005_The Golden Age of Greece: The Persian and Peloponnesian Wars, 500-323. A. The Persian War 500-479 a. Persian Conquest i. at the end of 6th century Persia conquered Ionia ii. They occupied Thrace b. Greek Revolt i. dissatisfied with Persian Rule Ionia revolted in 499 ii. Persians blamed mainland Greeks for the distress iii. Persians conquered Thrace and Macedon but their fleet was destroyed in 492 c. The First Persian War 490 i. Darius I - had 25,000 men ii. underestimated the Greeks iii. The Athenians led my Militades, mobilized Attica and quickly mobilized 10000 troops iv. The Battle of Marathon 1. 26 miles from Athens 2. According to Herodotus, the Persians were pushed into the sea 3. They lost 6400 men supposedly 4. This was probably a raid rather than conquest d. The Second Persian War 480-479 i. Xerxes, Darius Son, mobilized another army (100,000) 1. Xerxes first had to quell internal rebellion 2. By 480 he launched a full scale invasion of Greece ii. They crossed the Hellespont and advanced toward Greece 1. Greeks were slow to respond because of internal division 2. Athens begins construction of a fleet with help from their silver mines 3. They abandoned the north iii. Leonidas and the Spartans The Battle of Thermopylae 1. Formal defeat but moral victory iv. The Persians Sacked Athens v. Greek city-states united vi. The Battle of Salamis - 1. the real test was the battle at sea 2. Athenians built a fleet of 200 under the leadership of Themistocles 3. Other city-states joined Athens and met Persians at the bay of salamis 4. September 20, 480.
vii. Persian Withdrawal 1. without the support of the navy the Persian army had to with draw from Greece e. The Legacy i. The word freedom enters the Greek vocabulary eleutheria ii. Freedom to remain independent from outside forces iii. Provoked the Reevaluation of identity 1. Persians were seen as weak and effeminate 2. the invention of the Barbarian in Western Civilization B. Athenian Ascendancy 479-431 a. After Persian Wars Athenian Navy Dominated Sea b. The Delian League i. created to counter threat from Persia that never materialized ii. Athens controlled the treasury and policy and soon dominated the league iii. Members of the league could contribute ship or money, most chose money. 1. Thucyides "paying for their own enslavement" iv. The Athenian shipyards were always building much of it paid for by the league c. Pericles i. He came for wealthy aristocrat family. ii. supported the demos faction. iii. he was elected and reelected from 467-428 d. Periclean Reform - i. Expanded courts ii. allowed free classes access to archonship iii. limit foreign miscegenation iv. Walled in Athens and its docks e. Athens Rebuilt i. In 449 BC Pericles proposes the creation of a fund of 5000 talents from the reserve funds of the Delian League. ii. From 447 to 438 the Parthenon is constructed. iii. From 437 to 432 the Propylaea is constructed. f. Opposition to Pericles i. Oligarchs from Athens incited Spartans to attack ii. Sparta defeated Athens at Tanagra 457 but oligarchs failed to incite revolution iii. Pericles does not seek revenge g. Pericles and Aspasia i. hetaria - a woman who does not marry to live freely as men.
ii. 450 - She opened a school for girls in Athens iii. Pericles divorced his wife to be with Aspasia iv. She became the uncrowned Queen of Athens v. opponents criticized him for 1. squandering public funds 2. abusing free speech 3. defaming his home with Aspasia vi. Pericles died in 429 C. The Peloponnesian War a. Origins of the War i. Personal Cause - Pericles started the war because Megara offended Aspasia b. Actual Cause i. Athens wanted possession of Corinth a key to trade. ii. Sparta did not want to fight but Athens spread democracy which was a threat to Spartan land-holding classes. iii. Modern Scholars say it was Corinth c. Athens and Sparta in Summary i. Athens although a democracy was an imperial power 1. Its navy dominated trade 2. Exacted tribute, had governors and garrisons in the Delian League ii. Spartan Unequal Confederation 1. Allied states did not pay tribute, but contributed to a war fund 2. Primarily a land power 3. Allied with Thebes and Corinth 4. Countered by Argos d. Rebellions i. Thucydides' Cleon while addressing the Athenian Senate, "You should remember that your empire is a despotism exercised over unwilling subjects who are always conspiring against you; they do not obey in return for any kindness which you do them to your own injury, but so far as you are their master; they have no love for you, but they are held down by force." ii. Aegina 457 iii. Euboea 446 iv. Samos 440 v. Many of these cities appealed to Sparta for protection. e. The Peloponnesian League i. Sparta was tied by alliances to a number of other Peloponnesian states.
ii. The Peloponnesian states were not subject to tribute, but they paid into a collective war fund. iii. The Peloponnesian League was primarily an alliance of land-powers and did not emphasize naval supremacy. iv. Sparta's allies included powerful states such as Thebes and Corinth. v. Spartan power was also balanced by a powerful hostile neighbor, Argos. f. i. Athens began to embargo certain city-states with its control of the sea ii. Pericles wanted Sparta to open up Laconia to trade, Sparta refused iii. As a prerequisite to peace, Sparta wanted Athens to recognize the independence of city-states and surrender their empire. g. Plague in Athens and Revolt in Sparta i. Athens destroyed the Peloponnese coastline, were relying on the Navy to win the war. ii. most Athenians wanted to come out and fight. iii. The crowding in Athens caused a Plague, probably malaria, a quarter of the population died. iv. People began to turn on Pericles. v. Slave revolt in Sparta h. Uneasy Truce i. Peace of Nicias 421 ii. only lasted six years iii. Alcibiades - Athenian broke the truce and to take Sicily D. Thucydides and the Patterns of History a. Thucydides tried to analyze history for truth, for Herodutus history included heavenly intervention, cosmic justice and divine retribution. b. Thucydides patterns of human affairs i. Weakness invites the domination of the stronger ii. Power always seeks to increase iii. Necessity is the engine of history iv. Leaders must impose their will on those they lead. E. The Sicilian Expedition a. Egestaians (weak) called upon Athenians for help. i. They inevitably call for their own domination b. Dissent and Disaster i. Battle of Syracuse 415 ii. In the winter of 414 both sides built fortifications to get the upper hand iii. Climax of the renewed war 1. Summer 413 Demoshenes (Athens) leads attack that ends with disaster
2. Athens were dazed and confused in the darkness and wracked by disease 3. Syracuse fleet blocks off escape, Athenian fleet destroyed. iv. The final battle took place on land and sea 1. Athens fleet destroyed 2. Army watches and splits in two a. Column under Nicias is slaughtered b. Column under Demosthenes surrenders and are enslaved F. Athens after the Peloponnesian War a. Occupation by the Spartan Army i. Democracy suspended, Spartan Oligarchs in control 1. Among them was Critias, uncle of Plato and student of Socrates ii. After a short period, democracy was restored but their was a lot of leftover resentment iii. Socrates was Arrested 1. Charges a. Corrupting the youth b. Disavowing the Gods c. Impiety 2. Real Reason being the teacher of Critias iv. Was he a Martyr? 1. The self proclaimed intellectual and moral superiority of the Socratics 2. Socrates was combatant in the past a. He opposed a trial in 406 against generals b. He touted that Apollo declared him the wisest man alive c. At his hearing to decide his punishment, he argued that he should be given food and board for life d. He refused to escape b. Trial of Socrates