Linking to Thinking

Defeating the Persians allowed the Greek democracy and culture to continue. The culture greatly influenced later world civilizations. Check out some of the videos in this playlist. Some are History Channel documentaries. Enjoy!

Image source: en.wikipedia.org

image source: edsitement.neh.gov

Image Source: classicalwisdom.com

Image source: http://www.kids.britannica.com

Tags: War

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The wars between Persia and Greece took place in the early part of the 5th century BC. Persia had a huge empire and had every intention of adding Greece to it. The Battles of Marathon, Thermoplyae, and Salamis will be discussed in class. 

The Persian Wars were immensely important for Western civilization. The Greeks, a relatively small and dis-unified nation, unexpectedly defeated the greatest empire on earth. Afterward, this experience compelled the Greeks to identify themselves culturally. The world’s first real historian, the Greek Herodotus, writing in the mid-400s BCE, chose the Persian Wars as his story to tell; it was the greatest understandable event in human memory, and it distinguished the Greek from the “barbarian.” Similarly, the amazing Athenian cultural achievements of the 400s and 300s BCE—in theater, philosophy, sculpture, architecture, and the development of democracy—were products of a confidence adopted because of the Persian Wars. Had the invading Persians won and had Greece become just another province of their empire, there would have been no brilliant Athenian century to serve as the foundation of modern culture. 

Becoming a Spartan Soldier

Tags: War