The Greco-Persian Wars
A collection of small city-states defeats the largest empire on Earth, twice.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 20 years
- Known to
- ± 2 years
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
Persia invades Greece in 490 BCE and is beaten at Marathon; Xerxes returns in 480 with a far larger force, is held at Thermopylae, destroys Athens, and loses his fleet at Salamis and his army at Plataea. The outcome was not predictable and the Greek alliance was fragile. Its consequences run deep: Athens emerges dominant and confident, and Greek writers begin framing a lasting opposition between Greek freedom and Eastern despotism that Europe would inherit and reuse for millennia.