Antiquity History

Deep Dive · Ancient Warfare

The Persian Wars: Greece vs. the Persian Empire

The Persian Wars were the most important wars in the history of ancient Greece. Between 499 and 449 BCE, a coalition of small, fractious Greek city-states fought off the largest empire the world had ever seen — the Achaemenid Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great, Darius I, and Xerxes I. The victory of the Greeks at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea preserved the independence of the Greek cities, gave Athens the confidence to build its democracy and its Acropolis, and laid the foundation for the entire classical age. The Persian Wars also gave us the most famous last stand in history: the Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans and a few thousand other Greeks held the pass of Thermopylae for three days against the entire Persian army.

This cluster page tells the story of the Persian Wars: the Ionian Revolt, the invasion of Darius, the invasion of Xerxes, the great battles, and the legacy. It links out to The Battle of Marathon, The Battle of Thermopylae, the Ancient Warfare pillar, and the Ancient Greece pillar.

The Persian Empire

The Achaemenid Persian Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great around 550 BCE, when he overthrew the Median Empire and united the Iranian peoples. In the space of a single generation, Cyrus and his successors Cambyses, Darius I, and Xerxes I built the largest empire the world had ever seen, stretching from the Indus to the Mediterranean, from the Caucasus to the cataracts of the Nile. The empire was ruled by the “king of kings” (the shahanshah) from capitals at Susa, Persepolis, and Pasargadae, and it was connected by a network of royal roads (the famous Royal Road from Susa to Sardis was 2,700 km long) and a sophisticated postal system.

The Ionian Revolt (499–493 BCE)

The Persian Wars began as a Greek civil war. The Greek cities of Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor, had been conquered by the Lydian king Croesus and then by the Persian king Cyrus in the sixth century. They remained under Persian rule for the next century, paying tribute to the “king of kings” and supplying troops for his armies. In 499 BCE, the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, encouraged a revolt against Persian rule, with the support of Athens and Eretria. Athens sent twenty ships and a small force to help burn the Persian regional capital of Sardis.

The revolt spread across Ionia, but the Persian response was overwhelming. The Ionian revolt was crushed in 494 BCE with the fall of Miletus, and the surviving Ionians were deported to the Tigris River. Athens and Eretria had now drawn the attention of the Persian king, and the next step was the invasion of Greece.

The First Persian Invasion: Marathon (490 BCE)

In 490 BCE, the Persian king Darius I sent a punitive expedition across the Aegean to punish Athens and Eretria. The Persians conquered and burned Eretria, then landed at the bay of Marathon, about 40 km northeast of Athens, with about 25,000 men. The Athenian general Miltiades marched to meet them with about 10,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plataeans, and on a hot September day the two armies clashed. The full story of the battle is told in The Battle of Marathon.

The Athenian victory at Marathon was the first major defeat of the Persian army, and it sent shock waves through the Greek world. The famous story that Pheidippides, the runner who carried the news of victory back to Athens, died of exhaustion at the end of his run is the origin of the modern marathon race.

The Second Persian Invasion: Xerxes (480–479 BCE)

In 480 BCE, the new Persian king Xerxes I, son of Darius, mounted a much larger invasion of Greece. According to the ancient sources, the Persian army was enormous (Herodotus says 2.6 million men, but the real figure was probably closer to 100,000–200,000, supported by a fleet of about 600–1,200 ships). The Greek cities, divided and fearful, eventually formed a defensive coalition under Spartan leadership.

The Greek strategy was to hold the Persian army at Thermopylae while the Greek fleet engaged the Persian navy at the same time, and then to evacuate Athens and let the Persians burn it. The strategy was a calculated sacrifice: a small Greek force would hold the pass of Thermopylae long enough to disrupt the Persian timetable and allow the rest of Greece to prepare.

Thermopylae (480 BCE)

The Battle of Thermopylae, fought in August 480 BCE, is one of the most famous battles in world history. The Greek force, led by the Spartan king Leonidas, consisted of 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, 400 Thebans, and a few thousand other Greeks, holding a narrow coastal pass against the entire Persian army for three days. The Spartans and Thespians died to the last man; the Thebans surrendered. The battle was a tactical defeat for the Greeks, but a strategic and moral victory: the delay allowed the rest of Greece to prepare, and the sacrifice of the Spartans became the legend of the Western military tradition.

Salamis (480 BCE)

The Greek fleet, commanded by the Athenian general Themistocles, fought the Persian fleet in the narrow strait of Salamis in September 480 BCE. The Persian fleet, much larger but unable to maneuver in the narrow strait, was defeated in a long afternoon of close combat. The Greek triremes rammed the Persian ships, killed most of the sailors, and drove the survivors back to Asia. The Greek victory at Salamis is considered one of the most decisive naval battles in history.

Plataea and Mycale (479 BCE)

The next year, the Greeks fought two final battles. At Plataea, in central Greece, the Greek land army (about 80,000 men) under the Spartan regent Pausanias met the Persian army (about 90,000 men, mostly composed of the subject peoples of the empire) under the Persian general Mardonius. The Greeks won a decisive victory, and Mardonius was killed. The Greek victory at Plataea ended the Persian threat to mainland Greece.

On the same day, according to the Greek tradition, the Greek fleet won a parallel victory at Mycale, on the coast of Asia Minor. The Persian fleet was destroyed, and the Greek cities of Ionia revolted from Persian rule.

The Aftermath

The Persian Wars ended with the Peace of Callias in 449 BCE. The Persian Empire gave up its claim to the Greek cities of Asia Minor, and the Greek cities were free to pursue their own affairs under the leadership of Athens. The Persian Wars had several long-term consequences: