Name___________________________________________ Date_________________________________ Period_______ Understanding the Persian Wars Event A: The Expansion of the Persian Empire Key Vocabulary: cavalry and provinces Cavalry: soldiers on horseback Provinces: political divisions of an empire or country to make it more manageable to control Key People: Immortals and Darius Immortals: elite division of the Persian military; when one was killed another was ready to step in and replace Darius: king of Persia during the first Persian invasion Key Places: Persepolis Capital of the newly expanded Persian empire Key Points: Describe the Persian Empire at the time in the 400s BCE. - Largest empire in the world at the time - Stretched from Asia Minor to India - Focused on military expansion - Highly trained military What did the Persian king do in order to run the empire more efficiently? - Divided the empire into 20 provinces - Each province was run by an appointed official - Let conquered people keep their own religion, language, and laws - Collected taxes from the conquered people Compare the Persian Empire to the Greek city-states. - The Greek city-states were independent - Often were fighting one another over land and resources - Each had their own leader and separate militaries - There was no “Greek Empire” Event B: The Ionian Revolt Key Vocabulary: tribute, revolt, and resented Tribute: payment made from one group of people to another – often a forced payment Revolt- an attempt to replace the person or group of people in charge by rebelling Resented- the feeling of bitterness toward someone or group of people

Key People: Puppet rulers A puppet ruler is a person who has a title indicating possession of political power, but who, in reality, is controlled by outside individuals or forces. Key Places: Ionia, Athens, Sparta Ionia- Greek city-state on the land mass of Asia Minor; the people of Ionia revolted against Persian rule Athens- Greek city-state where democracy began and helped the Ionians revolt against the Persians Sparta- often considered the strongest Greek city-state in terms of its military; refused to help the Ionians revolt

Key Points: Why did the Ionians revolt against the Persians? - They were tired of paying tribute and taxes to the Persians Why did the Spartans not help the Ionians against the Persians? - They claimed that due to a religious festival they could not send troops to help How did the Persian king, Darius, feel about the Athenians after the Ionian Revolt? - Darius wanted revenge against the Athenians for helping during the revolt. Legend has it that Darius made an advisor remind him everyday to get revenge on the Athenians.

Event C: The Battle of Marathon Key Vocabulary: infantry and advantageous Infantry- ground soldiers Advantageous- involving or creating favorable circumstances

Key People: Pheidippides and Miltaides Pheidippides- famous Athenian runner; was known as the first “Marathon runner” Miltaides- Athenian military general who encouraged that the Athenian military should meet the Persian military outside the city walls of Athens

Key Places: Marathon and Aegean Sea Marathon- Greek city-state where Athens chose to meet the Persian military Aegean Sea- sea between mainland Greece and the Asia Minor

Key Points: Why did Darius decide to attack the city-states of mainland Greece? - To get revenge on Athens for helping the Ionians revolt; he wanted to expand the land controlled by Persia

What were Athens choices for defending themselves against the incoming Persian army? - The Athenians had two choices: 1) stay in their city-state and let the Persians come to them and attempt to defend the city or 2) leave the city-state and meet the Persians north of the city because they knew which direction the Persians were attacking from- this would allow the Athenians to pick the battleground What ultimately happened at the Battle of Marathon? - Militaides convinced the Athenians to leave the city and pick the battleground against the Persians. It worked and Athens lost 192 soldiers while the Persian are said to have lost 6,400 soldiers.

Why do many Greeks consider the battle of Marathon one of the most important events in their history? - The battle of Marathon gave the Greek city-states confidence that they could defend themselves against the much larger Persian army.

Event D: The Battle of Thermopylae Key Vocabulary: mountain pass and navy Mountain pass- a break in a mountain range that allows for travel through it Navy- a branch of armed forces that is sea based

Key People: Xerxes and Leonidas Xerxes- new king of Persia; Darius’s son Leonidas- king of Sparta

Key Places: Hellespont, Macedonia, and Thermopylae Hellespont- 33 mile-long sea channel that separates Europe and Asia Macedonia- civilization to the north of mainland Greece Thermopylae- narrow pass between the mountains and the sea where the combined Greek forces met the Persians to try and stop their advancement

Key Points: Describe the Persian army. - Made up of 250,000 soldiers and a navy of 600 ships

What engineering feat did the Persians accomplish and why was it significant? - Xerxes ordered two bridges to be created by tying boats together with ropes allowing the Persian military to cross over the sea channel which saved them time Describe the outcome of the Battle of Thermopylae. - The Greek forces led by the Spartans fought with the much larger Persian army for a while. The Persian suffered mass casualties but the larger Persian force eventually outlasted the Greek forces and won the battle

Event E: The Battle of Salamis Key People: Themistocles and Queen Artemisia Themistocles- Athenian general who was skilled at naval strategy Queen Artemisia- queen of a Greek city-state who was an ally of Xerxes and the Persian empire

Key Places: Salamis and Peloponnesus Salamis- a Greek island Peloponnesus- peninsula and geographic region of southern Greece

Key Points: What were Athenians instructed to do before the Persians attacked their city? - To leave the city-state; allowing the Persian to march to Athens without resistance and destroy and burn the city. However, this strategy prevented mass casualties of the Athenians

Why didn’t Xerxes want to attack by sea? - Xerxes didn’t want to attack because his navy had suffered great losses at Thermopylae

What did Themistocles do to trick Xerxes? - Themistocles send a message that he was switching sides and would now support Persia.

Describe the result of the Battle of Salamis. - Xerxes believed Themistocles leading Xerxes to believe that the Greek forces were no longer unified and allowed the Persian navy to be lured into a narrow channel. The combined forces of the Greek navy defeated