The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Persian Empire and the city-states of Ancient Greece. The famous battles such as the Battle of Marathon and Battle of Thermopylae still stir the public imagination. Sparked by the Ionian revolt in 499 BC, the Persian Empire under the rule of Darius the Great invaded Greece in 492 BC. Two years later at the Battle of Marathon the Persian campaign ended in defeat and the First Greco Persian War was brought to an end. A decade later the son of Darius, Xerxes the Great led his army across the Hellespont to begin the Second Greco-Persian War. The Persian army met the Spartan hoplites of King Leonidas at the Pass of Thermopylae where despite a heroic defence the Spartans were defeated. The Persians continued into central Greece and twice sacked the city of Athens, destroying the Acropolis. The Greek fortunes turned when the Athenian fleet directed by Themistocles were victorious over the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis and then the Spartan led army crushed the Persian forces of Mardonius at the Battle of Plataea. With Greece saved the Greeks took the fight to the Persians by sailing to the Ionian coast and engaging the Persian forces in the Battle of Mycale restoring the Greek naval dominance of the Aegean.

The Greek resistance to the Persian invaders is one of the most pivotal moments in history as the birthplace of Western civilisation struggled for survival and to prevent being absorbed into the eastern empire. The battles of the wars are some of the most significant and famous battles in history and is a period in history that continues to inspire and fascinate people. The following decades of the fifth century would become known as the Greek classical period and would see a profusion of art and political and philosophical thought that would have a profound effect on civilisation to the present day.

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Timestamps:
0:00 Achaemenid Empire
1:19 Ionian Revolt
3:40 First War – Campaign of Mardonius and Diplomacy
5:52 First War – Sacking of Eretria and the Battle of Marathon
9:03 Second War – Battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium
14:30 Second War – Sacking of Athens and Battle of Salamis
17:40 Second War – Persian Retreat and Diplomacy
19:10 Second War – Sacking of Athens and Battle of Plataea
23:46 – Second War – Battle of Mycale and Aftermath

Image Attribution:

Persian_warriors_Berlin_Museum,CC BY 2.0
Standard_of_Cyrus_the_Great_Achaemenid_Empire,Sodacan,CC BY-SA 3.0
Plain_of_Marathon_with_Pine_Forest_and_Wetlands_panoramio,annysuomo,CC BY 3.0
Persian_ship_during_greek-persian_wars.webp,OmicronR,CC BY-SA 4.0
Sphinxes_from_the_Palace_of_Darius_I_at_Susa,Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata,CC BY-SA 4.0
Three_runners_BM_GR_1856.10-1.1.jpg – CC BY 2.5
Alexander_Sarcophagus_Battle_of_Issus,RonaldSlabke,CCBY-SA3.0
National_Museum_of_Iran_Darafsh,CCBY3.0
Helmed_Hoplite_Sparta de:Benutzer:Ticinese,CCBY-SA3.0
Persepolis_The_Persian_Soldiers Arad,CCBY-SA3.0
Greece_from_the_Coming_of_the_Hellenes_to_Themistocles-Photo:Brogi,CC0
MakTempeTal01- Ziegler175,CCBY-SA3.0
Thermopylae_ancient_coastline_large,Fkerasar,CCBY-SA3.0
Xerxes_all_ethnicities,A.Davey,CCBY2.0
ACMA_698_Kritios_boy_4,Critius,CCBY-SA2.5
The_Euthydikos_Kore_1,Acropolis Museum,CCBY-SA2.0
Pausanias_in_the_Capitoline_Museums_Rome,JonaLendering,CC0
Priene_colline_colonne,PedroLassouras assumed,CCBY-SA3.0
Mycale3_map,MarcoPrins&JonaLendering,CCBY-SA3.0
ACMA_681_Kore_Antenor_4,Acropolis Museum,CCBY-SA2.5
Plataea%2C_seen_from_the_south,JonaLendering,CC0
Hoplite_fight_from_Athens_Museum GrantMitchell,CCBY2.0
Xerxes_I_tomb_Ionian_soldier_circa_470_BCE_cleaned_up,A.Davey,CCBY-SA2.0
Athenes_Acropole_Caryatides,Harrieta171 assumed,CCBY-SA3.0
The_Parthenon_in_Athens,SteveSwayne,CCBY2.0
The_great_theater_of_Epidaurus_designed_by_Polykleitos_the_Younger_in_the_4th_century_Sanctuary_of_Asklepeios_at_Epidaurus,CaroleRaddato,CCBY-SA2.0
Battle_of_Plataea_part_1-MinisterForBadTimes,CCBY-SA3.0,modified
Manner_of_the_Bull_Painter_ARV_1351_extra_-sphinx-_Greek_hoplite_fighting_three_Persians,Archaioptix,CCBY-SA4.0
The Battle of Thermopylae where the Greeks fought the Persians,BMartens,CCBY-SA3.0 Modified
www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/PLATE2BX,THE HISTORY OF COSTUME Braun & Schneider,c.1861-1880,Library of Congress
greece-1414069_1920,gancheva Pixabay
acropolis-1348511_1920,Jo-B Pixabay
1882 copy of The Story of the Persian War from Herodotus,RevAlfredJ.Church,M.A,
www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/10905574096/in/photostream/Macedonia-02825/Warrior,DennisJarvis
Hellenic Greek Ship Mosaic(1stCenturyBC),JordanWolfe,FurmanUniversity

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