A Brief History of Humanity: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

Chapter 7 The Persian Wars and Athenian Victory

[-]. The Persian Empire

More Contrasts In Chapter 5, we present some contrasts that may help us understand another contrast, the difference between the city-state politics of Greece and the imperial system of Persia.At that time, Persia was the largest military empire in West Asia, with an unprecedented scale.Shortly after 500 BC, Athens joined forces with other Greek city-states many times, and they must fight Persia to the end, or they will not survive.What is the significance of these wars, or can only be deeply understood after understanding the differences between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire, especially after understanding their differences in systems and geographical environments.

The Greek city-states borrowed from the older Cretan civilization, and also absorbed the best parts of the Egyptian and West Asian civilizations, resulting in the fusion of civilizations.This integrated civilization is full of vitality, hope and vitality, and is growing rapidly with a new and robust image.This civilization perfected literature and art, developing them into extremely perfect forms, studied new philosophies, and discovered entirely new fields of science.In addition, Athens built a new type of government and developed into a civilized city-state with democratic politics.And, most importantly, the perfect city-state ideal of the Greeks was the exact opposite of the Persian Empire, where the Persians favored rule by force, while the Greeks loved free democracy.

The Persians, like the Greeks, are the heirs of many ancient civilizations.They made outstanding achievements in architecture and art, and left many exquisite works of art for future generations.In terms of politics and military affairs, they are also really good at management, and they have retained some effective management systems.However, despite this, the Persians were not as good as the Greeks by our present standards, they were not as intelligent as the Greeks.Persian civilization also originated from the integration of ancient civilizations, but they are different from the integration of Greek civilization, and relatively speaking, the level of Persian civilization is low.For example, in the inheritance of art, they would rather absorb Assyrian art than follow Egyptian art; in writing, they prefer to use cuneiform rather than the alphabet commonly used by Westerners; in terms of literature, their creative talents and The level of skill is also relatively low; in terms of state system, the ideal of the Persians is to establish a military dictatorship empire, which they prefer to such a country, rather than a democracy based on freedom.

Military Imperialism in Persia The Persian Empire, like many other military states in history, was aristocratic, warlike, and contemptuous of industrial and commercial development.They obtained wealth and luxuries through conquest and looting, not by developing commerce.The conquest of neighboring countries could satisfy the Persians' thirst for adventure, not only brought them great honor, but also had a large number of subjects, and snatched various spoils and tribute from them.

Why did Cyrus the Great lead the Persians to conflict with the Greeks? You only need to look at the expansion ambitions and pace of the Persian Empire.As described in Chapter 3, Cyrus the Great founded the Persian Empire in 549 BC. He unified Lydia with the Persian region, and his purpose was to further conquer and occupy Armenia and Eastern Anatolia. half, these areas were once part of the territory of the Lydian Empire.Cyrus the Great made great efforts to realize his ambitious goals.He carefully planned a very long-term conquest strategy. From 546 BC to 540 BC, Persia conquered Lydia and Ionia.Lydia is located in the west of Asia Minor. King Croesus was rich and proud. Cyrus humiliated him and took Lydia's capital Sardis as his own as the Persian governor's territory in the west of Asia Minor.Immediately afterwards, he successively conquered many cities in the Ionian region.Of course, these cities have also carried out tenacious resistance, but they still cannot escape the tragic fate of being invaded by the Persians.After that, some cities also regretted it: if they could have followed Thales' suggestion and joined together to resist Cyrus, they might have been able to repel the army of Cyrus the Great and guard their cities safely.But now, they can only be forced to pay tribute, and they have to provide strong men for the Persian army, and they must complete the quota allocated to them; at the same time, they have to accept the brutal rule of the Persian Empire.However, Cyrus allowed them to retain autonomy to a certain extent.

If the conquest of the Lydian Empire was the first step of the Persian Empire's external expansion, and the annexation of Ionian cities was its second step, then the third step was to attack Babylon and capture the Babylonian king.From 540 BC to 539 BC, Cyrus the Great succeeded in his third step.He gained not only Mesopotamia and Babylon, but also Syria and Palestine, and captured Phoenician cities and ships of the sea.

If Cambyses continues to develop like this, the next step is of course to invade Egypt.More than a century ago (651 BC), the Egyptians had overthrown the rule of the Assyrians. The Nile River Basin was extremely prosperous and had been in a strong period. Egypt reproduced the power of ancient Egypt.The Greeks had a huge influence on promoting the revival of Egypt.They brought prosperous commerce to Egypt through trade in grain, oil, and wine.The Greeks also hired Egyptians to serve as soldiers in the coalition of Greece and to bring military strength and military technology to the Pharaoh's army.Egypt originally signed an alliance agreement with Croesus, but when the Persian Empire invaded, Egypt did not follow the agreement to support the allies and jointly resist the Persians.Because of this incident, Egypt was not only accused by the alliance, but also offended Cyrus, and was punished as it should be shortly afterwards.However, Cyrus was killed in battle before sending troops to punish Egypt.Cyrus' son Cambyses continued his father's behest and continued to implement the conquest plan left by Cyrus.Cambyses raised a huge army, put water and food on camels, and the whole army crossed the desert and invaded directly into Egypt.Cambyses occupied the famous city of Thebes. He sat on the throne of the king and proclaimed himself Pharaoh of Egypt.Cambyses stayed on the banks of the Nile for three years, re-established many provinces, and worked hard to expand the scope of the provinces, and finally annexed Libya and northern Ethiopia.

When Darius Cambyses returned from Egypt, he died immediately, and legend has it that he committed suicide.After Cambyses died, a prince named Darius took the throne.He is shrewd and capable, and ambitious.At that time, there were many rebellions in the surrounding areas of the Persian Empire, and Darius suppressed them again and again.He even led his troops to Egypt, put the suspicious governor to death, and sat on the throne to proclaim himself Pharaoh.In the following year, Darius led an army across the Bosphorus Strait to Europe, conspiring to conquer the Scythian tribe and punish this fierce tribe living on the northern shore of the Black Sea.The Scythians hurried to evade Darius' army, but the conflict signaled the beginning of a Persian Empire attack on Europe.The Persian Empire had long conquered the Greeks living in Asia Minor, and Greece was included in the territory of Persia.Those Greeks living in Attica and neighboring city-states clearly felt the impending threat from Persia.

The Persian Empire under Darius was the unprecedented super empire in the world. It occupied the Greek city-states and held them tightly together with military power.In Asia, Persia extended eastward to the Indus River; northward to the Dead Sea, Caspian Sea, and Black Sea; westward through Syria, extending its sphere of influence to the Mediterranean, and through Asia Minor to the Aegean Sea; in Africa, the Persian Empire occupied the entire Egypt, part of Libya and Ethiopia; in Europe it conquered Thrace.

Darius divided his huge land into several provinces, and each province had a governor, who was responsible for the management of provincial affairs, and the governor directly obeyed Darius' orders.In addition, he established a system of post stations, extending from the official road of the capital Susa, and at intervals, there is a post station, and the horses to be used are ready.When the king's envoys rushed to the capital along the road from various places, there were strong horses waiting no matter day or night, and the envoys could change horses at any time and gallop away.In this way, the speed and efficiency of the envoy's horse-changing are improved, and major events will not be delayed due to traffic problems.This reminds us that there are many Pony Expresses in modern America, and their routes cross the plains and the Rocky Mountains.The average traveler needs about three months to cover the 1500 miles from Susa to Sardis.But the post station set up by the king of Persia, the envoy can arrive in only [-] days, or even shorter time.In addition, the king sent out to inspect the governor, the soldiers who brought back the governor's report, the treasury officials who delivered the tribute, and the king sent troops to the capital during the war. Anyone who passed the official road to the capital also needed to use these stations.

In some respects, the Persian emperors were benevolent and lenient, because they neither forced all their subjects to use the Persian language nor forced them to convert to the Persian religion.For example, the Persian king once allowed the captured Jews to return to Palestine, and gave them a lot of money to help the Jews rebuild the temple.The Persians did not require the people in the conquered areas to spread the Persian language or religion, but collected coins, taxes, grains, and other products from the subjects as tributes to Persia.In addition, the Persians also required the people in the occupied areas to perform military service.

[-]. Greece against Persia

Beginning from the reign of Darius, conflicts and conflicts between the Greek and Persian empires continued.After 500 BC, the conflict between the two sides began to escalate.At that time, Sparta had become the leader of the Peloponnesian League, and Athens was undergoing the democratic reform of Christine. The Ionians in Asia Minor were about to move, and their city-states began to rebel against Persian rule. The tough struggle kicked off.

Ionia's Resistance Struggle After Cyrus conquered the Greek city-states, for more than 40 years, the Ionian city-states in Asia Minor, like other conquered Greek city-states, behaved exceptionally obediently.They not only paid taxes and tribute, but also provided Persia with military resources.In 499 BC, however, the Ionians suddenly united and organized a massive revolt against the Ionians.The rebels captured the city of Sardis, and accidentally burned the city because they did not control the fire in time.The Persians were extremely angry and sent troops to punish and question the crime.So the armies of both sides stood ready, land troops and sea warships joined in the battle one after another.By 494 BC, this cruel and fierce war reached its climax, the Greeks retreated steadily, and the famous city-state of Miletus in Asia Minor was besieged and captured by the enemy, and most of the residents in the city were brutally massacred by the Persians.

At the beginning of the perilous Athens War, both Athens and Eritrea sent warships to support the Ionian uprising and join them against the Persians.There was a man named Hippias in the city of Athens. He used to be the lord of Athens, but was deposed by his opponents.This time he saw the right time and secretly asked the Persians to help him restore, and he was also willing to assist Persia in occupying Athens.The Persians agreed to his request, and Darius sent many ships to carry the Persian army to Greece to participate in the campaign, and Hippias accompanied the Persian army.

The Persian army came quietly, and some soldiers successfully landed on Euboea Island, and then quickly attacked the city-state of Eritrea.Seeing that the situation was not good, the Athenians immediately prepared to summon the army to assist Eritrea.They sent a "scud" who was good at long-distance running in advance, named Philip Peters, and asked him to go to Sparta for help.Flying at full speed, the journey was rough. He ran a total of 150 miles of fields, and finally arrived in Sparta within 48 hours.Unexpectedly, however, the Spartans were indifferent, saying that it was impossible to send troops before the full moon.

Athens sent 20 hoplites to rush to Eritrea. Just as they were about to drive straight in, there was a sudden shocking news that a Persian army was about to land in Marathon, which was only [-] miles away from Athens.

Methiad and Marathon Athens, a weak army of only 1 people, had to adjust their strategy, quickly change their route, and march directly to Marathon.As they crossed the hill and went straight down the hill, they just saw the Persian army land on the plain.The Persian Legion was mighty, far outnumbering the Athenian army. The number of soldiers on both sides was about 10:1.The Persian army has always been considered to be a strong general, and the Persians also claim to be the bravest warriors in the world.Because of this, the pace of the Athenian army hesitated, and they hesitated, just as the weak David once stood before the giant Goliath.

Immediately afterwards, bad news came. Eritrea was captured by the Persians, the city was burned by fire, and most of the residents were massacred and expelled.In other words, now there is another Persian army that can spare time and continue to capture Athens.One more minute of delay would be dangerous for one more minute, so Yimi, a general in Athens, decided to attack immediately, and he tried his best to persuade the soldiers to actively participate in the battle.When the order was conveyed, all the heavy infantry were in formation, close to each other, overlapping the thick shields as much as possible, and all their spears stretched forward and upward.In this way, the Athenian army formed a tight and solid shield, and they ran down the hill in an orderly manner, and stepped together to the plain to attack the enemy fiercely with their spears.The Persians quickly set up an arrow array, and the long arrows flew over like raindrops and hail, but the Athenians were fearless and continued to move forward until they came to the Persians, and the two sides started a hand-to-hand duel.The Persian soldiers, without armor, were routed and scattered, and fled back to their ships in dismay.

The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, and it was a decisive battle in history.It was September, and the battlefield was hot and dusty.The Greek soldiers who won the victory in Marathon hurried back to Athens for rescue regardless of their physical fatigue and exhaustion. They were all excellent fighters who had experienced many battles, and finally successfully intercepted the enemy before another Persian army landed.Before the Persians landed, they saw a neat formation of Greek spears in the sea, and they were frightened immediately. They quickly turned the bow and sailed back to their base camp in Asia.

Athens was finally saved, but this was not the final victory for the Greeks.Shortly after the war, Darius died, and the Persian army's revenge plan to invade Greece was temporarily stranded.But then Darius' son Xerxes came to the throne, and he began to prepare an army again, intending to attack Greece.

Themitocles Xerxes controlled the vast Persian Empire, built hundreds of ships, recruited thousands of soldiers, and planned to conquer Greece again.The Greek city-states also took corresponding precautions. Some city-states summoned soldiers to stand ready, and some city-state politicians suggested surrendering to Persia. They believed that doing so would be safer and would save the city from burning.There were also conspirators plotting to usurp the throne, wanting to please the Persians and take the opportunity to crush their political opponents.For example, in the city of Athens, a certain political party wanted to cater to the Persians, hoping that the Persians would allow Hippias to successfully restore.

Fortunately, a wise and capable patriotic leader, Temitocles, appeared in Athens.A long time ago, he suggested that Athens establish a navy to maintain commercial development.He now believes that in this crisis facing the Persians, the development of the navy is still the best and most effective defense.After a lot of effort, he finally persuaded the Athens Citizens Assembly, and Athens decided to use 100 talents of silver to build 200 three-story oar warships.The silver was mined from the rich silver mines of Attica.

The main body of these warships is made of wood, about 130 feet in length, and the oarsmen sit in three rows, requiring a total of 170 oarsmen.The front part of the warship has a beak-like protrusion, and the tip part is covered with metal, which can hit the enemy ship.In the unlikely event that the tip-off was unsuccessful, the ship's soldiers stabbed the enemy crew with spears and swords.

At that time, Athens and Sparta jointly organized an anti-Persian "Greek League". At the same time, Corinth convened a joint representative meeting of the Greek city-states to discuss specific matters against Persia.Sparta was elected as the commander-in-chief of the Greek army.At the Council of Representatives, most of the Greek city-states agreed to participate in this alliance, but there were also individual city-states who wanted to stay aloof.For Greece the disintegration of the city-states was usually the gravest and most deadly danger.

The division and betrayal of the Greek city-states in the Battle of Thermopylae became the most tragic episode in the war.In 480 BC, Xerxes led his Persian army to attack from the east and north. King Leonidas of Sparta personally led 300 warriors to firmly guard the natural danger of Thermopylae.If the Persian army attacked head-on, it would be impossible to defeat these brave Spartan warriors.However, an accident happened, and a Greek traitor quietly pointed out a path to the Persians, which could go around the back of the Spartan army from the ridge, and attack Leonidas while it was not prepared.The natural hot spring pass was easily breached in this way. Leonidas fought on two fronts and mobilized most of his troops to fight against the attack from behind. There were only 1100 Spartan soldiers and [-] Greek mercenaries left in the front, swearing to guard it to the death. Thermopylae, resisting the fierce attack of the Persian army.In the end, all the Spartans fell and died at Thermopylae. "Fate did not bring them victory, but gave them immortal fame."

Xerxes' army won a complete victory in the disaster of Athens, and then some Greek city-states in Thebes and Boeotia all surrendered and became vassals of Persia.Where should Athens go?People sought guidance from the oracle, and the oracle of Apollo at Delphi said: "Rely on your wooden walls." Themitocles explained the oracle, and he believed that the "wooden walls" referred to the wooden walls on the warships.He tried to persuade everyone to abandon Athens and Attica and join naval ships.In this way, the women and children in the city were sent to the nearby islands to hide, and almost all the soldiers boarded the ship to fight.The Persians broke through Attica with ease, and then invaded the city of Athens. The few Greeks who stayed in the city to defend the temple were all killed, and the temple did not escape bad luck, and they were all burned down.

Salami defeated the Persian navy and chased the Greek fleet on the sea. The Persian generals believed that the opponent was vulnerable and had been trapped in the narrow strait between Salami Island and the mainland.Themitocles dispatched the Greek fleet by surprise and dealt a heavy blow to the Persian navy.The Greek fleet hid in the narrow straits not to escape, but to find an opportunity to fight.The narrow space is very beneficial to small fleets, and a naval battle made the Greek fleet proud.Xerxes stood on the hill and watched the battle, watching his ships being hit by the enemy one after another, most of them sank to the bottom of the sea, and the remaining small part was also looted by the Greeks.The Battle of Salamis took place on September 480, 9 BC. Its victory proved that Themitocles' decision was absolutely correct. At the same time, this battle also revealed the final outcome of the war between the two sides.

After Plataea won and Xerxes was defeated, he had to return to Asia with most of his army in despair. He left one-third of the army in Greece and ordered General Mardonius to continue fighting.Mardonius used gentle diplomatic means. He proposed to the Greeks to return all the land of Athens, help them rebuild the temple, and also exempted the Athenians from punishment, and accepted Athens as a free ally of Persia on generous terms.One politician in Athens was so in favor of the proposal that he advised Athenians to consider it.Angry Athenians lynched the politician, and Athenian women stoned his entire family to death.The Athenians absolutely refused to surrender, so Mardonius became furious and ordered the city of Athens to be burned.But the following year, 479 BC, Greek and Persian armies fought fiercely at Plataea, and in this decisive battle Mardonius was killed by Spartan warriors and other Greek soldiers. defeated.

[-]. Syracuse and Carthage
In the defense of the Greek peninsula, Athens and Sparta successfully defeated Persia.Simultaneously, Syracuse and Accragas achieved similar victories in the defense of western Greece against Carthage.

The Battle of Sicily The ancient city of Syra was originally the largest colony of Corinth on the island of Sicily.Although Syracuse is large and very rich, the local people have not always lived a happy and peaceful life.There was a period in the history of Syracuse when there was a civil war between the masses and the bourgeoisie.Gron, the lord of the city of Gela near Greece, took this opportunity to intervene with his troops and declared himself the lord of Syracuse.And because he was determined to build Syracuse into the largest city in the Greek city-states, Gelong led Gela and many nobles from other cities to move the palace to Syracuse.At the same time, he promoted construction, actively fortified, rewarded commerce, expanded the navy, and successfully formed an alliance with Accragas, the main Greek city on the south coast of Sicily, through intermarriage, consolidating his strength.After all these efforts, he successfully achieved success.

Lycion, a Greek city adjacent to Syracuse across the Italian Channel.The leaders of Lycion, envious of Gron's success so smoothly, attempted to form a stronger alliance against Syracuse and Acragas.In Greece, however, they could not find supporters of sufficient strength, and recklessly resorted to dangerous measures, calling upon foreign powers to aid them against their fellow Greeks.

The Peril of Carthage This foreign power was Carthage, the great Phoenician city on the coast of Africa, which was the center of a commercial empire.With an enemy like it, it is unavoidable to worry.It has the most powerful fleet in the Mediterranean and a ferocious barbarian army.At the same time, the Carthaginians harbored ambitions to conquer other countries.

Victory for Greece When the test came, the armies of Syracuse and Accragas fought against Carthage and were victorious.A Carthaginian army landed at Ximera on the northern shore of Sicily. The two armies fought, and the Carthaginian army was defeated. Only one warship escaped and brought the news of this disaster back to Carthage.

The battle of Hymera (480 BC) and the battle of Salamis, which took place on the same day, helped the western Greeks to relieve the threat of Carthage for 70 years, just as the battle of Salamis separated Athens and its neighbors. Rescue from Persian duress.

[-]. The Athenian Empire

Result of Victory Ultimately, there are three points of particular note about all the results of the Persian Wars: (1) The Greeks had a profound gratitude to their gods and goddesses, especially to Zeus and Athena.This phenomenon is particularly prominent in art and literature.From the point of view of art alone, people not only rebuilt the Acropolis destroyed by the war with the materials obtained from the victory, cast a huge bronze statue of Athena with the captured Persian weapons, but also made a glorious picture to depict Battle of Marathon. (2) Victory means the freedom of the Greek people and the expansion of the scope of Greek business, and Greece has also been prosperous. (3) The prestige and influence of Athens are further enhanced.Moreover, we will soon see that these three results have played an indelible role in the development of history.

Sparta's defeat Athens performed outstandingly in the two battles of Marathon and Salamis, and also received extremely high honors.The Spartans were also hailed as the sword of Greece because they led the Plataeans to victory in the war.However, although the three battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea saved the Greek peninsula, they failed to liberate the Greek city-states in Asia Minor so that they could be effectively protected, and were always threatened by the Persians.Therefore, these city-states are particularly eager to get rescue, especially hope to get great assistance from Sparta.But no farsighted statesman and naval leader in Sparta offered to come to the aid of these cities, liberate them, and protect them.Instead, Sparta's indifference angered them and disappointed the citizens of these city-states.

Sparta's indifference just gave Athens a great opportunity.Just as Sparta gave up its leadership over the Aegean Sea, Athens took over and stood up against Persia as the protector of the Greeks in Asia.

In 477 BC, in order to raise the cost of resisting Persia and defending the Aegean Sea, Athens of the Delian League formed an alliance with the cities on the Athens island and the Ionian city on the coast of Asia adjacent to it.Because the storage of the treasury and the meeting of the alliance were held on the small island of Delos, it was named after the island of Delos, that is, the Delos League.The alliance stipulates that each city-state in the alliance is independent, does not interfere with each other and has its own government independently; the main role of the alliance is to maintain a fleet of two hundred trireme warships.Athens and a few larger city-states provided warships and crews, while other smaller city-states unable to provide warship equipment paid in currency.

Gradually, the city-states that initially provided warships and crews in the Athens Empire gradually switched to paying currency for more convenience, and left all the arduous and dangerous coastal defense tasks to Athens.So leadership and combat tasks gradually fell on the shoulders of Athens.Although in certain periods and under certain circumstances, some members of the Delian Allies also rebelled against Athens.In the end, however, they were subdued, and relegated from their old equality to tribute-paying subordination.The treasury was also moved from Delos to Athens.The Delian League gradually became a vassal of the Athens Empire, and the huge Aegean Sea became an inner lake of Athens.Therefore, Athens' command of the sea was further expanded, and its commerce was also expanded at the same time.

Fortification and beautification of Athens The Athenians built defensive walls around the city of Athens.Not only the city of Athens, but also the port of Athens, Piraeus, also built walls.Later, even the less than five miles of sea between Athens and Piraeus were connected by vast and walled ports.As long as the Athenian navy controlled the sea, with soldiers guarding the "long wall," food from the sea could be transported to Piraeus and from there to Athens.Great sums of silver were also spent on magnificent buildings, fine paintings and rare carvings to adorn the famous city of Athens.There is no doubt that a considerable part of the treasury once kept in Delos was used for these purposes.

The four characters, Temitocles, were not only the main leader in the construction of the city of Athens, but also made great contributions to the fact that Athens had a huge command of the sea. He was also the leader of the victory in the Salamis War.His genius-like eye was able to see trophies and their use or value beyond the reach of others.Next came the upright Aristides, who was in fact at first an opponent of Themitocles.But later in the joint work, Aristides gradually changed his views on Themitocles, especially in the handling of the details of the arrangement of the Delian Confederation, which made Aristides's attitude towards Themitocles even more serious. Si looked at him with admiration.Again there was Simon, the son of Miltiades, the hero of Marathon, and himself not only one of the ablest admirals of Athens, but also a respected statesman.When he was a state official, he implemented a plan to beautify Athens.For example, the scope of the Acropolis was greatly expanded, and a huge bronze statue of Athena was built in the city.

Pericles is the fourth outstanding figure, he is the grandson of Cristhenes.Pericles is much younger than the above three characters, and he was born much later.Around 465 BC, he assumed public office and just received the political ideas put forward by three predecessors.From his outstanding performance in the political arena, it is not difficult to see that he has inherited the traditions of the first three and carried them forward.His leadership in Athens lasted only a third of a century, but had such an indelible impact on history that historians named the era after him.

[-]. The Age of Pericles

Pericles Pericles became leader of Athens in about 461 BC, when he was not yet 30 years old.As a democratic leader, like other Athenian leaders at the time, he was also born in the nobility and inherited a large inheritance.He received higher education in his youth, including physical training, harp accompaniment, literature, philosophy, and debate principles, so he has extremely outstanding personal talents.Taking Simon's ideas as the purpose, he further expanded the navy of Themitocles, formulated detailed policies for the development of commerce, and to a certain extent completed Cristheni's democratic plan.As an orator, he far surpasses other leaders; as a leader, in history, his influence on the people is almost unparalleled in the world.

In a certain sense, Pericles is the "political head" of Athens, but in fact it is far more than that.Although he occupies a high position, his power is not purely derived from his political position, but more depends on his influence on the citizens' assembly, which in turn depends on his eloquence and popularity.He was not a weak ruler who only knew how to flatter and obey the orders of the nobles, but a bold statesman who dared to oppose and even anger the nobles when necessary.

The democratic politics of Athens The democratic politics of Athens is a kind of direct democratic politics, rather than the democratic politics of representative system like modern countries.In one of our states, with about several million voters, it is impossible for all voters to gather in one place at the same time, so most of the public affairs must be handled through elected representatives.As for Athens, because of its small territory and sparse population, a direct democracy could be practiced.Of course, it is still very difficult to allow more than 5 Athenian citizens to participate in a public meeting at the same time.In fact, under the principle that all citizens have the right to attend, only a few people usually attend.

The Citizens' Assembly The main authority of the Athenian government is the Citizens' Assembly, which is theoretically composed of all citizens.The General Assembly has the power to make the final decision on the conclusion of treaties and on whether to wage war. It can also remove officials and even sentence them to death.The details of government affairs were largely left to a smaller group, the Council of 500. Members of the Council of 500 are determined by lottery each year.The Citizens' Assembly and the Council of 500 in turn devolved much of the important work to juries or committees.

Juries Juries and committees are usually selected by lot.Juries are large, consisting of four or five hundred members or more.Whether the defendant's defense is written by a lawyer or by himself, he can defend himself.Any citizen can submit a complaint at the Citizens' Assembly. After discussion, the complaint will be submitted to the jury for final judgment.

Generals The main military officials in Athens were the "Ten Generals".Pericles served as chief general for 15 consecutive years during his long political career.The ten generals are elected by the citizens' assembly every year, and the officials who manage the water supply are also selected in this way, while other officials are determined by lottery.Generals are not only involved in commanding the army and navy, but are also in charge of foreign affairs.

In 430 BC, Pericles delivered a speech at the memorial service of the fallen soldiers in Athens. This speech reflected the democratic principles of Athens to a certain extent.In this speech, he stated some political and ideological principles of Athenian democracy.These principles are: Although the law must ensure fairness to individuals in private disputes, moral standards should also be considered; a citizen who is outstanding in a certain respect can be given priority in public office. This is not a privilege, but The affirmation and reward of merit; the real shame lies not in admitting poverty in the face of poverty, but in trying to get rid of it; a person who has no interest in public affairs can be considered a useless fellow.

Athens: "Greek School" Pericles once called Athens "Greek School", and many citizens from other city-states also visited and studied in Athens.Athens adopts a more serious and effective mode of operation in terms of the democratic system, and in promoting social development, Athens is multi-pronged and adopts various methods.Such Athens is indeed a great school.From an early age, the inhabitants of Athens received education that would make them good citizens, in order to improve their personal qualities and their own moral cultivation.To this day, when we study Greek history, we use Athens as a preferred model from which to learn more and how to learn.

Drama and music The splendor of Athens literature and art is closely related to traditional religious festivals.There are more than 60 traditional festivals every year.The celebration of important festivals includes not only basic activities such as sports competitions and parades, but also elegant artistic activities such as public chorus and drama performances.The writers' creative enthusiasm is extremely high, and they continue to create new works, so that every festival has a new script staged for the public to appreciate and judge.Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides are the best in tragedy creation, while Aristophanes is No.1 in comedy creation.These great playwrights in history were basically produced in and around the time of Pericles.

Art and Artists In Athens, the most graceful buildings are temples. The most famous temple is the Parthenon, also known as the Temple of Athena, which was built on the Acropolis in the era of Pericles.The Parthenon we see today has long been abandoned and dilapidated, but its magnificent appearance still stands.Athens not only made great achievements in architecture, but also achieved fruitful results in sculpture and painting.Some people say that Athens is an art museum centered on the Acropolis, which is true.Many great artists gathered in Athens and created in Athens, the most famous of which was Phidias, who was also Pericles' close friend and art advisor.

History and Historians Over a hundred learned foreigners came to Athens during this period, among them was a man known as the "Father of History" named Herodotus.He wrote a chronicle of the Persian and Greek wars and another describing the customs and customs of the surrounding "barbarian" countries.At that time, in the eyes of the Greeks, as long as they were non-Greek foreigners, they belonged to the category of "barbarians".Thucydides was a very young historian at the time, but his popularity was so great that he could almost keep pace with Herodotus.The difference between the two is that Herodotus is a foreigner, while Thucydides is an Athenian.He wrote a history of the war between Athens and Sparta, which became a masterpiece of the time.In his work, he quotes from the manuscript of Pericles' "Speech at the Funeral," which was mentioned above.

Pindar's Poetry A famous lyric poet, Pindar, appeared during this period.But Pindar was not an Athenian, he was a citizen of Thebes.Thebes was a city-state in Boeotia, Greece, not Thebes in Egypt.This city-state has always been a competitor of Athens, and the two sides often fought, and the relationship was once intensified to the point of becoming an enemy.Pindar came to Athens from Thebes and studied music with a famous local teacher in Athens.His poems are extremely beautiful and touching, and his level is very high. He conquered Athens with a rhetorical technique that the Athenians could not achieve. At the same time, he also wrote many poems praising Athens.Therefore, the Athenians loved his poems and hymns very much, so they chose him as the representative of Athens in Thebes, gave him a lot of money, and even built a statue of him in Athens.

The limit of democratic politics in Athens In Athens, even a poor person can enjoy civil rights as long as both his parents are citizens, and he can act as a citizen representative and attend the citizen assembly, but he cannot hold higher positions.However, women in Athens were deeply restricted by democratic politics, and they did not have any political rights.In addition, slaves in Athens did not have any political rights, although the number of slaves accounted for half or even a large part of the total population of Athens.The political rights of Gentiles are also limited. Because the citizenship of Athens is hereditary, no matter how long Gentiles have lived in Athens, and no matter how skilled, rich, or educated they are, they cannot hold positions in the Athenian government and Work.

It might be said that Athenian democracy was run by a group of the best able citizens who ruled over the entire city-state.More precisely, Athenian democracy was ruled by a group of able aristocrats.Because this democracy ruled by the nobles served the Athenian Empire, those nobles who participated in the democratic politics were the heads of the empire.

The expansion of Athens Under the rule of Pericles, Athens incorporated the Delian League into the form of imperial rule and continued to expand outward.Its dominion extended to areas such as Thrace, the Hellespont, and the Black Sea.In addition, it also expanded the Greek peninsula. Boeotia, Phocis, Locris, Achaia and other states have all become vassals of Athens, and the pace of Athens' expansion has not stopped.

These expansions of the Peloponnesian War were all aimed at dealing with Sparta.For many years, Sparta had the highest status among the Greek city-states and could be called the leader of Greece.Athens has always wanted to find an opportunity to suppress Sparta. The fuse of the war between the two was that Athens supported Corinth's colony of Corkyra and helped it resist Corinth.Corinth was originally a member of the Peloponnesian League. In order to prevent Athens' expansion ambitions, Sparta united with Corinth and all its allies to fight against Athens.Although Athens firmly occupies the sea, the enemy's strength on land is quite strong enough to pose a threat to Athens.

The defeat of Athens From 431 BC to 404 BC, the war lasted a total of 27 years, and finally ended with the defeat of Athens.In fact, after the death of Pericles in 429 BC, many colonies in Athens began to rebel, and Sparta received assistance from Persia.After the proud Athens was defeated, she could only accept the opponent's conditions in desperation: the walls of the city of Athens must be demolished, the fleet was reduced to 12 warships, and its sphere of influence was reduced. At the same time, Sparta was admitted to the Greek Peninsula. Whether in war or peace, Sparta will always be the leader of Greece.

In 415 BC, Athens launched the Sicilian Expedition, which was probably the key battle that determined Athens' defeat in the war.At that time, Athens sent a huge fleet to attack Corinth's largest colony Syracuse on an expedition. As a result, Athens suffered a disastrous defeat.

The Enduring Empire, an empire of ships and swords, has finally come to its end.However, Athens' achievements in many aspects are more important than military warships, maritime supremacy and strong walls, and they are more worthy of being preserved for the world.In the 5th century BC, the politicians of Athens built it into an ideological and spiritual empire.Although in matters of war and submission, Athens eventually surrendered and became a subject of Sparta, but in terms of art and literature, philosophy and science, the Athenians can still continue their greatness in thinking about many issues. In this sense Generally speaking, the position of the Athenian Empire is eternal.This empire of art and wisdom extended far beyond the voyages of Themitocles and Pericles in the ancient world.No matter how many places their ships passed, it was not as wide as the spread of Athenian wisdom.Moreover, even in today's world, the art and wisdom of Athens are still regarded as an invaluable heritage that will be preserved for a long time.

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