GRECO–PERSIAN WARS. 480 BCE ◼ CENTRAL GREECE ◼ GREECE VS. PERSIA In 480 BCE, Xerxes I restarted the Persian invasion of Greece that had ended at Marathon 10 years earlier, bridging the Hellespont (Dardenelles) with pontoons to transport his huge army. Unable to oppose such a force, the northern Greek cities quickly capitulated and the Persians swept through Thessaly in central Greece. An anti-Persian resistance coalesced around Athens and Sparta, however, and resolved to halt the invaders. The Spartan army under Leonidas marched to Thermopylae in Boeotia, where a narrow pass could be held by a small number of hoplites. Simultaneously, the Athenian fleet blocked the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium to the northeast. Xerxes approached on August 18 with around 70,000 men, 10 times that of the Spartan-led defenders. He unleashed a volley of arrows, followed by a headlong charge and an assault by his elite forces, the Immortals, ...
Comments
Post a Comment