2.4 Greece at War -TEACH-

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1,2

AGE 2. The Time of Greeks and Romans

2.4 Greece at war

&

Alexander the Great

spear / lance

body armour

bronze helmet

sword

greaves

horse hair crest

shield (hoplon)

offensive

defensive

Look at the source in the previous slide.

Some parts of a hoplite's equipment was "offensive" (= to attack), other parts were "defensive" (= to protect / defend). 

Which parts were offensive and which were defensive? 

greaves

lance

helmet

breastplate

sword

army branches

navy

artillery

cavalry

airforce

infantry

Greek hoplites

Sparta

Athens

First make a note in your notebook.

• Lesson 2.4: Greece at War

• Every Greek polis had its own army.
• Soldiers were called "hoplites". 
• Who were the hoplites?
•         - only citizens of the polis.
•         - only men who owned land or a business (because they paid their              own armour)

• In most cases hoplites were not full time soldiers.

The worst enemy of Greece in the 5th century BC:

the Persian Empire

The Persian Wars

Make a note in your notebook.

Copy this overview in your notebook and fill in the boxes marked with a V

You can also use this website to find information.

Darius I

490 BC

Persia invades Greece

490 BC

Marathon

PUNISH THE HELLESPONT

When the Persian king Darius died in 484 BC, he was succeeded by his son Xerxes.

Xerxes wanted to take revenge for his father's defeat at Marathon, and he wanted to prove himself.

In 480 BC he marched a massive Persian army to invade Greece again.

Xerxes had two bridges built across the width of the Dardanelles in order that his huge army could cross from Persia into Greece. 

When the bridges were finished and his soldiers were ready to march, a violent storm broke out and the bridges were destroyed.

Xerxes was so angry that he decided to punish the sea: he gave the water 300 lashes with a whip. He also cut off the heads of the engineers who had built the bridges.

Xerxes orders to punish the sea

Which battles were fought?

2. Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC)

Ten years later, in 480 BC, the son of Darius I, King Xerxes, decided to get his revenge on the Greeks. He amassed a huge army of over 200,000 soldiers and 1,000 warships. This was the second Persian invasion.

The Greeks put together a small force, led by the Spartan King Leonidas and 300 Spartans. They decided to meet the Persians at a narrow pass in the mountains called Thermopylae. The Greeks held off the Persians killing thousands, until the Persians found a way around the mountains and got behind the Greeks. King Leonidas told most of his troops to flee, but stayed behind with a small force including his 300 Spartans in order to allow the rest of the Greek army to escape. The Spartans fought to the death, killing as many Persians as they could.

modern illustration of the Battle of Thermopylae

300, the movie

The film "300" is about the Spartans who fought at the Battle of Thermopylae.

You can watch the trailer:

Movie poster of the film "300"

Which battles were fought?

3. Battle of Salamis (479 BC)

The Persian army continued to march on Greece. When they arrived at the city of Athens, they found it deserted. The people of Athens had fled. The Athenian fleet, however, was waiting off the coast near the island of Salamis.

The much larger Persian fleet attacked the small Athenian ships. They were sure of victory. However, the Athenian ships, called triremes, were fast and maneuverable. They rammed into the sides of the large Persian ships and sunk them. They soundly defeated the Persians causing Xerxes to retreat back to Persia.

The Battle of Salamis, modern illustration

WOODEN WALLS 

After the defeat of the Spartans at Thermopylae, the people of Athens began to panick.

Who was going to stop king Xerxes now? How could they save the city of Athens?

A man was sent to the famous oracle at Delphi, a mysterious place where the god Apollo answered questions of humans. The response of the god was: "Only a wooden wall will save you".

The Athenians were puzzled. A wooden wall? How was that going to stop the Persian army? But general Themistocles had an answer of his own: the wooden wall, he argued, was nothing less than the fleet they had spent these last few years hurriedly constructing. A fleet of wooden ships would defeat the Persians.

Themistocles was right. The Persians were defeated at the great naval battle of Salamis. This caused Xerxes to flee and leave his army.

Themistocles

the Battle of Salamis

A GOLDEN THRONE

Xerxes was sure his fleet could easliy destroy the Greek fleet.

His army had just taken the city of Athens and destroyed it. The Acroplis lay in ruins.

But under the command of general Themistocles the Athenians had abandoned their city in time and they were building as many warships as they could.

Then they waited in the bay of Salamis for the Persian fleet to arrive.

King Xerxes was so sure that he would defeat the Athenians that he had his golden throne carried along so he could watch the Greeks be defeated by his army from a nearby hillside. He must have been pretty disappointed!

Xerxes watches the Battle of Salamis

The effects of the Persian Wars

As a result of the Persian wars, most of the Persian fleet was destroyed.

The Persian army retreated from Greece.

We learned that Greek poleis often fought against each other, unless they had a common enemy.

Well, that common enemy was now gone. So the Greek poleis started again to fight amongst themselves. Sparta and Athens even fought a long and bloody war which left both cities weakened.

In the meantime, a new power arose north of Greece. King Philip II of Macedon rose to power and, in 

338 BC, he rode south and conquered the cities of Thebes and Athens, uniting most of Greece under his rule.

But it was his son, Alexander, who would lead the Greeks into a whole new adventure...

The Battle of Salamis, modern illustration

The Alexander Mosaic, dating from circa 100 BC, is a Roman floor mosaic originally from a villa in the Roman city Pompeii. It depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia and measures 2.72 by 5.13 metres. The original is preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. The mosaic is believed to be a copy of an early 3rd-century BC Hellenistic painting.

Alexander the Great

490 BC

Persia invades Greece

famous Greek infantry battle formation:

the PHALANX