Now just like in the first war Sparta couldn’t do it alone; so they asked the Persians to help conquer Athens. They asked their own enemy for help. This truly was a good example of history repeating itself. Mainly because Spartans defeated the Persians on land and Athenians defeated them in the sea. This time Spartans defeated the Athenians on land and the Persians defeated the Athenians in the sea.
The Spartans were really close to them on the other hand, this led to them having an open shot to Athens with little in their way. The Athenians had ships, but that didn’t stop Lysander from get into Athens and ending the war. xxii. The conflict after the war was mainly caused by the amount of power that the Spartans had. It caused Persia to help Athens for freedom and it also caused the city-states to revolt from Spartan control.
However Xenophon’s view is not a totally fair one, considering his past military experiences with Spartans, as well as the fact that he was not a Spartan citizen and therefore only knew the official laws laid out to him. The ancient Greeks believed that the world was created perfect, and that every change made it a little worse. This made conservatism fundamental in preventing decay in the world. The Spartans therefore found it essential to live by the laws, which were mainly military based, that the legendary Lycurgus had laid out for them in the first half of the 7th Century. Unlike other Greek states, who were much less rotated around the military and had women responsible for making clothes, the Spartans left that duty for the slave women, so that the higher class women could concentrate on physical training just as much as the men did.
Morale The morale of the Greek soldiers in comparison to the Persians contributed to their victory. The Greek soldiers were fighting with patriotism for the freedom of Greece. Athens was sacked and burned by the Persians after the battle of Marathon. As a result, many of the soldiers had a direct emotional attachment to their fighting and role in the war. This gave them an edge over the Persians who were fighting for their leaders, without any emotional attachment to the cause of fighting.
Themistocles played an essential role in the Persian wars and was a key factor to Greek victory in these wars. He made this impact through his pre-war efforts, his leadership skills and his intelligence in tactics which is shown during the battle of Salamis. During his pre-war years, Themistocles came to the realisation that if Athens was to suceed in it's war efforts against Persia then it would need to greatly focus on the improval of it's naval force. Unsurprisingly, however, most Athenians disagreed with this idea as it would result in a weakened land military force and less money to the citizens of Athens. In order to persuade his fellow Athenians to support his idea of a strengthened naval force, Themistocles resorted to trickery.
Furthermore, as far as religious roles go, Herodotus mentions that Kings were not only responsible for the safekeeping of the oracles, but it was their responsibility to appoint the two pythoi whose job was to consult the oracle at Delphi. In the time of war, Spartan Kings held important military responsibilities. Only one King would ever be sent into battle. In the time of war, the King was the supreme commander of the Army. In the field, they would have unlimited power of life and death over the troops in his army.
Explain the origins and activities of the Delian League The origins of the Delian League was to fight the Persians (offensive), to ensure that Greece was not attacked again. The League was slowly transformed into an Empire. The Delian League was established in 477BC. The aim of the League was ‘to compensate themselves for their losses by ravaging the territory of the King of Persia (Thucydides). De Ste Croix believes that the “prosklema” translated by traditional scholars such as Meiggs as simple “aims” actually had an imperialistic connotation, because prosklema was a “professional aim”.
This was fought between the Greek city-state Athens and the Boeotian city’s forces. Hanson accounts the surprisingly dramatic impact of this battle both immediately and even until this present day on a variety of aspects about life, war, and thought. Athens was fighting on two fronts and wanted to eliminate the northern front, Boeotia, as to focus all their resources on the much stronger Sparta. In order to do so they were going to, attack Boeotia on two fronts at the same time, as to force the “outnumbered Boeotian army [to] to scatter between the pincers” (Hanson 176). Demosthenes, who was leading the naval front to northern Boeotia, arrived at his destination early and the Boeotians discovered the Athenian plans.
The Spartan Army to the Battle of Leuctra 371 BC | 2013 HSC Ancient History Assessment Task 1 | The composition, training, tactics, armour, strengths and weaknesses of the Spartan army and one significant Spartan battle | | Duncan Burgess Duncan Burgess The Spartan state was unique throughout the ancient world. Under the instruction of the mythical lawgiver, Lycurgus, who claimed to have brought the laws from a visit to the Delphic Oracle; the Spartan state became a powerful machine geared largely toward war. All boys born to parents of the citizen class were destined to undergo a tough training system from early childhood to become elite professional warriors. When exactly this dramatic overhaul took place and why is lost in history. Historians have suggested it as a response to growing concerns about the outnumbering helot population revolting.
After defeating the Persians for the second time, the Greeks decided that they needed to form a league to promote the mutual protection of Greece. All members who joined the League were to pay a fee to help defray costs. The treasury of the League was located on the island of Delos, for which the league was named. At the time of the Greeks were so determined to make the defensive alliance work, that they sealed the pact by throwing a piece of iron into the sea, and pledged to support each other until it rose back to the surface. Pericles was the most prominent politician in Athens from 461 until 429 BC.