The Greco-Persian Wars from a Persian Perspective: The Real 300

Through the ashes of various brutal conflicts in ancient Persia and Mesopotamia, a spectacular commander, Cyrus the Great, created the largest empire the world had ever known in 550 BC. The Achaemenid Empire, also known as the First Persian Empire, expanded its territory from Persia to Mesopotamia, the Levant, Egypt, the Caucasus, and Asia Minor. 

The empire grew to take much of the known world and came into conflict with the most powerful adversary, the Greek city-states. In multiple wars that would determine the fate of the ancient world, we look at the Persian perspective of the Greco-Persian Wars.

Prelude

The Achaemenid Empire was vast; Persians were not the only ethnic group within the empire. Ethnic groups included Afghans, Turkic ethnic groups, Indians, Assyrians, Armenians, Jews, Egyptians, Lydians, Phoenicians, and Greeks within Asia Minor. 

Ambitious conquests of Asia Minor came with high casualties; the Persians wanted to keep the peace in a region rife with warfare since the Late Bronze Age Collapse. After the collapse, Mycenaeans, who would be later known as modern-day Greeks, settled on the Ionian coastlines of Asia Minor. 

The Ionians would conflict with the Lydians for several hundred years before the Achaemenid conquests. When the Persians expanded, they had promised protection to vassals in return for tribune, also known as the Ionian Greeks, who were OK with Persian rule until they received heavier taxes under Darius. The Ionians had called for aid from the Greek city-states, which Athens and Eretria answered. 

Together during the Ionian Revolt, their forces sacked Sardis, the ancient capital of the Lydians, but also a critical Persian satrapy (province). Cyprus also suffered in the conflict, as the Ionians inspired the Greeks of the isle. As the Mediterranean Sea was a prosperous trade route that the Greeks dominated, the Persians now had a pretext for war, not just for expansion but also for seeing the Greek city-states as a threat to the western frontiers of the Achaemenid Empire.

 Greco-Persian Wars

The Achaemenids’ strategy was to punish Athens and Eretria for their roles in the uprising in Asia Minor. The ruling Persians also wanted to influence the remaining Greek city-states to their side and annex Greece with minimal casualties if possible. 

The first invasion was led by Darius I, also known as Darius the Great. In this war, the Persians used the help of the Phoenicians of the Levant, who were masters of the sea. With their shipbuilding and navigation, the Persians established naval supremacy in the Aegean Sea. Macedon, Thrace, and the Aegean Isles would come under Persian rule from the first war, but the Siege of Athens, also known as the Battle of Marathon, failed with high casualties.

Rise of Xerxes and War

Before the Second Greco-Persian War, the new king of Persia, Xerxes I, sent terms to the Greek city-states. The terms stated how the Persians had overwhelming forces from various regions that many Greeks had not explored yet in the Achaemenid Empire. Xerxes’ emissaries also enticed city-states of ‘earth and water.’ 

The terms worked as many states would submit or remain neutral on the broader conflict, while states such as Athens, Eretria, and Sparta declared war by executing the emissaries. In the second war, the Persians had rolled through much of Greece with little resistance until the Spartans made a stand at Thermopylae. In this battle, the Persians suffered heavy casualties but won, killing the Spartan King Leonidas and seeing many more cities submit to Persian rule.

Without the defense of Thermopylae, the Persians sacked Athens, which they saw as revenge for the sack of Sardis in the Ionian Revolt. The next major battle would be in the sea at Salamis, in which the Greek city-states, historically at odds, came together using their geographic advantage to hinder the less naval-experienced Persians.

Aftermath

 The Achaemenids were defeated, and it was a turning point of Persian influence in Greece, which now peaked as far as it could go. The second war ended with a Greek victory, but the Persians would still hold vast amounts of the Greek population. Persia’s might was later proven when Athens was sacked for a second time, but the Greeks would recover with a massive counterattack to reverse all Persian gains in the Aegean. 

The final Greco-Persian War would see the Delian League emerge. The Delian League incorporated many city-states into a unified coalition led by Athens to defeat the Achaemenids, taking Thrace, the entirety of the Aegean, and the western coastal cities of Asia Minor, including the Ionian cities. 

Persia now focused on administration and other internal conflicts in the empire. They would take no revenge for their losses on the Greeks of Asia Minor as their empire was already vast, with many rich regions in North Africa, Mesopotamia, and Southwest Asia. Instead, the Achaemenids focused on their defenses in the western frontier in the event of a massive Greek invasion.

Greece’s retribution would occur in 334 BC by the world-renowned Alexander the Great, who ultimately conquered the entirety of the Achaemenid Empire, ending the First Persian Empire.