Greek History Exam 2

King Xerxes

Son of Darius Xerxes takes power and recaptures Egypt

1. Xerxes is fine to stop at that and not further fighting in Greece

   1. Mardonius urges Xerxes to invade Greece (appeals to his hubris) (Xerxes wants to be as great as his father)

   2. Xerxes has a dream encouraging him to invade Greece (it comes from a bad persian god though)

   3. Artabanus the Wise (he advised King Darius not to fight the Massagetai (russians)) tells king Xerxes its a bad idea to conquer greece

2. Xerxes spends 4 years preparing the “greatest expedition ever” (1.7 million??? –herdontus tended to exaggerate–soldiers) to go to war w/ Greece

1. Xerxes has his soldiers whip the ocean (bad ocean)(arrogant)

2. Xerxes wants to conquer “heaven and earth”

1. An Eclipse happens in 480 (the gods are trying to tell us something aka an omen)

   1. Xerxes calls his advisors and they say that if Greece is the sun, persia is going to block them out (some soldiers don’t agree)

   2. King Xerxes is up on a hill surveying his army crossing the bridge and asks “What are we doing? Do we need to do this?” (lements the bitter misfortunes of life)

In charge of battle of Thermopyale, Artemsium, Salamis, and kinda Plataea

Lycurgus of Sparta

(mythic spartan King 700-630 BCE)

1. His father (& symbolic forefather of all of Sparta) is Hercules

   1. Perhaps Dorian Invaders?

2. His brother dies who was king, has a wife who is pregnant

3. As soon as the baby is born it will take over the throne from Lycurgus

4. After the baby is born, Lycurgus travels the world and eventually is called back to Sparta to reorganize the government

   1. Takes all the best qualities from diff cities he has traveled to and implements them in Sparta

   2. Says sparta should remain insular and shun the outside word

   3. Creates spartan government: the mixed constitution

Cambyses the II, King of Persia

(530-522 BCE) conquers Egypt and dies in battle

Thrace

subjugated by King Darius (Persia) in 511/512

Cyrus II of Persia (aka Cyrus the Great)

(559-530 BCE)

1. Conquers many surrounding neighbors

2. Kick starts Persian-Greco relations by approaching Lydia

3. add to this

Artabanus (Artabanus the Wise)

1. (he advised King Cyrus not to fight the Massagetai (russians)) tells king Xerxes its a bad idea to conquer greece

2. tries to persuade Xerxes again to abandon the campaign after the eclipse and Xerxes sends him home

Mardonius

(son in law of King Darius) leads a land army (supported by naval fleet) towards greece

1. A storm breaks out and a fleet is lost, so land and naval fleet have to turn back at Mt Athos (look up)

Mardonius spends the rest of his time trying to even the score after this embarrassing loss

1. urges Xerxes to invade Greece (appeals to his hubris) (Xerxes wants to be as great as his father)

   1. Xerxes wants to recreate Mardonius' original plan that failed

      1. This time a canal is dug through Mt Athos (it takes 3 years) to avoid sailing dangerously around Mt Athos

1. General Artemisia (of Halicarnassus) urges King Xerxes to go back to Persia, triumphant. BUT Mardonius convinces him otherwise

Battle of Plataea (August 479 BCE)- Spartan general & Athenian Army win

1. Mardonius asks for a platoon & mounts 1 last campaign

2. Mardonius dies there

3. Persia fully withdrawals

Artemisium

Naval Battle of Artemisium fought simultaneously w/ land battle at thermopylae

1. 271 greek ships vs 800 persian ships

2. A few days of engagement end in a stalemate

3. Hearing of Thermopylae, greeks retreat and Persian fleet enters the channel and continues south

Revolt & Siege of Naxos

 in 502 Naxos revolted against Persia

1. Aristagoras proposes the idea of recapturing Naxos to King Darius (he loves the idea) and is given 200 ships

2. Aristagoras & fleets commander(old guy who has experience) quarrel 

   1. admiral , fed up with Persian leadership, warns the Naxians of the attacks

Histiaeus & Aristagoras

1. Histiaeus (successful lieutenant of King Darius) is instilled as the governor of Miletus

   1. Histiaeus is ambitious, so much so that King Darius grows leery of him

   2. Darius (Persian king) calls Histiaeus back 

2. Aristagoras (Histiaeus’ son in law & 1st cousin): deputy tyrant in Miletus takes over for Histiaeus (robin to histiaeus’ batman)

   1. A few years back in 502 Naxos revolted against Persia

   2. Aristagoras proposes the idea of recapturing Naxos to King Darius (he loves the idea) and is given 200 ships

   3. Aristagoras & fleets commander(old guy who has experience) quarrel 

   4. admiral , fed up with Persian leadership, warns the Naxians of the attacks

   2. Aristagoras, fearful of having to answer to King Darius, receives a bunch of steganography (concealed writing) from Histiaseus urging that he supports the Ionian revolt

      1. Shaves his slave’s head and tattoos the message onto the head and sends the slave

   3. Aristagoras liberates Ionia from Persian rule

   4. Aristagoras goes to Sparta w/ a lot of money and sees King Cleomenes of Sparta to ask them to join the war; they refuse as they cannot be bought

   5. Aristogoras then goes to Athens (Miletus’ mothership) and asks for their help and they agree now that they are conflict free

   6. Aristagorius flees to Thrace & dies there

Mt Athos

Mardonius and his fleet had to turn around at Mt Athos originally

later Xerxes digs a canal through Mt Athos (takes 3 years) to avoid sailing around the mountain

Spartan Mixed constitution (egalitarian)

1. 2 Kings (di-archic)-each acted as a check on the other

   1. 1 was in charge of military; other everything else

2. 28 Gerousia (greek word for old men) (oligarchic)

   1. Election to gerousia- made up of old spartans (over 60 yrs)

   2. Approval of business for the assembly 

3. Assembly (democratic)-yet remember, the gerousia determines assembly business

   1. No debate, only voting; Spartan men are supposed to obey (or disobey when when it is just) but not openly debate or question their leaders 

4. 5 Ephors (oligarchic)- supervised & “ carriedout” laws; chosen by lot

   1. Judged the kings’ actions and could dethrone them

Macedonia

door to greece

Lydia

persian city overthrown by persian King cyrus from lydian king croesus  (persians set up shop in 540s and heavily taxed the greek colonies there)

Thermopylae

battle in 480 BCE

very narrow & on the coast

lead by Spartan King Leonides

got betrayed by Ephilates and is surrounded by the Persians

Spartans stay and bravely fight off the Persians

Darius I of Persia (aka Darius the Great)

1. 512/511 BCE Darius subjugates Thrace

2. Sets sights on Macedon (510 BCE) - Macedon is the entry way to greece

3. leery of Histiaeus (successful lieutenant of King Darius) who is instilled as the governor of Miletus bc he is very ambitious this leads to the Ionian revolt

Perioikoi (the Oikioses (hamlets) around Sparta)

1.  act as Spartan contacts to the outside world

   1. They had to either join Sparta or be enslaved 

Battle of Salamis

480 BCE

1.  (Naval battle)

   1. 378 Greek ships vs 1000 persian ships 

   2. Salamis is very narrow which is an advantage for the greeks

   3. Also a land army component

   4. Themistocles appeals to xerxes hubris by sending 1 of his slaves that pretends to surrender to persia

      1. Tells xerxes that he will tell him anything

      2. He says that the athenians are scared and the greeks are not unified and attacking now would catch the greeks off guard

   5. Xerxes watches his fleet stalemate w/greece

      1. Xerxes beheads his captains & disenfranchisement spreads

   6. Xerxes has problems

      1. Supply problems

      2. Hellespont bridge trouble

      3. Control of sea is now in question

      4. At, Salamis loss, after killing the captains, morale of troops is very low

Artemisia

General Artemisia (of Halicarnassus) urges King Xerxes to go back to Persia, triumphant. BUT Mardonius convinces him otherwise

Molon Labe

"come and take them". It is famously attributed to King Leonidas of Sparta, who supposedly said it to the Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae when the Persians demanded the Spartans surrender their weapons.

Piraeus

Athenian Harbor (abt 5 mi from Athens)

Massagetae & Queen Tomyris

1. (“the fiercest battle between barbarians ever”- says Herodontus)

   1. Massegetai Queen Tomyris- speaks to foreignness of massagetae bc very few women held any power

      1. Massagetae have a very rough

      2. Her son meets with Cyrus and Cyrus asks them to surrender and her son says no

      3. They introduce the Massegate troops to wine and they all get drunk and Persia slaughters the troops and imprisons the generals

      4. Persia lets her son go and he tells his mom that there is no way they can fight off Perisa

      5. Son kills himself 

      6. Queen takes the troops and marches on Perisa and capture and behead Cyrus

      7. Put Cyrus's head in wine

Themistocles The Athenian General

Involved in The battle of Salamis

Greeks ask delphic oracle and it says that wooden walls will help them

1. Some greeks think these are the walls of the acropolis

2. Greeks interpret this as the wooden walls of their boats, so they will win naval says themistocles (Salamis)Themistocles appeals to xerxes hubris by sending 1 of his slaves that pretends to surrender to persia

3. Tells xerxes that he will tell him anything

   1. He says that the athenians are scared and the greeks are not unified and attacking now would catch the greeks off guard

King Leonidas of Sparta

Lead greek and spartan troops at Thermopylae and stayed to fight after they got betrayed

Congress at Corinth

Greece holds a congress at Corinth in 481 BCE and decide to band together and fight off the Persians 

Ephialtes

a native- tells Xerxes about a secret goat path that leads behind the spartans in exchange for money

Plataea

1. Battle of Plataea (August 479 BCE)- Spartan general & Athenian Army win

   1. Mardonius asks for a platoon & mounts 1 last campaign

   2. Mardonius dies there

   3. Persia fully withdrawals

Persian Culture

1. Leadership is thought of a half human and half something else

2. Kind of like the end of the world/ unable to grasp/wild

3. Very strange to the Greeks

4. Depict religious leaders in diff ways but both cultures view them as divine

   1. Greek- gods look human like; relatable

   2. Persians- sun is god

5. Have tattoos and piercings (greeks think this is weird) 

6. Wear diff clothes than greeks

7. Misunderstanding goes both ways

8. They think that the Greeks are foolish for starting the Trojan war over a women; the persians wouldn’t care in this situation

Sardis

Cyrus of persia capture sardis from Croesus of lydia

later athens and Eretria burn down sardis (now a persian city) in response to the Ionian revolt

Solon the Wise

1. Has audience w/ Croseus and is wined & dined

2. Asks solon if he has ever seen anyone more blessed than him (Croseus)

3. Solon says you may be very well off now but no one knows what tomorrow will bring; can’t judge blessedness until death

4. Croesus basically tells him to leave but takes this to heart

1. Extremely protects his son (Atys) bc there is a prophecy that he will die by metal

2. At 21 Atys tells Croesus he needs is freedom and asks to go on a boar hunt

3. Someone throws a spear at the boar and it ends up hitting Atys

4. This is the worst fate for a son to die before his father

Ionian Revolt

1.  (499-494 BCE)

   1. Starts in Miletus (revered city/colony of Athens): has a lot of great figures; symbolic capital of colonies on ionian coast

   2. Histiaeus (successful lieutenant of King Darius) is instilled as the governor of Miletus

      1. Histiaeus is ambitious, so much so that King Darius grows leery of him

      2. Darius (Persian king) calls Histiaeus back 

   3. Aristagoras (Histiaeus’ son in law & 1st cousin): deputy tyrant in Miletus takes over for Histiaeus (robin to histiaeus’ batman)

      1. A few years back in 502 Naxos revolted against Persia

      2. Aristagoras proposes the idea of recapturing Naxos to King Darius (he loves the idea) and is given 200 ships

      3. Aristagoras & fleets commander(old guy who has experience) quarrel 

         1. admiral , fed up with Persian leadership, warns the Naxians of the attacks

      4. Aristagoras, fearful of having to answer to King Darius, receives a bunch of steganography (concealed writing) from Histiaseus urging that he supports the Ionian revolt

1. Shaves his slave’s head and tattoos the message onto the head and sends the slave

2. Aristagoras liberates Ionia from Persian rule

Helots

1. “serf” population were greeks of the area around Sparta that were defeated in war by the spartans

   1. Were owned by Spartans as a whole (not by individuals)

   2. Magistrates (ephors) declared war on them annually as constant fear of revolt

   3. Provided most of the agricultural produce for rest of population of sparta 

1. Sparta relies on Helots & Perioikoi (the Oikioses (hamlets) around sparta)

2. Helots outnumber Spartans by like 8-1

Herodotus (his life & method)

1. Halicarnassus (485-425 BCE) is our source of Persian war

2. Herodotus can go back and talk to people who fought in the war to get an accurate depiction

3. Better accuracy than Homer who wrote iliad 500yrs after trojan war(considers himself a poet)

4. Herodotus is the first real historian

5. Herodotus travels as a young man through Greece, India, and Egypt etc..

   1. First travel reporter/ narrative

   2. Lectures on his travels

   3. Father of History or Lies?

      1. He picks and chooses events from history to fit his narrative 

      2. He is more of a performer and embellisher

1. Herodotus doesn’t know any of these foreign languages so he is using a translator this whole time

   1. He uses sources, but most often secondhand ones

1. Has a central thesis (of sorts): to warn Athens about their own imperialist expansion

Croesus (King of Lydia)

1. King of Lydia (560-546 BCE)

2. Croesus continues lydian expansion in 550s BCE

3. Croesus in his rashness immediately wants to go to war with persia

4. encouraged , king croesus seeks aid from Athens, but Athens has internal problems going on from 550-500BCE

1. Nevertheless, Croesus (foolishly for a convoluted vendetta [something about Cryus and Croesus’s brother in law]) invades Cappadocia

   1. Cyrus (persia) vs Croesus (lydia) = tie

      1. Croesus heads back to Sardis

      2. Cyrus regroups and marches on Sardis

   2. Cyrus of Persia captures Sardis and Croesus (we don’t know what happens to Croesus; his story is over unhappily- hinted by Solon)

Barbaroi

barbarians or outsiders to the Greeks (outcome of Pan-Hellenism)

King Candaules

1.  (735-718 BCE)

   1. Rashness makes his servant spy on his naked wife to prove her beauty

   2. She confronts servant and he tells her that the king made him do it 

   3. Together they overthrow him

Steganography

(concealed writing) used by Histiaseus to urge Aristagoras to support the Ionian revolt

1. Shaves his slave’s head and tattoos the message onto the head and sends the slave

Syssition (Spartans)

1. (platoon)

   1. Failure to secure a place in syssition —> voluntary exile

Sardis

1. (the capital city occupied by Persia) is burnt to the ground

   1. But Persia counters mightily; Athens withdraws

   2. Darius has slave whisper into his ear everyday "remember the athenians”

2. rebuilt and used as capital

Miletus

(revered city/colony of Athens): has a lot of great figures; symbolic capital of colonies on ionian coast

start of Ionian Revolt (499-494 BCE)

Pheidippides

= messenger/runner who runs to Sparta for help (it is 140 mi to go one way)

1. Pheidippides runs to downtown Greece from Marathon to tell them that they won 

   1. It is said his heart explodes after this

Spartan Society (egalitarian)

1. Kings did not have palaces

2. Spartan “Money” (aka Iron Ingots)

   1. Equal

3. Spartan “Black Broth”

   1. Everyone eats the same thing

4. Laws aren’t written down

   1. Everyone just kinda obeys law

5. Children/ eduction 

   1. After a couple of years kids become state property

   2. All (female & male) kids learn basic reading, writing, & arithmetic

   3. After basics they go to military school

      1. Learn how to fend for yourself

         1. Have very little food

         2. Expected to sneak out and get supplies as long as you don’t get caught; prepares for actual warfare

1. Women are equal

   1. They are strong and know how to fight

2. Laconic Wit (Lacedaemonia is another name for Sparta named after an early king of region)

3. Best known for military Dominance

   1. Come back with ur sheild… or on it

4. Sparta’s 1 weakness = relatively small

Delphic Oracle

Tested by King Croesus

1. Kinda shopping around for a religion 

2. Tests them by asking them all what he is doing rn & does something strange

Lydian King Croesus consults the Delphic Oracle (546BCE)-->says if he attacks persia he will destroy a great empire

Marathon

Persia Marches on Marathon & Athens sends a messenger to Sparta for help (it is 140 mi to go one way)

1. The athenians reach marathon and are egregiously outnumbered

2. Miltiades rallies the troops

   1. they will lure the persians 

   2. Persians are in a massive fleet, but only a few ships at a time can enter

   3. Kind of like saving private ryan: as the persians come onto land they can get mowed down

   4. Persians have a lot of cavalry and archers 

      1. The area is more enclosed so these qualities give them a disadvantage

   5. Plus- KIng Darius isn’t there so leadership isn’t as strong

   6. Athenians charge full steam at the Persians, catching them off guard

1. Athenian center weakens (probably not intentionally), then they flank the Persians and surround them→from there is is pretty easy

2. The persians are surrounded

Sparta shows up & are in awe of the Persian foreignness and Athens' prowess

1. It is said that some persians are almost 8ft tall

Extra: (Post- marathon Egypt revolts against Persian rule)

Krypteia

1. spartan secret police aimed at instilling a permanent sense of fear & terror in Helot communities by periodic attacks

   1. Necessary since Helots outnumber Spartans by like 8-1

   2. Also keeps Sparta on its toes, military-wise

Rise of Persia

1. King Cyrus II of Perisa (559-530 BCE)

   1. Conquers many surrounding neighbors

   2. Kick starts Persian-Greco relations by approaching Lydia

2. 598BCE- Lydian King Alyattes conquered Miletes (Greek Colony founded by Athens), but then befriends them & their host city Athens; they are cool w/ eachother

3. Croesus continues lydian expansion in 550s BCE

4. Persian king cyrus is advancing westward by conquering medes in 550s BCE

5. Cyrus of Persia captures Sardis and Croesus

6. Cyrus next annexes Assyria & Babylonia for Persia (don’t attack an enemy in front of you unless you  take care of all those behind you)

7. Persia encounters the Massagetae

8. New Persian king Cambyses (530-522 BCE) conquers Egypt and dies in battle

9. King Darius I (aka Darius the Great) (521-486 BCE)

   1. 512/511 BCE Darius subjugates Thrace

   2. Sets sights on Macedon (510 BCE) - Macedon is the entry way to greece

Hellespont

1. At Hellespont xerxes builds a bridge across using the boats tied together

2. hellespant = narrowest body of water connecting asia to europe 

   1. In the middle of the army crossing boats that are tied together and separated 

Thalassocracy

a state or empire that has dominion over the seas, often using maritime power to connect scattered territories and control trade routes rather than relying on land-based power

Medes

diff from persians but greeks view them as the exact same as persians; everyone other than them is barbarians (pan hellenism)

1. Persian king cyrus is advancing westward by conquering medes in 550s BCE

Miltiades (athenian general)

513BCE: Miltiades is in Thrace setting up an Athenian Colony and is made a Persian vassal by King darius

1. Says he is willing to work with persia so he doesn’t get destroyed (goes on like this for abt 10yrs)

2. Then in the 490s BCE miltiades takes part in the ionian revolt against persia

On Miltiades' day-in-charge he gives a speech (our time is now and we must be brave)

1. He rallies the troops (abt 10,000 men) despite knowing they would likely be killed

Miltiades died from battle wounds in 489BCE fighting against pro persian greek islands