Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Historical Outline 23
none. Foreigners, too, were welcome. Around 600 b.c.e. , however,
a shadow fell over Spartan society, and its citizens became increasingly
isolated from mainstream Greek culture. This is symbolized
by Sparta’s refusal to mint coins, which placed it outside the nexus
of trade in which most other Greek states participated. Its overriding
purpose henceforth seems to have been to acquire military
control over the Peloponnese. This it did very successfully at the
head of the Peloponnesian League, to which most states in the Peloponnese
belonged (Argos was an exception) and which pursued a
single foreign policy under its leadership. By the end of the sixth
century b.c.e. , Sparta had become the dominant military power in
the Greek world.
The Persian Wars
In the second half of the sixth century b.c.e. , the Greek cities of
Asia Minor on the western coast of Turkey fell under the control of
the rapidly expanding Persian Empire. In 499 b.c.e., they revolted
and appealed to the mainland Greeks for help in a war of liberation.
Only Athens and Eretria responded. Such was the might of
Persia that the revolt was doomed from the start. After it had been
brutally quashed, the Persians launched a retaliatory expedition to
punish those who had assisted their subjects in revolting. Having
razed Eretria, they landed on the Attic coast close to the plain of
Marathon in northeast Attica, intending to sack Athens. In view of
their huge numerical superiority, the Persians confidently expected
to achieve an easy victory. Instead the Athenians, aided only by a
small contingent from a neighboring polis called Plataiai, achieved
one of the most stunning military successes in history. The losses on
the Persian side were reportedly 6,400; those on the Athenian side
numbered only 192.
Ten years later, the Persian king Xerxes returned with a much
larger expeditionary force intent on conquering the whole mainland.
The Greeks declared a general truce and formed an alliance
under the leadership of Sparta. Their resistance, however, proved
to be poorly organized and post eventum. Such was their disorder
that there was no force waiting to oppose the enemy when they
invaded Thessaly in northern Greece in 480 b.c.e. Shortly afterward,
a contingent of 300 Spartiates (i.e., full Spartan citizens),
under the command of King Leonidas, took up a position guarding
the narrow pass at Thermopylai, which provided entry into
central Greece. Although all 300, including Leonidas, were slain,