1. Key People
1.1. Xerxes
1.1.1. Persian leader
1.1.2. Shown by Herodotus as being indecisive, slightly insane and superstitios
1.1.2.1. Indecisive: Can't decide over fighting Egypt or Greece
1.1.2.2. Insane: Herodotus Histories, book 7, line 33, whipping the sea
1.1.2.3. Superstitious: Listens to oracles
1.2. Leonidas
1.2.1. One of two Spartan kings
1.2.2. Lead greeks at the battle of Thermopylae
1.2.2.1. According to Herodotus, he sends away most of the Greek forces and stands to die with only Spartans and a few Peloponnesians left
1.2.3. Oracle claims that in order to win the war, a great king must fall, and Leonidas fulfills this prediction with his death at Thermopylae
1.3. Miltiades
1.3.1. Athenian general at Marathon
1.3.2. Elected by a council, and given extra ruling days by other generals
1.3.3. Used to be a tyrant of an area of Athens before it was a diplomacy
1.3.3.1. the area he ruled was then invaded by the Persians
1.3.3.1.1. he was forced to fight under the Persians and so had experience of them
1.3.3.2. Because he used to be a tyrant the Athenians distrusted him
1.3.3.2.1. He earned their trust at marathon
1.4. Thermistocles
1.4.1. Interpreted the oracles words, with 'wooden walls' meaning the Athenian navy
1.4.2. Not trusted by many important Greeks
1.4.2.1. Battle of Salamis, has to get Aristidies to explain the situation to the leaders for him
1.5. Aristagoras of Miletes
1.5.1. Tyrant of Miletes
1.5.1.1. Later gave up his position to join the rebels
1.5.2. After the failure of the Ionian revolt he fled to Thrace
2. Key Battles
2.1. Marathon
2.1.1. 490BCE
2.1.2. Preperation
2.1.2.1. Athenian Generals (10 + War Archon Callimachus) met & vote to fight Persians
2.1.2.2. Asked Spartans to aid - refused as it was the 9th day of the month, which was a festival
2.1.2.3. Athenians' neighbours - the Plataeans - agreed to help, as Athenians helped settle a dispute of theirs
2.1.3. Battle
2.1.3.1. Normally, 1 general had control a day, but those who voted to fight gave theirs to Miltiades
2.1.3.2. Weaker centre. Spread thin due to Persians' size Callimachus-Killed-Plataeans \//\ \//\ \//\ \//\ \//\ \//\ ---Killed----Persians-----Killed----- Hellenic flanks chased Persians to sea and killed them there
2.2. Thermopylae
2.2.1. 480BCE
2.2.2. Preperation
2.2.2.1. Xerxes waited 4 days - expected Greeks to run
2.2.2.2. Xerxes sent spy, who saw Spartans' pre-war prep - preparing to die
2.2.2.3. Damaritus warned Xerxes about Spartans and their strength
2.2.3. Battle
2.2.3.1. Day 1
2.2.3.1.1. Medes and Cessians attacked
2.2.3.1.2. Greeks took severe losses, but did damage
2.2.3.1.3. Immortals sent in - did no better
2.2.3.2. Day 2
2.2.3.2.1. Same as Day 1
2.2.3.3. Day 3
2.2.3.3.1. Ephialtes went to Xerxes, told about pass around Greeks
2.2.3.3.2. Part of Persian army sent with Ephialtes
2.2.3.4. Day 4
2.2.3.4.1. Persians with Ephialtes encountered Phocians - Phocians retreated up, prepared for battle
2.2.3.4.2. Immortals ignore them, as they aren't Spartans
2.2.3.5. Day 5
2.2.3.5.1. Spartans find out about Persians on pass
2.2.3.5.2. Hold council - army split - Leonidas and few others stay others stay and die
2.3. Artemisium
2.3.1. 480BCE
2.3.2. Persians' Misfortune
2.3.2.1. Started with 1200 ships
2.3.2.2. Caught in gale on approach - lost 400
2.3.2.3. 200 sent around Euboea - also destroyed in gale
2.3.2.4. Lost 1/2 ships before reaching Greeks
2.3.3. Battle
2.3.3.1. First engagement: 15 Persian ships had fallen behind, and saw the Greeks at Artemisium. They thought they were Persians, and were caught when they went over
2.3.3.2. The Greek Commanders decided to test the Persians' seamanship & tactics
2.3.3.3. A few Greek ships were sent out - the Persians thought they would easily overcome their enemy
2.3.3.4. That's all the sources say. I can only assume the Greeks then somehow ambushed the Persians, or something along those lines. And yes, I've checked the actual source book as well - it doesn't have the battle at all.
2.4. Salamis
2.4.1. 480BCE
2.4.2. The Siege of Athens
2.4.2.1. The Oracle at Delphi told the Athenians to 'trust in wooden walls' - some Athenians thought they were the wooden walls around the Acropolis, but Themistocles said they were ships, and took them to Salamis
2.4.2.2. When the Persians reached Athens, the few Athenians who stayed hid in the Acropolis
2.4.2.3. The was a siege, and the city fell. The Persians burnt the temples on the Acropolis - revenge for the atrocities in Sardis
2.4.2.4. When the Greeks at Salamis heard about Athens, some left to their cities. The others stayed to fight
2.4.3. Themistocles persuaded Spartan Eurybiades (commander of fleet) to fight at Salamis, saying
2.4.3.1. Narrow space - in Salamis - suited the Greeks' fighting
2.4.3.2. The could protect the women and children
2.4.3.3. Still be able to defend the Peloponnese
2.4.4. Xerxes asked his advisors if he should attack, and all but Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus (Herodotus' homeland) said he should. Xerxes praised her advice but attacked anyway
2.4.5. Themistocles decided to force the issue - he had a ship pretend to desert and tell Xerxes the Athenians were arguing with the others, and on Xerxes' side
2.4.6. They said the Greeks were in disarray, so the Persians moved to encircle them - preventing the disarray they wanted to exploit
2.4.7. The battle was very confusing, so only relatively few Persians could face the enemy at any one time - the advantage Themistocles talked about earlier. It also meant the superior Phoenecian sailors on the Persian side were useless
2.4.8. The Athenians won, and Xerxes fled to the Hellespont, fearing the Greeks would but the bridge he built, leaving him stuck in Greece. He made plans for his own escape, and left Mardonius in charge of the land army in Greece
2.5. Plataea
2.5.1. 479BCE
2.5.2. The Greeks built up a large army
2.5.3. They pushed the Persians to Plataea, where there was a 1 day stalemate
2.5.4. The Persians sent raids - cut off Greek supply lines. The stalemate ended when they cut off their water supply
2.5.5. The Greeks began retreating to the mountains for water
2.5.6. However, when the sun rose, it had gone pear-shaped - the Athenians and Spartans were still in place, and the rest were strung out. The Persians thought the Greeks were in disarray and attacked
2.5.7. The Athenians fought back, but the Spartans were waiting for good omens
2.5.8. The
2.6. Mycale
2.6.1. 479BCE
2.6.2. The Spartan king Leotychidas lead a naval expedition to Ionia
2.6.3. On the way he found a Persian naval encampment
2.6.4. The Greeks stormed this encampment and burnt the encampment, the Ionians stationed there helped the Greeks
2.6.5. This caused a widespread revolt in Ionia and many Persian soldiers were driven out of Ionia
2.6.6. The Ionians asked to join the Hellenic Alliance, the Spartans refused and told the Ionians to move to mainland Greece
3. Herodotus and reliability
3.1. Ionian Greek
3.1.1. from Helicarnassus- biased towards Queen Artemisia
3.1.2. Likely biased towards Greeks
3.2. Born in 484BCE
3.2.1. Young at the time of the war
3.2.2. Able to talk to first hand witnesses
3.2.3. Had a cultural understanding of the time
3.3. Visited the areas and did a lot of research
3.3.1. Claims to know the names of the 300 spartans
3.3.2. Visited Thermopylae
4. Soldiers and Weaponry
4.1. Greeks
4.1.1. Hoplites
4.1.1.1. Heavily Armoured
4.1.1.2. Large Hoplon (big round brass shield)
4.1.1.3. Fought in a Phalanx
4.1.1.4. Long 2-3m spear
4.1.2. Peltasts
4.1.2.1. Skirmishers
4.1.2.2. Threw long javelins
4.1.2.3. Has a crescent shaped shield
4.1.2.4. Lightly Armoured
4.2. Persians
4.2.1. Immortals
4.2.1.1. Persian Hoplites
4.2.1.2. Heavily Armoured
4.2.1.3. Xerxes' personal guard
4.2.1.4. Kept constantly at 10,000 members
4.2.2. Medes and Cissians
4.2.2.1. Lightly Armoured
4.2.3. Scythian Archers
4.2.3.1. Lightly Armoured
4.2.3.2. Fire as many arrows in short space of time
4.3. Trireme
4.3.1. Length: 120ft
4.3.2. Speed: 6knots
4.3.3. Materials
4.3.3.1. Pine
4.3.3.2. Large timber ram
4.3.3.2.1. Had no way of attacking other ships aside from ramming
4.3.4. Crew
4.3.4.1. 13 men 14 spearmen 4 archers 25 officers 170 rowers
5. Ionian Revolt
5.1. 499BCE
5.2. Took place in Ionia, a part of Asia Minor
5.2.1. This was a Greek area that had been invaded by the Persians, they were culturally related to the Athenians
5.3. They revolted against the Persians for numerous reasons
5.3.1. High taxes
5.3.2. Athens' move towards diplomacy
5.3.3. a requirement provide soldiers to fight for the Persians
5.4. The Revolt
5.4.1. The islanders of Naxos started to revolt against thier oligarch leaders
5.4.2. The oligarchs asked for help from Aristagoras
5.4.3. Aristagoras and Magabates were sent to crush the rebellion
5.4.4. The rebels withstood the Persian siege and so Aristagoras lost all pollitical strength
5.4.5. Reallising that he could not win he decided to give up his tyrnany and join the rebels
5.4.6. He asked for aid from Sparta and Athens
5.4.7. The Athenians sent aid in the form of 20 ships
5.4.8. The rebels than occupied Sardis
5.4.9. during their occupation there was a large fire in Sardis that burnt down much of the city, including the temple
5.4.10. This made Darius angry and so the Athenians retreated
5.4.11. The rebellion was brought to an end but Ionia did gain a democratic government
6. Hellenic League
6.1. 31 Greek States
6.2. 1st Meeting
6.2.1. Resolved to end wars between members
6.2.2. Oath to punish any who medise
6.2.3. Military leader: Sparta
6.3. 2nd Meeting
6.3.1. Land: Thermopylae Sea: Ships to Artemisium
6.3.1.1. Not far - good communication between the two