Spartan Take Home Exam. Politically These Areas Share Hardly

The Greek victory against Persia was largely due to efforts of mainly Athens but also Sparta as well. Athens was responsible for the major turning points of the Persian invasions, while Sparta was responsible for the deciding battle. Miltiades, with his skilful battle strategies, defeated the Persians during their second invasion at Marathon, which gave Athens a confidence boost on their military. During the third invasion, when the Athenians were evacuated to Salamis, Themistocles had devised a plan to trick the Persians which had resulted in Persian army without a supply line. Sparta?s importance had revealed during their sacrifice at Thermopylae and at Plataea, where they provided the most effective part of the army.

Possibly the most famous battle in the Persian War was the Battle of Thermopylae. The Persians were coming for the greek city states, so 6,000-7,000 Greeks marched to the

Sparta was convinced that they needed to prevent Athens from using the Delian League’s naval forces as they felt it would end their dominance of the Peloponnesian League. This led to the Spartan leaders’ decision to wage war against Athens.

In 480 BC, when the Persian horde, estimated by some historians to range from 300,000 to 1.7 million soldiers, landed on the shores of Thermopylae, the Persian King Xerxes sent emissaries to the leaders of the Greek city-states demanding their surrender and patronage to the Persian Empire (Frye, 2006). Despite the massive threat that was encamped on the shores off the Gulf of Maliakos in small town known as Trachis, the Greeks refused. Sparta, known for their superior military might, were chosen by the Greek leaders to lead a coalition of Greek warriors to defend their homeland from the invading Persian army (Frye, 2006).

Leuanedas who led three hundred soldiers to battle a Persian army of over a hundred thousand

     After the Persian wars there was a development of Athenian control over the commercial and economic life of Greece. This growth was caused by the Persian wars themselves. Athens faced a mighty foe in Persia and therefore formed the Delian League. This league was an alliance of cities based around Athens. Each city contributed funds to the construction and maintenance of a vast navy for use against the Persian threat. After the wars Athens dominated the Delian league and declared the contributions from each city mandatory even though the Persian menace was gone. Over time these “allied” cities came under direct Athenian control and the Athenian Empire began to grow. The large navy was still maintained after the war and Athens, already a naval power in the region tightened its grip on the neighboring waters including those that surrounded the peloponnese. This had the effect of enclosing Sparta’s peninsula in a blanket of Athenian naval power. To the Spartans this development was one of considerable worry. The historian Thucydides wrote; “The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired (in Sparta), made war inevitable.” This comment validates the seriousness of Spartan worry and its contribution to the sparking of the peloponnesian war. Sparta’s geography left it vulnerable in some ways. The

Although they pursued different cultural paths, Sparta and Athens were both strongly shaped by their geographical circumstances.

Greece culture, trade and politics were all something you would find in the city all around (Diffen). Athens got its name from the Goddess Athena, which she was known for wisdom and knowledge (Diffen). Sparta is found near the river of Evorates. Sparta was known as the military state and the proctor of Greece because they produced large armies to help fight for Greece when it came to battle. Both these cities had the same way of thinking just different values in mind.

Similar to the account of Egypt, the battle is written with great detail but Herodotus had also included his own opinions to further create insight of the battle for modern historians. The battle was fought between the Greek states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes. After a strategy was proposed by an Athenian general, Themistocles, where the Greeks block the Persian army from advancing at the pass of Thermopylae and therefore block the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium, over 100 000 men of the Persian army marched and fought against 7000 Greek men at the pass. This went on for seven days, however, a civilian called Ephialtes, “stirred by the hopes of receiving a rich reward at the king’s hands”, betrayed the Greeks by exposing a small paths behind the Greek lines to the Persians. Because of this, Leonidas stood guard with around 700 Thespians, 400 Thebans and most notably, “from Sparta, three hundred men-at-arms”. Herodotus added that in his opinion, Leonidas decided on this because “he perceived the allies to be out of heart and unwilling to encounter the danger to which his own mind was made up”. After a year or so of battle between the Persians and the Greeks, the Greeks managed to defeat the Persians with their small army and therefore concluding the Persian invasion. This account helped modern historians

During the early Classical era of Greece, Athens and Sparta harmonized peacefully until the middle of the 5th c. BCE. The political and cultural character of the two were immensely different. Sparta stood protected from external invasion and internal revolt of the helots by their powerful military. They were a closed society governed by an oligarchic government, where power effectively rests with a small number of people, and was led by two kings. Whereas Athens, had a Democratic government and flourished through commercial activities.

Did you know that... Spartans and Athenians have many things in common. their cities were known for beauty music literature drama philosophy politics are in sports. They had a simple lifestyle and Spartan women had better lies them if anyone. They could form friendship with men and they could own property on the other hand the same woman had to depend on their husbands or fathers for everything because they were slaves(would do chores).

Athens and Sparta were both great city states one with power one with knowledge. however they have many differences and similarities. Spartans had the most powerful army in all of Greece at the time. Athens had the best schooling system in Greece. Sparta and Athens are both very similar and very different here's how.

Life in Athens and Sparta was very different. Because of their different conception of the structure of their government. Athens was open while Sparta was closing on himself, concentrating on his army. Sparta considered himself

The Greek and Persian customs are remarkably different for two countries so near to each other. That may explain why there was almost constant war and conflict between the two great nations. The Persian religion was significantly different from the Greek. The Persians generally had a larger navy, but were less skilled. The Greeks took offense at woman-stealing, while the Persians pretty much just ignored it.

Simonides of Ceos, a Greek poet, wrote an epitaph to commemorate the three hundred Spartans’ brave sacrifice against the massive Persian Army. The Greek epitaph translates to “Go tell the Spartans passerby, that here, by Spartan law, we lie.” The three hundred Spartans died obeying their country’s law, “Never to flee in battle, however many the enemy may be, but to remain in the ranks and to conquer or die.” This law is the epitome of a warrior society that the Spartans wanted to create. At the time of the 5th century, the world recognized the Persians as the greatest force in the East. The expansion of the West to conquer the Greeks started with Darius the Great, king of Persia. His conquest failed when the Persian Army was defeated by a surprise attack from the Athenians at the plain of Marathon in 490 BC. Ten years later, Xerxes, Darius’s son, sought to revenge his father by launching an invasion of Greece with twice the force from Marathon. The battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC was the first interaction the Persians had with a Greek force during this second invasion. Even though the battle was won by the Persians, it is critical to question how such a small Greek force of three hundred led by Leonidas of Sparta was able to suppress the entire Persian Army for a total of three days. The three hundred Spartans successfully delayed the Persian invasion because of its warrior society breeding exceptional soldiers of invulnerable mentality, military equipment and tactics,