A report on Delian League, Greco-Persian Wars and Achaemenid Empire

Delian League, before the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC.

Persian soldier (left) and Greek hoplite (right) depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

Athenian Empire in 445 BC, according to the Tribute Lists. The islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos (shaded on the map) did not pay tribute.

Herodotus, the main historical source for this conflict

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent under the rule of Darius I (522 BC–486 BC)

Thucydides continued Herodotus's narrative

Fragment of the Athenian Tribute List, 425–424 BC.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent under Darius the Great

The Athenian Empire at its height, c. 450 BC.

Persian and Median Immortals in ceremonial dress, bas-relief in Persepolis

Map of the expansion process of Achaemenid territories

Map showing the locations of battles fought by the Delian League, 477–449 BC.

According to Herodotus, the Athenians, hoping for protection against Sparta, made the gift of "Earth and Water" to the Persians in 507 BC.

Cyrus the Great is said, in the Bible, to have liberated the Hebrew captives in Babylon to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Greece at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War

Coinage of Athens at the time of Cleisthenes. Effigy of Athena, with owl and ΑΘΕ, initials of "Athens". Circa 510-500/490 BC.

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire. At Pasargadae, Iran.

The burning of Sardis by the Greeks and the Ionians during the Ionian Revolt in 498 BC.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC

Map showing main events of the Ionian Revolt.

The Persian queen Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, sister-wife of Cambyses II, Darius the Great's wife, and mother of Xerxes the Great

Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars

Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

Achaemenid king fighting hoplites, seal and seal holder, Cimmerian Bosporus.

The soldiers of Xerxes I, of all ethnicities, on the tomb of Xerxes I, at Naqsh-e Rostam.

Achaemenid gold ornaments, Brooklyn Museum

Probable Spartan hoplite (Vix crater, c. 500 BC).

Persian Empire timeline including important events and territorial evolution – 550–323 BC

Major events in the second invasion of Greece

Relief showing Darius I offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis

The 24 countries subject to the Achaemenid Empire at the time of Darius, on the Egyptian statue of Darius I.

Schematic diagram illustrating events during the Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Issus, between Alexander the Great on horseback to the left, and Darius III in the chariot to the right, represented in a Pompeii mosaic dated 1st century BC – Naples National Archaeological Museum

Spartans fighting against Persian forces at the Battle of Plataea. 19th century illustration.

Alexander's first victory over Darius, the Persian king depicted in medieval European style in the 15th century romance The History of Alexander's Battles

Athens and her "empire" in 431 BC. The empire was the direct descendant of the Delian League

Frataraka dynasty ruler Vadfradad I (Autophradates I). 3rd century BC. Istakhr (Persepolis) mint.

Dārēv I (Darios I) used for the first time the title of mlk (King). 2nd century BC.

Dynast of Lycia, Kherei, with Athena on the obverse, and himself wearing the Persian cap on the reverse. Circa 440/30–410 BC.

Winged sphinx from the Palace of Darius in Susa, Louvre

Coinage of Tiribazos, Satrap of Lydia, with Faravahar on the obverse. 388–380 BC.

Volume of annual tribute per district, in the Achaemenid Empire, according to Herodotus.

Achaemenid tax collector, calculating on an Abax or Abacus, according to the Darius Vase (340–320 BC).

Letter from the Satrap of Bactria to the governor of Khulmi, concerning camel keepers, 353 BC

Relief of throne-bearing soldiers in their native clothing at the tomb of Xerxes I, demonstrating the satrapies under his rule.

Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite. c. 500 BC–475 BC, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Persian soldiers (left) fighting against Scythians. Cylinder seal impression.

Color reconstruction of Achaemenid infantry on the Alexander Sarcophagus (end of 4th century BC).

Seal of Darius the Great hunting in a chariot, reading "I am Darius, the Great King" in Old Persian (𐎠𐎭𐎶𐏐𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁𐎴 𐏋, "adam Dārayavaʰuš xšāyaθiya"), as well as in Elamite and Babylonian. The word "great" only appears in Babylonian. British Museum.

Achaemenid calvalryman in the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Armoured cavalry: Achaemenid Dynast of Hellespontine Phrygia attacking a Greek psiloi, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Reconstitution of Persian landing ships at the Battle of Marathon.

Greek ships against Achaemenid ships at the Battle of Salamis.

Iconic relief of lion and bull fighting, Apadana of Persepolis

Achaemenid golden bowl with lioness imagery of Mazandaran

A section of the Old Persian part of the trilingual Behistun inscription. Other versions are in Babylonian and Elamite.

A copy of the Behistun inscription in Aramaic on a papyrus. Aramaic was the lingua franca of the empire.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, was built by Greek architects for the local Persian satrap of Caria, Mausolus (Scale model)

Reconstruction of the Palace of Darius at Susa. The palace served as a model for Persepolis.

Lion on a decorative panel from Darius I the Great's palace, Louvre

Apadana Hall, Persian and Median soldiers at Persepolis

Lateral view of tomb of Cambyses II, Pasargadae, Iran

Plaque with horned lion-griffins. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, with the number of members numbering between 150 and 330 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Second Persian invasion of Greece.

- Delian League

The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered the Greek-inhabited region of Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to control the independent-minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed tyrants to rule each of them.

- Greco-Persian Wars

The actions of the general Pausanias at the siege of Byzantium alienated many of the Greek states from the Spartans, and the anti-Persian alliance was therefore reconstituted around Athenian leadership, called the Delian League.

- Greco-Persian Wars

This action marks the end of the Persian invasion, and the beginning of the next phase in the Greco-Persian wars, the Greek counterattack.

- Delian League

This indirectly caused the Athenians to move the treasury of the Delian League from the island of Delos to the Athenian acropolis.

- Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon.

- Achaemenid Empire

8 related topics with Alpha

Battle of Salamis

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Map showing the Greek world at the time of the battle

Fleet of triremes based on the full-sized replica Olympias

The Lycian dynast Kybernis (520-480 BCE) led 50 Lycian ships in the Achaemenid fleet.

The Ionian fleet, here seen joining with Persian forces at the Bosphorus in preparation of the European Scythian campaign of Darius I in 513 BC, was part of the Achaemenid fleet at Salamis. 19th century illustration.

The battle of Salamis, 19th century illustration.

Battle of Salamis, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (detail).

Death of the Persian admiral Ariabignes (a brother of Xerxes) early in the battle; illustration from Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls c. 1910

Artemisia, Queen of Halicarnassus, and commander of the Carian contingent of the Achaemenid fleet, at the Battle of Salamis, shooting arrows at the Greeks. Wilhelm von Kaulbach (detail).

The triumph of Themistocles after Salamis. 19th century illustration.

The wrath of Xerxes looking at the Battle of Salamis from his promontory, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (detail).

Serpent Column, a monument to their alliance, dedicated by the victorious Allies in the aftermath of Plataea; now at the Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks.

The Battle of Salamis marked the turning point in the Greco-Persian wars.

The Greek victory allowed Macedon to revolt against Persian rule; and over the next 30 years, Thrace, the Aegean Islands and finally Ionia would be removed from Persian control by the Allies, or by the Athenian-dominated successor, the Delian League.

Part of Mount Mycale, viewed from the ruins of Priene

Battle of Mycale

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A map showing the Greek world at the time of the battle

Movements of the Persian and Greek armies in 480–479 BC

Map showing position of Mount Mycale in relation to Lade, Samos and Miletus.

Greek hoplite (right) and Persian warrior (left), fighting each other. Ancient kylix, 5th century BC.

Schematic diagram of the Battle of Mycale

The Battle of Mycale (Machē tēs Mykalēs) was one of the two major battles (the other being the Battle of Plataea) that ended the second Persian invasion of Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars.

The Ionian Greeks later joined the Athenians in the "Delian League" against Persia.

Persians and Spartans fighting at Plataea. 19th century illustration.

Battle of Plataea

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The final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece.

The Achaemenid Empire and its allied Greek states (Macedonia, Thessaly, Malis, Locris, Phocis and Boeotia) at the time of the Battle of Plataea.

Answer of Aristides to the ambassadors of Mardonius: "As long as the sun holds to its present course, we shall never come to terms with Xerxes".

The initial movements at the Battle of Plataea. The Greek line moves forward to the Asopus ridge.

The Spartan general Pausanias commanded the Allied Greek troops.

Disposition of Achaemenid troops beyond the Asopos river at the beginning of the Battle of Plataea. From left to right: Greek allies, Sacae, Indians, Bactrians, Medes and Persians.

Aristides, commander of the Athenians, informed by Alexander I of Macedon (a nominal ally of the Achaemenids) that delaying the encounter with the Persians would help further diminish their already low supplies. Battle of Plataea, 479 BC.

The battlefield of Plataea from the Achaemenid (northern) side.

Pausanias offering sacrifice to the Gods before the battle

Scene of the Battle of Plataea. 19th century illustration.

The main phase of the battle at Plataea. The Greek retreat becomes disorganised, and the Persians cross the Asopus to attack.

Scene of the Battle of Plataea on the south frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike, Athens. The scene on the right may show the fight over the body of Masistius. British Museum.

Coin of Alexander I of Macedon in the decade following the Battle of Plataea and the departure of Achaemenid forces (struck in 480/79-470 BC).

It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states (including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara), and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I (allied with Greece's Boeotians, Thessalians, and Macedonians).

After Plataea and Mycale the Greek allies would take the offensive against the Persians, marking a new phase of the Greco-Persian Wars.

Over the next 30 years the Greeks, primarily the Athenian-dominated Delian League, would expel (or help expel) the Persians from Macedon, Thrace, the Aegean islands and Ionia.

Ionian Revolt

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Coin of Chios just before the revolt, circa 525–510 BC.

Coin of Lesbos, Ionia. Circa 510–480 BC.

Darius, with a label in Greek (ΔΑΡΕΙΟΣ, top right), on the Darius Vase.

The burning of Sardis by the Greeks during the Ionian Revolt in 498 BC.

Achaemenid cavalry in Asia Minor. Altıkulaç Sarcophagus.

Map showing the ancient kingdoms of Cyprus

Ionian revolt: Carian campaign (496 BC).

Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted fighting. 5th century BC

Ionian revolt, Battle of Lade and fall of Miletus (494 BC).

Ionian soldier (Old Persian cuneiform 𐎹𐎢𐎴, Yaunā) of the Achaemenid army, circa 480 BCE. Xerxes I tomb relief.

Coin of Chios after the revolt, circa 490–435 BCE. [[:File:ISLANDS off IONIA, Chios. Circa 525-510 BC.jpg|Earlier types known]].

The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several Greek regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC. At the heart of the rebellion was the dissatisfaction of the Greek cities of Asia Minor with the tyrants appointed by Persia to rule them, along with the individual actions of two Milesian tyrants, Histiaeus and Aristagoras.

The Ionian Revolt constituted the first major conflict between Greece and the Persian Empire, and as such represents the first phase of the Greco-Persian Wars.

Despite various revolts Aegina went on to become part of the Delian League, an imperial treaty of the new Athenian thalassocracy.

Cimon

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Athenian statesman and general in mid-5th century BC Greece.

Pieces of broken pottery (Ostracon) as voting tokens for ostracism. The persons nominated are Pericles, Cimon and Aristides, each with his patronymic (top to bottom).

Cimon played a key role in creating the powerful Athenian maritime empire following the failure of the Persian invasion of Greece by Xerxes I in 480–479 BC. Cimon became a celebrated military hero and was elected to the rank of strategos after fighting in the Battle of Salamis.

One of Cimon's greatest exploits was his destruction of a Persian fleet and army at the Battle of the Eurymedon river in 466 BC. In 462 BC, he led an unsuccessful expedition to support the Spartans during the helot uprisings.

He had served Athens well during the Persian Wars and according to Plutarch: "In all the qualities that war demands he was fully the equal of Themistocles and his own father Miltiades".

Ionia

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Ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir.

The ruins of the ancient city of Pergamon

Art relics from the Ionian cities of Asia

One of the earliest electrum coins struck in Ephesus, 620–600 BC. Obverse: Forepart of stag. Reverse: Square incuse punch.

The site of Miletus, once coastal, now inland. The plain was a bay in Classical Greece.

Gorgone with serpent, Ionia, 575-550 BC.

Possible coin of Ionia. Circa 600-550 BC

Ionia, Achaemenid Period. Uncertain satrap. Circa 350–333 BC

The Library of Celsus in Ephesus was built by the Romans in 114–117. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king Croesus of Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The cities within the region figured large in the strife between the Persian Empire and the Greeks.

They were at first assisted by the Athenians and Eretria, with whose aid they penetrated into the interior and burnt Sardis, an event which ultimately led to the Persian invasion of Greece.

They henceforth became the dependent allies of Athens (see Delian League), though still retaining their autonomy, which they preserved until the Peace of Antalcidas in 387 BC once more placed them as well as the other Greek cities in Asia under the nominal dominion of Persia.

Themistocles

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Athenian politician and general.

A sluicing tank for silver ore, excavated at Laurium, Attica

A Roman-era bust of Themistocles in "Severe style", based on a Greek original, in the Museo Archeologico Ostiense, Ostia, Rome, Italy. The lost original of this bust, dated to circa 470 BC, has been described as "the first true portrait of an individual European".

Decree of Themistocles, National Archaeological Museum of Athens, 13330

Diagram of the approximate events of the Battle of Salamis

Romantic interpretation of the Battle of Salamis by Wilhelm von Kaulbach. Artemisia of Caria is seen shooting arrows in the direction of the Greeks led by Themistocles.

The triumph of Themistocles after the Battle of Salamis. 19th century illustration.

Athenians rebuilding their city under the direction of Themistocles.

The northern wall of the Acropolis of Athens, built by Themistocles with built-in fragments of destroyed temples.

Column drums of the destroyed Older Parthenon, reused in building-up the North wall of the Acropolis, by Themistocles.

Ostracon with inscription: "Themist[h]ocles, son of Neocles"

Themistocles finds refuge with King Admetus.

Illustration by Walter Crane showing Themistocles standing silently before King Artaxerxes

Coin of Themistocles as Governor of Magnesia. Obv: Head of Zeus. Rev: Letters ΘΕ, initials of Themistocles. Circa 465-459 BC

Coin of Themistocles as Governor of Magnesia. Obv: Barley grain. ΘE to left. Rev: Possible portrait of Themistocles. Circa 465–459 BC.

Didrachm of Themistocles in Magnesia. Obv: Apollo standing in clamys, legend around ΘΕΜΙΣΤΟΚ-ΛΕΟΣ ("Themistokles"). Rev: Eagle with letters Μ-Α ("Magnesia").

Hemiobol of Themistocles in Magnesia, where he is seen wearing a tight bonnet with Olive wreath (a similar headdress can be seen on the coinage of Kherei). This possibly reflects the bonnets of Achaemenid Satraps, such as seen in the Herakleia head. Initials Θ-Ε around portrait and on reverse. c. 465–459 BC

A dignitary of Asia Minor in Achaemenid style, c. 475 BC. Karaburun tomb near Elmalı, Lycia.

Portrait of a ruler with olive wreath on the Magnesian coinage of Archeptolis, son of Themistocles, c. 459 BC. The portraits on the coinage of Archeptolis could also represent Themistocles.

Ruins of the Themistoclean Wall in the Kerameikos of Athens, Greece, named after Themistocles

His naval policies would have a lasting impact on Athens as well, since maritime power became the cornerstone of the Athenian Empire and golden age.

Salamis was the turning point in the second Persian invasion, and indeed the Greco-Persian Wars in general.

Themistocles was one of the several Greek aristocrats who took refuge in the Achaemenid Empire following reversals at home, other famous ones being Hippias, Demaratos, Gongylos or later Alcibiades.

Peace of Callias

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The Peace of Callias is a purported peace treaty established around 449 BC between the Delian League (led by Athens) and Persia, ending the Greco-Persian Wars.