What was a significant effect of the greco-persian wars?
1 Answer
The Greek-Persian Wars of 490 and 480 BC may well be the most decisive wars in history; the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis and Platea are worth studying for this reason.
Explanation:
Hellenic Civilization of the 5th Century BC, centred on Athens, probably has the strongest legacy of any one culture in the whole history of human civilization. Athens, in particular, leaves a strong influence that nobody else can quite match in the arts, science, literature, law, governance, education, and most other fields of human endeavour. In 490, and again in 480, it was nearly snuffed out.
Powered by trade, its silver mines, and an ebulant culture, Athens was the dominant city of Hellenic culture and civilization; and the foremost of the city states (like Agos, Sparta, Thebes, etc) that shared that culture. The Greeks had been keeping a wary eye on the growing Persian empire, particularily as it had conquered the Greek peoples of Western Anatolia in the 6th Century. Support for Greek rebels attracted the ire of the Persian Rulers and they decided to punish Athens and conquer Greece.
The first attempt ended in the Battle of Marathon in 490, when the Athenians caught the Persian Expedition a day's march from Athens, and crushed it. (The classical historian Victor Davis Hanson might be consulted on this in his book "The Western Way of Warfare", or in his more provocative "Carnage and Culture"). The Persians regrouped and came back ten years later with a far larger army and navy.
The epic stand of the Spartans at Thermopylae inspired a wider resistance among the terrified Greeks; but Athens still fell, although most of its people took shelter behind its 'wooden walls' -- its fleet. Eager to finish off the Athenians, the Persian fleet was lured into an ambush at the battle of Salamis -- certainly the most decisive naval battle in history. That left the Persian army stranded in Greece for the winter, and the combined armies of the City States finished off the expedition at Platea in the next year. With its people intact, Athens was soon rebuilt.
