Chapter Chapter 16 · The Persian Wars

HOW THE GREEKS DEFENDED EUROPE AGAINST ASIATIC INVASION AND DROVE

THE PERSIANS BACK ACROSS THE ÆGEAN SEA

The Greeks had learned the art of trading from the Ægeans who had been

the pupils of the Phœnicians. They had founded colonies after the

Phœnician pattern. They had even improved upon the Phœnician methods

by a more general use of money in dealing with foreign customers. In

the sixth century before our era they had established themselves firmly

along the coast of Asia Minor and they were taking away trade from

the Phœnicians at a fast rate. This the Phœnicians of course did not

like but they were not strong enough to risk a war with their Greek

competitors. They sat and waited nor did they wait in vain.

In a former chapter, I have told you how a humble tribe of Persian

shepherds had suddenly gone upon the warpath and had conquered the

greater part of western Asia. The Persians were too civilised to

plunder their new subjects. They contented themselves with a yearly

tribute. When they reached the coast of Asia Minor they insisted that

the Greek colonies of Lydia recognize the Persian Kings as their

over-Lords and pay them a stipulated tax. The Greek colonies objected.

The Persians insisted. Then the Greek colonies appealed to the

home-country and the stage was set for a quarrel.

For if the truth be told, the Persian Kings regarded the Greek

city-states as very dangerous political institutions and bad examples

for all other people who were supposed to be the patient slaves of the

mighty Persian Kings.

[Illustration: THE PERSIAN FLEET IS DESTROYED NEAR MOUNT ATHOS]

Of course, the Greeks enjoyed a certain degree of safety because their

country lay hidden beyond the deep waters of the Ægean. But here their

old enemies, the Phœnicians, stepped forward with offers of help and

advice to the Persians. If the Persian King would provide the soldiers,

the Phœnicians would guarantee to deliver the necessary ships to carry

them to Europe. It was the year 492 before the birth of Christ, and

Asia made ready to destroy the rising power of Europe.

As a final warning the King of Persia sent messengers to the Greeks

asking for “earth and water” as a token of their submission. The Greeks

promptly threw the messengers into the nearest well where they would

find both “earth and water” in large abundance and thereafter of course

peace was impossible.

But the Gods of High Olympus watched over their children and when the

Phœnician fleet carrying the Persian troops was near Mount Athos, the

Storm-God blew his cheeks until he almost burst the veins of his brow,

and the fleet was destroyed by a terrible hurricane and the Persians

were all drowned.

[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF MARATHON]

Two years later more Persians came. This time they sailed across the

Ægean Sea and landed near the village of Marathon. As soon as the

Athenians heard this they sent their army of ten thousand men to guard

the hills that surrounded the Marathonian plain. At the same time they

despatched a fast runner to Sparta to ask for help. But Sparta was

envious of the fame of Athens and refused to come to her assistance.

The other Greek cities followed her example with the exception of

tiny Plataea which sent a thousand men. On the twelfth of September

of the year 490, Miltiades, the Athenian commander, threw this little

army against the hordes of the Persians. The Greeks broke through

the Persian barrage of arrows and their spears caused terrible havoc

among the disorganised Asiatic troops who had never been called upon to

resist such an enemy.

That night the people of Athens watched the sky grow red with the

flames of burning ships. Anxiously they waited for news. At last a

little cloud of dust appeared upon the road that led to the North. It

was Pheidippides, the runner. He stumbled and gasped for his end was

near. Only a few days before had he returned from his errand to Sparta.

He had hastened to join Miltiades. That morning he had taken part in

the attack and later he had volunteered to carry the news of victory to

his beloved city. The people saw him fall and they rushed forward to

support him. “We have won,” he whispered and then he died, a glorious

death which made him envied of all men.

As for the Persians, they tried, after this defeat, to land near Athens

but they found the coast guarded and disappeared, and once more the

land of Hellas was at peace.

Eight years they waited and during this time the Greeks were not idle.

They knew that a final attack was to be expected but they did not agree

upon the best way to avert the danger. Some people wanted to increase

the army. Others said that a strong fleet was necessary for success.

The two parties led by Aristides (for the army) and Themistocles (the

leader of the bigger-navy men) fought each other bitterly and nothing

was done until Aristides was exiled. Then Themistocles had his chance

and he built all the ships he could and turned the Piræus into a strong

naval base.

In the year 481 B.C. a tremendous Persian army appeared in Thessaly,

a province of northern Greece. In this hour of danger, Sparta, the

great military city of Greece, was elected commander-in-chief. But the

Spartans cared little what happened to northern Greece provided their

own country was not invaded. They neglected to fortify the passes that

led into Greece.

[Illustration: THERMOPYLAE]

A small detachment of Spartans under Leonidas had been told to guard

the narrow road between the high mountains and the sea which connected

Thessaly with the southern provinces. Leonidas obeyed his orders. He

fought and held the pass with unequalled bravery. But a traitor by the

name of Ephialtes who knew the little byways of Malis guided a regiment

of Persians through the hills and made it possible for them to attack

Leonidas in the rear. Near the Warm Wells—the Thermopylae—a terrible

battle was fought. When night came Leonidas and his faithful soldiers

lay dead under the corpses of their enemies.

[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE]

But the pass had been lost and the greater part of Greece fell into the

hands of the Persians. They marched upon Athens, threw the garrison

from the rocks of the Acropolis and burned the city. The people fled

to the Island of Salamis. All seemed lost. But on the 20th of September

of the year 480 Themistocles forced the Persian fleet to give battle

within the narrow straits which separated the Island of Salamis from

the mainland and within a few hours he destroyed three quarters of the

Persian ships.

[Illustration: THE PERSIANS BURN ATHENS]

In this way the victory of Thermopylae came to naught. Xerxes was

forced to retire. The next year, so he decreed, would bring a final

decision. He took his troops to Thessaly and there he waited for spring.

But this time the Spartans understood the seriousness of the hour.

They left the safe shelter of the wall which they had built across

the isthmus of Corinth and under the leadership of Pausanias they

marched against Mardonius the Persian general. The united Greeks (some

one hundred thousand men from a dozen different cities) attacked the

three hundred thousand men of the enemy near Plataea. Once more the

heavy Greek infantry broke through the Persian barrage of arrows.

The Persians were defeated, as they had been at Marathon, and this

time they left for good. By a strange coincidence, the same day that

the Greek armies won their victory near Plataea, the Athenian ships

destroyed the enemy’s fleet near Cape Mycale in Asia Minor.

Thus did the first encounter between Asia and Europe end. Athens had

covered herself with glory and Sparta had fought bravely and well. If

these two cities had been able to come to an agreement, if they had

been willing to forget their little jealousies, they might have become

the leaders of a strong and united Hellas.

But alas, they allowed the hour of victory and enthusiasm to slip by,

and the same opportunity never returned.

ATHENS _vs._ SPARTA

HOW ATHENS AND SPARTA FOUGHT A LONG AND DISASTROUS WAR FOR THE