Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Athenian sculptor Pheidias to create the enduring marble friezes of the Parthenon and the
sculpture of the city's patroness, Athena.
With the Aegean Sea safely under its wing, Athens began to look westwards for fur-
ther expansion, bringing it into conflict with the Sparta- dominated Peloponnesian
League. A series of skirmishes and provocations subsequently led to the Peloponnesian
Wars.
Persian Fire,
by Tom Holland, is a compelling account of the warring city-states of
Athens and Sparta and how they had to finally pull together to face the Persian threat.
War & Conquest
The Persian Wars
Athens' rapid growth as a major city-state also meant heavy reliance on food imports
from the Black Sea; and Persia's imperial expansion westward threatened strategic
coastal trade routes across Asia Minor. Athens' support for a rebellion in the Persian
colonies of Asia Minor sparked the Persian drive to destroy the city. Persian Emperor
Darius spent five years suppressing the revolt and remained determined to succeed. A
25,000-strong Persian army reached Attica in 490 BC, but was defeated when an Atheni-
an force of 10,000 outmanoeuvred it at the Battle of Marathon.
When Darius died in 485 BC, his son Xerxes resumed the quest to conquer Greece. In
480 BC Xerxes gathered men from every nation of his empire and launched a massive,
coordinated invasion by land and sea. Some 30 city-states met in Corinth to devise a de-
fence (others, including Delphi, sided with the Persians). This joint alliance, the Hellenic
League, agreed on a combined army and navy under Spartan command, with the strategy
provided by the brilliant Athenian leader, Themistocles. The Spartan king Leonidas led
the army to the pass at Thermopylae, near present-day Lamia, the main passage into
central Greece from the north. This bottleneck was easy to defend and, although the
Greeks were greatly outnumbered, they held the pass - until a traitor showed the Persians
another way over the mountains, from where they turned to attack the Greeks. The
Greeks retreated, but Leonidas, along with 300 of his elite Spartan troops, fought to the
death in a heroic last stand.
The Spartans and their Peloponnesian allies fell back on their second line of defence,
an earthen wall across the Isthmus of Corinth, while the Persians advanced upon Athens.
Themistocles ordered his people to flee the city, the women and children to seek refuge
at Salamis (today's Salamina) and the men to sea with the Athenian naval fleet, while the
