The Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. was part of the first Persian invasion of Greece. The battle was fought on the Marathon plain of northeastern Attica and marked the first blows of the Greco-Persian War. 

What happened in 480 BC in Greece?

In 480 B.C., the new Persian king sent a massive army across the Hellespont to Thermopylae, where 60,000 Persian troops defeated 5,000 Greeks in the Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas of Sparta was famously killed.

Who invaded Greece in 490 BC?

Persian Wars, or Greco-Persian Wars, (492–449 bc) Series of wars between Greek states and Persia, particularly two invasions of Greece by Persia (490, 480–479).

Who attacked Greece in 480 BC?

Xerxes

In 480 bce Xerxes invaded Greece as a continuation of Darius’s original plan. He began the same way his predecessor had: he sent heralds to Greek cities—but he skipped over Athens and Sparta because of their previous responses.

Who attacked Athens in 490 BC?

In September of 490 BC a Persian armada of 600 ships disgorged an invasion force of approximately 20,000 infantry and cavalry on Greek soil just north of Athens. Their mission was to crush the Greek states in retaliation for their support of their Ionian cousins who had revolted against Persian rule.

Who ruled Athens in 480 BC?

Themistocles

Themistocles, (born c. 524 bce—died c. 460), Athenian politician and naval strategist who was the creator of Athenian sea power and the chief saviour of Greece from subjection to the Persian empire at the Battle of Salamis in 480 bce.

Why did Persia invade Greece in 490?

The invasion, consisting of two distinct campaigns, was ordered by the Persian king Darius the Great primarily in order to punish the city-states of Athens and Eretria. These cities had supported the cities of Ionia during their revolt against Persian rule, thus incurring the wrath of Darius.

Who attacked Greece in both 490 BCE and 480 BCE during the Persian Wars?

Persia

Greco-Persian Wars, also called Persian Wars, (492–449 bce), series of wars fought by Greek states and Persia over a period of almost half a century. The fighting was most intense during two invasions that Persia launched against mainland Greece between 490 and 479.

Did Sparta defeat Persia?



After Thermopylae, the Greeks went on to achieve great victories at Salamis and Plataea where they decisively defeated the Persians. Leonidas and his men had reinforced the prestige of Sparta and raised the morale of all Greeks to continue fighting against Persia.

What Battle was in 480 BC?

In 480 BCE, the Greeks defeated the Persian fleet off the island of Salamis in the largest naval battle ever fought in the ancient world. The Greek victory proved to be the turning point in the war, for the Persian king, Xerxes, returned to Asia with his surviving ships and the majority of his land troops.

What happened to Athens in 480 BCE?

In 480 BC, Persian forces led by King Xerxes I, burned down the city of Athens, as well as the Acropolis, in what is called “the Persian Destruction of Athens.” The destruction of the great city took place during the Persian Wars, a series of conflicts which began in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC.

What is Sparta called now?

In 1834, after the Greek War of Independence, King Otto of Greece decreed the town should be expanded into a city. Modern day Sparta, the capital of the prefecture of Lakonia, lies on the eastern foothills of Mount Taygetos in the Evrotas River valley.

What happened in Athens in 480 BC?



Battle of Salamis, (480 bc), battle in the Greco-Persian Wars in which a Greek fleet defeated much larger Persian naval forces in the straits at Salamis, between the island of Salamis and the Athenian port-city of Piraeus.

What happened to the Parthenon in 480 BC?

The Older Parthenon (in black) was destroyed by the Achaemenids during the Destruction of Athens in 480–479 BC, and then rebuilt by Pericles (in grey).

What Battle was in 480 BC?

In 480 BCE, the Greeks defeated the Persian fleet off the island of Salamis in the largest naval battle ever fought in the ancient world. The Greek victory proved to be the turning point in the war, for the Persian king, Xerxes, returned to Asia with his surviving ships and the majority of his land troops.

What happened in Athens in 430 BC?

In 430 BC, a plague struck the city of Athens, which was then under siege by Sparta during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). In the next 3 years, most of the population was infected, and perhaps as many as 75,000 to 100,000 people, 25% of the city’s population, died.

Who ruled Athens in 400 BC?

The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles.

What happened in 460 BC in Greece?



Greece. The First Peloponnesian War breaks out between the Delian League (led by Athens) and a Peloponnesian alliance (led by Sparta), caused in part by Athens’ alliance with Megara and Argos and the subsequent reaction of Sparta.