The Persian Empire

January 5, 2012
Objective:
• The Greek Army
• The Persian Empire tries to take over
Greece.
How can they be stopped?
• And then, predicting what will
happen using text and pictures
• Homework:
– Greek Quiz on Friday….Governments
and Sparta V. Athens & where will you
live….Sparta or Athens

The Persian Empire

An Outsider Invader
Threatens the Greek
Mainland….

I. Main Ideas
A. The Persian Empire united a
wide area under a single
government.

B. Both Sparta & Athens played
roles in defeating the Persians.

I. Where was the Persian Empire
A. Persia = southwestern Iran today.

II. The Persian Army is Created
A. Darius comes to power in
521 B.C.E.
B. Creates a professional army!

III. The Persian Wars
A. By 500 B.C.E. the Persians
controlled Greek colonies in
Asia Minor (Turkey). – Greeks
want independence!!
B. GREEDY!!!!! GIVE ME, GIVE
ME!!! The Persians want
more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VS.

Darius’s Infantry
(Persians)….

Greek Hoplites
Hoplite Definition: Ordinary citizens of Greece that were
foot soldiers

Battle of Marathon
In 490 BCE the Persians, under the
control of Darius, came to
Greece and landed outside of
the plains of Marathon. What
the Persians didn’t realize was
that the Greeks were hiding
behind a hill. When the
Persians went to re-board their
ship and sail on to Athens 1/3
of the hiding Greek army
rushed over the hill and started
attacking the Persians who
were standing in the water.

What really happened?
• The Persians had their best
warriors on the ships. Once the
Persians regained their
composure and started to fight
back the Greek ran for the hill.
The Persians still in the water
followed thinking it was a retreat.
In truth 2/3 of the Greek army was
waiting on the other side of the
hill and demolished the Persians
who followed. The remaining
Persians sailed away.
• Greek Victory

VI. City-States Unite!
A. Greek city states knew the
Persian threat was real.
B. SO THEY UNITE TO FIGHT!
C. Sparta sends foot soldiers
D. Athens provides the navy
E. Together they develop a
strategy to defeat the mighty
Persians!

The Battle of Thermopylae
After the loss at Marathon the Persians left the Greeks
alone for 10 years. During that time the ruler Darius
died and his son Xerxes took over. During these 10
years the Greeks united and Sparta and
Athens, although not friends, realize they fight the best
if they are together. Sparta with the help of Corinth
takes 7,000 soldiers to the tight pass at Thermopylae to
slow if not stop the advance of the Persians 200,000
soldiers from reaching Athens. This way Athens could
get its naval ships out of port and ready to fight and
the Persians wouldn’t be able to burn the Athenian
ships. As the Persians walk through the small pass they
were ambushed by the Greeks. After the initial
ambush King Leonidas (Spartan) sends all of the
Corinthians and the Spartan away. He keeps only the
best 300 Spartans. In the next instance the 300
Spartans look up and the night is filled from the
thousands of Persians arrows. A Spartan soldier says in
response…..

• “We will fight in the shade!”
• The 300 Spartan soldiers will hold of
the mighty Persian army until they
are betrayed and a traitor shows the
Persians a secret passage that
enables them to surround the
Greeks.
• The Spartans will lose but take
30,000 troops with them when they
are killed three days later. This also
allows the Athenians to successfully
get their ships out of Athens in order
to fight the Persian navy.

How will the Persian Army
get their supplies?

So what do the
Greeks have to
do??

The Battle of Salamis
The Battle of Thermopylae allowed the Athenians
to get their ships out of Athens and they were
ready to help attack the Persian supply ships
and the Persian navy. The Persians knew the
Athenians had gotten their ships away safely
and searched for them, exhausting
themselves, while the Athenians rested. When
they did meet the Athenians realized that their
ships were much smaller while the Persians had
huge ships.

So the Athenians have to use their
brain and their knowledge of the
geography of Greece and trick the
Persians into the Strait of Salamis
What is a strait?
The Greeks will battle the Persians in
the strait (David V. Goliath) The strait
is so narrow the large Persians ships
cannot move and the Greek ships
slowly destroy the large Persian navy
and they literally sail circles around
them.

Burn Athens Burn!
• Persian Army marches on to
Athens after winning at
Thermopylae.
• When they get there they find
an abandoned city and burn
it down!

The Battle of Plataea
• In 479 BCE the Persians
marched to Athens and
found it abandoned. The
Persians burnt down Athens.
At the same time the rest of
the Greek poleis got together
and formed one massive
army. The unified Greek
army met up with Persian at
Plataea.

• With the largest Greek army ever
the Greek attacked the Persians
in hand to hand combat and
defeated the Persians.
• The Persians ran back to Turkey
(Asia Minor)
• By working together the Greeks
saved their homeland from
invasion

What does the Persian war
show us about teamwork?

Was anything really
accomplished from all the
battles and death of the
Persian War?

What happens when two
cultures meet and want
the same resources?

The Persian Empire

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The Persian Empire