" This is particularly relevant on the influence of religion in that period. It was not uncommonly for wars to be delayed or even abandoned because of the predictions of oracles and the one in Delphi, which had a primary role in the Greeks' religious life, had a long history of interference in the Greek politics.
There must also be mentioned that the feelings of sympathy towards the Persians were also determined for most of the Greek cities by the approach of the Persian Army. An example is the people of Thessaly, which submitted only after the Greeks evacuated the valley of Tempe.
Overall, it was the combination of these factors that led to the fact that in the year 480 B.C. only about 30 of a few hundred Greek cities decided to oppose the Persian power. Fortunately for Greece, two of the cities who decided to make a stand were Sparta, which had the most powerful land army among the Greek cities, and Athens, which had the best fleet and sailors of that time. This land and naval forces, led by people with the character of Leonidas or genius of Themistocles changed the history in this part of the world and spared the Greek world, and with it, maybe the whole of Europe, of the terrible faith of being the tributaries of East for who knows how many years.
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Except for Miletus, which was sacked as an initiator of the revolt, the other cities were treated rather reasonably, going as far as recommendations for the settled Persians to respect local religious traditions (Herodotus VI 42-45). This does not necessarily need to be seen only as a reasonable conquering policy, but also as a diplomatic and political approach: once Darius asked for the submissions of mainland Greek cities, many of
Persian Wars (490 BCE to 479 BCE) between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire were predicated by various circumstances, ranging from cultural ideologies to political connivances. For the Greeks, particularly the Ionians and the Athenians, Persian rule was unwanted and unacceptable. The Persian leaders Darius and his son Xerxes, however, following in the example of Cyrus the Great, saw the Greek city-states as puny colonies that were to be
Thus, the Spartans were now free, along with the disgruntled Persians, who had a significant ax to grind with Athens, to seize the opportunity and attack Athens (thereby ending the 50 years truce). After a few years of resistance, Athens fell completely, and was immediately subjected to the oligarchical government under Sparta, known as "the Thirty." Although it certainly seems ironic that the very democratic system that the Athenians were so
This led to the development of different techniques such as ramming. As the presence of the Athenian navy, meant that there was a focus on those tactics that will benefit everyone the most in battle. Once they disabled the enemy's ships, is the point when they had a significant advantage. This gives them the element of surprise by utilizing tactics that no one else is expecting. Furthermore, the Athenians continually
The History is incomplete as far as the war is concerned because it ends abruptly with the narrative of the events of 411 BC. Thucydides discusses his historical method and related issues in the early section, known as the "Archaeology" section. The fact that he had a journalistic tendency is indicated by the fact that he started to write about the war as soon as it started claiming that he
Greek and Roman History The Greek and Roman civilizations each played an important part in shaping the history of today. It is interesting to look at these two cultures and the major contributions of each. Greek History The Greek civilization was defined in the 5th century BC by the Golden Age. Athens was home at this time to "statesmen such as Pericles, Solon and Lycourgos. Pericles, who lived from 495 to 429 B.C., was responsible
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