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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 ...
The second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece (492–490 BC) at the Battle of Marathon, which ended Darius I's attempts to subjugate Greece.
Beginning of the first Persian invasion of Greece: 492–490 BC: First Persian invasion of Greece: Greeks: Achaemenid empire: Inconclusive: Persians capture Thrace and part of Macedon, but they fail to achieve their goals Sparta and Athens remain independent; 480–479 BC: Second Persian invasion of Greece: Greeks: Achaemenid empire: Greek victory
Although the Persian forces put up sturdy resistance, the heavily armored Greek hoplites eventually routed the Persian troops, who fled to their camp. The Ionian Greek contingents in the Persian army defected, and the camp was assailed, with a large number of Persians slaughtered. The Persian ships were then captured and burned.
The first Persian invasion of Greece took place from 492 BC to 490 BC, as part of the Greco-Persian Wars. It ended with a decisive Athenian -led victory over the Achaemenid Empire during the Battle of Marathon .
Finally, in mid-August, the Persian army was sighted across the Malian Gulf approaching Thermopylae. [57] With the Persian army's arrival at Thermopylae the Greeks held a council of war. [58] Some Peloponnesians suggested withdrawal to the Isthmus of Corinth and blocking the passage to Peloponnesus. [58]
The Greek army inflicted a crushing defeat on the more numerous Persians, marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars. The first Persian invasion was a response to Athenian involvement in the Ionian Revolt , when Athens and Eretria sent a force to support the cities of Ionia in their attempt to overthrow Persian rule.
The remaining Persian ships limped back to the harbour of Phalerum and the shelter of the Persian army. [125] The Athenian general Aristides then took a detachment of men across to Psyttaleia to slaughter the garrison that Xerxes had left there. [126] The exact Persian casualties are not mentioned by Herodotus.