Greco-Persian Wars

For other Persian wars, see Roman-Persian Wars, Arab-Persian Wars, Persian Gulf Wars, and Military history of Iran. The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 450 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks, and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyr... more

For other Persian wars, see Roman-Persian Wars, Arab-Persian Wars, Persian Gulf Wars, and Military history of Iran. The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 450 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks, and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to rule the independently-minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed tyrants, or satraps as they were called, to rule each of them. This would prove the source of much trouble for both Greek and Persian alike. In 499 BC, the then-tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, embarked on an expedition to conquer the island of Naxos, with Persian support. The expedition was a debacle, and pre-empting his dismissal, Aristagoras instead incited (with little difficulty) the whole of Hellenic Asia Minor into... less