An army of 60,000 men had been left there by Xerxes, and the fleet joined with them, building a pallisade around the camp to protect the ships. Οι δυνάμεις των Ελλήνων και των Περσών (The forces of the Greeks and the Persians), E Istorika no.164 19 October 2002. Since the Allied fleet was badly damaged, and since it no longer needed to defend the flank of Thermopylae, they retreated from Artemisium to the island of Salamis. [28], An early and very influential modern historian, George Grote, set the tone by expressing incredulity at the numbers given by Herodotus: "To admit this overwhelming total, or anything near to it, is obviously impossible. Inevitability, the Greeks were forced to retreat along with their fleet with was stationed just of Euboea (the island of Evia) but Leonides, along with about 300 troops remained and fought for two days until before they were killed. Vol 3 Ep 11 - Second Persian Invasion of Greece, Part One. [150] This went awry, leaving the Athenians, and Spartans and Tegeans isolated on separate hills, with the other contingents scattered further away, near Plataea itself. However, if the isthmus's defensive line could be outflanked, the Allies could be defeated. In Athens, however, the ambassadors were put on trial and then executed; in Sparta, they were simply thrown down a well. After Thermopylae, all of Boeotia and Attica fell to the Persian army, who captured and burnt Athens. The invasion began in spring 480 BC, when the Persian army crossed the Hellespont and marched through Thrace and Macedon to Thessaly. A Thessalian delegation suggested that the allies could muster in the narrow Vale of Tempe, on the borders of Thessaly, and thereby block Xerxes's advance. There, food had been sent from Asia for several years in preparation for the campaign. Second Persian invasion of Greece. [120] That evening, another storm occurred, wrecking the majority of the Persian detachment which had been sent around Euboea. ** The image above shows "Leonidas at Thermopylae" by Jacques-Louis David No votes yet. [16] Having had a demonstration of his power the previous year, the majority of Greek cities duly obliged. Second Persian invasion of Greece is similar to these military conflicts: Greco-Persian Wars, Battle of Artemisium, Battle of Plataea and more. [11][12] Moreover, Darius was a usurper, and had spent considerable time extinguishing revolts against his rule. [186] At Artemisium the fleet also scored some successes, but withdrew due to the losses they had sustained, and since the defeat of Thermopylae made the position irrelevant. Though all of the men were fine soldiers, they were hugely outnumbered by the Persians. [25] Then the army which Xerxes had mustered marched towards Europe, crossing the Hellespont on two pontoon bridges. [173][174] The one exception to this may have been the ethnic Persian troops, who may have worn a corslet of scaled armour. [149] The Allied army however, under the command of the Spartan regent Pausanias, stayed on high ground above Plataea to protect themselves against such tactics. Sparta and Athens had a leading role in the congress but interests of all the states played a part in determining defensive strategy. [90], These numbers are (by ancient standards) consistent, and this could be interpreted that a number around 1,200 is correct. 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. He further suggested that Herodotus may have confused the Persian terms for chiliarchy (1,000) and myriarchy (10,000), leading to an exaggeration by a factor of ten. In 479 B.C. The Persian strategy for 480 BC was probably to simply progress through Greece in overwhelming force. [142] Then, attempting to use an unusually low tide to attack the town from sea, the Persian army was caught by the returning tide, many drowning and the survivors being attacked by the Potideans in boats. The Allied fleet had also withstood two days of Persian attacks at the Battle of Artemisium, but when news reached them of the disaster at Thermopylae, they withdrew to Salamis. [145] Mardonius now repeated his offer of peace to the Athenian refugees on Salamis. The Persians did not attempt to attack the isthmus by land, realising they probably could not breach it. Only 70 of the approximately 700 Greek cities sent representatives. [109] Shortly afterwards, they received the news that Xerxes had crossed the Hellespont. [163], In many ways Mycale represents the start of a new phase of the conflict, the Greek counterattack. The Second Persian War During the ten years following the First Iranian Invasion of Greece, Darius the Great' son Xerxes became the new Persian King of Kings and began preparations for another invasion of Greece. Animals had been bought and fattened, while the local populations had, for several months, been ordered to grind the grains into flour. [23] The Persian army was gathered in Asia Minor in the summer and autumn of 481 BC. In 481 BC Xerxes sent ambassadors around Greece asking for earth and water, but making the very deliberate omission of Athens and Sparta. The poet Simonides, who was a near-contemporary, talks of four million; Ctesias gave 800,000 as the total number of the army that assembled in Doriskos. [184] Mardonius may have been overeager for victory; there was no need to attack the Allies, and by doing so he played to the main Allied tactical strength, combat in the melee. [36] Herodotus gives a detailed breakdown of the Persian triremes: Herodotus also records that this was the number at the Battle of Salamis, despite the losses earlier in storms off Sepia and Euboea, and at the battle of Artemisium. [184] The Allied success is often seen as the result of "free men fighting for their freedom". By sending out a fake message, the Persian fleet was enticed into the small strait of Salamis. [113] Nevertheless, the Spartans considered the threat so grave that they despatched their king Leonidas I with his personal bodyguard (the Hippeis) of 300 men (in this case, the elite young soldiers in the Hippeis were replaced by veterans who already had children). [136] Seizing the opportunity, the Greek fleet attacked, and scored a decisive victory, sinking or capturing at least 200 Persian ships, and thus ensuring the Peloponnessus would not be outflanked. When time arose for the Eygptians to revolt against the Perisans, Athens decided to help and sent over a fleet of about 200 ships. Herodotus does not formulate an abstract name for the union but simply calls them "οἱ Ἕλληνες" (the Greeks) and "the Greeks who had sworn alliance" (Godley translation) or "the Greeks who had banded themselves together" (Rawlinson translation). [17] Finally, it moved to attack Athens, landing at the bay of Marathon, where it was met by a heavily outnumbered Athenian army. [145] The Athenians made sure that a Spartan delegation was on hand to hear the offer, but rejected it. At the famous Battle of Thermopylae, the Allied army held back the Persian army for seven days, before they were outflanked by a mountain path and the Allied rearguard was trapped in the pass and annihilated. [165] The Persians in the region, and their allies made for Sestos, the strongest town in the region, which the Athenians then laid siege to; after a protracted siege, it fell to the Athenians. [138] According to Herodotus, Mardonius volunteered to remain in Greece and complete the conquest with a hand-picked group of troops, whilst advising Xerxes to retreat to Asia with the bulk of the army. Xerxes then sent his elite guards, the Immortals on a night march to outflank the Allied. [131] There, the large Persian numbers were an active hindrance, as ships struggled to manoeuvre and became disorganised. [172] The hoplite's heavy armour and long spears made them excellent troops in hand-to-hand combat[168] and gave them significant protection against ranged attacks by light troops and skirmishers. 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