Week 7.3 Flashcards
After Salamis xerxes retuned to persia who did he leave the army to and what did he do
After Salamis Xerxes decided to return to Persia
with part of the army, leaving behind his general
and relative Mardonius with a large force of chosen
troops.
* Mardonius spent the winter in Northern Greece
and then moved south, taking Athens a second
time and burning the whole city after the
Athenians rejected his peace terms.
* Then he went to Boeotia, where the terrain was
more favorable to Persian tactic and there were
pro-Persian Greek cities, waiting for the Greek army
to arrive.
Explain the battle of platea
The Greek allied army, led by the Spartan Pausanias,
crossed the mountains and entered the Boeotian plain
taking position on sloping terrain near the city of Platea
The
Persians had made a palisade from their wicker shields
and were shooting arrows in a relentless shower. The
Spartans were pressed hard and still the sacrifices were
unfavorable. Then Pausanias turned his face towards the
temple of Hera at Platea and prayed to the goddess,
begging her not let them be disappointed in their hope
After some days of standoff, the Persians
attacked, interpreting the movement of Greek
troops to a different position as a retreat. The
Greeks won a hard-fought battle and Mardonius
himself was killed.
What persian base was destroyed where?
Soon after the battle another Greek force
destroyed a Persian base at Mycale, on the coast
of Ionia.
What happened after the persian war
The Greeks organized
a league of cities for
protection against
Persia and to
continue the
offensive. The Delian
league soon fell
under Athenian
control.
The failure of the Persian invasion of Greece marked the
end of the expansion of the empire.
* The Persian strategy to deal with the Greeks changed: the
king used bribery and interference in Greek affairs to
undermine the power of the city that was the most
immediate threat to Persian interest (first Athens, then
Sparta). No direct military intervention was attempted
What were the cultural effects of hte persian war?
he effect of the wars on Greek culture was even more
important that the military and political results.
* The politically divided Greeks reflected on what made
them different from the foreigners and similar to each
other, and why they had prevailed despite the apparent
superiority of the Persian
What word is used to mea somebody who does not speak greek
The word barbaros simply means somebody who
does not speak Greek.
In a period when difference from the enemy was
stressed, language was the most obvious criterion
to identify those who did not belong to the Greek
world.
The term, previously rare, became the standard
word to identify the “Other” from the Greek
point of view.
One of the consequences of this war of Greeks
against foreigners was the emphasis on the
definition of the non-Greeks as “others”, focusing
on what made them different.
What caused persian failure?
what was “The persians” by AESCHLYUS
Despotism and lack of
accountability
In Aeschylus’ view, the
despotic nature of Persian
society made it weak. In such
society moral flaws prosper,
in particular luxury and lack
of self control. Several
passages stress on the nature
of the Persian authority, that
is based on force and fear – it
is described as a yoke
This Athenian tragedy was produced
in 472 BCE, only eight years after the
battle of Salamis. The poet was a
veteran, and so were the majority of
his audience. The subject is the battle
of Salamis, seen from the point of
view of the Persians.
The play addressed the great
question: how was it possible for
Athens to defeat a vastly superior
enemy?
What caused greek to succeed:
Causes of Greek success:
freedom and responsibility
The authority of the Greek polis is based on
communal and egalitarian institutions,
participation and obedience to the law.
Greek freedom made their society stronger,
allowing each citizen to express their full
potential and fostering moral excellence, sense
of responsibility and self control.
In case of danger, all citizens were ready and
willing to defend their community at the best of
their abilities.
