Fighting and Surviving was the way of life in the ancient world. The Greek civilization was one among the several civilizations of those days. The Persian civilization was also prominent. The Greco Persian wars were a series wars fought between the great empire of Persia and the coalition of Greek city-states.

Greco Persian Wars

The conflict of these city-states was with the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. Persian wars were the decisive moment in Greek history. The term Persian Wars generally refers more specifically to the wars of Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes I. However Greco Persian wars lasted from 549 BC 330 BC.

Persian wars timeline

The first Persian war was initiated by the Ionian revolt. Ionia was conquered by Cyprus the great in 547 BC. Tyrants were appointed by the Persians to rule the independently minded cities of Ionia.

In 499 BC, the tyrant Aristagoras incited all of Hellenic Asia Minor into rebellion against the Persians which was the beginning of the Ionian revolt. Aristagoras, an opportunist planned a popular rebellion against the Persians. Obtained support from Athens, Aristagoras and his team burned the Persian regional capital Sardis.

Darius the great, the Persian king vowed to revenge against Athens. In 492 BC was the first Persian invasion of Greece. Mardonius, the Persian general conquered Thrace and Macedon followed by a second invasion under Davis and Artaphernes in 490 BC. Although this led to the subjugation of Cyclades.

However, in the historic battle of Marathon Athenians had a decisive victory putting Persian efforts to a standstill at least temporarily. It was one of the most important battles in Greek history. Greek politician, Themistocles, convinced the Athenians to begin a navy building project.

In the meanwhile, Darius passed away and Verses I took over the responsibility to conquer Greece. He, in 480 BC led the second Persian invasion. This was a large army and In the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persians were victorious.

In the battle of Salamis, Xerxes was determined to destroy Greece completely and send ships. However, the Persians met with a setback. .Subsequently, in the famous Battle of Plataea, the Persians were thoroughly destroyed and defeated.However, in all these battles the Persians realized the strength of the Athenian army.

Then again in the Battle of Mycale, the Persian fleet was on the losing side. The anti-Persian alliance was reconstituted around Athenian leadership which came to be called the renowned Delian League.

who won the Greco Persian war

The league was made to prepare the Greek any time for a war. The cities of Ionia tasted freedom when the league won a decisive victory in the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC.The Greco Persian wars came to an end by a peace treaty between Athens and Persia, the so-called Peace of Callias.