A few time ago i revisited the subject of local history, and i think it is possible that i can produce my recollections from the first phase of the Greek and Persian war (that is up to the defeat of Xerxes, before the expedition of Alexander in Asia).
The story seems to begin with the greek cities of Ionia, the coast of Asia minor. When Lydia went to war with Persia, its king Croesus believing that the oracle he got claiming that "a great kingdom shall perish if the river is crossed" meant that Persia will be defeated, the outcome was disaster for Lydia which was incorporated in the Persian Empire of Cyrus II.
The Ionian states had been part of the kingdom centered in Sardeis (Sardis) for a short time, during the rule of Croesus. After the destruction of Lydia they were to be governed through tyrants, and the overall watch of the Satrap at Sardeis.
Beginning at 499 BC the Ionian cities revolted. The most notable offensive action of the union was to march on Sardeis and burn it, with the help of some regiments from Eretria and Athens. Later on they were forced to go on the defensive, and the revolution ended at 493 BC with the capture of all the cities which had not signed peace with Persia up to then.
This was the first conflict between the Greek world and Persia, and it left also the legacy of distrust and fear of king Darius against the two cities in the European part of the Greek world which aided the rebels. It is said that Darius ordered one of his servants to tell him on a daily basis the phrase "Remember the Athenians" (Μέμνησον τοις Αθηναίοις
so that he would stay resolved to attack them in the future.
A few years later, in 490 BC, Darius I sent armies by land and sea in Greece, managing to secure the northern part along with many of the islands. In command of the force were the generals Datis and Artaphernes, who also were leading the Persian army in the battle of Marathon, later that year.
While Eretria had been burned by Persia, the Persian army did not manage to do the same to the city of Athens. However its numerical superiority was enough to force the Athenians to seek help against the foreign forces. The most notable plea was to Sparta. An athenian named Pheidippides, run the 150 mile distance between Athens and Sparta in two days, to ask for Lacedaemonian enforcement of the Greek army at Marathon. However the answer was negative, attributed widely to the religious festival linked to Peace being held at the time, and the Spartans only could send their army after ten days.
(Interestingly, it is mentioned by Herodotus that while on his way to Sparta, Pheidippides encountered Pan, the satyr-deity. Pan is said to have expressed his sadness that Athens did not honor him with any temple, when he would prove to be very usefull to its protection by instilling panic on the Persians (the word panic (πανικός comes from Pan, and arguably means "of Pan"). After Marathon the Athenians did built a temple to Pan, and theoretically this was due to the belief that indeed he was of assistance to them).
So the Athenians were to face the Persian force by themselves, apart from the assistance granted by the small city of Plataea, who gave its full 1000 hoplite force to be led by the athenian general Miltiades.
Other notable informations about the battle is that Aescylus (Αισχύλος, the famous tragic poet, also fought in that conflict as a hoplite, along with other family members of his. Later on he is said to have claimed that his participation in Marathon was in his view the pinnacle of his life. Such a claim by one of the most influencial writers of world literature echoes how the greek citizents felt about protecting their country.
Apart from Miltiades the most notable generals were Themistocles and Aristeides. It is interesting to note that soon after the victory, when the second Persian expedition came to Greece under Mardonius and with Xerxes as the new Persian King, Themistocles was the cause of the ostracism of Aristeides in his attempt to secure that Athens would become a power centered characteristically on naval power. It is said that before the decisive battles of the second Persian expedition in Greece (Salamis and Plataea) Athens sought an oracle to examine what it should do, in the peril of being attacked by Persia. The first oracle was utterly unfavorable, it read "Run to the edges of the world". However a second oracle was less severe, and more cryptic. It read that if Athens is to be saved, it should build "a wooden wall". Sparta also sought an oracle, which had the meaning that either Sparta, or one of its Kings, would perish (Leonidas being the one who died in Thermopylai).
Themistocles argued that the wooden walls oracle was in reality not about a defensive wall made of wood, but of ships being constructed, numerous enough to secure the possibility of combatting the larger (but not homogenous) Persian fleet.
The last impressive image from the campaign of Xerxes that i would like to mention, in reality comes from Xerxes' older attempt to invade, by building a bridge of tied-together ships, across the Hellespond. This attempt failed due to the destruction of the bridge which would serve as a passing-ground for the vast army. The sea became violent with waves and sunk the ambitious project. Xerxes later on managed to build a new bridge there, employing Greek oversight of the building, but after the failure of the first construction it is said that Xerxes, enraged at the sea, ordered it to be lashed three hundred times as punishment.
In conclusion
The battle of Plataea was the end of the final Persian attempt to conquer the Greek states which were on the other side of the Aegian. While at some time plans could have been drawn to carry the Athenian population to the friendly colonies in Italy, since Athens itself was captured by the forces of Mardonios before Salamis and Plataea, it appears that the resolve was to fight to the end, only not in Attica, but at the Isthmus of Corinth. Themistocles managed to turn that tide, with quite Byzantine planning, which proved to be victorious in the end. At Plataea the Greek forces were led by general Pausanias of Sparta, who sent by far the largest force of hoplites to the alliance of the states during that battle. Leonidas had been dead by then, his head severed at the command of Persia, but still the sight of the large Persian force under Mardonius led to the consideration of tactical retreat to a nearby field where odds were possibly more favorable for the Greek army. A Spartan captain, named Amompharetos (Αμομφάρετος characteristically resisted the order by his general Pausanias to relocate, by saying first that no spartan leaves his position against barbarians, then picking a very large rock he threw it at the feet of Pausanias and said "with this pebble i give my vote not to move".
During the battle itself, Mardonius died. Pausanias was notified of the possibility that the body of the enemy general could be captured, and its head to be cut off as retribution for the same fate that his king Leonidas was met with, however he declined this action, claiming that such acts are done only by barbarians and not by Greeks.
I would like to thank those who found the strength to read up to this point. My article became a bit larger than i originally planned. I meant it as an atypical synopsis of the first phase of the Greek and Persian wars, with some focus on episodes which are less known, and less pronounced refferences to the battles, which one can always read about in a myriad other places with ease and better detail. Hopefully the article is not utterly without use. But, even if you do think it was a negative offering, let me say (in jest) like Themistocles to Eurebiades, shortly before the battle of Salamis, while they were arguing about which battle should be had and where, and Εuribiades lifted his staff with the intention to strike Themistocles out of anger for the latter's insistence on his plans: "Strike me, but also listen to me" (Πάταξον μεν, άκουσον δε").
The story seems to begin with the greek cities of Ionia, the coast of Asia minor. When Lydia went to war with Persia, its king Croesus believing that the oracle he got claiming that "a great kingdom shall perish if the river is crossed" meant that Persia will be defeated, the outcome was disaster for Lydia which was incorporated in the Persian Empire of Cyrus II.
The Ionian states had been part of the kingdom centered in Sardeis (Sardis) for a short time, during the rule of Croesus. After the destruction of Lydia they were to be governed through tyrants, and the overall watch of the Satrap at Sardeis.
Beginning at 499 BC the Ionian cities revolted. The most notable offensive action of the union was to march on Sardeis and burn it, with the help of some regiments from Eretria and Athens. Later on they were forced to go on the defensive, and the revolution ended at 493 BC with the capture of all the cities which had not signed peace with Persia up to then.
This was the first conflict between the Greek world and Persia, and it left also the legacy of distrust and fear of king Darius against the two cities in the European part of the Greek world which aided the rebels. It is said that Darius ordered one of his servants to tell him on a daily basis the phrase "Remember the Athenians" (Μέμνησον τοις Αθηναίοις
so that he would stay resolved to attack them in the future.A few years later, in 490 BC, Darius I sent armies by land and sea in Greece, managing to secure the northern part along with many of the islands. In command of the force were the generals Datis and Artaphernes, who also were leading the Persian army in the battle of Marathon, later that year.
While Eretria had been burned by Persia, the Persian army did not manage to do the same to the city of Athens. However its numerical superiority was enough to force the Athenians to seek help against the foreign forces. The most notable plea was to Sparta. An athenian named Pheidippides, run the 150 mile distance between Athens and Sparta in two days, to ask for Lacedaemonian enforcement of the Greek army at Marathon. However the answer was negative, attributed widely to the religious festival linked to Peace being held at the time, and the Spartans only could send their army after ten days.
(Interestingly, it is mentioned by Herodotus that while on his way to Sparta, Pheidippides encountered Pan, the satyr-deity. Pan is said to have expressed his sadness that Athens did not honor him with any temple, when he would prove to be very usefull to its protection by instilling panic on the Persians (the word panic (πανικός
comes from Pan, and arguably means "of Pan"). After Marathon the Athenians did built a temple to Pan, and theoretically this was due to the belief that indeed he was of assistance to them).So the Athenians were to face the Persian force by themselves, apart from the assistance granted by the small city of Plataea, who gave its full 1000 hoplite force to be led by the athenian general Miltiades.
Other notable informations about the battle is that Aescylus (Αισχύλος
, the famous tragic poet, also fought in that conflict as a hoplite, along with other family members of his. Later on he is said to have claimed that his participation in Marathon was in his view the pinnacle of his life. Such a claim by one of the most influencial writers of world literature echoes how the greek citizents felt about protecting their country.Apart from Miltiades the most notable generals were Themistocles and Aristeides. It is interesting to note that soon after the victory, when the second Persian expedition came to Greece under Mardonius and with Xerxes as the new Persian King, Themistocles was the cause of the ostracism of Aristeides in his attempt to secure that Athens would become a power centered characteristically on naval power. It is said that before the decisive battles of the second Persian expedition in Greece (Salamis and Plataea) Athens sought an oracle to examine what it should do, in the peril of being attacked by Persia. The first oracle was utterly unfavorable, it read "Run to the edges of the world". However a second oracle was less severe, and more cryptic. It read that if Athens is to be saved, it should build "a wooden wall". Sparta also sought an oracle, which had the meaning that either Sparta, or one of its Kings, would perish (Leonidas being the one who died in Thermopylai).
Themistocles argued that the wooden walls oracle was in reality not about a defensive wall made of wood, but of ships being constructed, numerous enough to secure the possibility of combatting the larger (but not homogenous) Persian fleet.
The last impressive image from the campaign of Xerxes that i would like to mention, in reality comes from Xerxes' older attempt to invade, by building a bridge of tied-together ships, across the Hellespond. This attempt failed due to the destruction of the bridge which would serve as a passing-ground for the vast army. The sea became violent with waves and sunk the ambitious project. Xerxes later on managed to build a new bridge there, employing Greek oversight of the building, but after the failure of the first construction it is said that Xerxes, enraged at the sea, ordered it to be lashed three hundred times as punishment.
In conclusion
The battle of Plataea was the end of the final Persian attempt to conquer the Greek states which were on the other side of the Aegian. While at some time plans could have been drawn to carry the Athenian population to the friendly colonies in Italy, since Athens itself was captured by the forces of Mardonios before Salamis and Plataea, it appears that the resolve was to fight to the end, only not in Attica, but at the Isthmus of Corinth. Themistocles managed to turn that tide, with quite Byzantine planning, which proved to be victorious in the end. At Plataea the Greek forces were led by general Pausanias of Sparta, who sent by far the largest force of hoplites to the alliance of the states during that battle. Leonidas had been dead by then, his head severed at the command of Persia, but still the sight of the large Persian force under Mardonius led to the consideration of tactical retreat to a nearby field where odds were possibly more favorable for the Greek army. A Spartan captain, named Amompharetos (Αμομφάρετος
characteristically resisted the order by his general Pausanias to relocate, by saying first that no spartan leaves his position against barbarians, then picking a very large rock he threw it at the feet of Pausanias and said "with this pebble i give my vote not to move". During the battle itself, Mardonius died. Pausanias was notified of the possibility that the body of the enemy general could be captured, and its head to be cut off as retribution for the same fate that his king Leonidas was met with, however he declined this action, claiming that such acts are done only by barbarians and not by Greeks.
I would like to thank those who found the strength to read up to this point. My article became a bit larger than i originally planned. I meant it as an atypical synopsis of the first phase of the Greek and Persian wars, with some focus on episodes which are less known, and less pronounced refferences to the battles, which one can always read about in a myriad other places with ease and better detail. Hopefully the article is not utterly without use. But, even if you do think it was a negative offering, let me say (in jest) like Themistocles to Eurebiades, shortly before the battle of Salamis, while they were arguing about which battle should be had and where, and Εuribiades lifted his staff with the intention to strike Themistocles out of anger for the latter's insistence on his plans: "Strike me, but also listen to me" (Πάταξον μεν, άκουσον δε").
