The Unlikely Greek Defeat of the Persians

The Greco-Persian Wars were a turning point in Western history because the Greek city-states defeated the Persian Empire and stopped them from conquering Greece, saving Western civilization. The Persian Empire in the dusk of the 6^th century was the undisputed superpower of the world, extending from Asia Minor to Afghanistan and as far south as Egypt. Even the Greeks of Ionia had come under Persian rule. To secure his empire from probable Scythian invasions, the Persian king then entered Europe, expanding into the Danube region and central Thrace.

This, along with a diplomatic misunderstanding, was among the roots of the Greco-Persian wars. In 507 BC, Athens sent representatives to the Persian king requesting an alliance against Sparta, in the midst of a conflict between the two city-states caused by Spartan support for the rival of the Athenian democratic reformer Cleisthenes. While King Darius I was well versed in geography, the Athenians were a mystery to him. Furthermore, while Athenians made diplomatic deals among equals, the Persian Empire only made them with subordinates, as it saw itself as the best empire in the world. The Persians demanded tokens of earth and water from the Athenians in exchange for help, which they received. In Persian protocol, this meant the king ruled land and sea. The Athenians later discovered this and were appalled, although they never canceled the deal.

The seeds of the Greco-Persian Wars were laid in the rebellion of the Ionian Greek cities in 499 BC. The Ionians requested aid from Sparta, but the Spartan King Cleomenes refused due to the distance, even though the ambassador tried to bribe him. Athens sent 20 ships to help the Ionians, which was a significant contribution as the city-state only had 50 ships. However, the Persians crushed the rebellion. King Darius I sought to punish the Athenians for defying him. In 492, he sent an army across the Hellespont to take the coast of Thrace and defeat Macedonia, but a storm blew his navy off course. The next year, Persia sent ambassadors to Athens, Sparta, and other continental Greek cities to demand tribute, but were refused, with Sparta and Athens violating diplomatic protocol by killing the envoys. War ensued, and it appeared certain that the mighty Persian Empire would crush tiny Athens, outnumbering their forces 5 to 1 with between 25,000 and 100,000 soldiers at their disposal. But the city-state was gifted with an astute general and statesman, Miltiades, who expanded the Athenian army, invented the phalanx formation, and asked Sparta for aid. Sparta declined as it was busy with a religious festival, but the Athenians still triumphed over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, losing only 192 men to the Persians’ 6400 according to Herodotus. Marathon was one of the most memorable battles in Western history, and it was such a great honor to have fought in it that the legendary playwright Aeschylus had his participation put in his epitaph. The Spartans showed up the morning after the battle with 2000 men and were impressed.

Persia would not invade Greece for another decade, busy with its own issues like uprisings after the death of Darius in 486 BC and the succession of his son Xerxes. But it did not forget its defeat. Athens did not rest either. Miltiades was succeeded by Aristides and Themistocles. The former advocated aristocratic values and conventional military defenses, while the latter was an enterprising democrat who proposed the construction of a large navy. Their visions diverged before Aristides was ostracized in 483 BC. Athens implemented Themistocles’ proposal. The Persians invaded in 480 BC with a quarter million men and over 500 ships. Some Greek city-states in the north surrendered, but most united against the invasion. The Spartans were the first to fight the Persians at Thermopylae, a very narrow mountain pass that slowed down the Persians. So confident were the Spartans that in response to reports that the Persians were so numerous that “their arrows blackened the sun”, a Spartan said he and his men “would fight in the shade”. A small entourage of Spartans led by King Leonidas held off the Persians for several days before a Spartan traitor revealed a path through the pass to the Persians. According to Herodotus, Spartans who lost their swords continued to fight with their hands and teeth, until the Persians overwhelmed them. Only two Spartans survived: one later met his end at the Battle of Platea and the other took his own life in shame. An epitaph from the battle reads: “Spartans here we lie, in obedience to your command that these men just fought”. This battle bought the Greeks some time, but the Persians advanced to Attica, sacked the countryside, and burned Athens down as the Athenians withdrew to the island of Salamis. The Spartans suggested a withdrawal to the Isthmus of Corinth, but the Athenians unleashed their navy under Themistocles, which annihilated the Persian one at Salamis. The Spartan phalanx under Pausanias vanquished the Persian rear guard at Platea the next year. Finally, the Athenians inflicted another naval defeat on the Persians at Mycale, forcing the Persian Empire out of Greece for good. Many Ionian cities were reconquered by the Greeks, and in 478 BC they seized Byzantium, securing control of the Bosporus.

The small Greek city-states, forced to unite by the Persian invasion, had vanquished this mighty empire. This incredible victory preserved the independence of Greek, and thus Western, civilization, allowing the unique achievements of Greece in culture, science, and philosophy to continue to flourish and multiply. If Persia had subdued Greece, the example of self-governing city-states would have been crushed, and many Greek contributions may have been extinguished or delayed. As advanced as the Persians were, they lacked the specific rationalist spark of the Greeks. At worst, Greek civilization would lose its uniqueness. It was the unlikely Greek victory that saved the Greece we look back on so fondly today, even if, immediately after the war, it ruined itself in the Peloponnesian War to an extent even the Persians could not.