Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Greco-Persian Wars by Peter Green Peter Green. While The Greco-Persian Wars is a scholarly volume, with the full apparatus of notes and bibliography, it has the feel of more popular writing: one can sense Green's other calling as a historical novelist. So he uses anecdotes from later sources — Themistocles being warned by his father about the fickleness of the Athenian demos , the story about Aristeides and the ostrakon — without critical analysis and fills in gaps in the record with speculation and extrapolation. He indulges in comparisons with other periods, mostly with World War II — Themistocles is compared with Churchill and the medisers with Vichy. And we even get an old-fashioned touch of the "decided the fate of Europe" and "defence of freedom" themes. All of these things are guaranteed to arouse the ire of some; indeed the new introduction is mostly a response to criticisms levelled at The Year of Salamis . While Green does little more than hint at many factors (the differences in military technology, the importance of the Laurium silver strike, etc.), he offers something technical studies of such details or solid exegeses of Herodotus can not — an attempt to make sense of the wars as a whole, to provide a single coherent overview of them. There are surprisingly few works which attempt this and there are fewer still which combine a scholarly approach with popular accessibility. Green's accounts of the key battles are entrancing and the whole volume is hard to put down — for pure pleasure The Greco-Persian Wars is unmatched by anything I have read on the subject since I first discovered Mary Renault's Lion in the Gateway as a child. Physically The Greco-Persian Wars is an attractive volume, with a nice selection of halftones and a dozen maps (though many of these have no scale or indication of north, or, rather distractingly, show modern roads and towns). I recommend it to anyone who enjoys history, especially military history, but its biggest readership will be amongst school and university students studying the period, many of whom simply won't read anything more involved. The Greco-Persian Wars. The world’s #1 eTextbook reader for students. VitalSource is the leading provider of online textbooks and course materials. More than 15 million users have used our Bookshelf platform over the past year to improve their learning experience and outcomes. With anytime, anywhere access and built-in tools like highlighters, flashcards, and study groups, it’s easy to see why so many students are going digital with Bookshelf. titles available from more than 1,000 publishers. customer reviews with an average rating of 9.5. digital pages viewed over the past 12 months. institutions using Bookshelf across 241 countries. The Greco-Persian Wars 1st Edition by Peter Green and Publisher University of California Press. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780520917064, 0520917065. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780520203136, 0520203135. The Greco-Persian Wars 1st Edition by Peter Green and Publisher University of California Press. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780520917064, 0520917065. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780520203136, 0520203135. A Short Summary of the Persian Wars. The term Greco-Persian Wars is thought to be less biased against the Persians than the more common name "Persian Wars," but most of our information about the wars comes from the winners, the Greek side—the conflict apparently was not important enough, or too painful for the Persians to record. For the Greeks, however, it was critical. As British classicist Peter Green has characterized it, it was a David and Goliath struggle with David holding out for political and intellectual liberty against the monolithic theocratic Persian war machine. It wasn't just Greeks against Persians, nor were all the Greeks always on the Greek side. Summary. Locations: Various. Especially Greece, Thrace, Macedonia, Asia Minor Dates: c. 492–449/8 BCE Winner: Greece Loser: Persia (under kings Darius and Xerxes) Earlier than the (mostly failed) attempts by the Persian kings Darius and Xerxes to control Greece, the Achaemenid empire was enormous, and Persian King Cambyses had extended the Persian Empire around the Mediterranean coast by absorbing Greek colonies. Some Greek poleis (Thessaly, Boeotia, Thebes, and Macedonia) had joined Persia, as did other non-Greeks, including Phoenicia and Egypt. There was opposition: many Greek poleis under the leadership of Sparta on land, and under the dominance of Athens at sea, opposed the Persian forces. Before their invasion of Greece, Persians had been facing revolts within their own territory. During the Persian Wars, revolts within Persian territories continued. When Egypt revolted, the Greeks helped them. When Were the Greco-Persian Wars? The Persian Wars are traditionally dated 492–449/448 BCE. However, conflict started between the Greek poleis in Ionia and the Persian Empire before 499 BCE. There were two mainland invasions of Greece, in 490 (under King Darius) and 480–479 BCE (under King Xerxes). The Persian Wars ended with the Peace of Callias of 449, but by this time, and as a result of actions taken in Persian War battles, Athens had developed her own empire. Conflict mounted between the Athenians and the allies of Sparta. This conflict would lead to the Peloponnesian War during which the Persians opened their deep pockets to the Spartans. Medize. Thucydides (3.61–67) says the Plataeans were the only Boeotians who did not "medize." To medize was to submit to the Persian king as overlord. The Greeks referred to the Persian forces collectively as Medes, not distinguishing Medes from Persians. Likewise, we today don't distinguish among the Greeks (Hellenes), but the Hellenes were not a united force before the Persian invasions. Individual poleis could make their own political decisions. Panhellenism (united Greeks) became important during the Persian Wars. Individual Battles During the Persian Wars. The Persian War was fought in a series of battles between the earliest at Naxos (502 BCE), when Naxos repelled the Persians to the final battle at Prosopitis, where Greek forces were besieged by the Persians, in 456 BCE. Arguably, the most significant battles of the War included Sardis, which was burned by the Greeks in 498 BCE; Marathon in 490 BCE, the first Persian invasion of Greece; Thermopylae (480), the second invasion after which the Persians took Athens; Salamis, when the combined Greek navy decisively beat the Persians in 480; and Plataea, where the Greeks effectively ended the second Persian invasion in 479. In 478, the Delian League was formed of several Greek city-states united to combine efforts under the leadership of Athens. Considered the start of the Athenian empire, the Delian League conducted several battles aimed at the expulsion of the Persians from Asian settlements, over a period of twenty years. The main battles of the Persian Wars were: Conflict Origins: 1st Naxos, Sardis Ionian Revolt: Ephesus, Lade First Invasion: 2nd Naxos, Eretria, Marathon Second Invasion: Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, Mycale Greek Counterattack: Mycale, Ionia, Sestos, Cyprus, Byzantium Delian League: Eion, Doriskos, Eurymedon, Prosopitis. End of the War. The final battle of the war had led to the death of the Athenian leader Cimon and the defeat of the Persian forces in the area, but it didn't give decisive power in the Aegean to one side or the other. The Persians and Athenians were both tired and after Persian overtures, Pericles sent Callias to the Persian capital of Susa for negotiations. According to Diodorus, the terms gave the Greek poleis in Ionia their autonomy and the Athenians agreed not to campaign against the Persian king. The treaty is known as the Peace of Callias. Historical Sources. is the principal source on the Persian Wars, from Croesus of Lydia's conquest of the Ionian poleis to the fall off Sestus (479 BCE). Thucydides provides some of the later material. There are also later historical writers, including. Ephorus in the 4th century BCE, whose work is lost except for fragments, but was used by Diodorus Siculus, in the 1st century CE. Supplementing these are. Justin (under Augustus) in his "Epitome of Pompeius Trogus," Plutarch (2nd century CE) Biographies and Pausanias (2nd century CE) Geography. In addition to historical sources, there is Aeschylus' play "The Persians." Key Figures. Greek. Miltiades (defeated the Persians at Marathon, 490) (highly skilled Greek military leader during the Persian Wars) Eurybiades (Spartan leader in command of the Greek navy) (king of Sparta, who died with his men at Thermopylae in 480) Pausanias (Spartan leader at Plataea) Cimon (Athenian leader after the wars supporting Sparta) (Athenian leader responsible for rebuilding Athens) Persian. Darius I (fourth Persian king of the Achmaenids, ruled 522 to 486 BCE) Mardonius (military commander who died at the Battle of Plataea) Datis (Median admiral at Naxos and Eretria, and leader of the assault force at Marathon) Artaphernes (Persian satrap at Sardis, responsible for suppressing the Ionian revolt) (ruler of the Persian empire, 486–465) Artabazus (Persian general in the second Persian invasion) Megabyzus (Persian general in the second Persian invasion) There were later battles between Romans and Persians, and even another war that might be thought of as Greco-Persian, the Byzantine-Sassanid War, in the 6th and early 7th century CE. Greco-Persian Wars. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Greco-Persian Wars , also called Persian Wars , (492–449 bce ), a series of wars fought by Greek states and Persia over a period of almost half a century. The fighting was most intense during two invasions that Persia launched against mainland Greece between 490 and 479.