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During the Persian Wars, the Persian Empire tried to conquer Greece three times. In the end, the they ultimately failed. They wanted revenge because Athens helped one of their colonies revolt against them. Darius was frustrated and he vowed to defeat Athens.
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During the Battle of Marathon, the Greeks used the phalanx formation in the city-state of Marathon, to aid them in battle. This alone helped them win this war. The phalanx formation is where soldiers stand side by side and hold either a spear or a shield. After their victory, Pheidippides ran 26 miles to inform Athens of their victory in Marathon.
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The Greeks united to stop Xerxes from conquering Athens. There were three hundred Spartans and seven thousand other Greeks against ten thousand Persian in this war. The Spartans found a The three hundred Spartans held Thermopylae for three days. They eventually lost.
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This was the most important sea battle in the Persian wars. In the battle of Salamis, the Greeks sink one third of the Persian fleet. The Greek ships used battering rams in the front of their ships. They would build up speed and ram the other ships and try to sink them. The Greeks eventually won the Persian wars.
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After the Persian wars Athens became very wealthy and powerful as the leader of the Delian League. The golden Age occurred between the Persian wars and the Peloponnesian wars. During the Golden Age, Pericles increased democracy and built a stronger navy. He also made Athens beautiful by creating the Parthenon. Classical art and theatre became popular around this time. Along with creating three different types of columns seen around Greece.
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Athens was becoming too powerful as the leader of the Delian league. Some of the Greek city-states wanted to leave the league because they wanted to get out of the harsh fees. At the time, Pericles brings all of the citizens inside the walls for protection. During the war a plague breaks out. It wipes out around 1/3 of the population of Athens, including Pericles. Sparta then attacks them and wins the war. Both city-states were so weakened by the war, that Philip the II easily conquered Greece.
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After the Greek city-states were weakened from the Peloponnesian wars, Philip the II conquered Greece. Philip the II died at his daughter's wedding. This made Alexander the Great the king at the age of 20. He was well educated as a military officer. He was tutored by Aristotle and he had gone on many military ventures with his father. Alexander conquered Greece, the Persian Empire, Croatia, Anatolia, Egypt, Persia, and India. Alexander died at the age of 33 from malaria.
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The combination of Greek influence and Eastern ideas created a new culture called Hellenism. In Egypt, Alexandria was the most important city for Hellenistic culture and was a city of culture for many year. Many mathematicians and philosophers studied in Alexandria. Hellenistic art was realistic. It was called realism. Realism was where the people in the art looked natural. Their sculptures are more realistic and look more natural. Most sculptures show movement.
