
of Lies, since some of his seemingly fantastic tales have been proven true. One such
fantastic story was that King Xerxes ordered that a canal should be dug across the
isthmus near Mount Athos. His father, King Darius, had lost many ships in storms
when rounding this peninsula, the canal could avoid these storms. Historians were
surprised when archeologists found the remains of this canal that had been filled in
over the centuries.
King Xerxes was the first Persian palace king; the earlier kings had led the troops in
battle. Instead of leading the troops, King Xerxes merely observed the battle from
an elevated dais, or chair. Many historians speculate this hurt the Persians, as
individual Persians sought mainly to impress the watching king rather than follow
sound tactics on the battlefield.

King Xerxes decided to
have his men cut a canal
across the isthmus at
Mount Athos so his
ships could avoid the
treacherous seas at the
tip of the peninsula.
Mount Athos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerxes_Canal

Xerxes at
the
Hellespont,
by Adrien
Guignet,
1800's

Stung by their absence at the victorious Battle of
Marathon, the Spartans assumed a leading role in this
phase of the wars. The Spartan planned to halt the Persian
advance at the narrow Pass of Thermopylae, and they
killed many Persian soldiers over several days, they would
not let them pass. But a traitorous Greek revealed a
mountainous trail around this narrow pass. Discovering
this treachery, the Spartans dismissed her allied forces,
and three hundred Spartans fought the Persians to their
deaths.

King Leonidas at
the Pass of
Thermopylae, by
Jacques-Louis
David, 1814

Greek Naval Victory at Battle of Salamis

Greek morale sank after the Persian army streamed through the Pass of
Thermopylae, heading for the city of Athens. The Athenians evacuated
their women, children, and elderly from Athens to the surrounding
islands. Seeing that the city was vacated, the Persians sacked and burned
both Athens and its temples on the Acropolis.
The combined Greek fleet was gathered in the Straits of Salamis, south of
Athens. The wily Greek leader, Themistocles, grasped that the best
chance for the Greeks to prevail would be to fight in the cramped straits
of Salamis. He was worried that the Spartan and other triremes would
flee. So, he sent a duplicitous message to the Persian commander telling
him that he was on his side, that the Persians that night needed to bottle
up the Greek fleet in the straits of Salamis.

This was also brilliant tactically, for the Greek naval forces had the benefit
of a sound night’s sleep and breakfast, while the Persians spent their
night before the big battle bobbing on the waves bottling up the Greeks,
and not getting a wink of sleep, nor breakfast. Can you imagine pulling an
all-nighter, then having to row and fight all day long with little to eat and
drink under the bright hot sun? This is what happens when a hubristic
potentate decides how battles will be fought.
The Athenian and their allies were excellent sailors, they skillfully
rammed and sunk many Persian ships in the cramped straits. It was a
resounding Greek victory. Aeschylus has an exciting account of this battle,
which was likely based on eyewitness testimony.

The Battle of Salamis, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach, 1868

Persian Army Defeated at Battle of Platea

Demoralized, King Xerxes and the Persian fleet sailed back to Persia,
taking as many Persian troops as possible, while the brave Persian
troops remained in Greece. Ironically, the Persian army wintered with a
Persian ally, Macedonia, ruled by King Alexander, namesake for
Alexander the Great who would conquer Persia many generations later.
The next spring, the Greek and Persian armies maneuvered in the
Boeotian plain in central Greece, neither army willing to engage with
the other. At one time, a Spartan unit disobeyed orders and was isolated
by the Persians. During the disorganized melee, the Greeks were able to
gain the advantage, and chased the Persians behind the palisades in
their camp. In the ensuing battle, the majority of the Persians were
slaughtered.

From Greco-Persian to Peloponnesian Wars

After this defeat, the Athenian and Spartan navies pursued the
Persians, whose naval fleets had been weakened, and liberated
many of the Ionian colonies. The Spartans initially led this effort,
but their hubris led the colonies to ask Athens to head the
Delian League to protect them from the Persian Empire. Over
time, the Delian League evolved into the Athenian Empire,
which would enter into armed conflict with the Spartans. The
fifty-year period between the wars the ancient Greek
Thucydides called the Pentecontaetia, while Dr Wikipedia
includes this fifty-year period as part of the Greco-Persian Wars.

The Histories by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus
and the Greek Lives by Plutarch are both enjoyable to
read. You have to be more patient when reading the play,
the Persians, by Aeschylus, there are many variations
among the various translations of the Greek plays.
Both Xenophon in his Cyropaedia and Herodotus include a
biography of Cyrus the Great of Persia.
We especially profited from listening to the Great Courses
lectures on Herodotus by Elizabeth Vandiver.

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The Great Courses on the Greek-Persian Wars by
Professor Hale also provided interesting
archaeological evidence used by modern historians.

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We also discuss Herodotus and the other Greek
historians in our Book Reviews on Greek History and
Philosophy.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
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