The narrow battlefield of the gorge forced them to fight almost in equal number with the Greek army, forcing them to retreat after two days of battle.
The Persian army achieved important victories: the Greek fleet was rejected on the Artemisium cape and, after the victory over Leonidas of Sparta and his 300 men on the gorge of Thermopylae, the news of the first Persian victories spread over the country and discouraged the Greek army that retreated from battle, bringing new victories for Xerxes's army. The Persians devastated Boeotia and the Attica, reaching Athens.
After the Thermopylae defeat, on August of 480 B.C., in Athens there was consternation. However, instead of surrendering, the Athenians made the decision of evacuating the city and sending the families to Egina, Salamis y Trecena. The Greek army took refuge behind the wall that crosses the Isthmus of Corinth protecting the entrance to the Peloponnesus.
The Oracle of Delphos was consulted and predicted that the great Greek victory would be achieved through a wall of wood. This wall was interpreted by Themistocles as a fleet of battle ships. Most of the Greek leaders considered that the Spartans should battle from Corinth to have space to retreat in case of defeat. However they were persuaded by Themistocles to fight from Salamis.
He fortified the port of Piraeus, turning it into a naval base. Some political heads of the Asia Minor territory believed that the Greek should defend themselves on land first. Different opinions from the many Greek cities made difficult for the Greeks to organize a proper plan of defense. The Persian troupes took this attack as a revenge for their victory over Athens.
The city had been evacuated previously by order of Themistocles, the leader of democratic Athens during that time and that opposed great resistance to the Persian invasion, using the city's resources of silver to build ships to fight the attacking army. He had managed to gather a fleet of about 200 ships to defend the city from the menace of Xerxes's enormous legion.
Athens inhabitants took refuge in the surrounding islands, so the Persian army had to face only the Acropolis troupes. They looted the city, burning and destroying the temples of the Acropolis while the Spartan and Athenian forces established their last line of resistance on the Isthmus of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf.
Themistocles tried to take the war towards Asia Minor, send his fleet there to dominate the ionic colonies and make them join his campaign against the Persian king, but Sparta objected this strategy, fearing they might leave the Peloponnesus undefended.
For this reason the war continued in Europe, offering freedom to those Greeks that signed peace with the Persian Empire, but the Athenian council refused the offer.
Xerxes was deceived by a clever message of Themistocles (against the advice of Artemisia of Halicarnassus, the ruler of Asia Minor, ally of the Persians during the war and very appreciated by Xerxes) to attack the Greek fleet under adverse conditions, instead of sending a part of his ships to the Peloponnese and simply wait for the dissolution of the Greek army after a prolonged siege.
The naval battle fought on Salamis (480 B.C.), where the Greek fleet had taken refuge in the gulf and the Salamis Island, was won by the Athenian fleet under the command of Eurybiades. This was only a small back step on a victorious campaign to the Persians at that moment.
Learning that the Spartan army, forced by Athens to lend their help, was preparing the attack against the Persian troupes, the Persians finally decided to retreat their soldiers from Greece, towards West to Plataea.
After losing communication with Asia Minor, by sea, Xerxes decided to return to Sardis, the army he left in Greece under the command of his cousin was defeated on 479 B.C. In Plataea. The later Persian defeat in Mykale, meant the freedom of the Greek cities of Asia Minor and Xerxes's giving up of those cities, refusing to involve further in Greek politics.
The Persians decided to retreat their troupes from...
Economy of Persian Society: Darius and Xerxes Under Darius, the Persian Empire was at its height and its economy flourished. The lands and people he conquered paid taxes or tributes to him, most willingly, because he, like Cyrus, was tolerant of their cultures. The expansion of the Persian road system allowed for easier travels and a mail system to develop which facilitated trade and the moving of coin. Indeed, Darius
Dark Age and the Archaic Age Having watched the lectures for the prior learning unit on video, I was prepared to enjoy the video lecture presentation for this learning unit. I previously found the presentation of lectures in the video format to be very convenient because I could observe at my own pace, rewind if I missed part of the lecture, have flexibility about when I was viewing the lecture, and
Also, from Herodotus's books we see that some of them, obeying the famous oracle of Delphi, or using its predictions as an excuse, decided to surrender, and give "earth and water." 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
In the end, the Spartan/Greek army's superior armor and weapons and clever use of topography to counterbalance the Persian's greater numbers helps to explain their victories on a military level. Unfortunately, Leonidas and his fellow Spartans were massacred after a local Greek revealed to Xerxes a secret route around the narrow pass, allowing the Persians to attack the Spartans from the front and the rear at the same time. At
Herodotus is called first historian, as he was the first known author of the historical book called the Histories, which contained various myths, legends and also many important historical events that were commented by this great Greek. Herodotus was a very smart man but when reading his book I have to mention that we have to treat him as ancient man who sincerely believed different myths (for example he was sure
" (8.6-7) Humanity, this suggests, cannot serve two masters -- God and a king, and humanity in the form of Israel chooses kingship. Thus, humanity is far more servile and weak and in need of divine guidance, than human beings who actively resist tyranny, in Herodotus, whether it be in their schema of governance of not. "This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will
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