This was an insul t and a threat to the Persian kings Around , tyrants in Asia Minor grew dissa tisfied with the Persians and began to revolt. Between and , Athen s supported the uprising against Persian control. Athens took this great risk because they ha d a "feeling of kin ship with the Ionians" Souza 13 ; t hey spoke a similar dialect, had comparable religious practices, and shared common ancestry Souza Additionally, Athens wished to flex its military muscle towards Persia Athenians, along with others in the Greek mainland, had been growing wary of an impending Persian i nvasion.
Athenians sent many men and ships to prove that they did not feel threatened by Persia's might. The revolt caused copious casualties on both sides and even resulted in t he burning of the Lydian capital at Sardis.
Eventually Persia was able to subdue the revolt and the Athenians fled back t o their boats Souza 14 However, King Darius did not overlook the fact that mainland Greeks had directly interfered with Persian a ffairs and burned the c apital at Sardis Aiding in this revolt proved to be an important event for both Athens and Persia, as this was the first occurrence of direct conflict. PAGE 10! Further more, t he Ionian revolt directly influenced Persia to invade Greece. Both Darius and Xerxes felt they had to punish the Greeks for taking military action against them as Mardonius said, "It would be a terrible thing, then, for us not to punish the unprovoked aggression of the Greeks" Herodotus Persia could not be seen as a weak empire, as thi s may have incited further revolts.
Hence, they had to show the w orld the consequences of attacking Persia by invading Greece in retaliation Retaliating ag ainst those who bring direct military conflict has been, and is now the policy of most governments In fact, i nvading a foreign power in response to an incident wa s something that Greek states had been doing already for hundreds of years. For example the Peloponnesian wars were almost entirely caused by Greek Polis invading one another After the Ioni an revolt ended, Darius had Ionia and most of Persia under control, and he continue d expansion outward.
Due to the weakness that the A thenians showed during the revolt, Darius likely saw them as an acquisition that would offer little resistance as his son said later, "We know how they fight and we know that their power is limited" Herodotus He was furious about the Ionian Revolt and the destruction of Sardis so he took measures not to forget about the Greeks' treachery Abbott, "Darius" Overa ll the Ionian revolt backfired on Athens and made them the target of one of the largest empires in history, PAGE 11!
The Athenians sent forces to aid those of Aristagoras and Histiaeus, and, in the course of the war, the combined army took and burned the cit y of Sar dis" Abbott, "Darius" Sardis was a capital of Persia, and the kings would wish revenge for the burning of such an important city. A fter Darius died, his son Xerxes had no immediat e plans to invade Greece.
However, t hose in his council urged him t o r etaliate against Greece, "Gobryas, Xerxes' cousin and the son of Darius's sister, held the most influence over Xerxes. He kept on making the same proposal: My lord,' he said, it is not right that the Athenians, who have caused the Persians such great harm, should not pay for what they have done" Claughton After Xerxes stabilized his control, he set his sights on invading Greece, "I intend to bridge the Hellespont and march an army through Europe and against Greece, so that I can make the Athenian s pay for all that they have done to Persi a and to my father" Herodotus T he Ionian revolt was not forgotten until the end of the Persian Empire This incident will remain the spark that ignited the Greco Persian wars, but it is often deemphasized when Persia's motives are considered.
An overlooked motive for Persia's invasion of Greece is a psychological principle called modeling. This principle, proposed by Albert Bandura, states that people are likely to imitate the behavior of others when encou ntering a novel situation.
For example, when children encounter a Bobo doll, had they never done so previously, they may hug it, poke it, or ignore it entirely. However, if they had previously seen somebody act aggressively toward it, they would most likel y do the same. Modeling is "an economical form of learning because it enables individuals to learn large amounts of information without the need for trial and error" Decker 4.
This principle can be applied to explain the behavior of Darius and Xerxes as well. There was no PAGE 12! Ruling the largest empire in the history of the world was a unique and plentiful responsibility. Due to th e novelty of the situation, Darius and Xerxes had to make their decisions with little experience or historical accounts to help them. As a result, it was likely that these kings looked toward the behavior of their p redecessor, Cyrus, for guidance: "Modelin g is facilitated when the model, or the person being imitated, in relation to the learner is of high status controls resources desired by the observer" Decker When Cyrus was ruling the world's largest empire, he conquered lands and resources that w ere not previously under Persian control.
In doing so, Cyrus was very successful in acquiring wealth, achieving high status, and establishing the world's largest empire. Years later, when Darius and Xerxes were in a comparable position to that of Cyrus, i t was psychologically probable that they would act in a similar manner.
In fact, when Xerxes was addressing his council, he stated that he wished to do what Darius and Cyrus had done, "What I design to do is, on the other hand, only the carrying forward of the grand course marked out by my predecessors" Abbott, "Cyrus" Furthermore, when Xerxes and Darius acted as Cyrus did, they were most likely self encouraged by acting similarly to the great king.
When modeling, "the [observer] always has the opport unity to compare his or her performance against the symbolic representation retained from viewing the modeling display. If this comparison reveals an adequate match, then the learner will praise him or herself mentally" Decker As they were reinforcin g their own behavior, they were less likely to accept dissenting opinions, especially those in favor of their enemies. Hence, as soon as Darius and Xerxes began to look towards the actions of Cyrus, it was practically inevitable that they would continue ex panding, PAGE 13!
Just as a baby learns to walk and talk by observing its parents, Darius and Xerxes learned to rule by watching their predecessors. In addition to modeling it is likely that Darius and Xerxes were encouraged to i nvade Greece by the innate human tendency to repeat behavior that was praised and for which they have been rewarded. Another reason Persia invaded Greece was that it was human nature to continue expanding after years of being praised for doing so.
Due to Persia's history of being welcomed into states that it invaded especially during Cyrus's time , the Persian kings may have truly believed that they would bring peace and prosperity to an unstable land. Greece had internal conflict on a regular basis for m any years before the Persian invasion.
As a result, the Persians saw Greece as "divided and chaotic" Burn There were constant battles, disputes, and even wars within Greece, Xerxes said, "From all I hear, the Greeks usually wage war in an extremely stupid fashion" Herodotus Soon after the Ionian revolt, just as Darius was preparing his first invasion, a war broke out between two Greek cities: "The war, thus commenced between Athens and Aegina, went on for a long time, increasing in bitterness and cruelty as the injuries increased in number and magnitude which the belligerent parties inflicted on each other.
Such was the state of things in Greece when Darius organized his great expedition for the invasion of the country" Abbott, "Darius" 2 This state of conflict was parallel to that of Persia before Cyrus began his reign Cyrus effectively transformed a number of warring, unstable kingdoms i nto one powerful, united empire, "Cyrus was the founder of a monarchy, perhaps, the most wealth y and magnificent which the world has ever seen" Abbott, "Cyrus" 2.
As a result, the east improved in many ways. The Persian Empire acquired wealth that had not previously been accumulated in such vastness. Most importantly, the empire was peaceful. Whil e there were PAGE 14! Additionally, trade was more effective and successful. Better trade led to increased prosperity and general increases in quality o f life for the people of Persia It is reasonable to believe that Xerxes and Darius may have felt that Greece w ould have benefited from Persian rule.
A simple principle of psychology, positive reinforcement, supports t he presumption that Darius and Xerxes may h av e been trying to help Greece L ike numerous rule rs who are considered villains, C yrus was enc ouraged to continue his policies and he was rewarded for his actions at the beginning of his reign The kingdoms that fell under his control enjoyed peace and prosperity benefit s of being part of a massive empire As Cyrus co nquered each new territory he was placed on a pedes tal and called a god by his followers Cyrus's charisma and fairness made people excited to join the Persian Empire "now that they had found a leader they enthusiastically went about ga ining their independence [from M edian control]" Herodotus This is a prime example of a sim ple psychological concept deemed reinforcement'.
Reinforcement is a term that was coined by B. Ski nner in the mid 20 th century Davey 1 "This law states that the proportion of responses that an animal will make to one of two choice stimuli will be proportional to the relative rate of reinforc ement to that stimulus Davey 6. Essentially, this princip le states that behavior is more likely to occur in the future if it is positively rewarded Akin to most human behavior, when rewarded, Cyrus continued to expand Persia because it wa s simply human nature to do so This behavior was reinforced through the end of Cyrus's reign into Darius and Xerxes's administrations.
Darius and Xerxes, like any king s, had a goal to be as great as their predecessors. To be controlled by anticipated consequences is to is to be controlled by actu al past consequences" Davey When Darius and Xerxes wanted praise and succ ess as leaders, they looked at why Cyrus receiv ed so much praise and why he was considered so successful "Cyrus grew up to be the bravest and best liked man of his generation" Herodotus 57 They undoubtedly attributed this praise to his conquering of several territories As there were very few lands in Persia left to conquer, they set their sights on Greece.
When they started to expand into Greece, they too were accepted. Many of the Greek civilization s they encountered agreed to their terms without resistance. For example, "Aiginawhen the Persian h eralds appeared in with their demand for submission she, like other island states gave earth and water'" Burn Persia did not encounter great resistance until they reached mainland Greece By the time this resistance occurred, mainland Greece w as the only territory not submitting to Persia's terms as so many others had welcomed them.
For theses reasons, it is simply human instinct that led to the Persian invasion of Greece. The most infamous motive Persia had for invading Greece was a desire to expand its t erritory. This was what history inadvertently deemed the largest motivator for the Persian invasion of Greece. Persia, like most other peoples, had ideals and a strong sense of culture.
It was an important part of Persian cultu re to expand their influence "In the days of Xerxesthere was no road to honor but by war" Abbott, "Xerxes" 58 Each new king, like the one before him had to "demonstrate his power and to expand it the ideology, and the success of his rule, demanded it" C artledge There was no place significant left to c onquer to the east w hen Darius and Xerxe s were reigning so they had little choice but to turn around and b egin expan ding to the west, into Greece.
This, in addition to their culture's emphasis on expansion le d to the attempted overthrow of Greece. A large power has invaded a smaller one numerous times throughout history One similar example is the United States' conquest of Native American lands These were lands that had been inhabited exclusively by Native Americans for thousands of years much like the Greeks had inhabited Greece.
The vast and rapidly expanding United State s overtook Native American territories almost entirely like the Persians attempted to do to Greece The United States invaded these lands without fitting provocation, and certainly nothing comparable to the Ionian re volt.
Despite these comparisons history views this a s but a blemish on the gilded history of how America became so immense while P ersia has remained the giant evil nation tha t tried to overtake the heroic and noble Greeks. Another similar invasion is that of Alexander years after the Greco Persian Wars. Alexander did not need to conquer some of the lands that he wanted but he did simply because he found they would make an addition to his vast empire "his true aims, the conquest of the Persian empire and the establishment of his own sovereignty" Wiesehofer Due only to Greece's victory over Persia, these empires of great similarity have such different historical reputations.
Persia invaded Greece in order to improve its trade. As mentioned earlier, the Persian Empire was able to accrue great wealth through a widespread network of su ccessful trade routes, [The routes] were in very good condition. Although they were unpaved even carriages could easily travel on them. These roads were equally suitable for military purposes such as rapid transportation of soldiers and for civilian use including the conveyance of men, ani mals and good s and the transmission of news" Wiesehoef er T he routes were so successful they endured f or hundreds of years afterwards, "Most of the ancient routes remains central to the structures of successive, later empires in the Middle East PAGE 17!
Persia would have earned direct access to the Mediterranean Sea if they had conquered Greece. This would have greatly improved th eir sea trading abilities, which may have been one of the strongest and least recognized motivator s for their invasion of Greece, "Large scale route clearance and maintenance was one of the tasks associated with milit ary campaigns" Allen In addition t o the sea access, Greece possessed land was rich in natural resources such as marble, olives, grapes, and clay A desire to improve trade explain s why they initially attempted diplomatic solutions instead of retaliating after the Ionian Revolt.
Hence, it is likely that Persia did not care as much about conquering Greece as they did about ex panding their trade. Persia was a peaceful empire. The heartlands of the empire rarely saw battle Allen The central government prevented conflict between the smaller provinces.
Before Cyrus's conquests, Asia n kingdoms had been feuding for generations However, a fter Cyrus c onquered the entire region, the Persian Empire experienced a t ime of peace that allowed focus on building one of the most successful trad ing networks in history "T he province of Pars and the upper satrapies had been largely undisturbed since the accession of Darius I" Allen P Trade allowed the Persians to continue expand ing and improving their empire.
An important piece of evidence to contrast history's portrayal of Persia is the similarity between Persia and G reece. Though from distant lands, Persia and Greece are strikingly similar. Like the Greeks, the Persians were a proud people. This likely played a role in the offense they took to the Greek involvement in the Ionian revolt. Persia had a comparable polythe istic religion and s imilarly, they had a highest god, like Greece had Zeu s, "Ahuramazda dominates as the greatest of gods who cr eated heaven and earth" Allen While Greece was p roud of being free and promoted democracy, Persian citizens also played a part in the politics of Persia, "subject peoples could liaise with central power through a great variety of local s ystems of government" Allen B oth Greeks and Persians st rived for peace, but neither were afraid of conflict.
Furthermore, the Persian Empire generally had less c onflict than Greece. In terms of expansion, similarities can be found when comparing the Persian Empire to Alexander of Macedon's empire. Alexander has even been known to admire Cyrus, "The appeal of Persian kingship to men with great ambitions such as Alexander and Perhaps even Philip has often been pointed out" Wiesenhofer However, while Alexander is acclaimed for his vast territorial conquests, the Persian Empire has been condemned throughout h istory Today in western culture, Xerxes and Darius are often reg arded as evil, greedy, and ins ane for their attempts to conquer Greece.
Meanwhile Alexander is regarded as a hero ic and awesome militar y genius. If the Greeks were defeated in the Greco Persian wars, they undoubtedly would have been considered the villains. The vast similarity betwee n Persia's invasion of Greece and Greece's invasion of Persia provides further evidence that Persia was no t a sinister invader. B oth Alexander and Persia invaded one another in response to provocation.
Alexander invaded Persia as a response to the massive Persian inv asion during Greco Persian wars, "To the Greeks, he had presented this venture as a punitive campaign to avenge Xerxes's expedition against Hellas" Wiesehofer This was a fitting retaliation to an outside threat from a rival empire. Howeve r, It was Greece that previously drew first blood when they aided in the Ionian revolt. PAGE 19! The massiveness of Persia's domain was overshadow ed only by the size of Alexander's empire at the time of his passing Both Persia and Greece cared greatly about the success ion of their empires, "Of that strange and incomprehensible principle of human nature, under the influence of which vast masses of men, notwithstanding the universal instinct of aversion to control, combine, under certain circumstances, by millions and millions, to maintain, for many successive centuries, the representatives of some one great family in a condition of exalted, and absolute, and utterly irresponsible ascen dency" A bbott, "Cyrus" 2.
T he Persian Empire was far more stable than Ale xander's empire after his death. This may be attributed to an effective line of Persian succession that started with Cyrus. His great achievements throughout the conquests set an example th at Darius and Xerxes tried to follow generations later. Xerxes said, "I have been thinking how I might not fall short of the deeds of the past in winning honour and be no less successful in gaining power for the Persians" Claughton Xerxes, Darius, an d Alexander all possessed similar motives for expanding their Empires.
Historically, there wa s such great support for the motives behind Alexander's conquests that the motiv es behind Persia's conquests were overshadowed. While many aspects of Herodotus and Xenophon accounts hold great historical accuracy, there were facets of the Persian Empire that were not thoroughly explored.
History, as told by th e Greeks would suggest that the Persians wanted to spread their tyranny and acquire Greek wealth. However, upon examination of Persian culture, basic psychological principles, and historical a ccounts of past rulers, it is apparent that Persia had no malicious intention for invading Greece. Evidence shows it is likely that Greece would have invaded Persia if the y had faced similar circumstances. This is exemplified by the fact that Greece did conquer Persia a few years later, and were praised for their achievement.
PAGE 20! Persia's intention was not to invade Greece, steal all of its wealth, and enslave all of the people, despite ho w the Greeks conveyed the Persian invasion Before Darius and Xerxes embarked upon a full invasion of Greece, they sent ambassadors to make offers of peaceful acquisition, "[Darius] sent envoys round the Aegean and mainland Greece, demanding earth and water" Green Xerxes quickly crushed the Egyptians and resumed preparations to invade Greece.
In BCE, Xerxes sent a much more powerful force of , soldiers by land, with 1, ships in support, across a double pontoon bridge over the Hellespont. This army took Thrace before descending on Thessaly and Boetia, whilst the Persian navy skirted the coast and resupplied the ground troops. The Greek fleet, meanwhile, dashed to block Cape Artemision. After being delayed by Leonidas I, the Spartan king of the Agiad Dynasty, at the Battle of Thermopylae a battle made famous due to the sheer imbalance of forces, with Spartans facing the entire Persian Army , Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens.
But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under the command of Themistocles, defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis. In BCE, during the period of peace between the two Persian invasions, a vein of silver ore had been discovered in the Laurion a small mountain range near Athens , and the ore that was mined there paid for the construction of warships to combat Aeginetan piracy.
Following the Battle of Plataea and the Battle of Mycale, the Persians began withdrawing from Greece and never attempted an invasion again. The Battle of Mycale was in many ways a turning point, after which the Greeks went on the offensive against the Persian fleet. In the course of doing so, Athens enrolled all the island states, and some mainland states, into an alliance called the Delian League— so named because its treasury was kept on the sacred island of Delos, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire, prepare for future invasions, and organize a means of dividing the spoils of war.
The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation afterwards. Historians also speculate that Sparta was unconvinced of the ability of the Delian League to secure long-term security for Asian Greeks. The Spartan withdrawal from the League allowed Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power within the Hellenic world. Despite their victories in the Persian Wars, the Greek city-states emerged from the conflict more divided than united. Understand the effect the Persian Wars had on the balance of power throughout the classical world.
The cities of Ionia were also liberated from Persian control. Despite their successes, however, the spoils of war caused greater inner conflict within the Hellenic world. The violent actions of Spartan leader Pausanias at the siege of Byzantium, for instance, alienated many of the Greek states from Sparta, and led to a shift in the military command of the Delian League from Sparta to Athens. Following the two Persian invasions of Greece, and during the Greek counterattacks that commenced after the Battles of Plataea and Mycale, Athens enrolled all island and some mainland city-states into an alliance, called the Delian League, the purpose of which was to pursue conflict with the Persian Empire, prepare for future invasions, and organize a means of dividing the spoils of war.
Historians also speculate that Sparta decided to leave the League for pragmatic reasons, remaining unconvinced that it was possible to secure long-term security for Greeks residing in Asia Minor, and as a result of their unease with Athenian efforts to increase their power. Once Sparta withdrew from the Delian League after the Persian Wars, it reformed the Peloponnesian League, which had originally been formed in the 6 th century and provided the blueprint for what was now the Delian League.
The Spartan withdrawal from the League had the effect, however, of allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power, unrivaled throughout the Hellenic world. Map of the Athenian Empire c. A series of rebellions occurred between Athens and the smaller city-states that were members of the League. For example, Naxos was the first member of the League to attempt to secede, in approximately BCE. It was later defeated and forced to tear down its defensive city walls, surrender its fleet, and lost voting privileges in the League.
Thasos allied with Persia and petitioned Sparta for assistance, but Sparta was unable to help because it was facing the largest helot revolution in its history. Nonetheless, relations between Athens and Sparta were soured by the situation. After a three-year long siege, Thasos was recaptured and forced back into the Delian League, though it also lost its defensive walls and fleet, its mines were turned over to Athens, and the city-state was forced to pay yearly tribute and fines.
According to Thucydides, the siege of Thasos marked the transformation of the League from an alliance into a hegemony. Following their defeats at the hands of the Greeks, and plagued by internal rebellions that hindered their ability to fight foreign enemies, the Persians adopted a policy of divide-and-rule.
Beginning in BCE, the Persians attempted to aggravate the growing tensions between Athens and Sparta, and would even bribe politicians to achieve these aims. Their strategy was to keep the Greeks distracted with in-fighting, so as to stop the tide of counterattacks reaching the Persian Empire.
Their strategy was largely successful, and there was no open conflict between the Greeks and Persia until BCE, when the Spartan king Agesilaus briefly invaded Asia Minor. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Ancient Greece and the Hellenistic World.
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