1. Chapter 7, Section 3: Greece and Persia

2. Persia’s Empire Building the Empire (540 BCE) Persian Government
Cyrus the Great conquers Mesopotamia, Syria, Judah, and Anatolia
Royal Road links heart of empire
Persian Government
Divided into satrapies (provinces)

3. Persia’s Empire Zoroastrianism Founded by Zoroaster in 600 BCE
Followers worship Ahura Mazda “Wise Lord”
Duality between “good” and “evil”

4. First Persian War War Begins (490 BCE) Battle of Marathon
Athenians support revolt in Anatolia
Revolt crushed by Darius
Darius sends fleet to attack Greece
Battle of Marathon
10,000 Athenian soldiers against 20,000 Persian Soldiers
Athenians won’t attack Persians
Persians load cavalry onto ships to attack Athens
Athenian army then attacks and destroys Persian army
Greek victory

5. The Phalanx

7. Second Persian War War begins (480 BCE) Battle of Thermopylae
Xerxes (son of Darius) swears revenge
Persians send an army of 200,000 soldiers
Greeks raise an army of 7,000 to defend Athens
Battle of Thermopylae
King Leonidas of Sparta leads Greek army
Stalls the Persian army at a mountain pass
Battle lasts three days
Greeks betrayed by local who tells the Persians how to get around the mountains and attack the Greeks from behind

9. Second Persian War Athens attacked Battle of Salamis
Persian army marches to Athens
Themistocles ordered city abandoned
Takes fleet of ships to island of Salamis
Athens is burned by Persians
Battle of Salamis
Greeks lure Persian fleet to the island of Salamis
Persians move large fleet up a narrow straight
Smaller Greek fleet of triremes destroys Persian fleet
Xerxes flees back to Persia

10. Greek Triremes

13. Second Persian War Persian Defeat
Greek army fights remaining Persian army at Plataea (479 BCE)
Persians defeated - peace eventually declared in 449 BCE
Persia never fully recovers from war and begins a slow decline