The Persians & Greeks

Página 1

Herodotus was a Greek historian who described the Greek-Persian wars, but his historical point of view wasn't objective.

Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC) was established by Cyrus the Great, who conquered Median, Lydian and Babylonian empires. It was later conquered by Alexander the great. There was no slavery in Persian empire, there was a relative freedom of religion, good infrastructure, the taxes were low.

Greece, on the other hand, consisted of small polises, women and slaves were not considered citizens, democracy was not fully developed in each polis.

490-480 BC the Persians attacked the Greek states, that included the famous Marathon and Thermopylae battles.

Athens supported Ionian Greeks, when they were rebelling in Anatolia (modern Turkey) against Persians, that's why Xerxes has invaded Greece. After victory over Persians Greeks have united with a center in Athens.

Peloponnesian war (431 BC – 404 BC) was between Athens and Sparta after the golden age, during that war Pericles died.