In this essay I will be examining the reasons why against all odds the Greeks were victorious against the mighty Persians, during the Fifth Century BC.

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Ancient History Essay.

In this essay I will be examining the reasons why against all odds the Greeks were victorious against the mighty Persians, during the Fifth Century BC. This victory has impacted on the world we live in today, as were it not for the Greeks would we have the political and economical freedom that we know today, or would we have been doomed to a life of slavery?

Democracy was forming in the West, giving freedom to the men of the land; a complete contrast to the people of the East who under the  had no say or freedom of choice. History had a pattern where the Persian king’s were greedy, to build up their empire until they owned all the land in the world, a king that showed no virtue or mercy at their ambition to be the king of kings. It is important then to review this history of Greece and Persia, focusing mainly on the great powers of Athens, Sparta and the rise of Persia and to look at the psychological values that influenced the victory of the Greeks against the Persians in these ancient wars.

It could be said that the main founder of the Persian Empire was Cyrus the Great, an able ruler that ascended the Persian throne in 559BC. Cyrus conquered many great cities adapting a new type of Kingship which was far less harsh than the Empires of his predecessors, such as the blood drenched Assyrians and Babylonians (Canby. 1986. The Past Displayed). Cyrus spared execution to those he conquered, instead bringing them into his royal court. This unheard of humanistic approach earned Cyrus respect from the people that he captured “he eclipsed all other monarchs, either before him, or since”. (Holland. 2005. Persian Fire. p20). Cyrus gave opportunities said to have spread wealth and peace throughout the Persian land, whereby slaves were happy to obey him.

In 546BC Cyrus looking to expand his empire sent envoys to Ionia, the area west of Asia Minor inhabited by Greek descendents, offering peace terms of Earth and Water. The people of Ionia were of Hellenistic descent so did not look kindly to taking orders from a King. Help was sought from their fellow Greeks the Spartans, with a reputation of being mighty, having wiped out the great Asian city of Troy in a battle a hundred years previous. At this stage in history however, Sparta refused to help the Ionians due to them being an oligarchy state, committed only to Sparta and thus preferring to protect and defend only themselves. Instead they sent two delegations to give Cyrus warning to leave Ionia or face coming into battle with the Spartans. Shocked by the Spartans bluntness and with them being an unknown quantity, Cyrus was bemused and so asked “who are the Spartans?” (Holland. 2005. Persian Fire. p63). Ionia with no support from Sparta was defeated by the Persian army and tyrants were sent to look over their independent minded city states.

Cyrus continued to enlarge his empire until after twenty nine years in power he was killed in 530BC by the Massagetae tribe. Conspiracy formed amongst the Persian royal court, and seven of the Achaemenid counsel ambitious to take to the Persian thrown. Darius, a distant cousin of Cyrus, came forward prophesising he had been chosen by the gods to rule the thrown of Persia, claiming he was the King of Kings. The  of Persia was now to see a brutal Kingship where no mercy was to bare upon any prisoner as Darius had big ambitions to expand his Empire.

In the Western lands of Greece a very different type of society was forming, the city states had been founding their own political and economical establishments, ousting out the tyrants with the power of the many against the ruling of one. “The power of Athens had been great before, but became greater than ever when they had got rid of the tyrants”. (Herodotus. 1997. P287). Dominant systems arose mainly in Athens and Sparta, both against autocracy and similar in their military tactics. Athens was a democracy, ruled by the many and Sparta an oligarchy, ruled by the few. Their systems worked to make sure that no-one in the state would gain absolute power.

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In Sparta their whole existence was their state and their family, each boy at the age of seven was taken into the agoge, a military training system, where they were taught to fight to the death and develop superior military fighting techniques. When a boy became a man donning his helmet and breastplate he was known as a hoplite warrior. An armoured hoplite would fight against the enemy in the formation of the phalanx, using his hoplon to cover his own left side and the right side of the man to his left. This use of advanced armour and military ...

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