The Persian Wars began when Darius I of Persia sent forces to attack Athens in retaliation for its support of rebelling Greek cities. This led to the famous battles of Marathon and Thermopylae, where outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians. After the Persians were defeated at Salamis and Plataea, Athens emerged as the dominant city-state in Greece and organized the Delian League. However, this dominance led to conflict with Sparta and the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC, which devastated Greece and ended with Sparta capturing Athens in 404 BC.

1. CHAPTER 5
Section 3 Notes

2. The Persian Wars
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Herodotus---told the story of the Greek’s pride
By 500 B.C., Athens had emerged as the
wealthiest city-state
Eventually the Persians conquered the Greek
city-states of Ionia
Athens sent ships to help the city-states when
they rebelled and the Persian ruler Darius
resented the help that Athens provided

3. Persian Empire

4. Herodotus

5. Darius

6. The Persian Wars
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Darius sent a huge force to attack Athens
The Athenians and the Persians fought at the
Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., a battle that
the outnumbered Athenians won
After winning the battle, the Greeks sent
Pheidippides, their fastest runner, to Athens to
deliver the message of victory (Nike). He
collapsed and died after running the 26.2
miles. This is where we get the modern
marathon from.

7. Battle of Marathon

8. Nike

9. Some of my favorite Nikes

10. The Persian Wars
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In 480 B.C., Darius’ son Xerxes sent a huge
force to conquer Greece
Athens had persuaded Sparta and other citystates to join in the fight against Persia
The Persians landed again in northern Greece
A small Spartan force guarded the narrow
mountain pass at Thermopylae
Led by the great warrior-king Leonidas, the
Spartans held out heroically against the
enormous Persian force until they were all
wiped out

11. Xerxes

12. Thermopylae

13. Last Stand of the 300

14. Leonidas

15. The Persian Wars
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After defeating the Spartans, the Persians
marched south and burned Athens, even though
the city was empty
The Greeks now put their faith in the fleet of ships
that Themistocles had urged them to build
The Athenians lured the Persian navy into the
narrow strait of Salamis where the Athenian
warships defeated the Persians
The following year the Greeks defeated the
Persians on land in Asia Minor and ended the
Persian invasions

16. Themistocles

17. The Persian Wars
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Victory in the Persian Wars increased the
Greeks’ sense of their own uniqueness
Athens emerged as the most powerful citystate in Greece
It organized the Delian League, an alliance
with other Greek city-states
Athens angered other members by moving the
treasury and using its money to rebuild the city
of Athens

18. Athens in the Age of Pericles
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The years after the Persian Wars were a
golden age for Athens
Under the rule of Pericles, the economy
thrived and government became more
democratic
The period from 460 B.C.-429 B.C. is called
the Age of Pericles

19. Pericles

20. Athens in the Age of Pericles
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Periclean Athens had a direct democracy---a
large number of citizens take direct part in the
day-to-day affairs of government
Today we use a representative democracy
At least 6,000 members had to be present in
order to decide important issues
Pericles believed that all male citizens,
regardless of wealth or social class should
participate in government

21. Athens in the Age of Pericles
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Athens began to pay a stipend to men who
held public office---this enabled poor men to
serve in government
Athenians also served on juries
Athenian juries included hundreds or even
thousands of jurors---far different from our
system today
Male citizens over 30 years of age were
chosen by lot to serve on the jury for a year--jurors also received a stipend

22. Athens in the Age of Pericles
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Athenian citizens could also vote to banish
public figures who they saw as a threat to their
democracy (ostracism)
To ostracize someone, a citizen wrote that
person’s name on a piece of pottery.
Depending on the number of votes cast, an
ostracized individual would have to live outside
the city, usually for a period of 10 years.

23. Athens in the Age of Pericles
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Thucydides, a historian who lived in the Age of
Pericles, recorded a speech given by Pericles at
the funeral of Athenians slain in battle---the
“Funeral Oration”
Pericles said that: power in Athenian government
rested not in the hands of a minority but of the
whole people and stressed the rights and duties of
citizenship
Today the “Funeral Oration” is considered one of
the earliest and greatest expressions of
democratic ideals

24. Thucydides

25. Athens in the Age of Pericles
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Athens prospered during the Age of Pericles
The best architects and sculptors were hired to
rebuild the Acropolis and other building
projects were undertaken
Pericles and Aspasia helped turn Athens into
the cultural center of Greece (more on this in
Section 4)

26. Aspasia

27. The Peloponnesian War
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Many Greeks outside of Athens resented
Athenian power and money
To counter the Delian League of Athens,
Sparta and other enemies of Athens formed
the Peloponnesian League
Sparta encouraged oligarchy, Athens
supported democracy
In 431 B.C., war broke out between Athens
and Sparta---it would engulf all of Greece and
last 27 years

28. Delian League

29. Peloponnesian League

30. The Peloponnesian War
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Even though they were rich and had a
powerful navy, Athens faced a major
geographic disadvantage---Sparta was located
inland
When Sparta attacked Athens Pericles allowed
people from the surrounding countryside to
move within the city walls---this lead to
overcrowding and the spread of a plague that
killed 1/3 of the population including Pericles
The war drug on and atrocities were carried
out by both sides

31. Peloponnesian War

32. The Peloponnesian War
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Sparta eventually allied itself with Persia and
in 404 B.C. , with the help of the Persian navy,
Sparta captured Athens (but didn’t destroy the
city)
This may have been due to Athens’ role in the
Persian Wars

33. Aftermath
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The Peloponnesian War ended Athenian
domination of the Greek world
The Athenian economy revived and Athens
remained the cultural center of Greece but its
spirit and vitality declined
Democratic government suffered and corruption
and self-interests replaced service to the city-state
Fighting tore apart the Greek world---Sparta was
eventually defeated by Thebes and eventually
Greece would be taken over by an ambitious ruler
from Macedonia (more on this in Section 5)