Historian who described the Greco-Persian wars. Beginning of Xerxes' campaign

Greece is known to everyone as one of the most developed ancient states. Its inhabitants had to participate in many conflicts with other empires, but the largest among them is considered to be Greco-Persian Wars described by Herodotus in his work "History". What caused the clash between the two strongest powers of that time? How did events develop? All this and many other interesting facts you can find out right now!

Greco-Persian Wars. 499-493 BC e. Ionian rebellion

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One of the most frequent causes of wars is the uprising of oppressed peoples, dissatisfied with their position: high taxes and a dismissive attitude on the part of the rulers of the empire make ordinary citizens rebel. Often they are supported by all sorts of military units, and higher ranks.

But the Greco-Persian Wars did not just start because of an uprising of disgruntled citizens. The rulers had a hand here, or as they were called at that time - tyrants, who are in fact Persian henchmen. First of all, this is the current head of Miletus - Aristagoras, who quarreled with the closest associates of the Persian emperor Darius during the unsuccessful campaign against Naxos. Hestia, his cousin, who was in "honorable imprisonment" in the ruler's palace, also contributed.

Aristagoras feared that the failed campaign would significantly affect his position. The tyrant gathers a military council, where a decision is made to start an uprising against the rule of the Persians. The grains of the war fell into fertile ground: the Ionian Greeks had long been dissatisfied with huge taxes. Aristogoras also played in favor of the fact that he resigned his powers as a tyrant and proclaimed Miletus a democratic republic.

The head of the rebels was not stupid: he understood that without allies his cause was doomed to failure. In search of associates, he goes to Greece. In Sparta, he receives a categorical refusal: King Cleomenes could not be lured to his side either by bribery or by the promise of rich profit. But the Athenians and Eritrians decided to help the rebels and allocated 25 ships.

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So, the Greco-Persian wars began with the destruction of the richest city of Persia - Sardis. The troops of Darius, at this moment in full swing moving towards Miletus, were forced to change the direction of the offensive. The rebels were no longer in Sardis, but the imperial army managed to overtake them near Ephesus, located nearby. In the ensuing battle, the rebels suffered a crushing defeat and lost a strategically important ally: the Athenians left the camp and went home. But Darius held a grudge against them, which in many ways became the reason for the continuation of the Greco-Persian wars.

The uprising against the imperial power broke out like a fire in one city after another. But the Persians were inexorable: successively conquering Cyprus, Propontis, Hellespont, Caria and, finally, Ionia, they brutally cracked down on the rebels and eliminated all sources of discontent. Miletus was the last to fall in the battle of Lada, from where, in fact, thoughts of liberation from the yoke of the emperor came. But this event did not end the war. Vice versa. All the fun has just begun...

Greco-Persian Wars. 492-490 BC e. Campaigns of Darius I

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The Persian emperor was never able to forgive the Greeks for participating in the Ionian uprising. The time has come for the inhabitants of the city-states to defend their freedom - in 492, the army of Darius I crossed the borders of Persia and headed for Hellas.

The first campaign was more of an expeditionary nature: the king wanted to know the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent. Nevertheless, it was not without the capture and destruction of cities: the Persian army, commanded by Mardonius, an ally of Darius, conquered 13 Greek policies, including Enos and Mirkin. He managed to capture Thrace and Macedonia, forcing Alexander the Great to an alliance with the Persians, but after the attack on the island of Thassos, luck turned away from the commander: the fleet at Cape Athos was overtaken by a storm, as if Poseidon himself, heeding the prayers of the Greeks, sent misfortunes to their opponents. The ground army was defeated by the brigs - a warlike tribe that lives in the area.

Mardonius himself was wounded in battle and fell into disfavor. The king of the Persians, having made up for the losses, in 490 again gathers an army and sends it to Greece. This time he has two commanders: the Lydian Artaphernes leads the Persians on the sea, and Datis the Median on land.

Soldiers rush through Naxos like a hurricane, punishing the inhabitants for the recently raised uprising, besiege Eritrea and after a long 6 months enter the city, set it on fire and rob it, avenging the devastated Sardis. And they rush to Attica, crossing the Strait of Euripus.

Greco-Persian Wars. 490 BC e. Marathon battle

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490 BC: Athens in great danger. The Persians, having dealt with the uprisings in their own territories, took up their allies. A large army gathered on the Marathon Plain, threatening the freedom of the Hellenes.

The place was not chosen by chance: the Persian cavalry, as the main striking force, could act as efficiently as possible under such conditions. The Athenians, asking for help from the allies (of which, however, only the inhabitants of Platea decided to help; the Spartans, referring to the divine holiday, did not appear on the battlefield), also settled down near Marathon.

Of course, it was possible to hide behind the city walls, but the fortifications of Athens were not very reliable. Yes, and the Hellenes were afraid of betrayal, like what happened in Eritrea, where eminent citizens Filagr and Euphorb opened the gates of the city to the Persians.

The Athenians took a rather advantageous position: the height of Pentelikon, blocking the passage to the city. There was a question about the future strategy. The opinion of the members of the military council, headed by Callimachus, was divided. But the most gifted and talented strategist Miltiades managed to convince everyone to go on the offensive. The tactics of further actions were developed by him.

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The Persians decided to avoid the battle and moved towards the ships, intending to leave the Marathon field and land near Athens in the town of Falera. But after half of the armed soldiers of the Persians had already boarded the ships, the combined forces of the Greeks dealt a crushing blow: during the battle that took place in 490 BC. e., on September 12, about 6,400 Persians were killed and only 192 Hellenes.

The Persians set out to attack the seemingly undefended Athens. But Maltiades sent a messenger, who, according to legend, ran 42 kilometers and 195 meters without stopping, to report a grand victory and warn the inhabitants of the city about a possible attack. This distance, currently included in the program of the Olympic Games, is called the marathon.

The commander himself with the army also very quickly reached the city. The Persians, making sure that Athens was well protected, were forced to return to their homeland. Darius' punitive campaign failed. And a further attack on the Greeks remained just plans: a much more dangerous rebellion was brewing in Egypt.

Greco-Persian Wars. 480-479 BC e. Campaign of Xerxes

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Darius I died without taking revenge on the Greek offenders. But his successor Xerxes did not like this state of affairs. The suppression of the Egyptian uprising did not at all exhaust the enormous resources of Persia, which was at the peak of its power: it was decided to continue what Darius had started and capture recalcitrant Greece. Xerxes began to gather the armies of the conquered peoples under his banners.

But the Greeks also did not sit idle. At the initiative of the far-sighted politician Themistocles, the Athenians create a powerful fleet, and also hold a congress, where representatives of 30 Greek policies are present. At this event, the Hellenes agree to jointly oppose a common enemy. The army assembled by the Greeks is indeed very powerful: the well-armed Athenian fleet, which also includes ships sent by Aegina and Corinth, under the command of Eurybiades, a native of Sparta, is a formidable force at sea, and its warlike brothers, with the support of the allies, must resist the enemy ground forces.

The Greeks at any cost had to prevent the advance of Xerxes' troops deep into Hellas. This could be done only by placing the soldiers in the narrow gorge of Thermopylae and barricading the ships with the strait near Artemisium, the cape, next to which the path to Athens lay.

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Two battles: the battle of Thermopylae and the battle of Artemisia ended unsuccessfully for the Greeks. The most famous event of the first is the death of 300 Spartans, led by King Leonidas, who heroically defended the narrow passage. The Greeks might have survived in the gorge, if not for the betrayal of the inhabitants, so characteristic of those times. The defeat on land was followed by the retreat of the fleet. The Persians fought their way to Athens.

Thanks to the cunning of Themistocles, the Athenian orator, and the short-sightedness of the Persian king, the next battle between the opponents took place in the narrow straits near the island of Salamina. Here luck was on the side of the Greeks.

However, in 479, the Persians managed to occupy Athens (the inhabitants were evacuated to Salamis). However, not for long: in the battle of the Palatei, they again lost their advantage, this time completely. The Greco-Persian Wars are effectively over.

However, everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance. The Hellenes, having gained an advantage, began to advance on the territory of Persia. The Greeks were able to conquer vast territories and even reach the most troubled province, which is part of the enemy's empire - Egypt. The conflict will finally end only in 449 BC. e., 50 years after the events began. But this is a completely different story, and we will tell it next time ...

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In the middle of the first millennium BC. e. Hellas (Greece) begins to play an increasingly prominent role in the history of the Eastern Mediterranean. By this time, the Greeks, despite the preservation of tribal divisions and features in the language and way of life, were an established nationality. The far-reaching process of property stratification, the growth of private property and the formation of classes undermined the old, tribal organization. Its place is occupied by the state, the specific form of which for ancient Greece was the policy - the ancient city-state.

The policy was a civil community, belonging to which gave its individual members the right to own the main means of production of that time - land. However, far from all the population living on the territory of a particular policy was part of the community and enjoyed civil rights. Slaves were deprived of all rights; in addition, in each policy there were various categories of personally free, but incomplete population, for example, migrants from other policies, strangers. Slaves and underprivileged usually represented a large part of the population of the policy, and citizens - a privileged minority. But this minority, having the fullness of political power, used it to exploit and oppress slaves and other categories of dependent or underprivileged population. In some policies, only the upper layers of citizens (aristocratic policy) enjoyed political predominance, in others - a wider circle of citizens (democratic policy). But both those and other policies were slaveholding.

Greece on the Eve of the Greco-Persian Wars

In ancient times, Hellas was a sum of independent and self-governing city-states, which, due to the historical situation, either entered into an alliance with each other, or, on the contrary, were at enmity with each other. A number of large Greek policies arose on the coast of Asia Minor (Miletus, Ephesus, Halicarnassus, etc.). They early turned into rich trade and craft centers. In the second half of the VI century. BC e. all the Greek cities of the Asia Minor coast fell under the rule of Persia.

Large Greek city-states also arise on the islands of the archipelago and on the territory of Balkan Greece itself. During the period of the greatest development of Greek colonization (VIII-VI centuries BC), the boundaries of the Hellenic world were widely moved apart. The successful advance of the Greeks in the northeast direction leads to the emergence of a number of policies on the southern (Sinoda, Trebizond), and then on the northern (Olbia, Chersonesus, Panticapaeum, Theodosius) and eastern (Dioskurias, Phasis) coast of the Black Sea. Greek colonization in the western direction is developing even more intensively. The number of Greek colonies in southern Italy and in Sicily was so great that this area was already in the 6th century. called "Greater Greece".

The entire coast of the Gulf of Tarentum is surrounded by a ring of rich and flourishing cities (Tarent, Sybaris, Croton, etc.), then the Greeks penetrate deep into southern Italy (Naples) and into the eastern part of Sicily (Syracuse, Messana, etc.). The city-states of Magna Graecia are becoming an increasingly prominent political force in the complex international struggle that unfolded in the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. in the Western Mediterranean basin.

However, the center of development of this vast and widely spread Greek world by the beginning of the 5th century. BC e. is the Balkan Peninsula, the territory of Greece proper. Here, by this time, the two most significant city-states stood out - Sparta and Athens. The paths of development of these states were different. The Spartan community was of an agrarian, agricultural nature; trade and money relations were poorly developed here. The land, divided into approximately equal plots (cleres) and owned by individual families of the Spartans, was considered the property of the community, the state as a whole, and an individual Spartiate could own it only as a member of the community. These lands were cultivated by the labor of the disenfranchised, dependent and attached to the clerks of the population - the helots. Unlike the type of slavery common to Greece, the helots did not belong to individual Spartans, but were considered the property of the community as a whole. In Sparta, there was also a special category of the underprivileged population - the perieks (“living around”, that is, not on the territory of the city of Sparta itself). Their situation was less difficult. They owned property and land on the basis of private property and were engaged not only in agriculture, but in crafts and trade. Wealthy perieki owned slaves.

Athens was a different type of slave city-state. The intensive growth of the productive forces of Athenian society, associated with the development of handicrafts and maritime trade, led to a relatively early decomposition of the community. In Athens, as a result of the struggle that unfolded between the general population (demos) and the tribal aristocracy (eupatrides), a slave-owning state was formed, which received a rather complex social structure.

The free population of Athens was divided into a class of large slave-owning landowners and a class of free producers. The first of them should include, in addition to the Eupatrides, representatives of the new trading and monetary nobility, the second - broad layers of the demos, that is, peasants and artisans. There was another division of the free part of the Athenian population: into those who enjoyed political rights and those without full rights - into citizens and meteks (foreigners who lived on the territory of Athens). Below all on the social ladder were slaves who were absolutely deprived of civil rights and personal freedom.

The government structure of Athens and Sparta also had significant differences. Sparta was a typical oligarchic republic. The community was headed by two kings, but their power was severely limited by the council of elders (gerusia) - the body of the Spartan nobility - and the college of ephors, who played a major role in political life. Although the people's assembly (apella) was formally considered the supreme body of power, it actually did not have much significance.

In Athens, as a result of the transformations carried out in the VI century. Solon and Cleisthenes, a system of slave-owning democracy was established. The political dominance of the tribal nobility was broken. Instead of the former tribal phyla, territorial, subdivided pademes appeared. The role of the Athenian National Assembly (zkklesia) grew more and more. The main government positions were elective. The elective "council of five hundred" (boule) gradually pushed into the background the stronghold of the tribal nobility - the Areopagus, although the latter at the beginning of the 5th century. still represented a certain political force. Such a democratic body as the jury (helium) was created, the composition of which was replenished by drawing lots from among all full-fledged citizens. The economic and political structure of the Greek states also determined the nature of their military organization. In Sparta, a peculiar way of life and a system of paramilitary education, based on the institutions attributed to the legendary legislator Lycurgus, contributed to the creation of a strong and experienced army (Spartan infantry). Sparta subjugated Cynuria and Messenia and led the Peloponnesian Union, which included the Arcadian cities, Elis, and then Corinth, Megara and the island of Aegina. Athens, as a trading and maritime state, developed mainly shipbuilding. By the beginning of the 5th century the Athenian fleet, especially the military, was still small. However, the entire economic development of the Athenian state, and then the military threat looming over it, pushed the Athenians onto the path of enhanced fleet construction. Since service in the fleet was mainly the lot of the poorest citizens, the growth of the Athenian fleet was closely connected with the further democratization of the political system, and the lower command staff and the rowers of the fleet were the backbone of the slave-owning democracy. Soon the question of the importance of the fleet for the Athenian state rose to its full height. This happened in connection with the attack of the Persians on Greece.

Beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars. Campaigns of Darius I to Balkan Greece

After the suppression of the uprising of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the Persian ruling circles decided to use the fact that the Athenians had helped the rebels as a pretext for a warrior against the European Greeks. The Persians, as already mentioned, understood that they could gain a foothold in their Asia Minor possessions only after the conquest of mainland Greece. Therefore, in the summer of 492, under the command of the son-in-law of Darius - Mardonius, the first land-sea campaign along the Thracian coast to Balkan Greece was undertaken. When the forces of Mardonius were approaching the peninsula of Chalkidike, his fleet fell into a storm off the Athos cape, during which up to 300 ships and their crew were killed. After that, Mardonius, leaving the garrisons on the Thracian coast, was forced to turn back. In 490 BC. e. The Persians launched a second campaign against Greece. Persian troops crossed the Aegean Sea on ships, devastated the island of Naxos and the city of Eretria on Euboea along the way, after which they landed on the coast of Attica near Marathon. Athens was in danger of a Persian invasion. Their appeal to Sparta for help did not give the expected result: Sparta preferred to take a wait-and-see attitude. The Athenians themselves could put up only 10 thousand heavily armed soldiers, about a thousand soldiers were sent to help them by Plata, a small Boeotian city located near the border with Attica. We do not have reliable data on the number of Persians who landed at Marathon, but one can think that they were, in any case, no less than the Greeks. At the council of the Athenian strategists, it was decided to go out to meet the enemy and give him a battle at Marathon. This decision was due not only to military, but also to political considerations. There were many aristocrats in the city, as well as supporters of the political regime that existed in Athens under the tyrant Peisistratus and his sons. When enemies approached the city, they could go over to the side of the Persians. The command over the army that marched to Marathon was entrusted to strategists, including Miltiades, the ruler of Thracian Chersonese, who had fled from the Persians, and who was well acquainted with the military methods of the Persians.

The battle at Marathon took place in 490 BC. e. and was crowned with a complete victory for the Athenians and their Plataean allies. The Persians could not withstand the attack of a close formation of heavily armed Greek soldiers, were overturned and put to flight. Herodotus says that they left up to 6,400 corpses on the battlefield, while the Greeks lost only 192 people killed. This victory, won by the citizens of the Greek polis inspired by the patriotic feeling over the troops of the strongest power of that time, made a huge impression on all the Greeks. Those of the Greek cities that had previously expressed obedience to Darius, again declared themselves independent. Almost simultaneously, unrest arose in Babylonia, and in Egypt and distant Nubia even uprisings broke out.

But the Persians did not think of abandoning their plan to conquer Greece. However, in 486, Darius died, and court unrest began in connection with the transfer of power to new hands. Therefore, only 10 years after the Battle of Marathon, the successor of Darius, King Xerxes, was able to launch a new big campaign against the Greeks.

The Greeks made poor use of the ten-year hiatus to prepare for the resumption of the war. The only exception in this respect was Athens. Here at that time there was a sharp political struggle between the aristocratic and democratic factions. The democratic group was headed by Themistocles, one of the most courageous, energetic and far-sighted figures of that time. According to the Greek historian Thucydides, Themistocles, like no one else, had the ability to foresee "the best or worst outcome of an enterprise, still hidden in the darkness of the future", and was able in all cases to "immediately invent an appropriate plan of action." The Themistocles group, along with merchants and wealthy artisans, also included broader sections of the civilian population of Athens, who shared the so-called maritime program put forward by him - a broad plan for strengthening the sea power of Athens, building a new fleet. Their opponents, headed by Aristides, found support among large landowners. In the end, the naval program was adopted by the people's assembly. Implementing this program, the Athenians built about 150 warships (gprier) at the expense of income from the Daurian mines, previously distributed among citizens. After that, the Athenian fleet became the strongest in Greece.

Campaign of Xerxes

Hostilities resumed in the spring of 480. A huge fleet and land army, consisting both of the Persians themselves and of detachments put up by the conquered peoples that were part of the Achaemenid state, moved led by Xerxes himself through the Hellespont along the Thracian coast along the route of the first campaign of Mardonius on Balkan Greece. The Greek policies that decided to resist entered into a defensive alliance, headed by Sparta, as the state that possessed the most powerful land army. On the border between Northern and Central Greece, the small forces of the Allies occupied the narrow Thermopylae passage, convenient for defense. The troops of Xerxes attacked the defenders of Thermopylae many times, trying in vain to break through the defenses. According to the Greeks, there was a traitor who showed the enemies a detour mountain path) ". Along this path, a detachment of Persians went to the rear of the defenders of Thermopylae. When the Spartan king Leonidas, who commanded the forces of the allies, became aware of this, he ordered his troops to retreat, but he himself a detachment of Spartan warriors of 300 people remained in Thermopylae. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, the Spartans fought to the last man. Subsequently, a monument was erected on the grave of Leonidas and his soldiers with the inscription:

Traveler, go, build to our citizens in Lacedemono, That, observing their covenants, here we perished with bones.

Having broken through Thermopylae, the Persians poured into Central Greece. Almost all the Boeotian cities, in which the Persian-minded aristocracy was strong, hastened to submit to Xerxes. Attica was devastated, Athens plundered. The Athenians evacuated children, women and the elderly to the Peloponnese and the nearby islands, yet able-bodied men moved to the decks of warships. The land forces of the Greeks fortified themselves on the Isthmus of Corinth. The fleet that fought at Cape Artemisia (in the north of Euboea), in which more than half of the ships belonged to the Athenians, withdrew to the Saronic Gulf.

The turning point in the course of the war was the famous naval battle off the island of Salamis (480 BC). Dividing their fleet, the Persians immediately attacked the enemy from two sides. The Greek ships moved towards them. In the narrow strait between the shores of Attica and Salamis, the Persians failed to use their numerical superiority. With a swift onslaught, the Greeks upset the battle formation of their ships, which were larger in size than the Greeks and less capable of maneuvering; in close quarters, the Persian ships collided and drowned each other. By nightfall, the Persian fleet was defeated.

The victory at Salamis was primarily the merit of the Athenians, led by the strategist Themistocles. The defeat that the Persians suffered here was a heavy blow for them. Although they still had a large and fully combat-ready ground army, its connection with the rear could easily be interrupted. In addition, the news of the major defeat of the Persian fleet threatened to cause unrest within the Persian state itself, primarily in Ionia. Therefore, Xerxes decided to return to Asia, leaving part of the army under the command of Mardonius in Greece. In the next year, 479, Mardonius, who wintered with his troops in Thessaly, returned to Central Greece and approached the Isthmian Isthmus. The combined forces of the Greek allies under the command of the Spartan Pausanias settled down near Plataea. In a battle that soon took place here, the troops of Mardonius were utterly defeated and he himself was killed. In the same year 479, the Greek fleet, led by the Athenian strategist Xanthippus and the Spartan king Leotichid, won a brilliant victory over the Persians in the battle near Cape Mycale (the coast of Asia Minor).

The end of the war and its historical significance

After Salamis and Plataea, the war had not yet ended, but its character had changed radically. The threat of enemy invasion ceased to weigh on Balkan Greece, and the initiative passed to the Greeks. In the cities of the western coast of Asia Minor, uprisings began against the Persians; the population overthrew the rulers planted by the Persians, and soon the whole of Ionia regained its independence.

In 467, the Greeks delivered another blow to the military forces of the Persian state in the battle at the mouth of the Eurymedon River (on the southern coast of Asia Minor). Hostilities, then subsiding, then resuming again, continued until 449, when in a battle near the city of Salamis on the island of Cyprus, the Greeks won a new brilliant victory over the Persians. This battle of Salamis is considered the last battle in the Greco-Persian wars; in the same year, as some Greek authors report, the so-called Callian (after the Athenian representative) peace was concluded between both sides, under the terms of which the Persians recognized the independence of the Greek cities of Asia Minor.

The main reason for the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in this historical clash was that they fought for their freedom and independence, while the troops of the Persian state consisted largely of soldiers recruited under duress, not interested in the outcome of the war. It was also extremely important that the economic and social life of Greece at that time reached a relatively high level of development, while the Persian state, forcibly incorporating many tribes and nationalities into its structure, hindered the normal development of their productive forces.

The victory of the Greeks in a clash with the Persians not only ensured the freedom and independence of the Greek cities, but also opened up broad prospects for their further unhindered development. This victory was thus one of the prerequisites for the subsequent flourishing of the Greek economy and culture.

The Greco-Persian wars are the period of the most significant battles in the history of ancient Greece, which played a big role in the formation of the state. As a result of a half-century military conflict, a redistribution of forces on the continent took place: the once powerful Persian state fell into decline, while Ancient Greece entered its peak period.

General characteristics of the period

The Greco-Persian Wars is a protracted military conflict between two independent states, Greece and Persia, during the reign of the Achaemenids. This was not a single battle, but a series of wars that lasted from 500 to 449 BC. e., and included both land campaigns and sea expeditions.

This historical period is called fateful, since the large-scale expansion of Persia to the west could have great consequences for the entire ancient world.

Rice. 1. Army of Persia.

The main reason for the Greco-Persian wars was the desire of the Persian kings to gain world domination. With a huge army, inexhaustible resources and an impressive territory, Persia planned to conquer Greece as well, in order to thereby gain free access to the Aegean Sea.

Tired of enduring the oppression of the Persian tyrant Darius I, in 500 BC. e. the inhabitants of Miletus raised an uprising, which quickly resonated in other cities. The major Greek cities of Eretria and Athens helped the rebels, but after several victories the Greeks were defeated.

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The enraged Darius vowed not only to take revenge on the Evebeans and Athenians, but also to completely subjugate the recalcitrant Greece. Many cities immediately expressed their obedience to the Persian king, and only the inhabitants of Sparta and Athens resolutely refused to bow their heads before the despot.

Major battles of the Greco-Persian Wars

The Greco-Persian wars were not permanent, and only a few major battles entered history.

• Battle of Marathon (490 BC) . In 490 BC. e. the Persian flotilla approached Attica from the north side, and the army landed not far from the small graying of Marathon. The locals were immediately reinforced by the Athenians, but the Persians were far outnumbered.

Despite the significant superiority in the troops, the Greeks, thanks to the military tactics of the commander Miltiades, were able to win a brilliant victory over the Persian army. This success incredibly encouraged the Greeks, who destroyed the stereotype of the invincibility of the Persians.

According to legend, one of the warriors, trying to bring the Athenians the joyful news of victory as soon as possible, ran from Marathon to Athens. Without stopping for a minute, he ran a total of 42 km 195 m. Having informed the people about the defeat of the Persians, he fell lifeless to the ground. Since then, in athletics, a competition has appeared in running for a given distance, which was called marathon running.

• Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC). The next battle took place only 10 years later. By this time, the Greeks were able to build an impressive fleet thanks to the discovery of a rich silver mine in Attica.

A new campaign in Greece was led by the new king Xerxes. The Persian army was advancing on Hellas from the north by land, and a huge flotilla was heading along the sea coast.

The decisive battle took place at Thermopylae. For two days, the Persians, whose numbers far exceeded the Greek troops under the command of the Spartan king Leonidas, could not break through. However, as a result of the betrayal of one of the Greeks, the enemy units were in the rear.

Leonid ordered everyone to leave the battlefield, and he himself remained with 300 Spartans to die in an unequal battle. Later, in memory of the heroic deed of Leonid, a statue of a lion was erected in the Thermopylae Gorge.

Rice. 2. Battle of Thermopylae.

• Battle of Salamis (480 BC). After the victory at Thermopylae, the Persian army went to Athens. This time, the Greeks had all hope for a fleet of about 400 light and maneuverable ships. The battle in the Salaman Strait was incredibly fierce: the Greeks fought desperately for their freedom, the lives of their wives, children, and parents. Defeat for them meant eternal slavery, and this gave them strength. As a result, the Greeks won a brilliant victory, and Xerxes with the remnants of the fleet retreated to Asia Minor, but part of his army still remained in Greece.

Rice. 3. Ancient Greek fleet.

• Battle of Plataea (479 BC). In 479 BC. e. there was a major battle near the small town of Plataea. The victory of the Greeks in this battle marked the beginning of the final expulsion of the Persians from Greece and the conclusion of peace in 449 BC. e.

The Greco-Persian wars had great consequences for both states. The unrestrained expansion of the Achaemenids was stopped for the first time, and the ancient Greek state entered the era of its highest cultural achievements.

Table “Greco-Persian Wars”

Event	the date	Head of the Persians	Greek commander	Event value
Marathon battle	490 BC e.	Darius I	Miltiades	Athenian victory. The destruction of the legend of the invincibility of the Persians
Battle of Thermopylae	480 BC e.	Xerxes	Leonid	Huge losses for the Persians
Battle of Salamis	480 BC e.	Xerxes	Themistocles	Defeat of the Persian fleet
Battle of Plataea	479 BC e.	Xerxes	Pausanias	The final defeat of the Persians
Peace with the Persians	449 BC e.			Restoration of the independence of the ancient Greek state

The Greco-Persian wars are described in detail by Herodotus in his History. He traveled a lot, visited various countries. Persia was no exception.

At the head of the Persian kingdom was Darius I. Under the authority of the state were located in the Greek cities. The Persians subjugated them, and forced the population to pay huge taxes. The Greeks who lived in Miletus could no longer endure this oppression. Flashed in 500 BC. e. in this city, the uprising spread to other cities. 25 ships came to the aid of the rebels from Eretria (a city located on the island of Euboea) and Athens. Thus began the wars of antiquity, which became the most significant in the history of the two states.

The rebels, supported by naval forces, won several victories. However, later the Greeks were defeated.

Darius, sworn to take revenge on the Athenians and Euboeans, decided to capture all of Greece. He sends ambassadors to the policies demanding to submit to his authority. Many expressed humility. However, Sparta and Athens remained adamant.

In 490 BC. e. the Persian fleet approached Attica from the north, the army landed near the small village of Marathon. Immediately the Athenian militia was sent to meet the enemy. Of all Hellas, only the population of Plataea (a town in Boeotia) helped the Athenians. Thus, the Greco-Persian wars began with the numerical superiority of the Persians.

However, Miltiades (the Athenian commander) competently lined up his troops. So, the Greeks managed to defeat the Persians. The victorious pursued the losers of the battle to the sea. There the Hellenes attacked the ships. The enemy fleet began to quickly move away from the coast. The Greeks won a brilliant victory.

According to the legends, one young warrior, having received an order, ran to Athens to inform the inhabitants of the good news. Without stopping, without taking a sip of water, he ran a distance of 42 km 195 meters. Stopping on the square of the village of Marathon, he shouted out the news of the victory and immediately fell down without breathing. Today there is a competition for running this distance, which is called a marathon.

This victory dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the Persians. The Athenians themselves were very proud of the outcome of the battle. But the Greco-Persian wars did not end there.

At this time, Themistocles began to gain popularity and influence in Athens. This energetic and talented politician attached great importance to the fleet. He believed that with his help the Greco-Persian wars would end with the victory of Greece. At the same time, a rich silver deposit was discovered in Attica. Themistocles proposed to spend the proceeds from the development on the fleet. Thus, 200 triremes were built.

Greco-Persian wars continued after 10 years. King Darius I was replaced by the ruler Xerxes. His army marched on Hellas by land from the north. A huge fleet accompanied her along the sea coast. Many Greek policies then united against the invaders. Sparta took command.

In 480 BC. e. The Battle of Thermopylae took place. The battle went on for two days. The Persians could not break the siege of the Greeks. But there was a traitor. He led the enemy to the rear of the Greeks.

He stayed with the volunteers to fight, and ordered the rest to retreat. The Persians won this battle and moved to Athens.

The city was abandoned by the Athenians. The elderly, children, women were moved to neighboring islands, and the men went to the ships.

The battle took place in the Salamis Strait. Persian ships entered the strait at dawn. The Athenians immediately struck at the advanced ships of the enemy. Persian ships were heavy and clumsy. Trieres easily bypassed them. The Greeks were victorious. The ruler Xerxes was forced to retreat to Asia Minor.

After there were battles at Mycale and Plataea. According to legend, the battles happened on the same day, and the Greeks emerged victorious in both.

Military operations continued for a long time, until 449 BC. e. This year peace was concluded, as a result of which all Greek cities located in Asia Minor gained independence.

The Greeks emerged victorious. Their troops were few, but well trained. In addition, the main reasons for the Greco-Persian wars were the desire of the Greek people to regain freedom and independence, which supported their fighting spirit.

1. BACKGROUND OF THE GRECO-PERSIAN WARS

The Greco-Persian Wars were a turning point in the history of Greece. Many small Greek cities, often at war with each other, were able to rally in the face of danger and not only withstood the onslaught of the most powerful Persian state, but managed, having defended their independence, to go on the counteroffensive and put a limit to Persian aggression to the west. The struggle with Persia revealed the positive results of the social and political transformations that took place in the Greek policies during the 6th century. BC e. For the first time in this struggle, the ideas of pan-Hellenic solidarity, unity, based regardless of state borders on a common way of life, culture, religion, and language, were voiced.

The decisive period of the Greco-Persian wars (500-478) is studied mainly on the basis of the "History" of Herodotus, who, although he was not a contemporary of the events described, still had the opportunity to talk with their aged participants, visit the battlefields, get acquainted with a relatively fresh oral tradition , monuments in honor of the winners. Herodotus is extremely conscientious in presenting the facts available to him, is alien to tendentiousness in relation to the Persians, does not keep silent about the persophile sentiments among a part of the Greeks, but, like any historian, covers the events of the past from the point of view of his time, in some cases following the official Athenian tradition 50-30 -s of the 5th c. BC e. The reliability of his story is verified by other surviving evidence that also provides new data, in particular about events after 478 BC. e.

Only fragments have come down from the historical work of Hecateus of Miletus, a contemporary of the events. A vivid description of the sea battle near the island of Salamis is given by its participant Aeschylus in the tragedy "Persians". A number of inscriptions have been preserved in honor of the victories won, dedications to the pan-Hellenic sanctuaries, epitaphs to fallen soldiers. Evidence of the Greco-Persian wars is available from orators, publicists, historians of the 4th century BC. BC e. A number of information is contained in Diodorus (1st century BC), who used the work of the historian Efor (4th century BC) that has not come down to us. Many details are reported in the biographies written by Plutarch (I-II centuries AD); valuable information can be found in the "Description of Hellas" by Pausanias (II century AD). Reminiscences about these wars, so significant for the fate of Hellas, abound in Greek and Roman tradition.

The starting point of the Greco-Persian wars was the uprising of the Greek cities of the western coast of Asia Minor and the adjacent islands against Persian rule. The conquests of Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius led to the inclusion of the entire Middle East into the Persian state. The Greek cities of Asia Minor, subject to 546 BC. e. Lydia, after its defeat, came under the rule of the Persians. The amount of taxes levied by the new rulers was about the same as before, but under the rule of Lydia, the money collected went into circulation, and now they settled as dead capital in the treasuries of the Persian kings. This harmed the developing trade-money relations and caused discontent among trade-related groups in the Greek cities of the coast.

The power of Lydia, which did not have its own fleet, moreover, did not directly affect the economic interests of the Greeks of Asia Minor, connected with maritime trade. Persia, having subjugated to its control the straits connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea, and having an excellent fleet of the Phoenicians, seriously limited the trading opportunities of the Greek policies of both Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula. Labor service was burdensome for the Greeks. They were attracted to participate in the construction work, which the Persian kings carried out on a large scale, sending even to Susa and Persepolis. The burden for the Greek cities of Asia Minor was the mandatory participation in the military campaigns of the Persian kings and their satraps.

There were political reasons for the dissatisfaction of the Greeks with Persian rule. During the period of the Persian conquest, in a number of Greek cities of Asia Minor and adjacent islands, sole rulers-tyrants were in power. Early Greek tyranny of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. on the Balkan Peninsula, on the islands of the Aegean Sea and in Asia Minor, was, as shown above, of a transient nature. The Persian government, skillfully using local traditions, preserved the form of government they had caught in the Greek policies, turning the former tyrants into their proteges or replacing them with new ones. The obsolete tyranny began to be felt by the Greek population as a power imposed from outside, and the struggle for the democratization of the political system merged with the struggle against the foreign yoke.

Persia, having subjugated the coast of Asia Minor and some adjacent islands, tried to advance its dominion to the north and west. The campaign of Darius (c. 512), although it did not lead to the conquest of the Danubian regions inhabited by the Scythians, allowed the Persians to gain a foothold on the Thracian coast, which opened the way for their expansion towards Balkan Greece. The Greeks of Asia Minor had close economic and cultural ties with their kindred policies of the Balkan Peninsula. The latter supported anti-Persian sentiments in Ionia and the rest of the coast.

By the end of the VI century. BC e. irreconcilable contradictions were determined between the giant power that had grown up in the East, pursuing a policy of unrestrained expansion, and the world of Greek policies. It does not at all follow from this that all the Greek states were inclined to enter into a struggle with Persia. A number of policies preferred to stand aside, either not being interested in the fight against Persia, or hoping in this way to save their existence. This was sometimes dictated by fear of the military power of Persia, sometimes by an underestimation of the danger threatening from its side. Economic and political factors also played a role here. Supporters of a decisive struggle against the Persians were representatives of groups vitally interested in maritime trade with the eastern regions, which were under the control of Persia. The interests of the agricultural population and policies with a predominance of the agrarian nature of the economy were infringed to a lesser extent by the Persian conquests. Internal political contradictions in the policies also had an effect. Separate groups and figures sought help from Persia in the fight against their opponents; political exiles often found refuge there. States opposed the struggle against Persia, weighed down by the claims of Sparta (Lacedaemon) and Athens to dominance (Argos, Aegina).

In this difficult situation, the anti-Persian action of the Greeks of Asia Minor took place. Since its initiators were the policies of the central part of the western coast of Asia Minor - primarily Miletus - inhabited by Ionian Greeks, it is commonly called the Ionian uprising. Aristagoras, who temporarily ruled Miletus, a relative of the tyrant Histiaeus, trying to serve the Persians by conquering one island in the Aegean Sea, caused their discontent with his unsuccessful actions and decided to lead the action against the Achaemenids himself. It began with the overthrow of the tyrants who ruled in the Greek policies. Some of them, following Aristagoras, themselves renounced power, others were expelled or executed. Everywhere in the rebellious cities a republican form of government was established. Other Greek cities of Asia Minor and some of the islands adjacent to the coast also joined Miletus. An all-Union body was created. The cities that joined the struggle, which had previously minted coins of various weights, began to issue them according to a common standard.

Realizing the difficulty of the upcoming struggle, Miletus turned to Balkan Greece for help. Sparta, not economically interested in relations with the East and the Black Sea, fearing to withdraw its troops far away, resolutely rejected the request for help. Of the other Greek states, only Athens and Eretria responded, interested in trade with the East and also connected by close ties with the Ionian cities. They sent 20 and 5 ships respectively to Ionia: the Athenian fleet of this period was still small (70-100 ships), and the hostile Aegina was in the neighborhood.

Upon the arrival of reinforcements, the rebels launched an active offensive operation, reached Sardis, the residence of the Persian satrap Artaphernes, and took the city, except for the citadel. The fire, which happened either through the negligence of the soldiers, or through malicious intent, led to the almost complete destruction of the city and the death of the temple of Cybele, highly revered by the locals, which caused them strong indignation. After that, the Greeks left Sardis and returned to the coast, and the Athenians soon sailed home.

The initial successes of the rebels, as a result of which they acquired some more allies, were largely due to the fact that Persia did not immediately bring up its troops. Subsequently, land and sea forces were sent to suppress the uprising, which significantly outnumbered the army of the rebels.

There was no unity among the Greeks from the very beginning. Not all cities and regions joined the uprising, and its participants did not act at the same time, which allowed the Persians to beat them in parts. Within the Greek states participating in the uprising, the struggle of groups did not stop. Some from the very beginning considered resistance to the Persians hopeless, others, for economic or political reasons, were interested in maintaining Persian rule. As a result, when the decisive naval battle took place at the island of Lada not far from Miletus, the Samos and Lesbos ships went home. The battle ended in the complete victory of the Persian fleet, and the fate of Miletus was sealed. The city was taken, plundered, most of the population killed, and the survivors were taken to Susa and then settled at the confluence of the Tigris into the Persian Gulf. Those who managed to escape went to Sicily.

The news of the defeat of the Ionian Greeks and the fate that befell Miletus shocked Balkan Greece, especially Athens, whose inhabitants believed that Miletus had once been colonized by immigrants from Attica and was connected with them by ties of kinship. Soon the tragedy of Phrynichus “The Capture of Miletus” was staged on the stage of the Athenian theater: the audience sobbed at the sight of the misfortunes that befell their fellow tribesmen. The author was even fined 1,000 drachmas formally for reminding them of the misfortunes close to the Athenians, in fact, because the play intensified anti-Persian sentiments, and this seemed dangerous. However, in Athens there were also supporters of further struggle. So, Miltiades, the ruler of Thracian Chersonese, a participant in the uprising, who after its defeat fled to Athens, the homeland of his ancestors, was put on trial there for tyrannical rule, but acquitted. This meant the victory of the anti-Persian forces.

2. THE CAMPAIGN OF MARDONIUS, DATIS AND ARTAPHERNES

After the suppression of the uprising in Asia Minor and punitive expeditions against the islands that took part in it, Persia began to prepare for a campaign in Balkan Greece. Darius' nephew and son-in-law Mardonius was placed at the head of a large expedition, which included both land and sea forces. His troops also included Greeks from areas subordinate to the Persians, whom the Persians tried to appease with various concessions.

In 492 BC. e. the army of Mardonius, having crossed the Hellespont, moved along the Thracian coast to the west. Nearby, along the coast, there was a front. Strongholds were created along the way with supplies of food and fodder, and Persian garrisons remained in a number of cities. Only some Thracian tribes resisted the army of Mardonius. The Macedonian king Alexander took a friendly position to the Persians and allowed them to pass. However, when the fleet was rounding the southern coast of Halkidiki (Cape Athos), a strong storm arose that caused such huge damage to the Persians that Mardonius returned to Asia: according to Herodotus, 300 ships and more than 2,000 people were killed.

The campaign of 492 was a serious signal for the states of Balkan Greece. It was clear that this was not the end of the matter. Athens and Eretria had especially serious grounds for concern. Soon the ambassadors of Darius appeared in various regions of Greece demanding "to give land and water" to the king, that is, to recognize his supreme power. Many islands, including Aegina, who was at enmity with Athens, obeyed this requirement. Some states of mainland Greece did the same. But in Sparta and Athens, the ambassadors of Darius were executed. This testified to the readiness to fight for their independence. Since Aegina, located in the Saronic Gulf, which also had a strong fleet, gave “land and water” to the Persians, then at the insistence of Athens, Sparta, subordinating Aegina to her influence, despite her own internal disagreements, forced her to give hostages to Athens, and Aegina was such way neutralized.

In 490 BC. e. Persia organizes a new campaign against Balkan Greece. This time the entire army was loaded onto ships. They built special ships for the transport of cavalry. Datis and Artaphernes, the son of the satrap of Sardis, were placed at the head of the expedition. The flotilla headed from the coast of Asia Minor through the Aegean Islands to Euboea. On the island of Delos, where the especially revered temple of Apollo was located, the inhabitants were given a guarantee of inviolability; the Persians emphasized in every possible way that they honor Greek shrines. On the other hand, Eretria on the island of Evbeya was extremely severely punished. Having taken the city after a six-day siege, the Persians plundered it, burned the sanctuaries, and enslaved the population. The Athenians were unable to help him.

From Euboea, the Persian fleet headed for Attica, but not to the Saronic Gulf, but to the north, to Marathon. The Marathon plain was convenient for the actions of the Persian cavalry. It is possible that the former Athenian tyrant, the aged Hypias, who accompanied the Persians, advised to land here.

The Athenians immediately came forward and at the same time sent a messenger to Sparta asking for help. Under the pretext that, according to custom, they could not speak before the full moon, the Spartans delayed their speech and appeared in Athens after the Battle of Marathon.

The first clash with the Persian army, which invaded the territory of the Balkan Greece, the Athenians had to endure alone; they were joined only by a small detachment of the Boeotian city of Plataea, which bordered Attica. The contingents of ten Athenian phyla were led by strategists, the supreme commander was the archon-polemarch Callimachus. But the decisive role in organizing and conducting the Battle of Marathon was played by Miltiades, who held the post of strategist. He lived for a long time under the rule of the Persians, participated in their campaigns and knew their military organization and tactics well.

For several days the armies stood against each other without starting a battle. The Persians may have been waiting for a signal from their supporters in Athens; the Athenians waited for the promised Spartan reinforcements. The battle took place on the day the Spartans set out. The Persian command, hoping to take Athens by surprise and deliver a decisive blow before reinforcements arrived, loaded a significant part of its cavalry onto ships at night in order to send them to Athens. The Greek command became aware of this (through scouts or deserted Greeks from the Persian army), and it began the battle at an unfavorable moment for the enemy. As a result, the Persian cavalry, especially dangerous for the Greeks, did not take part in the battle. Given the numerical superiority of the Persians, Miltiades built the Greek army in such a way that it significantly strengthened the flanks at the expense of the center. Having easily broken through the Greek center, the Persians, imagining that they had won, rushed inland to the Greek camp. But the Greeks who closed behind them, standing on the flanks, began to beat them, cutting off the path to retreat. Some Persians who fled to the coast managed to get on their ships, others died along the way in the swamp. The Athenians captured seven Persian ships and destroyed them. The rest of the ships were taken out to sea by the Persians. According to Herodotus, 192 Athenians and 6,400 Persians died in this battle. The names of the fallen Athenians were listed on a memorial stele, but the Plataeans and slaves who died at Marathon were not included in the list.

The surviving part of the Persians, boarding ships, moved south around Cape Sunius, counting on the help of their supporters in Athens and on the absence of the Athenian army. However, the Athenians, having buried the fallen, hastily moved to Athens. The Persian fleet, entering the harbor of Falera and making sure that Athens could not be taken by surprise, went back.

The Greek victory at Marathon was not a military defeat for Persia, but only a failed attempt that could be renewed. But it was of great moral and political significance for Greece, especially for Athens. The fact that the Persian attack was repelled destroyed the legend of their invincibility and gave hope for the possibility of an effective fight against them in the future. The Marathon victory created the prerequisites for the future unification of the Greeks, when the Persian threat again became a reality.

In honor of the victory at Marathon, a monument was erected, on which inscriptions were inscribed, glorifying the courage of the fallen, who saved the freedom of Hellas at the cost of their lives. Later, in the Athenian Portico, the so-called Motley Stoa, the famous painter Polygnotus depicted the scenes of the Battle of Marathon. In the all-Greek sanctuaries - Olympia and Delphi - were sent gifts from the taken booty.

3. GREECE IN 490-480 AD. BC.

Political complications in Egypt, Babylonia, intrigues related to the succession to the throne, did not allow the Persian government to seek immediate revenge, and the Greeks received a ten-year reprieve. Not everyone, however, understood that this was only a delay. The enmity between Athens and Aegina escalated again, the political struggle continued inside Athens.

The hero of Marathon, Miltiades, almost paid with his life for an unsuccessful attempt to subjugate the island of Paros, but nevertheless his merits were taken into account, and political opponents only achieved the award of Miltiades to pay a huge fine of 505 talents. Miltiades soon died, and the fine was paid by his son Cimon. The aggravation of the internal political struggle in Athens found its expression in the fact that from 487 BC. e. more and more often began to resort to ostracism, mainly, however, opponents of an active foreign policy.

One of the brightest and most talented figures of Athens, Themistocles, is being promoted on the political arena. Themistocles' mother was of low birth, but by his father he belonged to a noble priestly family. The historian Thucydides, who wrote when the political disputes regarding Themistocles were in the past and his political sagacity became clearly visible, gives him the following characterization: “... Themistocles ... with the help of his ingenuity ... state of affairs and best guessed the events of the most distant future. He was able to manage any business ... in particular, he foresaw in advance the best or worst outcome of the enterprise, hidden in the darkness of the future ... "

Apparently, it was no coincidence that the tragedy of Fripih "The Capture of Miletus" was placed in the archonship of Themistocles (494-93 BC). In 487, perhaps on his initiative, the archons began to be elected by lot, which deprived this position of its exceptional significance and in the future should have led to the democratization of the Areopagus, which was replenished by former archons. Themistocles was the first Athenian figure who realized that the future of Athens depended on the navy. Although the trade relations of Athens by this period were very extensive and Athenian ceramics everywhere replaced the Corinthian, the fleet was still insignificant and the import and export of goods was carried out on foreign ships. The harbor of Faler was small to receive a large number of ships and cargo. Themistocles owned the idea of ​​equipping a fortified port in Piraeus, although somewhat remote from Athens, but much more convenient for parking ships. The economic and military role of Piraeus in the subsequent history of Athens showed the foresight of Themistocles. But such a port only made sense if there was an appropriate fleet. A happy accident came to the aid of Themistocles. In 483 BC. e. in the region of Lavria in the south of Attica, where silver-lead ore was being developed, a new, extremely rich vein was discovered. Themistocles succeeded in passing through the popular assembly a decree on the use of funds received from its development for the construction of the fleet. Private funds were also involved - the equipment of the ships was entrusted to a group of wealthy citizens (this duty was called the trierarchy). To convince the Athenians of the need for this measure, Themistocles referred not to the seemingly distant Persian threat, but to the hostility of neighboring Aegina, which had a stronger fleet than Athens.

As a result of the foresight and energetic actions of Themistocles, Athens by 480 BC. e. became the most powerful maritime state in Greece. The measures taken in this direction seemed to provide only for the strengthening of the naval power of Athens. But they also had far-reaching domestic political consequences. Since they had to come to military service with their own weapons and armor, participation in the land army was determined by a property qualification, and the poor could serve only as lightly armed. For service in the Navy did not require their expensive equipment. Therefore, the creation of a large fleet meant the involvement in active military service of much wider sections of the population of Athens. And this, in the conditions of ancient Greece, inevitably had to entail the democratization of the political system. Regardless of whether Themistocles understood this and whether he set himself such a task, his activities contributed to the further democratization of the Athenian state.

The political opponent of Themistocles, who actively opposed his naval program, was Aristides, a representative of the Athenian landowning nobility, famous for his incorruptible honesty and justice. The Athenians supported the program of Themistocles, which was more in line with their interests, and Aristides, despite his impeccable reputation, was ostracized.

It was not entirely calm in these years in Sparta either. The energetic and active king Cleomenes, convicted of intrigue and deceit, was forced to leave Sparta, then returned, but soon after that he was declared mad and either committed suicide or was killed.

4. THE CAMPAIGN OF XERXES

In the late 80s, the situation in Persia stabilized, and King Xerxes, who came to power after the death of Darius (486 BC), began to energetically prepare for a new campaign against Greece. For several years, work was underway to build a canal across the isthmus on Halkidiki in order to avoid bypassing Cape Athos, where the fleet of Mardonius died. Numerous workers from Asia and from the adjacent coast were driven to the construction. Food warehouses were created along the coast of Thrace, and pontoon bridges were thrown across the Hellespont. Diplomatic preparations for the campaign were also carried out: the ambassadors and agents of Xerxes went to various states of Balkan Greece and even to Carthage, which was supposed to distract the Greeks of Sicily from participating in the war with Persia by military actions; To prepare the campaign, Xerxes attracted the Greeks who had taken refuge at his court (among them was the former Spartan king Demaratus). Argos and Thessaly expressed their obedience to Persia. In many Greek cities, not excluding Athens, there were strong pro-Persian groups. The Delphic oracle predicted defeat for the Greeks.

However, a number of Greek states were preparing to fight. Now that the very existence of independent Greece was at stake, not only Athens but also Sparta was actively involved in it. In 481 BC. e. a pan-Hellenic union is created with a center in Corinth, headed by Sparta: an allied military council is formed, which develops plans for military operations. Despite the naval superiority of Athens, the supreme command of both the land forces and the fleet is handed over to Sparta.

When the news arrived in Greece that a huge Persian army led by Xerxes had set out from Asia Minor, a decision was made in Athens to return the political exiles, who had previously been ostracized. Aristides was even chosen as one of the ten strategists in 480. Initially, it was decided to meet the Persian army, moving along the same path as Mardonius in 492, in northern Greece, on the border of Thessaly with Macedonia, where in the Tempe Gorge there was a convenient position for blocking path to the enemy. However, the avant-garde detachment of the Greeks, which included Themistocles, found out that it was dangerous to concentrate Greek forces there: the predominant part of the Thessalian communities was not inclined to get involved in a dangerous struggle and expected to obediently secure their salvation from the robberies and violence of the Persian troops. Neighboring Macedonia gave the Persians a friendly welcome. Therefore, it was decided to meet the Persians on the border of Northern and Central Greece, at Thermopylae. The mountains in this place came close to the seashore, and the narrow passage was easy to defend. Once the inhabitants of Phocis, who suffered from the raids of the Thessalians, built a defensive wall here, and the Greeks now intended to use the remains of these fortifications. Simultaneously with the actions of the land army, fleet operations were planned near about. Euboea, so that the Persians could not break through the Strait of Euripus and end up in the rear of the Greeks.

Since the position at Thermopylae was defensive, it was initially decided to send a small part of the combined Greek army here - only about 7,000 people, including 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas. According to legend, Leonidas, realizing the danger of the upcoming business, took into his detachment only those Spartans who had sons. It was assumed that reinforcements would be sent after this group. However, this was not done, although Leonid asked for help. Sparta, as often happened to her, was late.

The position at Thermopylae made it possible for a long time to delay the advancing enemy, who had nowhere to deploy his forces here. And this delay could have forced the Persians to retreat due to supply difficulties. But the trouble was that in addition to the passage through the Thermopylae Gorge, another mountain road led south, known to the locals, and, possibly, to Persian intelligence. Leonid, just in case, sent a detachment of 1000 Phocians there. When several Persian attempts to break through the Thermopylae Gorge were repulsed, a select detachment, including the Persian guard, moved around along the mountain road; a traitor from the locals volunteered to be a guide. This movement went unnoticed by the Greeks; the Phocians standing at the exit did not see the enemy until the last minute, as he was covered by a forest growing along the slopes of the mountain. Taken by surprise, they offered no resistance, and the Persians, striving for their goal - to go behind the defenders of the Thermopylae Gorge, allowed them to scatter.

When Leonidas found out about what had happened, he let go of part of his detachment, and he himself, with the Spartans, Thebans and some other Greeks, remained in place and took the enemy's blow. The Greeks fought with the courage of desperation, knowing that there was no way out, and they sold their lives dearly. Leonid and all those who remained with him perished. Having delayed the advance of the enemy, they made it possible to mobilize the Greek forces, pulling them up to the Isthmus, and evacuate Attica.

Simultaneously with the battle at Thermopylae, active operations of the fleet took place near Euboea. The storm caused significant damage to the Persian fleet, anchored off the poorly defended coast of Magnesia, and then to the squadron, which was trying to pass south along the east coast of Euboea. Naval clashes were conducted with varying success, both sides suffered significant losses. Upon receiving news of the death of Leonid's detachment, the further presence of the Greek fleet here lost its meaning, and it retreated south, to the Saronic Gulf.

Now the Persians could move freely to Attica. Boeotia submitted to the Persians, and in the future Thebes provided them with active support. The land army of the Greeks stood on the Isthmus Isthmus, and Sparta insisted on creating a fortified defensive line here to protect the Peloponnese. Themistocles, on the other hand, believed that it was necessary to give the Persians a sea battle off the coast of Attica. Defending Attica at that moment, of course, was not possible.

The Delphic oracle, to which the Athenians turned at a critical moment for them, gave a gloomy prediction, recommending that they flee to the ends of the earth. However, according to Herodotus, when the Athenian ambassadors declared that they would not leave the sanctuary until the Pythia told them something more comforting, another prophecy followed, which spoke of "wooden walls" that would bring salvation, and the "divine Salamis" was mentioned. In this prediction, one can assume the influence of Themistocles, who needed to convince his fellow citizens and other allies of the correctness of his position.

In 1960, an overlay with the Decree of Themistocles, found on the territory of ancient Troeza, was published. It was carved at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e., but its content refers to 480. It speaks of the mobilization of the entire combat-ready population of Attica into the fleet, sending part of it to Artemisium (a cape on the island of Euboea), the evacuation of women, children and the elderly to Salamis and Troezen and about the return of exiled Athenian citizens for their participation in the common struggle. This sensational discovery caused great controversy in the literature, since much here is at odds with the story of Herodotus, and some details do not correspond to Athenian conditions at the beginning of the 5th century. BC e. However, the possibility is not excluded that the inscription conveys in a later edition the true content of not one, but several decrees adopted in Athens at the initiative of Themistocles in the most difficult period of their history. The most important decision on the evacuation could be preliminary discussed in the people's assembly, which, after the general mobilization, was to lose its main composition. The words of Thucydides about Themistocles' amazing ability to look far ahead and foresee the course of events in advance may have been said under the impression of these actions of his.

A few days after the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persian army entered the almost empty territory of Attica. Those Athenians who, for one reason or another, could not leave, and the stubborn ones, who interpreted the oracle of the "wooden walls" as an indication of the ancient fortifications of the Acropolis, took refuge there and put up desperate resistance to the Persians. There were apparently not so few of them, since 500 people were taken prisoner by the Persians. Athens was plundered, all the houses, except for those where the Persian nobility stopped, were burned, the temples of the Acropolis were destroyed, some monuments, for example, a sculptural group depicting tyrannicides, were taken to Persia.

After a long debate at the military council of the Greeks, Themistocles' proposal was accepted to fight the Persian fleet in the Salamis Strait. Despite the numerical superiority of the Persians, they did not consider it possible to divide their naval forces and send a squadron to operate against the Peloponnese. The story cited by Herodotus and the tragicographer Aeschylus about Themistocles secretly sending a trusted slave to Xerxes with advice to attack the combined Greek fleet until it disperses into separate states, perhaps reflects not so much the resourcefulness of the Athenian strategist, who wanted to put his colleagues before a fait accompli, but the desire Greek command to implement the already adopted plan of action. It was also important for the Persians to achieve victory as soon as possible, it was dangerous for them to move on (to the Peloponnese), leaving the main naval forces of the Greeks in the rear. They could not stay long in Attica due to supply difficulties. In addition, it was risky for Xerxes to be absent from Persia for a long time.

Be that as it may, the Persians accepted the challenge, and at the end of September 480 BC. e. The decisive battle took place in the Strait of Salamis. At night, Persian ships surrounded the island of Salamis and blocked the exit of the Greek fleet. At dawn the battle began. The Persian ships that entered the strait were unable to use their numerical superiority and maneuver, as their own ships crowded behind them. The Greeks, on the other hand, could gradually bring their reserves into battle, stationed in the bay off the northwestern coast of Attica and at first not noticed by the enemy. In addition, the wind rose, unfavorable for the Persian fleet, moving in a northerly direction. Xerxes, who personally watched the battle from a high place on the coast of Attica, surrounded by secretaries who were supposed to write down the names of the ships and commanders who especially distinguished themselves in battle, saw with horror how his ships perished not only from enemy strikes, but also colliding with each other. A vivid image of this catastrophic situation for the Persians is given by Aeschylus, a participant in the Battle of Salamis, in his tragedy The Persians:

At first, the Persians managed to hold back
Head. When in a narrow place there are many
Ships accumulated, no one to help
I could not, and the beaks directed copper
His own in his own, destroying oars and rowers ...
... the sea was not visible
Because of the rubble, because of the overturned
Ships and lifeless bodies...
Find salvation in a disorderly flight
The whole surviving barbarian fleet tried,
But the Greeks of the Persians, like tuna fishermen,
Anyone with anything, boards, debris
Ships and oars were beaten ...

The victory was complete. Although the commander-in-chief was not Themistocles, but the Spartan Eurybiades, the honor of victory was unanimously attributed to the Athenian strategist. When he visited Sparta, Themistocles received such honors as had not been given to any foreigner before him.

However, although the Persian fleet led by Xerxes left Greece, the land army under the command of Mardonius was left on the Balkan Peninsula. Unable to feed themselves and their cavalry in Attica, the Persians went north. The Athenians were able to temporarily return home. In the next, 479 BC. e. The Persians again invaded Attica and devastated its fields. Mardonius, through the mediation of the Macedonian king Alexander, tried in vain to persuade Athens to a separate peace. Sparta, which the Salamis victory freed from immediate danger, hesitated to continue active hostilities against Mardonius, offering to annoy him with sea sorties in Thrace and off the coast of Asia Minor, and on the Balkan Peninsula to hold the line of defense on Isthma. Sparta promised Athens compensation for crop losses, funds for the maintenance of women, children and the elderly, but no military assistance. However, in Sparta itself there were supporters of more active actions (Pausanias, regent for the infant king, the son of Leonidas), and when, at the insistence of Athens, it was decided to give battle to Mardonius, the mobilization of troops in the Peloponnese and their advance to the Isthmus were carried out so quickly that Argos, hostile to Sparta, who promised Mardonius to detain the Spartans, could not do anything. Timely warned, Mardonius, who was at that time in Attica, retreated north into Boeotia, leaving smoking ruins behind him. The Persians needed a plain for battle, where their numerous and strong cavalry could be deployed. In addition, Thebes, friendly to the Persians, provided the rear of their army.

In 479, near the city of Plataea, on the border of Attica and Boeotia, the last, decisive battle with the Persian army that invaded the Balkan Peninsula took place. During the time that has elapsed after the battle of Salamis, the Persians lost a number of islands in the Aegean Sea and Potidea in Halkidiki, but in Balkan Greece, Mardonius was supported by part of the Thessalians, Thebes, and some policies of the Peloponnese. The Persians had an advantage in cavalry, the Greeks in heavily armed infantry. Preparing for battle, Mardonius built his army not far from Plata along the river. The Greek army took up a defensive position on the slopes of Mount Cithaeron, covering the path to the Isthma, from where it was possible to receive food and, if necessary, military assistance. The Persian cavalry, having made a raid at night, inflicted great damage on the Greeks. However, a detachment of the Athenians repulsed the attack.

After that, the Greeks descended to the territory of Plataea and settled down on the other side of the river facing Thebes. For more than a week, both armies stood against each other without engaging in battle. Reinforcements approached the Greeks. Pausanias, who commanded the allied army of the Greeks, did not dare to be the first to start the battle. The wait was painful, especially for the Athenians. According to Plutarch, the Athenian aristocrats, ruined by the war, decided to overthrow democracy, and in case of failure, betray Athens to the "barbarians". Aristides, having received information about the conspiracy, so as not to cause strife before the battle, hushed up the case, arresting only eight people from a large number of those responsible, and then freed them too, offering to atone for their guilt in the battle. There was no investigation, so the true number of conspirators remained unknown.

In anticipation of a decisive clash, Pausanias regrouped his troops, placing the Athenians on the right flank against the Persians of Mardonius, and the Spartans on the left flank against the Greek allies of Persia. It was believed that the Athenians, who already had the experience of the Battle of Marathon, would be better able to deal with the Persians. However, Mardonius also rebuilt his army, placing the best forces against the Spartans. While the infantry was inactive, the Persian cavalry disturbed the Greeks with frequent raids and finally captured and filled up the main source of their water supply. The Greek army, on the orders of Pausanias, retreated. Mardonius, deciding that the Greeks had chickened out, moved his army across the half-dried river that separated the opponents. Despite the shallowing of the river, there was no good ford on it - the abundance of stones prevented the crossing. After the crossing, the Persians had to climb up the mountain to meet the Spartans, commanded by Pausanias. The Athenians and Megarians repulsed the onslaught of the Boeotian and Thessalian hoplites (Persian allies), supported by the Iranian cavalry, and began to push the Persian riflemen. They still held out as long as Mardonius was alive, fighting on a white horse. But he was soon killed, and the Persians left the battlefield to the Spartans. The Greeks also achieved victory in a clash with the advancing flanks of the Persian army. Artabazos, who commanded its center, began a hasty retreat to the north and eventually crossed over to Byzantium by boat; Xerxes approved of his conduct. The Persians who remained in Boeotia tried to take refuge in their fortifications; the Greeks broke into it, plundered the Persian camp, capturing huge booty. No prisoners were taken. According to Greek sources, out of 300,000 Persians, only 43,000 escaped, of which 40,000 fled with Artabazus. The data is probably exaggerated, and the information about the killed Greeks is clearly underestimated (91 Spartans, 52 Athenians, 16 Tegeans, etc.). Apparently, only hoplites are taken into account here, whose names were listed on the monuments in honor of the fallen.

The victory at Plataea was no less impressive than that of Salamis. Tents full of gold and silver, vases, drinking cups, washbasins, wrists, necklaces, swords - all of gold and silver - gilded and silvered beds and tables, colorful carpets - all this luxury that surrounded noble Persians even on a campaign struck Greeks, accustomed to simplicity in everyday life. According to custom, part of the booty received was given to the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus, to Delphi and other temples, the rest was distributed among the participants in the victory. Pausanias received ten times more than the rest for his role in organizing the victory: women from harems, gold and silver utensils, precious metals, horses and camels. But later, Pausanias was accused of trying to appropriate to himself the merit of victory and was forced to replace the inscription made on his orders on the monument in Delphi: “From Pausanias the victorious” with another, which listed 31 Greek states that participated in the Salamis and Plataea battles.

Plataea, on whose territory the victory was won, were promised "eternal" gratitude. Thebes suffered a moderate punishment for treachery: the leaders of the Persophile group, issued by the besieged city, were executed, but the threat to destroy the city was not carried out. The victors understood that now the main task was not revenge, but the restoration of the destruction caused by the war and the liberation of the northern and eastern regions.

According to legend, Themistocles proposed immediately after the Battle of Salamis to send a fleet to the Hellespont in order to destroy the bridges built there by Xerxes and, thus, cutting off the Persians' retreat, "capture Asia in Europe." This plan was rejected, but soon the Greek fleet began operations against the islands of the Cyclades archipelago, which collaborated with the Persians. Secret ambassadors from the inhabitants of the island of Samos, still under the control of the Persians, came to the commander of the Greek fleet with a call to support the impending uprising of the Ionian Greeks. The Samians freed 500 Athenian prisoners who had been taken away by the Persians.

The Greek fleet approached Cape Mycale not far from Miletus (479 BC). The troops landed on the shore, and part of them began to move inland. Tigranes, who commanded the Persian troops, attacked half of the Greek army that remained on the coast, but was defeated. The Ionians - the Samians and the Milesians - who were in the ranks of the Persians, actively helped their fellow tribesmen. Having won on land, the Greeks destroyed the Persian fleet stationed nearby; all the ships were burned after the booty had previously been brought ashore. The Battle of Mycale, although not as grandiose as those that preceded it, freed the Aegean Sea for the actions of the Greek fleet. From now on, the war was decided by naval forces. Sparta, in whose hands the supreme command was still formally concentrated, was already weighed down by the need to keep its troops far from the Peloponnese; she proposed to carry out the forced resettlement of the Persophiles from the Balkan Greece to Ionia, and the Ionians to Greece.

The Athenians strongly objected to this. They limited themselves to admitting Samos, Chios, Lesbos and other islands to the pan-Greek union, whose inhabitants swore an oath of allegiance to the common cause.

After the victory at Mycale, the Greek fleet headed for the Hellespont. It turned out that the bridges built on the orders of Xerxes had already been destroyed by the Persians themselves. The Spartans went home, and the Athenians and the allied Greeks of Asia Minor, under the command of the commander Xanthippus, besieged and took the city of Sest, where the Persians fortified.

This is where Herodotus concludes his account of the events of the Greco-Persian wars. Thucydides also considers 480-479. BC e. decisive, and the military actions of the subsequent period - only an integral part of a whole chain of other important events for Greece.

5. DELOSIAN MARINE UNION.
CALLIEV WORLD

After 479 BC. e. Persia no longer threatened Balkan Greece. The Greek states themselves went on the offensive. Having defended their independence, the policies that led the struggle tried to use the victory for their own selfish purposes. The declarations about the commonality of the Hellenes, about the joint struggle for freedom, were very quickly forgotten. Further military successes blew up the temporarily established unity, contradictions became more and more clear, especially between Athens and Sparta, and the temporarily subdued struggle between political groups within individual states intensified. Influence of Themistocles after 480 BC e. weakens, although for some time he still continues to play a role in political life. On his initiative and with his direct participation, the fortifications around Athens destroyed by the Persians were rebuilt. This was done despite the protests of Sparta, which, not without reason, saw in this a manifestation of hostility towards her (the only force that could threaten Athens from land was now Sparta).

Themistocles is also credited with a plan for the construction of the so-called Long Walls, which were supposed to connect Athens with Piraeus and thus guarantee the unhindered supply of the city by sea (where the Athenian fleet dominated) in the event of a siege from land. This far-sighted plan was carried out only later. But when the strategic talent of Themistocles served its purpose, his political line ran into opposition from the aristocrats, headed by Miltiades' son Cimon. In a difficult time for Athens, the role of the Areopagus again intensified, successfully leading the evacuation of Attica before the Battle of Salamis. Rallying in the face of the deadly danger hanging over the country contributed to the revival of faith in traditions and conservative principles. When a strong Athenian fleet became a fact, and hostilities were transferred to the East, not a single politician opposed active naval operations. Moreover, the aristocratic group continued to regard Persia as the main enemy and insisted on maintaining at all costs an alliance with Sparta, in which they saw a stronghold of anti-democratic forces in Greece. It is characteristic that Themistocles opposed the proposal of Sparta to expel the states that had stained themselves with an alliance with the Persians from the Delphic Amphictyonia. He feared that such a measure would give Sparta a dominant role.

The bulk of the civilian population in the Greek policies, of course, was not able to overestimate the values ​​as quickly as Themistocles did, who understood that from now on Sparta would become the main opponent of Athens. The idea of ​​the possibility of reconciliation with Persia could not become popular in the 70s of the 5th century. BC e.; Themistocles was ostracized in 471. This, as you know, did not yet mean the end of political activity. Themistocles goes to the Peloponnese, where he actively campaigns against Sparta, trying to rally the forces hostile to her. Sparta takes countermeasures: documents allegedly found during a search in the house of Pausanias were sent to Athens, exposing Themistocles in criminal ties with the Persians. Themistocles was to appear before an Athenian court on charges of treason. He did not appear in court, fled Greece and, like many political emigrants, took refuge in the East (465/464 BC). Until the end of his days, he lived in Asia Minor, having received three Greek cities from the Persian king Artaxerxes.

Ostracon prepared for the ostracism of Themistocles

Found in a well on the northern slope of the Acropolis.

Athens. Archaeological Museum of the Athenian Agora

Even more tragic was the fate of another hero of the Greco-Persian wars - Pausanias. Recalled from the eastern theater of operations at the request of the allies, who accused him of excessive luxury and tyrannical habits, Pausanias was brought to justice in Sparta for abuse of power. At first he was acquitted. But then Pausanias was charged with another, more serious charge of having connections with the Persians and an attempt to carry out a coup d'état in collusion with the helots. Here, only the death penalty could be punished. Pausanias tried to use the Greek custom, which gave the criminal the right to resort to the protection of a deity. He took refuge in the sanctuary of Athena Mednodomnaya. The Spartan rulers surrounded the temple from all sides and doomed Pausanias to death from hunger and thirst. When he, exhausted, fell and it became obvious that the end was near, the besiegers burst in and pulled out the dying man so that death would not occur in the sacred territory. Thus, the Spartans, having defiled the inviolability of the sacred refuge, committed a sacrilege similar to that which the Athenians allowed during the suppression of the Kylonian turmoil. The fate that befell two prominent figures who played such a big role in the victory over the Persians is very indicative of the political situation in Greece.

Meanwhile, naval operations against Persia continued successfully. The Hellespont and Bosporus straits were liberated and trade with the Northern Black Sea region was resumed. In 478-477 years. at the suggestion of the allies, the supreme command was transferred to Athens. Since from now on the war was fought at sea, and the Athenians had the strongest fleet, this was quite natural. As already mentioned, Sparta was reluctant to keep its troops away from the Peloponnese for a long time. In addition, the influx of Persian booty and the contact of Spartan commanders with oriental luxury was disastrous for the spirit of the Lycurgus laws. So Sparta didn't mind.

The Delian Maritime Union was formed. It included the coastal and island Greek states, which had to put up ships equipped and equipped in the allied fleet, or pay cash contributions - foros. The size of the foros was determined depending on the material capabilities of a particular city. At first, replacing the obligation to supply ships with the phoros seemed like a relief, but this deprived the paying allies of their own armed forces and made them completely dependent on Athens. The federal treasury was kept on the island of Delos, but it was managed by Athenian officials. Membership in the union was supposed to be voluntary. However, the cities liberated from the Persian garrisons were included in the union forcibly. And the allies who, under one pretext or another, tried to leave the union (like the islands of Thasos and Naxos), were declared rebels, punitive expeditions were sent against them, they were deprived of their own fortifications and transferred to the category of foros payers. Thus, the hegemony of Athens in the alliance was very quickly revealed, the tendency of turning the allies into subjects, and the Delian Union into the Athenian maritime power. In 454 BC under the pretext of strengthening the Persian threat in the Aegean Sea (the uprising supported by Athens was suppressed in Egypt), the allied treasury was transferred to Athens. From now on, allied funds shamelessly began to be spent on the internal needs of Athens. But, despite the exploitation by Athens of its allies, the latter also received a number of advantages from the existence of the union (security from external threats, increased economic ties, successful fight against piracy in the Aegean, Athens' support for democratic groups).

After the removal of the Spartans from command, hostilities continued - primarily to cleanse Thrace from the Persians. During these years, Cimon, the son of Miltiades, was put forward, leading the actions of the Athenian and allied fleets. He was an energetic and capable commander. Kimon belonged to the landowning nobility, committed to the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe unshakable alliance with Sparta. In the 5th century BC e. laconicism - worship of the Spartan order - becomes a characteristic feature of the ideology of aristocrats in various states of Greece. The Spartan orders were presented as an ideal that should be imitated in every possible way.

The Athenian demos, of course, did not sympathize with these ideas, but Cimon's popularity as a successful commander was great. Under his command, the Greeks took the fortress, which guarded the strategically important bridges across the river. Strymon, and a number of other points on the Thracian coast. The island of Skyros was cleared of pirates, which, under the pretext of finding the remains of the legendary Athenian hero Theseus, was declared an Athenian possession. All conquered areas were included in the Delian League. When Naxos, who had previously entered into an alliance, refused to fight under the Athenian command, Cimon forced him into submission by force. This was the first precedent, followed by others.

After the suppression of Naxos, Kimon's fleet headed for the southern coast of Asia Minor. Here in 408 BC. e. there was the last major clash with the new Persian fleet. The Greeks won a double victory, defeating the Persian forces at sea and on land, as in the Battle of Mycale. After that, the Persian fleet no longer dared to sail into the Aegean Sea. The territory of the Delian Union, and therefore the sphere of influence of Athens, extended to the Greek cities of the Asia Minor coast. A huge number of prisoners were turned into slavery by the Athenians.

Soon after this, an attempt was suppressed to withdraw from the Delian Union of the island of Thasos, apparently dissatisfied with the claims of Athens to the region of the Thracian coast belonging to Thasos, rich in gold and silver. Thasos suffered the same punishment as Naxos a few years ago. Characteristically, Sparta promised help to Thasos against Athens. Although the promise, as often happened, Sparta could not fulfill, it is clear that relations between the two leading states of Greece, which led the fight against Persia, deteriorated.

In 465 BC There was a massive earthquake in Sparta. Most of the residential buildings were destroyed, all the ephebes practicing at the gymnasium at that time died. Panic spread among the population. Taking advantage of this, the helots revolted. They failed to capture Sparta, but they fortified themselves on Mount Ifome in Messenia and repulsed all attempts by the Spartans to take it. Sparta turned to Athens for help. Despite the opposition of democratic leaders, Cimon managed to pass through the people's assembly a decision to send a detachment to help Sparta. Kimon himself led this expedition. However, even with the arrival of the Athenians, Ifoma could not be taken. Sparta accused the Athenians of colluding with the rebels and invited them to leave. This event was exploited by Cimon's political opponents: he was ostracized and left Athens.

The fall of Cimon meant the victory of democratic forces in the political life of Athens. In 462-461. BC e. The reform of Ephialtes was carried out, which nullified the political role of the Areopagus. Ephialtes, famous for his incorruptible honesty, first filed charges against a number of Areopagites for immoral acts and abuse of his position. After that, he easily passed a decree, according to which the Areopagus had only the right to judge for premeditated murder and certain crimes against religion. The political functions taken away from him were transferred to the Council of Five Hundred and Helium. The significance of Ephialtes' reform is evidenced by the reaction of his opponents; in 461 BC e. he was killed, apparently by their agent. This political assassination did not lead to the weakening of the democratic forces. They were led by a younger associate of Ephialtes, Pericles, under whom Athenian democracy reached its greatest flowering.

Military operations against Persia continued, but much less intensively than before. Athens and Sparta were openly at odds. In the East, only Athens and its allies fought against Persia. At the end of the 60s of the 5th century. BC e. they sent a fleet to help Egypt revolt against Persian rule. At the same time, an attempt was made to liberate the Greek cities of Cyprus. A stubborn and lengthy struggle nevertheless ended in the defeat of the rebels, Athens lost a large number of ships and people. However, this did not break the sea power of Athens. At the end of the 50s, under the command of Kimon, who returned after a ten-year exile, a new attempt was made to liberate Cyprus and at the same time help the remnants of the rebels in Egypt, who still held out in the Nile Delta. During the siege of the Phoenician city of Kitia in Cyprus, Cimon was mortally wounded. On the way back, the Greeks fought off the coast of Cyprus on land and at sea and won a double victory. But this only provided them with a safe retreat.

Further continuation of hostilities did not promise anything to either side. Athens accepted the proposal of Artaxerxes I for peace negotiations. The embassy, ​​headed by Kallias, went to Susa. In 449 BC. e. The so-called Peace of Callia was concluded. Under its terms, Persia undertook not to send its ships to Propontis and the Aegean Sea, not to keep its troops closer than three days on foot from the western coast of Asia Minor. Athens promised to leave Cyprus, no longer help Egypt and withdraw garrisons from the cities of Asia Minor, which remained part of the Delian League, but were formally recognized as subjects of the Persian king.

The terms of the Peace of Callia are known to us only from later sources. He did not bring much honor to Athens: rumors spread that Callius had exceeded his authority and was fined.

The formal end of the Greco-Persian wars was important primarily for Athens and its allies, since Sparta and other states of the Balkan Greece had long since left the game. Now the Athenian state got the opportunity to turn all its energy to strengthening and expanding its hegemony in the union and influence beyond its borders, to use huge funds for internal needs, public construction.

Although the victory in the Greco-Persian wars showed how much the unification of the forces of the Greek policies could give, it did not eliminate internal and external political contradictions. On the contrary, the rivalry between the two most powerful states in Greece, Athens and Sparta, is intensifying, into which other Greek policies are also drawn. Only in the IV century. BC e., during the period of the deepening crisis of the polis system, the ideas of pan-Hellenic unity will again sound, but not for the sake of a defensive war, but for an attack on the “barbarian” East.