1. The Persian Wars Grecian Greatness Displayed

2. Where is Persia?

3. DID YOU KNOW?

4. The Persians then conquered these colonies! The Greeks had begun to settle on Asia Minor.

5. So what was the only way for the Greeks to get away from Persian rule and form a democracy? Revolution!

6. DID YOU KNOW?

7. Emperor Darius crushed the revolution…

8. …and believed that Athens was to be punished!

9. Darius trained his army for a couple of years then decided to campaign against Greece.

10. He sailed to the Bay of Marathon

11. The Athenians asked the Spartans for help. But the Spartans were in the middle of a religious festival.

12. Without Spartan help, Athens would fight alone!

13. Troop totals No chance of survival… Right? Persia 100,000 troops Athens 20,000 troops

14. The Athenian army was well trained and did not break!

15. The Persian army turned and fled from the Athenians. The Athenians drove the Persians all the way to the sea.

16. Death total So much for no chance! Persia 6,400 dead Athens 192 dead

17. Darius left Greece never to return again!

18. The modern Marathon has its roots at the Battle of Marathon. Connection to the past

19. A total of 26 miles! Phidippides, a Greek soldier, ran from Marathon to Athens!

20. His message was to share of Athenian victory and to warn of the Persian army.

21. Phidippides collapsed and died after giving the message!

22. Today’s marathons are a tribute to his heroic act of martyrdom.

23. DID YOU KNOW?

24. Darius never came back to Greece, but Xerxes, his son, did.

25. He brought back an army even larger than his father did.

26. Persians met the Greeks at Thermopylae. A small mountain pass that allowed access to Greece. For 2 days 7,000 Greeks held strong until…

28. A Greek traitor showed the Persians a way around the Greeks. Most of the Greek defenders ran away from Thermopylae.

29. About 300 Spartans stayed to allow the others to flee.

32. The Persians then flooded into Greece destroying everything that they saw. The Persians even burned down Athens! What were the Greeks going to do?

33. DID YOU KNOW?

34. Battle of Salamis Salamis is a small island that Greeks fled to. Persian followed the Greeks there hoping to destroy them once and for all.

35. Greek ships left the mainland like they were going to the island, then they turned around and began ramming Persian ships.

36. Before the Persians knew what hit them, half of their naval fleet was on the ocean floor.

39. DID YOU KNOW?

40. The Battle of Salamis was the absolute turning point against Xerxes. It forced Xerxes to flee Greece!

41. The Final Confrontation The Battle of Platea

42. Finally the Greeks and Persians had the same amount of troops. It was on an even fighting field as well.

43. Athens and Sparta fought side by side, military superiority won out.

44. This finally drove the Persians out of Greece for good.

45. Three reasons Inherent advantage of the defender They were better soldiers They used the element of surprise How did the Greeks do it?