Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction:
- Athens was a Greek city-state of 250,000 people controlling a 117-square-mile
plain.
- The Persian Empire, on the other hand, stretched from the Indus River (in what
is now Pakistan) to the shores of the Mediterranean and Black seas.
- Themistocles → son of Neocles, said that it would be foolish for Athenian
soldiers to try to save their city from the Persians. If need be, let the Persians
enter the city and burn it. Send the women, old men, and children to safety on a
nearby island. Meanwhile, let all men of fighting age row out to meet the
Persian fleet with the 200 new Athenian warships.
- → The Athenians won a complete victory at sea and forced the Persians to
withdraw.
- In Greece → civic decisions were made through open debate.
Geographic Setting:
- The mailand of the ancient Greeks was a rugged peninsula that jutted out into
the part of the Mediterranean Sea known as the Aegean Sea.
- The rest of Greek territory consisted of lands on the coast of Asia Minor and
hundreds of islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas.