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The Persian Wars

The Greeks Unite ... or not

The Greeks were, of course, disunited as always. Some city- states, especially in the north, went over to the Persians rather than face war and destruction. For the stronger states in the south (Athens, Sparta, audio gif Thebes, etc.) had decided not to try to meet Xerxes in the north.

Athens and Sparta, plus a handful of scattered small cities, stood alone against the giant. When Xerxes finally invaded Greece in 480 BC his army consisted of 200,000 men and seven hundred warships. The Greeks together had three hundred ships and 10,000 men, with ability to raise about 50,000. They were led by King audio gif Leonidas of Sparta, who brought with him three hundred Spartans.

The small turn-out of Sparta reflected a disagreement as to where best to meet the Persians. Sparta wanted to fight at the Isthmus of Corinth. Others wanted to fight further north. And the Athenians continued to argue that the war would be won or lost at sea. So Sparta left the bulk of her army in the Peloponnese.

The issue was very touchy, though. The Athenians were frantically building ships as fast as they could, for the Persian fleet outnumbered them better than three to one. Literally every day's delay would mean more Greek ships at sea. Moreover, Athenian representatives needed as much time as possible to persuade more city-states to stand with them against Xerxes.

It was therefore imperative that Xerxes be delayed as long as possible. The Greeks decided to take a terrible gamble. They would send an expeditionary force north to meet Xerxes, to fight the Persians at hopeless odds, and to sacrifice themselves in order to improve the chances of ultimate victory.