Xerxes Flashcards
How did Xerxes come to be king
Xerxes wasn’t the eldest son
He got help from Demaratus, A Greek advisor,
The son born immediately after becoming king is the next heir
Why would Xerxes invade Greece
Revenge for Athens
Live up to predecessors
Acquire new land
Why shouldn’t Xerxes invade Greece
Scythian expedition was a disaster
Battle of marathon loss
What revolts happened after Darius’ death
Egypt- Didn’t want to pay tributes
Babylon- Two revolts, not much info
How did Xerxes prep for War
Took 4 years, 2.6 million soldiers,
Sets up supply bases along route, made a canal, 2 bridges of boats set up on the Hellespont
Key points of the battle of Thermopylae
First day Persians suffered heavy loss, the Spartans were able to hold back the Persians in the narrow pass. Second day, A Shepard called Ephialtes told Xerxes there was a mountain pass that they could flank round by, Greeks learnt that they were flanking round and decided to stay and fight. The Greeks lost, however they did huge damage to the Persians. Normally Persians respect the bodies of the dead, but Xerxes had Leonidas’ head cut off
Why did Xerxes want to take over greece
Want to expand
Leave a legacy
Revenge after marathon
Events of battle of Salamis
Persians marched through south of Greece wanting to sack Athens as revenge for marathon and Sardis. All Athenians flee on boats and trick Persians into attacking them in the Salamis bay. Themistocles understood the bay and was able to win by attacking from the side and using the wind allowing for them to be rammed, all ships too crowded resulting in loss for Persia
Events of battle of marathon
Darius first attempt at invasion in 492BC, with the purpose of punishing the Greeks and to also secure more land, however fleet was wrecked due to storms off mount Athos
Darius demands earth and water in 491BC, most agree however Spartans and Athenians both don’t, they kill the heralds (AT chuck in pit, Spart chuck down well)
Battle takes place, nothing in first 8 days, then Athenians charge, Athenians win.
Marathon race guy runs and dies and Callimachus dead on his feet.
Events off battle of eurymedon
operation started and was fought betweent he
forces of the Delian League and the Persian Army
at Eurymedon.
Athens was at the head of the Delian League, which
was led by Cimon. The Greeks won a decisive victory,
although ancient sources on this topic are very
limited.
Thucydides, writing at the end of the th Century BC
simply says that: “In both battles, the Athenians won
victory on the same day under the command of
Cimon…they captured or destroyed the entire
Phoenician fleet of 200 triremes.
