Through the ashes of various brutal conflicts in ancient Persia and
Mesopotamia, around 550 BCE, a commander known as Cyrus the Great
created the largest empire the ancient world had ever known.
The Achaemenid Empire, also known as the First Persian Empire, expanded its territory from Persia to Mesopotamia, the Levant, Egypt, the Caucasus, and Asia Minor. As the empire grew, it came into conflict with a strong adversary— the Greek city-states.
The Levant is the
region along the eastern Mediterranean that includes modern-day Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.
As the Persian Empire expanded, the Persians came into contact with the Greeks living on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey.
The empire was divided into provinces called satrapies, which were ruled by governors chosen by the Persian king. Like many large empires at the time, the Persian king demanded taxes and military service from each province. When the taxes became heavier, the Greeks living along the Ionian coast wanted to rebel against Persian rule and called the powerful city-states of Athens and Eretria for help.
The Greeks took their rebellion one step further by inspiring other Greeks living across Asia Minor and nearby islands to fight against the Persians, causing Persian trade routes in the Mediterranean to suffer.
By blocking important trade routes, the Greeks gave the Achaemenid Empire a reason to go to war. Thus began the decades-long Greco-Persian War.
The Persians decided to invade Greece, hoping to get many of the Greek city-states on their side as possible. The first invasion was led by Darius I, also known as Darius the Great. In this war, the Persians used the help of the master shipbuilders to assemble a navy that could gain control of the Aegean Sea. It was during this time that Macedon, Thrace, and the Aegean isles would come under Persian rule, but the attack on Athens, known as the Battle of Marathon, failed, with great losses for the Persians.
In the second war, the new king of Persia, Xerxes I, was the ruler. At this time, Greece was far from united. Many of the city-states competed with each other for farmland, trade routes, and power. While some city-states joined together against the Persians, many chose to remain neutral throughout the war.
During the second war, the Persians gained significant control of Greece with little resistance. That is until the Spartans made a stand at Thermopylae. In this battle, the Persians suffered heavy casualties, but ultimately won against the Spartan king, Leonidas. After this victory, many more cities began to submit to Persian rule.
Without the defense of Thermopylae, the Persians sacked Athens, which was a great cause for celebration. The next major battle would be in the sea at Salamis where the Greek city-states, historically at odds, came together and used their knowledge of the tides, wind, and currents to stop the Persian ships. The Achaemenids were defeated, and the battle marked a turning point for Persian influence in Greece. The second war ended with a Greek victory, even with the Persians maintaining control throughout Greece.
The final Greco-Persian War would see the Delian League emerge.
This league incorporated many city-states into a unified army led
by Athens. The Persians, and certainly none of the Greeks, ever
imagined a unified Greece; however, the armies of the Delian League were able to defeat the Achaemenids by taking control of the Aegean and most of its coastal areas.
The Persians would take no revenge on the Greeks. Instead, they focused their defenses on the western frontier in the event of a massive Greek invasion.
This would later occur in 334 BCE when Alexander the Great would ultimately conquer the Achaemenids and bring an end to the First Persian Empire.