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Notes on video lecture:
The First Persian War and the Battle of Marathon
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on May 1, 2015 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
Peisistratos, destroy, Hippias, Bahiston, Cleomenes, crushed, troops, Hoplite, dreams, Cleisthenes, outdo, conquests, vassal, 6000, odds, Athens, Ionian, Herodotus, bureaucracy, over, taxes, panic, Miletus, financial, mother, long, angry, Persia, Attica, corslet, Pheidippides, Thebes, Achaemenid, ambassadors, psychoanalytic, Magi, treasure, India, Zoroastrianism, Lydia, Chalcis
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Cyrus II of              [SIGH-rus] (576–530 BC)
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conquered Croesus [KREE-sus] and took over           
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530 BC killed in battle
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         {MAY-jigh] took over for a short time
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6th century BC followers of                             
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Darius I [dah-RIGH-us] 550-486 BC
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ruled for          time: 522-486 BC
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modern day Iran
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                 inscription [bah-HIS-ston]
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"the place of god"
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shows the King Darius
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text details his                   
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presided over a massive empire
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From the Thracian coast to western part of           
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well-developed                       
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enormous among of                 
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became king
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                   wrote extensively of him
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was going to come into conflict with the Greeks
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a very great size difference
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Greece
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508 BC: just established a democracy under                       
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King                    [clee-OH-men-eez] of Sparta had been forced to withdraw
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506 BC: wanted to reassert his influence in             
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others had designs of moving into Athens as well
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Boeotia [bee-OH-shah] centered around             
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Euboea [yoo-BEE-ah] (island) centered around               
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they had heard of political turmoil going on there
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internal dissension made Spartans turn back
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Athenians created                armies which drove back the Boeotians and others
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young democracy proved itself
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Athens made deal to get                    help from Persian Satrap [SAY-trap]
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gave Persians earth and water
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cultural misunderstanding
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Persia took this as a sign that the Greeks were giving themselves over as subjects
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             cities had been brought under Persian control
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had to start to pay           
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Persians had installed their own              governments there
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499 BC Ionian revolts
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Aristagorus
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tyrant of the city of               
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a key player during the early years of the Ionian revolt against the Persian                      Empire [ah-KEE-men-eed]
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goes to Sparta and asks to help
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they say to no
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goes to Athens
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they agree to help
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because                was in Persia and Athens feared him returning
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fleet of 20 ships
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with other ships from Eretria [air-RHET-ree-ah]
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burn Croesus' ancient capital of Sardis
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Persians had felt that their alliance with Athens had been betrayed
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King Darius was furious
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Persia got prepared for war
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494 BC the Ionian revolt was               
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city of Miletus was sacked and burned
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as revenge for the destruction of Sardis
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but Darius also wanted to punish the Athenians directly
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Athenians and Spartans kill the Persian                        who come to ask for earth and water as a way to show loyalty
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against protocol
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ambassadors usually are protected in order to enable negotiations
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491 BC Persians invade
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490 BC make it to the mainland
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first target is Eretria [ah-REE-tree-ah]
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they                it
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just off the coast of             
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reaction in Athens was of stunned           
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Hippias was among the Persian forces
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Herodotus tells story about Hippias
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has a dream that he made love to his             
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believes this means he will rule in Athens
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the Oedipal dream can be understood as significant because Marathon had been chosen by Hippias' father,                         , for a landing which opened the way for a victorious march on Athens and the establishment of tyranny
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Herodotos intended to give a                              explanation of why Hippias, who obviously knew the terrain to perfection, made a bad choice in advising the Persians
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Hippias wanted to do as well as his father, but his wish took the character of an Oedipal wish to            the father and possess the mother, with subsequent guilt and self-defeat
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Herodotus puts worth on              in his Histories in this way
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490 BC: Battle of Marathon
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Athenians mount a Hoplite defense
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go out from the city to meet Persian
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Miltiedes (550 – 489 BCE) [mil-TIGH-i-deez]
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member of a great, old family
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put his best              not on the front line
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but on side where they can attack the Persian flanks
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casualties
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Greeks: 192
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Persians: over          Persians
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this was a win against all          for the Greeks
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                         sent as messenger back to Athens
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reasons Greeks won
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1. Hoplite armor was better
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Persian armor tended to be a linen               
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a shield made out of wicker
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shown in art on pottery
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depictions of Greeks vs. Persians
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showing hoplite tactics
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2. Greeks fought in tighter positions
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3. Greeks were also fighting for the liberty of their homeland
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a fight for freedom against despotism
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Marathon was an ideological battle
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John Stuart Mill
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"As an event in English history, the Battle of Marathon is more important than the Battle of Hastings."
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has an unusual status in world battles
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but at Marathon, the Persians had been beat and were           
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the Persian wars were by no means         

Vocabulary:

corslet, n. a piece of defensive armor covering the body ⇒ "In Ancient Greek armies, the hoplite wore a bronze corslet or known as the thorax to protect his upper body."

People:

######################### (550-489 BC)
[]
Known for his role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as for his tragic downfall afterwards
  • was elected to serve as one of the ten generals for the Battle of Marathon
  • credited with devising the tactics that defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon
  • Miltiades was firm in insisting that the Persians be fought immediately, as a siege of Athens would have led to its destruction
  • Miltiades had his men march to the end of the Persian archer range, called the "beaten zone", then break out in a run straight at the Persian army, which was decisive in defeating the Persians
  • in 489 BCE, Miltiades led an Athenian expedition of seventy ships against the Greek-inhabited islands that were deemed to have supported the Persians
  • attack Paros but failed to take it
  • suffered a grievous leg wound during the campaign and became incapacitated
  • his failure prompted an outcry on his return to Athens, enabling his political rivals to exploit his fall from grace
  • charged with treason, he was sentenced to death, but sent to prison
  • he was sent to prison where he died, probably of gangrene from his wound

Spelling Corrections:

decension ⇒ dissension
Hesiod's Creation Myth: Theogony
The Spartan Way of Life
600 BC Tyrants and Sages: Cypselus and Periander
800-700 BC: Athens Before Solon
Solon Against Political, Economic, and Moral Decline
Peisistratos: Tyranny and Civic Identity
The End of Athenian Tyranny and the Democratic Revolution
508 BC: The Democratic Reforms of Cleisthenes
Herodotus and The Histories
The First Persian War and the Battle of Marathon
Themistocles, Silver, and Greek Naval Policy
Xerxes and the Second Invasion of Greece
The Delian League
From Delian League to Athenian Empire
Pericles: Aristocrat, Orator and Democratic Citizen
Sophocles' Antigone: Tragedy and Athenian Civic Life